David Bergman, LEED AP, CPHD, Assoc AIA, is an architect, author and professor. He is the founder of DavidBergmanEco, author of Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide and the blog EcoOptimism.com, which is dedicated to the belief that positive, often symbiotic, solutions exist to our environmental and economic issues. He previously founded Fire & Water, where he designed and produced energy-efficient and materials conscious light fixtures. Bergman is the Program Director for the New York School of Interior Design’s Master of Professional Studies in Sustainable Interior Environments and an adjunct assistant professor at Parsons School of Design. He holds a BA in architecture and economics from Yale and an MArch from Princeton. He is the founder and co-chair of the New York City chapter of Yale Blue Green.
Becky is a long time resident of Fairfield, Connecticut, and retired from a career which included innovation and new product development and marketing for American Express, Black and Decker and Diageo, and 10+ years of consulting in the alcoholic beverage industry. Becky is a leading sustainability and climate impact activist at the local level, including being Chair of her town’s Flood and Erosion Control Board, which works with with town staff to plan, construct, reconstruct, and manage the town’s flood and erosion control systems; Chair of the Food and Waste committee of the Sustainable Fairfield Task Force, working to set up and educate residents on new recycling and waste programs, and member of the Equity subcommittee of the same body, working on racial and economic justice programs and funding and awareness programs for heat pump and EV infrastructure; and Secretary or the Fairfield Beach Residents Association, working to support residents in areas of Beach erosion, safety, and general areas of concern to residents. In addition, Becky is an avid food rescuer, working to redistribute unused food from predominantly grocery stores to various social agencies and food banks, a member of the Wilton Quaker meeting, working to support long range environmental planning and finance, and the Founder and Vice Chair of Wilton Go Green, a 501c3 sustainability organization which worked on sustainability initiatives in the town of Wilton CT from 2009-2017.
Becky graduated from Yale College in ’78 with a BA and has an MBA from Northwestern University.
Paul Chapman is executive director of Inverness Associates, an educational consulting group that promotes green, environmentally sustainable schools. As a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and Stanford, he published Greening America’s Schools: The Environmental Sustainability Movement in K-12 Education and Greening America’s Schools 2.0: The Path to Environmental Sustainability (2012, 2013). He was a member of California Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Environmental Literacy Task Force that wrote the Blueprint for Environmental Sustainability (2015). He serves on the advisory board of Ten Strands that promotes environmental literacy for all of California’s TK-12 students, and on the selection committee for the California Green Ribbon Schools program, which he helped to launch. As a Yale volunteer, he is a member of the Sustainability Initiative Liaison Committee (SILC) for Yale Blue Green, heads the San Francisco Bay Area chapter for YBG, is a delegate at-large to the Yale Alumni Assembly, and has been a class agent for 40 years. He is a board member of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Chabot Space and Science Center, and UC Berkeley Library. A graduate of Hinsdale High School in Illinois, he holds a B.A. from Yale Cum Laude (1970), an M.A. in American history (1972) and Ph.D. in the history of education from Stanford (1980), and published Schools as Sorters: Lewis M. Terman, Applied Psychology, and the Intelligence Testing Movement, 1890-1930 with NYU Press. His fifty-year career in education has included serving as principal of the K-12 Head-Royce School in Oakland (1984-2010), a founding faculty member of San Francisco University High School (1976-1984), a member of the Reed College admissions staff (1973-76), and teacher at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto (1971-72). He and his wife Helen live in Berkeley, and they enjoy time with their three grown children, six grandchildren, and Golden Retriever, Hudson.
Anne is interested in sharing knowledge about the natural world and how people interact with it. She is interested in sharing ways to act sustainably to reduce climate change, protect the natural world, and improve people’s interaction with the natural world.
Anne retired from managing technical assistance to Federal agencies to help them use renewable energy, Sustainability, Net Zero Energy, and energy efficiency, through her work at the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) at the U.S. Department of Energy. She managed the Greening of the White House and Greening of other iconic National Parks and Federal facilities in the 1990’s. She is active in volunteer work, including the Yale Blue Green Sustainability Initiative. She volunteered with US Green Building Council’s Women in Green group, planning local Women in Green breakfasts with speakers, and plan Education sessions at the Greenbuild Conference. She chaired a parent committee on Environmental Action at her children’s school, organizing trail walks, farmer’s markets, and Stewardship Days. She has helped maintain a native plant garden at a nature center.
