Members

Climate Council

	Alicia Hemmings, Sunrise Movement Knoxville Hub
	Alicia is a Haslam Scholar at the University of Tennessee Knoxville studying Plant Sciences with a concentration in Plant Genetics and Biotechnology, a Sustainability minor, and a Medicine Pre-Professional Track. Alicia has a passion for environmental and social justice and strives to make the future a better place. At the University, she is an active member of the Sunrise Movement Knoxville Hub, SPEAK (Students Promoting Environmental Activism in Knoxville), and is training to become a Make Orange Green Ambassador.
	Amy Hathaway, Forest Heights Neighborhood Association
	Amy moved to Knoxville in 2013 and has served on the Forest Heights Neighborhood Association Board of Directors since in 2014. In 2015-2017, she led the effort to create Forest Heights Pocket Park, one of the City’s newest neighborhood parks, and in 2019 she collaboratively led Forest Heights to become a NWF certified Community Wildlife Habitat. Before moving to Knoxville, Amy was an engineer in North Carolina for the City of Raleigh Stormwater Program. Amy is a senior civil designer focusing on stormwater and green infrastructure at WK Dickson, a community infrastructure consulting company in Knoxville.
	Brian Hann, Dewhirst Properties
	Brian is a general contractor who has specialized in adaptive reuse of historic buildings in our city center. Recycling buildings has been a passion of his for nearly 20 years. In partnership with David Dewhirst and Mark Heinz, the Dewhirst Properties development team has taken on projects such as The Holston, Arnstein, Emporium Lofts and many others. In his spare time, Brian and the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club have worked tirelessly with many community partners to establish Knoxvillle's Urban Wilderness. The Urban Wilderness has conserved nearly 2,000 acres of undeveloped land and provided miles of recreational trails for a mix of user groups.
	Chris Cimino, University of Tennessee
	Chris, a native of Nashville, has lived in Knoxville for 24 years and worked for the University of Tennessee for 22 of those years. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Samford University and an MBA from the University of Tennessee. He has worked in numerous financial roles at both the Knoxville campus and UT System, and has served as the Sr. Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration for the past nine years. Chris serves as Chief Financial Officer of the campus and oversees administrative offices, including public safety, dining, VolShop, parking, fleet management, print and mail services, student ID, vending, bursar, facilities services, information technology, and human resources.
	Pastor Chris Battle, The Underground Collective/Battlefield Farms
	Chris is Lead Pastor of The Underground Collective, a new church plant whose mission is to "cultivate Shalom wherever we are." He is also Farm Operator of Battlefield Farm whose aim is to fight food disparities in East Knoxville. He serves as co-chair of the Knoxville branch of the NAACP's Environmental Justice Committee. He is married to Julia Tomma Battle and they have 18 children.
	Cortney Piper, Piper Communications / Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council
	Cortney has made it her business to know and understand every aspect of the advanced energy economy; which is why her public relations firm, Piper Communications, specializes in energy and technology. Because of Cortney's energy expertise, she organized, launched and serves as executive director of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council that champions advanced energy as an economic development and job creation strategy. Piper Communications has had the pleasure of advancing some of the most significant clean energy initiatives, projects and policies at the local, state and national level. She's been recognized for her business leadership as a 2014 inductee to the Greater Knoxville Business Journal's 40 Under Forty and recipient of the Postma Young Professional Medal.
	Gabe Bolas, Knoxville Utilities Board
	Gabe is President and Chief Executive Officer of Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB). He earned his M.S. in Industrial Engineering and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Tennessee before joining KUB in 1995 as an engineer. He has served as Manager of Environmental Stewardship, Engineering Systems, and Overhead Construction, and Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer. Gabe has worked closely with KUB's partners on environmental initiatives, including low-income weatherization assistance programs for energy efficiency, supporting the City of Knoxville's transition to LED streetlights, and efforts to improve sustainability of KUB's operations.
	George Wallace, Coldwell Banker Wallace & Wallace
	George is a life-long resident of Knoxville and a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a B.S. in Agriculture. He, along with his brother, is co-owner of Coldwell Banker Wallace. Their company has six office locations serving Knoxville and surrounding counties. George has worked as a volunteer for multiple non-profit organizations including but Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, Knoxville Beer Board, Ijams, Metro Drug Coalition, United Way, and many others. In 2011, George was elected to Knoxville City Council and served 8 years.
	Nancy Nabors, Knoxville Chamber
	Nancy joined the Knoxville Chamber in late March 2020 and is leading initiatives for Infrastructure and Entrepreneurship on the Regional Enhancement Team. Previously, Nancy was sole proprietor of a local signage company and worked at the Knoxville News Sentinel as Advertising Manager of the Greater Knoxville Business Journal. During her time with the Business Journal, she helped start and develop the GoGreenET program.
	Rebecca Tolene, Tennessee Valley Authority
	Rebecca serves as TVA Vice President Environment. Rebecca has been at TVA since 2002 and she has served in a variety of roles throughout her tenure including the general counsel's office, natural resource division, law enforcement, emergency management, corporate and board governance, and supply chain. She has a law degree from the University of Tennessee and lives in Knoxville.
	Stan Johnson, Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development
	Stan came to Knoxville to attend Historically Black Knoxville College where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration in 1995. He is also a graduate of the Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness; a leadership program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Stan launched Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED) in 2009. SEEED is a green community development non-profit focusing on creating and sustaining jobs for Knoxville’s urban young people, as well as ensuring clean energy technologies are available for low income residents. Stan’s vision includes creating green companies under the SEEED umbrella to provide extended training and employment for inner-city youth.
	Dr. Stephen Smith, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
	Stephen currently serves on the State of Tennessee Energy Policy Council and on the board of Floridians for Solar Choice. In the past, he has served on the North Carolina Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change and the North Carolina Climate Action Planning Advisory Group, the South Carolina Climate, Energy and Commerce Advisory Committee, and two terms on TVA's Regional Energy Resource Council.

