Meet the Staff
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Joy Gardner, Executive Director
Joy is Empire Clean Cities' Executive Director, as well as the Clean Cities Coalition Coordinator. She coordinates grant programs, memberships, outreach, and local events. She holds a Master's degree in Nonprofit Management from the New School for Public Engagement and has over 10 years experience working for a variety of social impact campaigns. Joy is excited to collaborate with ECC's partners and local communities to work towards an environmentally sustainable future. |
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Lidia Henderson, Marketing and Research Coordinator
Lidia is the Marketing and Research Coordinator at Empire Clean Cities. She recently completed a M.Sc. in City and Regional Planning from the Pratt Institute. Previously, Lidia worked at the Blue Planet Foundation in Hawai'i as the Electric Vehicle Projects Coordinator and participated in the Hawai'i Clean Cities Coalition, known as the Sustainable Transportation Coalition of Hawai'i (STCH). She has a B.A. in Environmental Studies (Policy) and Spanish from Colby College. |
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Amanda Sachs, Outreach and Policy Intern
Amanda is our Fall Outreach and Policy Intern at Empire Clean Cities. Amanda is an experienced environmental researcher and writer with expertise in environmental policy analysis. She recently graduated from the New School’s Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management Graduate Program. Her main interests relate to environmental justice, urban energy transitions, and climate change resilience. |
Board of Directors
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SUSAN MCSHERRY, BOARD PRESIDENT
Director of Alternative Fuels Program, New York City Department of Transportation Susan McSherry is Director of Alternative Fuel Programs at the New York City Department of Transportation, focusing on alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicle programs. She is responsible for grant program development and project management, including assisting NYC agencies in advancing their Green Fleet initiatives to lower CO2 and criteria pollutant emissions from the City’s vehicle fleet. Susan works closely with the DOT Office of Freight Mobility, and is the Project Manager for the DOT Hunts Point Clean Trucks Program, which offers incentive rebates to private fleets in the Hunts Point/Port Morris area of the South Bronx. She and her office support the local NYC/Empire Clean Cities Coalition on petroleum reduction policy and implementation, and conduct relevant public outreach and education to community and technical groups on the subject of clean vehicles. Susan holds a Masters in Urban Planning from Hunter College. She is currently Co-Chair on the Strategic Planning Committee for the Northeast Diesel Collaborative. |
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MARK SIMON, TREASURER
Director of Electric Vehicle Policy, NYC Department of Transportation Mark is the Director of Electric Vehicle Policy for the NYC Department of Transportation, a program that he has been heavily involved with since its inception in the late 1980's, which includes Empire Clean Cities and the NYC Clean Cities Program. |
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AARON CHOO, SECRETARY
Manager-Gas Field Operations NYC, National Grid Aaron Choo is a graduate of Hofstra University where he received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and MBA in Finance from City University of New York - Baruch College - Zicklin School of Business. Mr.Choo joined National Grid in 2006 and became a Manager in 2011. Mr. Choo is a motivated energy professional with experience in project management, business development, sales operations, budgeting, and process improvement. |
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JOHN MARKOWITZ, ASSISTANT SECRETARY
Lead Engineer, Clean Technology, New York Power Authority John is a Lead Engineer in the Clean Energy Technology Group at the New York Power Authority (NYPA). He manages NYPA’s electric transportation program, as well as projects in the areas of renewable energy and energy storage. He participated in the field testing of the first plug-in hybrid vehicles from the major automakers. He is also a member of the Electric Power Research Institute’s Infrastructure Working Committee. This group of representatives of the automakers and electric utilities defines safety standards for electric vehicle charging equipment. Before joining NYPA, John held engineering and marketing positions in the fields of transportation and energy efficiency. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Association of Energy Engineers. He holds the following degrees: Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College, and Master of Business Administration from Pace University. He is a New York State Licensed Professional Engineer and a Certified Energy Manager. |
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JOHN GILLIE
Chief Executive Officer of TruckTractorTrailer.com John is a preeminent expert in high growth strategies, turn-around, and start-up situations. He is especially adept at executing and monetizing innovative solutions to maximize enterprise value. John has become a thought leader in the transportation technology and electric vehicle industry with broad C-Suite and board level experience across the government agency, OEM, fleet, dealer, contractor, and customer spectrum. He was instrumental in bringing the first electric school buses to the White Plains school district in his home state of New York, recruiting and collaborating with key stakeholders and leading the project management office. John has driven mission critical assignments with private and publicly held companies ranging from startups to the Fortune 250. Prior to founding TruckTractorTrailer.com, he was Chief Commercial Officer of First Student (First Group) and served in various executive roles at ARAMARK, Republic Services, and Noble Biomaterials. John proudly served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He earned an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix and completed numerous executive development programs including those facilitated by ARAMARK, Harvard Business School, Penn State, and Cornell University. |
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TEVIN GRANT