Anne graduated from Yale College in 1976 in Architecture, and she has a MS in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley. She lives in Washington DC with her husband, and has two grown children in Boston, MA and St Petersburg, FL. She spends time in nature in Virginia, near Shenandoah National Park.
An all-around powerhouse and strategic ecosystem- and community-builder, Lauren E. Graham is the embodiment of leadership and service to Yale. A graduate of the School of the Environment, she is dedicated to creating pathways to participation for alums representing all backgrounds, generations, and schools to work in concert with clarity of purpose and zeal for action to build a future that is not defined by its perils, but by its possibilities.
Since assuming the role of chair in 2014, Graham has transformed Yale Blue Green (YBG) into a robust alumni shared interest group—1,500 members strong—with a network of local chapters, an alumni board, programming exploring the intersectionality of environmental issues, events showcasing Yalies’ creativity and expertise, and a sustainability initiative focused on ensuring Yale’s global leadership in sustainability. She also served as the lead organizer for the 2019 Yale Environmental Sustainability Summit (YESS), an alumni-led initiative to engage in deep conversations on how to compel collective action for scalable planetary solutions. In recognition of her work, Lauren received the 2019 YAA Leadership Award for Volunteer Innovation and Service, and Yale Blue Green received the YAA Board of Governors Excellence Award in 2020.
Graham’s alumni service and involvement with YBG first began while a master’s student. It quickly blossomed into multiple leadership positions: an at-large delegate to the YAA Assembly, followed by committee co-chair roles as a member of the YAA Board of Governors and the YAA Alumni Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Secretary of the YaleWomen Governing Council where she was instrumental in crafting the five-year strategic plan. As one of the youngest alumna/alumnus ever to be honored with the Yale Medal, her diplomacy, intellect, and service-driven leadership ensure she will continue to be a driving force for building the capacity of the Yale alumni community to create a positive impact on the world.
When Graham is not enjoying her time with other Yalies, she is serving as the chief of staff at Hunger Free America, a New York City-based national anti-hunger advocacy and direct service nonprofit working to end domestic hunger. She is also the CEO of Velvet Frame, a social impact strategy and communications consultancy, founded in 2015.
Graham also serves as a part-time adjunct professor teaching a rotation of undergraduate and graduate courses on nonprofit management, leadership, sustainability, and entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice, Baruch College-Zicklin School of Business at the City University of New York (CUNY), the Fashion Institute of Technology, Bard College MBA in Sustainability, and The Carbonauts.
Graham holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations, a master’s degree in sociology from Stanford University, a master’s degree in environmental management from Yale School of the Environment, and a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice.
Stephanie is an independent art historian who lives in Denver, Colorado. She is a former
academic who has been a member of both art and interdisciplinary faculty, and she has served on the advisory board of a university art gallery. As Colorado Yale Association president, she received a Yale Alumni Association Volunteer Leadership & Innovation award. She included events that dressed environmental and sustainability issues and tapped members to work toward the development of a YBG chapter. Stephanie has served on the YAA Board of Governors and has been an organizer of the Careers, Life and Yale committee’s virtual programming spotlighting alumni as well as leading a task force on graduate and professional school outreach. Featuring K12 teachers on the CLY schedule led to the development of a fledgling share-interest group, Yale Alumni Educators, and she joined its leadership. As a Graduate School of Arts & Sciences alum serving on the Board of Governors, Stephanie was an ex officio member of the Graduate School Alumni Association. She is also active in 1stGen Yale.
Stephanie grew up in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Her Italian grandfather worked in the coal
mines and died of black lung when her mother was pregnant with her father. Her mother was a nurse during the Donora smog of 1948, the worst environmental disaster in US history. She remembers coming home as a college student and encountering people sitting at cardboard
tables with petitions asking the government not to cap the stacks of the US Steel Mill where her other grandfather and her uncles worked.