Working Groups
The Mayor’s Climate Council is assisted by four working groups, comprised of dozens of community leaders and technical experts that provide ongoing guidance on the Council’s priorities: equity, transportation, buildings/energy, and waste.

Equity Working Group
Kendra Berry, Great Schools Partnership
Claudia Caballero, Centro Hispano de East Tennessee
Terrence Carter, Knoxville Area Urban League
Misty Goodwin, Knox CAC - Neighborhood Centers
Rick Held, Community Voices
JD Jackson, Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED)
Stanley Johnson, Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED)
Dave Ndiaye, University of Tennessee - Student Disability Services
Albert Nelson, Knox CAC - Neighborhood Centers
Janea Peterson, Knoxville Area Urban League
June Rosten, AFL-CIO
Calvin Skinner, NAACP

Transportation Technical Working Group
Melissa Allen-Dumas, Oak Ridge National Lab
Nicholas Bradshaw, City of Knoxville - Fleet Services Department
Chris Cherry, University of Tennessee - Transportation Engineering and Science Program
Caroline Cooley, Bike Walk Knoxville
Stan Cross, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Karen Estes, Knox CAC - Transit
David Greene, University of Tennessee - Transportation Engineering and Science Program
Chasity Hobby, KUB
Jon Livengood, City of Knoxville - Traffic Engineering Division
Kent Minault, Sierra Club Harvey Broome Group
Nancy Nabors, Knoxville Chamber
Jonathan Overly, East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition
Melissa Roberson, Knoxville Area Transit
Virginia Salazar Buda, East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition
Jeff Welch, Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization
Belinda Woodiel-Brill, Knoxville Area Transit
Ellen Zavisca, Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization

Buildings & Energy Technical Working Group
Peter Ahrens, City of Knoxville - Plans Review and Inspections Division
Mike Bolin, KUB
Michael Davis, Sanders Pace Architecture
Elizabeth Eason, Elizabeth Eason Architecture
Jason Estes, Knox CAC - Housing & Energy Services
Zane Foraker, Knox County Schools
Gil Hough, Tennessee Solar Energy Industries Association
Emma Houston, Sunrise Movement
Nancy Nabors, Knoxville Chamber
Joshua New, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Steven Seifried, Ameresco
Maggie Shober, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Charles Sims, University of Tennessee - Energy and Environment Program
James Tente, City of Knoxville - Plans Review and Inspections Division

Waste Technical Working Group
Chad Hellwinckel, UT Institute of Agriculture
Alisa Kyle, Waste Management, Inc.
Jason McCue, Waste Connections, Inc.
Kat McDearis, Green Heron Compost Services
Alana McKissack, Keep Knoxville Beautiful
Patience Melnik, City of Knoxville - Office of Solid Waste
Nancy Nabors, Knoxville Chamber
Michael Niemann, WestRock
Jay Price, University of Tennessee - Office of Sustainability
Rachel Stewart, Sunrise Movement
Drew Thurman, Solid Waste Expert

Members

Director