Labor=Green

Donele Wilkins has over two decades of experience in occupational and environmental health as an educator, consultant, trainer, administrator and advocate.  In 1994, she co-founded and currently serves as the executive director of Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, an organization addressing environmental issues in the city of Detroit.  Ms. Wilkins works with local and national audiences on topics of community driven sustainable development, environmental justice, and occupational and environmental health advocacy.

Ms. Wilkins is the recipient of numerous awards for her work and sits on many boards.  She is also the founder and co-chair of the National Black Environmental Justice Network.

David Foster is currently the executive director of the Blue-Green Alliance, a strategic partnership between the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club.  He also co-chairs the Twin Cities Mayors’ Green Manufacturing Initiative. From 1990-2006, he was the director of USW, District #11, a 13-state region based in Minneapolis, with a diverse membership of 43,000.

In 2004, he was awarded the Jane Lehman Bagley Award for his work building labor/environmental coalitions. He teaches classes on unions and globalization at the Carlson at the University of Minnesota and on advocacy and political leadership in Duluth.  

Nathaniel Doyno is the founder and executive director of Steel City Biofuels, which he founded in 2005 to build the awareness, technology, policy and infrastructure necessary for the sustainable production and use of biofuels in Southwest PA.  He serves as coordinator of Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities, a Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored program designed to reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector and sits on both the Pittsburgh Technology Council's CleanTech Advisory Board and the City of Pittsburgh's Green Government Task Force.  He is also also a co-founder GTECH Strategies (Growth Through Energy & Community Health), a new social venture that is revitalizing vacant lots & brownfields in the region through the cultivation of bioenergy crops and the development of a Green Job training program.

Dr. Jerry Paytas is the director of research for the Economic Architecture Practice of GSP Consulting.  Formerly, he was the director of the Center for Economic Development (CED) at Carnegie Mellon.  Dr. Paytas serves on the board of Sustainable Pittsburgh and is a Past-President of the Economic Club of Pittsburgh.  He received a B.A. in Sciences and International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University, a M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning a Ph.D. in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Paytas led the EDA’s study on Universities and the Development of Industry Clusters.  In 1999, he developed the Innovation Assets index for the Development Report Card for the States, which continues to be used as a neutral arbiter of state performance.  He also developed the new standard definition of technology industries for use with the new NAICS coding system for the State Science and Technology Institute.