Stephanie received her BA in art history from the University of Pittsburgh and her MA and PhD in the History of Art from Yale.
Vijeta works at ClimateWorks Foundation where she manages global road transportation portfolio and strategies to accelerate transition to clean transportation for the benefit of climate, people and economy. Vijeta brings international experience in energy and climate change having worked with governments, utilities and multilateral agencies in US, India, Thailand, Japan and Middle East. Her previous experience includes working at Guidehouse consulting advising utilities and DOE on energy programs, the World Bank on low-carbon development strategies, the UNEP on HCFC phase out plans for the least developed countries, and the Government of India where she managed various national flagship programs for clean energy transition.
Vijeta is passionate about building and supporting community of Yale alumni, staff and students. Vijeta is a founding co-chair of DC Chapter of Yale Blue Green. She served as a Yale-at-large-delegate during 2019-2021. As a co-host of FES alumni in DC and member of 1stGenYale, she facilitated collaborations and supported various Yale community events. When she was in consulting in DC, she worked closely with Yale FES Career Office (Kathy Douglas) to host career information sessions for the FES students in DC.
Vijeta holds Masters in Energy & Environment Management from Yale University and a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical & Bio Engineering from the National Institute of Technology in India. Vijeta is Certified Energy Manager and recipient of Legends in Energy award by Association of Energy Engineers for professional excellence and contribution to the energy industry.
Richard Kidd is a leader in public sector sustainability and resilience planning with decades of service as a soldier, relief worker, and diplomat. Mr. Kidd’s experience includes implementing national policies on renewable energy and climate change, green infrastructure, and sustainability strategic planning. He has a proven track record of executive-level accomplishment combined with a unique set of domestic and international experiences through federal and intergovernmental organizations.
Maureen Kline is Vice President, Public Affairs and Sustainability for Pirelli North America, responsible for the US, Canada and Mexico. She is based in New York. She is a member of the board of Pirelli North America Inc., a board member and former board chair of the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada, and is a former board member of the US Tire Manufacturers Association. She is a member of the Corporate Responsibility Steering Committee of the Automotive Industry Action Group, and of the Standards Advisory Group of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.
Maureen writes a column on sustainability for http://www.Inc.com, and also co-teaches a course called Enterprise Sustainability within Clarkson University’s Engineering Management Master’s program, with Tom Polton.
Previously she was based in Pirelli’s headquarters in Milan, Italy, where she coordinated government affairs for the company’s foreign subsidiaries, and before that was responsible for Pirelli’s international media relations.
Prior to her public affairs and communications career, Maureen worked as a journalist over a 15-year period. She was a Milan-based correspondent for the Wall Street Journal Europe, Breaking Views, and Business Week. She edited a blog on the topic of meritocracy, hosted by Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, and wrote and co-hosted a TV talk show in Italy on business and finance, broadcast on the local channel Telelombardia.
Maureen Kline holds a Bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics. She lived in Italy for over 20 years, working in the communications, public affairs and legal fields, and holds dual US-Italian citizenship.
Twitter @kline_maureen
A lifelong environmentalist, internationally-awarded Margot McMahon sculpts forms of nature. Humans, plants and animals symbolizing lifeforms are fused into organic interpretations in bronze, Cor-Ten steel, aluminum, granite or wood. She has been called the “Studs Terkel of the sculpting world”, by Chicago Sculpture Exhibit for her sculptural interpretations of everyday heroes including her monument to poet, Gwendolyn Brooks. The Smithsonian, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago History Museum, Sokka Gaikai, Mobil Oil, the Chicago Botanic Garden and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Steans Family Foundation have collected her sculpture. Her collected sculptures are in the United States, Guernsey, France, UK, and Japan. Margot has taught sculpture and drawing at the School of the Art Institute, DePaul University, and Yale University where she earned an MFA. Margot has recently published with Aquarius Press If Trees Could Talk recipient of a National Book Award (NFPW) and the Mate E. Palmer First Place Book Award (IWPA). It is the third book in the series with Mac and Irene: A WWII Saga and Airdrie, a YA book. Margot lives in Oak Park, Illinois with her husband Daniel Burke and has three grown children who live in Seattle, Chicago, and Brooklyn.