Assistant Counsel/Attorney, NYC Department of Environmental Protection Tevin Grant has always had a passion for the environment, the law, and automobiles. He graduated from Pace University with honors as part of the first class in their environmental studies program. At the University of Virginia's Law School he worked on the environmental law journal and interned at both the Natural Resources Defense Council and South Environmental Law Center. After graduation, Tevin joined the Environmental Unit of the NYC Law Department. There, he litigated cases for many NYC agencies such as Department of Sanitation, Department of Buildings, and Department of Environmental Protection. After leaving the Law Department, he continued to practice law, litigating various environmental issues. Last year, Tevin started Evolv-Electric as way to combine all of his passions. Evolv-Electric's mission is accelerate the adoption of medium and heavy duty electric vehicles in fleets, especially electric school buses. Evolv-Electric has been a major promoter of the NYC Council's electric school bus bill, Intro 455. Evolv-Electric also consults with fleet operators to devise plans to electrify their fleets, install, and pay for the necessary infrastructure and training needed to transition to electric. |
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KATHY HARRIS
Clean Vehicles and Fuels Advocate, Natural Resources Defense Council Kathy Harris works at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) as the Eastern Clean Vehicles and Fuels Advocate. She works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, which is the largest source of emissions in the United States. Covering the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, she advocates for policies that accelerate the electrification of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles that are powered by clean, renewable energy. Prior to joining NRDC, she worked for the state of Delaware as a planner, addressing a variety of statewide and regional policies and programs to mitigate greenhouse gases in the transportation sector. She also served as the Delaware Clean Cities coordinator. Harris holds a bachelor's degree in environmental science and a master's degree in marine policy from the University of Delaware. |
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ROCCO LACERTOSA
Chief Executive Officer, New York Oil Heating Association, Inc. Rocco Lacertosa is the CEO of the New York Heating Oil Association and has worked in the heating oil business for nearly 50 years. Lacertosa holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Adelphi University in Garden City, New York and an MBA from De Sales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. |
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STEVEN LEVY
Managing Director, Sprague Energy Steven J. Levy is an industry veteran of the petroleum and clean fuels industry. As Managing Director of Sprague Energy, he leads the clean fuels product and business development activities focusing on the governmental, commercial, wholesale, utility and industrial end-user. Mr. Levy pioneered the introduction, supply and distribution of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel ten years prior to the United States EPA on-road vehicle mandate and focuses on introducing and establishing infrastructure for clean fuels, including biodiesel and BioHeat, as well as providing total fuel transaction and infrastructure management. Mr. Levy’s responsibilities include managing major government, commercial and industry partner relationships. At the federal, state and local level, Mr. Levy works closely with legislators, policy makers, equipment and aftermarket manufacturers, energy providers, and the end-user to introduce and further the use of clean products and technologies, while playing an active role with multiple industry associations and environmental organizations to protect natural resources, increase energy efficiency, reduce emissions, energy dependence and legislation efforts. Mr. Levy is Past Chairman and serves on the National Biodiesel Board Governing Board while also holding many officer positions in industry and environmental organizations including Past President and current Board Member of Empire Clean Cities, focused on expanding the use of alternative fuels and reducing energy dependence on foreign petroleum. Mr. Levy has also been appointed to multiple commissions, advisory boards and task forces in the areas of storm preparedness and recovery, sustainability, climate change and energy strategic plans. |
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PAUL LIPSON
Principal, Barretto Bay Strategies Paul Lipson served for seven years as Chief of Staff to Congressman Jose E. Serrano (NY-16), an 11-term Democrat and senior appropriator from The Bronx, NY. In 2009, Lipson served as principal author of The American Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Act (HR 4399), a bill introduced with bi-partisan support aimed at scaling up the domestic electric truck industry and helping to address air quality deficits incurred by medium duty fleets based in places like the South Bronx. Earlier in his career, Mr. Lipson founded and led The Point Community Development Corporation, a pioneering CDC based in the Hunts Point section of The Bronx and active in the sustainability sector. The organization launched the South Bronx Greenway, initiated the revitalization of eight acres of scatter-site Brownfields, redeveloped two significant industrial parcels, launched a creative sector business incubator in the historic American Banknote Building, and led local community consensus-building around land use and waterfront issues in the Hunts Point peninsula. Most recently, Mr. Lipson led the PennDesign-OLIN team’s consensus-building and engagement process for its successful Rebuild By Design application to address coastal vulnerabilities in and around the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center. In this role, Mr. Lipson’s firm worked intensively with organized labor locals, food wholesalers, small business people, community advocates, and the non-profit community to elicit local solutions to longstanding resiliency challenges in Hunts Point. |
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THOMAS LUBAS
Director of Operations Service, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (retired) Thomas Lubas joined the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey in 1972 and became the Director of the Operations Services Department in November 2010. During his 40 years of service with the Port Authority, Mr. Lubas has held management positions in the agency departments of engineering, finance, legal and regulatory matters, and Fleet and Materials Management. Mr. Lubas oversees the Port Authority’s automotive fleet operations. The Port Authority’s Automotive Fleet consists of approximately 2,000 vehicles with a replacement value in excess of $200 million. Many of the fleet vehicles have very specialized and complicated functional components, such as high-speed airport multi-function runway snow clearing trucks, airplane refueling trucks, airport passenger buses, and airport rescue and fire-fighting emergency trucks. In 2011, the Port Authority Fleet was ranked “8th Best Government Green Fleet in North America.” 80% of the mobile fleet is green. Since the year 2000, the Port Authority’s Central Automotive Division has been a leader in the fleet industry in maximizing fleet vehicle utilization, fuel efficiency and its use of biofuels in its automotive fleet. CAD has been able to reduce the Automotive Fleet’s carbon footprint by more than 25% since 2005, and clean fleet initiatives continue to play a major role in achieving carbon footprint reductions. Mr. Lubas is a Board of Governors member, a past Vice President and current Honorary Member of the NAFA Fleet Management Association, and is also a member of the City University of New York’s Bronx Community College Foundation Board. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Degree with High Honors from the Stevens Institute of Engineering and he has completed postgraduate work at Columbia University and at Stevens. |
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BRIAN ROSS
Project Specialist, CES Demonstration Projects, Con Edison Brian Ross is a Project Specialist in the Demonstration Projects department at Consolidated Edison Company of New York. He is a member of the Electric Vehicle program, responsible for developing and implementing EV projects coordinated with multiple public and commercial partners. Brian has over ten years of experience with electric and gas utilities. |
Emeritus Board Members: Louis Calcagno, Ronald Gulmi, Tria Case, Ruth Horton, Patrick Bolton, Kerry-Jane King, Patrick Gerdin, Lucius J. Riccio, Ed Taylor, Joseph "Bud" Nicoletti, Luke Tonachel
Advisory Board Members
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BARRY CARR
Eastern Regional Manager, Trillium; Clean Communities of Central New York With almost three decades of experience in alternative fuels and vehicles, Barry Carr is a veritable fount of information. He took the helm of Clean Communities of Central New York in 2008. As a coordinator, he is renowned for infinite willingness to share his expert advice and best practices with other coordinators and stakeholders. As a member of the Coordinator Council and participant in the Coordinator to Coordinator program, he has been invaluable. From 1995 to 2006 Carr demonstrated his ability through his work with NYS Clean Fueled Vehicle Council under the leadership of Governor George Pataki. He worked closely with New York State agencies to expand their compressed natural gas (CNG) use to more than 3,000 vehicles and 60 locations with CNG infrastructure. Carr made presentations, provided safety and refueling training, and secured funding for many additional efforts. He is strongly supported by stakeholders and through his many relationships with fleet managers throughout the Northeast, built over almost three decades of steadfast determination working in the industry. Barry Carr is currently the Eastern Regional Manager for Trillium. |
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CHUCK FEINBERG
Executive Vice President & Principal, Greener by Design, LLC; New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition Chuck Feinberg has been actively involved with the New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition since he helped to make it an IRS 501c3 nonprofit entity in 2009. Prior to leading the coalition, he amassed more than 30 years of professional experience as a program manager both with the Army Corps of Engineers and as a consultant. He is currently Executive Vice President and a Principal at sustainability consulting firm, Greener by Design, LLC. Much of his career has focused on supporting environmental and alternative fuel projects. Feinberg developed a reputation for his keen technical skills and willingness to collaborate with others when he successfully managed a $15 million Recovery Act grant. Through the grant he put more than 300 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles—including public and private refuse haulers and jitneys—on the road, and oversaw the installation of six CNG stations across the state. More recently, he developed and administered a program to repower unregulated marine engines with less polluting, more fuel-efficient engines. The new engines are expected to result in a 15%–16% improvement in fuel economy, and estimated diesel fuel savings of 4 to 5 million gallons during the lifetime of the engines. Feinberg is a recognized champion of sustainability, alternative fuels, and environmental stewardship and has been honored with awards from NGV America, the U.S. Green Building Council, the Northeast Diesel Collaborative, and others. He is a 2018 inductee into the Clean Cities Hall of Fame. |
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LUIS TORRES
Lawyer, The Law Offices of Luis Torres Mr. Torres was selected to the executive board in 2010. He served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice from 1994 to 1997. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Torres served as special counsel to Congressman Jose E. Serrano. His portfolio included environmental law, energy policy, and legislative redress for environmentally-beleaguered communities. Mr. Torres then served as Associate Director for the City University of New York's Center for Sustainable Energy. In this role, he promoted renewable energy and energy efficiency in urban communities, brought together policymakers, manufacturers, and end-users for regular conferences and policy discussions, and helped to secure city, state, and federal subsidies for regional fleets seeking to acquire clean transportation technology. In 2011, Mr. Torres established a solo law practice based in Rockland County. Additionally, in 2011 he was appointed Associate Justice in the Village of Haverstraw Justice Court and currently serves in this capacity. |
Interested in becoming a Board Member?
ECC is actively recruiting new board members. If you are interested, please submit all letters of intent (along with your resume) to Joy Gardner at Joy@empirecleancities.org.
Interested in volunteering? Empire Clean Cities is always seeking passionate individuals to join our team of volunteers. Volunteers help with ride-and-drives, alternative vehicle showcases, and other programming to promote clean vehicles and technologies. To find out about upcoming events, visit our Events Calendar or follow us on social media.