Hudita Nura Mustafa is a researcher and author whose interests concern the relationships among cities, globalization, and gender. She has a special interest in human experiences of societal crisis and their exposure of deep sociopolitical and economic tensions. Her experience ranges across Africa, Europe and Asia. Within this broad area, diverse topics include fashion, art, technology and pubic space. This work always examines the entanglements of local social dynamics with broad global processes. She has worked with universities, community organizations, museums and foundations.
Anne is a graduate of the Yale School of the Environment, MFS ’76. After studying paleoecology at YSE, Anne worked as a research assistant at Brown University, using pollen data to study the response of forest communities to climate change since the last glacial maximum. A tight job market for paleoecologists prompted her to attend law school and her training in natural sciences led to a career in environmental law.
Anne recently retired after more than 30 years as an environmental attorney, working with individual, corporate, institutional, and municipal clients as well as with engineers, scientists, and government regulators to remediate contaminated properties, establish and improve environmental compliance programs for businesses and nonprofit institutions, and address community water supply and wastewater issues.
A member of the YSE’s Alumni Association Board, Anne is also a past chair of the Environmental Section of the Connecticut Bar Association and of the Town of Newtown, Connecticut’s Inland Wetland Commission. In addition to representing the regulated community, she has served on Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection workgroups on environmental use restrictions, spill reporting and DEEP’s Comprehensive Evaluation and Transformation of Connecticut’s Cleanup Laws.
Judith L Singleton is a medical social scientist who works both in academia and industry. Her research and teaching focuses on forms of inequality and health disparities in the built environment. Judith’s areas of expertise include population health, and reproductive health. She is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois.
Professor Singleton has authored and published numerous articles and book chapters based on her research about violence against women in South Africa; and HIV and AIDS in South Africa and the United States. She is currently conducting a research study about pregnancy and contraception and the influence of the built environment. In addition, Professor Singleton works as a consultant and Senior Communications Specialist at the firm ICF based in Reston, Virginia. She advises and works with federal agencies in the public health sector including with those that focus on the intersection of health and the environment. Professor Singleton was one of the founding members of Yale Blue Green in Chicago and now serves as Co-Chair. She is also a member of the Yale Chicago Board and has served as a Delegate-at-Large for Yale Alumni Association (2019-2022) and served briefly as President of the Chicago Chapter of the Yale Black Alumni Association (YBAA).
Professor Singleton received her doctorate in Anthropology from Northwestern University, a Master’s degree in International Relations from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Robert graduated from Yale College in 1975 with a B.A. in English. He then proceeded to the University of Virginia where he earned an M.A. in English in 1980 and a J.D. in 1983.
Robert pursued a career in corporate real estate at Holland & Knight in Miami, where he spent 35 years before retiring in 2018. In Miami, Robert served on several boards — including The New Theatre, The City of Miami Beautification Committee and Treemendous Miami — and for many years was an adjunct professor in the University of Miami Law School’s Graduate Real Estate Program, teaching a course in commercial leasing.
Robert is committed to the advancement of sustainability. In the course of his board memberships in Miami, he contributed to efforts to renew the depleted tree canopy of South Florida; and as a lawyer, he lectured frequently on the topic of ‘green leasing’ and is the author of “How Green Leasing Will Come to Pass — and What It Will Look Like” ( a chapter in Green Building and Sustainable Development, ABA, 2009). Since 2019, Robert has served on the SILC Committee of Yale Blue Green and has co-chaired subcommittees focused on webinars and a potential symposium on sustainability at Yale.
Robert and his wife, Odalys, now live in Northern Virginia.
Chip is the founder of Earth+30, initially focusing on podcasts with people who are creating a healthy, sustainable, human friendly world. He brings an eclectic background to the Board, and has been involved in local politics since graduating from Yale in 1974. Chip started several community organizations and served on the Community Board Parks Commission while making art in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for many years. After moving to CT, he founded Bethany Citizens for Planned Development and served on the Board of Assessment Appeals and the Board of Finance. Chip was Chairman of the Democratic Party, Vice-Chair, and Treasurer and led one commission to provide tax relief to seniors, and another to provide a long range financial plan for the town.
In addition, Chip founded an event management company, and co-founded a nutrition company, Generation UCAN, that was started to help with maintenance of an ultra-orphan disease, GSD-1a. The company has expanded its product focus to included endurance and weight loss applications, and now has over 45 professional and 85 collegiate varsity teams using UCAN. Until moving to Westchester County, New York, Chip served Yale as coach, or co-coach, of the Men’s Water Polo team for 18 years and has been on the Board of another Yale affiliated non-profit for over 15 years. During his current tenure as President, he expanded the endowment by 500%, increased regional meetings, published two catalogues, initiated a mentoring program and started 2 multi-million dollar infrastructure projects.
Julia Osterman Strong has worked across the non-profit, public, and private sectors to advance positive impact at the intersection of climate change, nature conservation, and finance including at The Nature Conservancy, the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, Blue Forest Conservation and New Forests. She most recently led business development at NCX, a climate tech and precision forestry company focused on building the future of natural capital markets. She cofounded and cohosts “Solving Climate, Naturally” a podcast about nature-based solutions to climate change.
Julia earned her MBA-MS in Environment and Resources with a focus on land use from Stanford Graduate School of Business. At Stanford, she co-led GSB’s Sustainable Business Club, co-founded the GSB’s business, climate and innovation summit and partnered with The Natural Capital Project and the InterAmerican Development Bank to advance investment in nature-based solutions. She earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies with a focus on biodiversity conservation from Yale University.
As a Yale Blue Green board member, Julia would be interested in supporting alumni and students to find career opportunities in climate, helping YaleBlueGreen evaluate different business models for funding its activities and growing its impact, and could contribute her communications, website design, and business/non-profit strategy experience. She would bring her infectious energy and enthusiasm as well as creative ideas such as an alumni hill day to advocate for pro-climate policies
Barbara Tyran is Advisor, Macro Grid Initiative, at the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). She also serves as Past President of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Council on Energy & the Environment (WCEE).
She brings outstanding federal / state government relations experience, following two decades as Director, Washington & State Relations, in EPRI’s Washington DC office. She was the principal liaison between EPRI executive management and Congress, the Administration, the national trade associations, state legislators / regulators, and the Washington policy community.
Her background includes federal advocacy for utilities and management consulting for public / private / non-profit sector clients, with engagements involving strategic planning, policy analysis, marketing, external relations and communications, and financial / economic analysis.
She has held numerous leadership roles, including serving as General Chair of the IEEE Power & Energy Society 2014 and 2021 General Meetings, hosting several thousand international delegates.
In recognition of her technical expertise and knowledge, she was appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Energy and Energy Services, advising the Secretary and USTR on international trade matters. She was elected and re-elected as Chair.
She holds a BA degree with Honors from Stanford University and an MBA from Yale University.
Meriwether Wilson is an Associate Professor and Reader in Marine Science and Policy at the University of Edinburgh. Her research and teaching focus on the science-policy-society intersections of marine ecosystems, in particular biodiversity, ocean governance, the blue economy and climate adaptation for small island and large-ocean nations.
Meriwether founded and led the university’s first interdisciplinary MSc in Marine Systems and Policies. In 2020, she also founded, and is Co-Director, of the Edinburgh Ocean Leaders Programme, an executive leadership programme and life-long network for mid-career professionals from diverse geographies and sectors, to collectively accelerate sustainable solutions for the ocean and society at all scales (oceanleaders.org).
Before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2010, Meriwether worked internationally for two decades on marine protected areas and sustainable development, throughout the Pacific and Caribbean during the 1980s, and the 1990s – 2000s with the World Bank, UNESCO, UNDP, UNEP across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. She remains a long-standing member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.
Meriwether has degrees from Duke University (BA ‘81), Yale University (Master of Environmental Studies, ‘84) and the University of Washington (PhD, 2009). While originally from the Chesapeake Bay, her long-term home is Scotland, where she is also an avid sailor. She holds both British and US citizenship.