Program Committee & Core Advisors

Director, Institute Sustainability, British Columbia Institute Of Technology, Canada.

Jennie Moore

Dr. Jennie Moore is a visionary sustainability leader. Prior to joining BCIT she was Metro Vancouver's first Air Quality Planner in charge of climate action, first demand side management planner, and an inspiration for the Sustainable Region Initiative. As founding coordinator of Vancouver's Ecocity Network, she helped bridge civil society and local government leadership on urban ecology. Her work helped initiate municipal greenhouse gas reporting, advancement of green buildings, community energy planning, and eco-industrial networking that has positioned the Vancouver region as a sustainability leader. Her research supports the Vancouver Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, Lighter Footprint goal. She has authored several peer-reviewed articles and regularly contributes to Ecocity Insights, part of the Ecocities Emerging newsletter. Her work has received numerous awards including an Environmental Citizenship Award from the Canadian Federal Minister of Environment. Jennie is a senior associate with One Earth and a core advisor and lead researcher for development of the International Ecocity Standards. She is also the creator of the ecoCity Footprint tool that helps cities and citizens identify pathways to sustainable consumption and lifestyles.

Cairo University, Egypt.

Sahar Attia

Dr. Sahar Attia, is a Professor of Architecture and Urban Design. She has been the Head of the Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University 2013-2017. She has more than 35 years of extensive experience in academia and practice. Aside of her teaching and research work at Cairo University, Dr. Sahar is the managing director for the Associated Consultants, a multi-disciplinary consulting firm where she practices and studies her assignments contextually in order to design sustainable solutions, with a special focus on sustainable cities. She coordinated several national projects with Egyptian authorities as well as international partners. She is a board member of Ecocity Builders NGO-USA. She is chairing the steering committee for the Universities Network Initiative- UN Habitat (UNI),and a member in the Standing committee of the World Urban Campaign. She has been the Co-chair of the Research and Academia Constituent group in the General Assembly of Partners for Habitat III(GAP) 2014-2017.

Her research interests include participatory approaches in Urban Development, Urban Regeneration, sustainable urbanism, and Upgrading the Informal Areas. She is the Co-Editor of; “Dynamics And Resilience Of Informal Areas: International Perspectives” published by Springer, 2016. Her most recent publication is a co-edition :New Cities and Community Extensions in Egypt and the Middle East, published by Springer 2018.

Wayne State University, USA.

Richard Smith

Dr. Richard Smith an Associate Professor at the Wayne State University School of Social Work in Detroit, Michigan USA. He publishes on aspects of sustainable and socially just cities. He currently serves as a core advisor for the International Ecocity Standards and serves on the Focus:HOPE Hope Village Steering Committee. He has earned scholarly awards from the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare; Journal of Gerontological Social Work; Urban Affairs Association; the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration; the Society for Social Work and Research; and the Council on Social Work Education/SAGE Publishing. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, Western Michigan University, and the University of Michigan. As a practitioner, he served at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; served in the U.S. Peace Corps – Mongolia training English teachers; managed the Spring English Language Center; and consulted for UNICEF and the World Bank/UNDP.

Catalytic Communities, Brazil.

Theresa Williamson

Theresa Williamson is founder and executive director of Catalytic Communities (CatComm), an empowerment, communications, think tank, and advocacy NGO working since 2000 in support of Rio’s favelas. In addition to fostering peer-to-peer networking, strategic training and media support on behalf of community organizers, the organization has become known for advocating a community-controlled asset-based development approach to informal settlements. Theresa is an outspoken, respected advocate for the recognition of favelas’ heritage status and their residents’ right to be fully served as equal citizens. She has published several book chapters, four opinion pieces in The New York Times, and has been cited in dozens of publications, with appearances on The Today Show, Vice, and HBO. Dr. Williamson received the 2012 NAHRO John D. Lange International Award for her contributions to the international housing debate and 2005 Gill-Chin Lim Award for Best Dissertation on International Planning. She is editor-in-chief of RioOnWatch.

Co-Chair of Working Group II, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Durban, South Africa.

Debra Roberts

Dr. Debra Roberts heads the Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit in eThekwini District Municipality, Durban, South Africa. Previously, she founded and managed the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department in eThekwini (1994-2016). She co-chairs IPCC's Working Group II, Sixth Assessment, and she was lead author of Chapter 8 (Urban Affairs) and contributing author to Chapter 12 (Africa) of the IPCC's Working Group II Fifth Assessment. Debra is also an advisor to the Global Commission on Adaptation. Dr. Roberts is an Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the School of Life Sciences. She has written widely in the fields of urban space planning, environmental management and urban climate protection. She has received numerous awards for her work.

AN Design - Habitat Studio, India.

Aparajithan Narasimhan

Designer of India's largest platinum rated green home community. Architect with more than 16 years of multi-national experience, and delivered projects worth $1.6 billion.

Trend Green Knowledge, Canada.

Adel Abdel-Kader

Dr. Adel Farid Abdel-Kader is an executive advisor on environment and sustainable development, and a founder and board director of Trend Green Knowledge Inc, in Canada. He is the former Regional Coordinator for Early Warning and Assessment (currently science division), West Asia, United Nation Environment. His focus is in the creation, analysis, and use of environmental knowledge in decision making, policy, and sustainability advice. His current top priorities are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change. He contributed to key global policy documents such as the Global Environment Outlook Series. He also led, coordinated, and brain-mastered key policy documents for the Arab region. He is an environment thought leader, materializing visions into realities. He has been active in the global environmental movement and is interested in environment social innovation. He is a staunch supporter of using the digital world and is always looking for trending ideas and innovations to bring to the environmental field.

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Cities Unit, France.

Sharon Gil

Sharon is coordinator and manager of the Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities which develops practical tools, conducts research, and brings solutions to implement urban metabolism, systems thinking, and circular economy approaches to cities in developing countries. An urban planner by profession, she also coordinates partnerships and joint resource mobilization on sustainable urbanization for UN Environment.

Sharon started her career in the late 90s, as a technical expert on the award-winning UNDP Private Sector Participation in Managing the Environment (PRIME) Project which has the distinction of being one of the first eco-industrial initiatives in Asia. She continued to develop her expertise in sustainable urbanization working for 2 years on rehabilitating old urban areas in Hong Kong with a private architecture and planning firm. After winning several design competitions, she was awarded “most promising urban planner” by the HK Institute of Planners in 2004. She then established herself as an expert in post-disaster reconstruction and risk reduction with UNDP and the Australian Government Aid Agency. Sharon was instrumental in conceptualizing and implementing the first multi-hazard mapping project in the Philippines bringing together scientists in different fields and linking them with local government actors. She also worked for over a year as Planning Advisor in Zambia where she focused on capacity building on land distribution and gender equality. Sharon joined UN Environment in 2012 to manage a project on mainstreaming the environment issues in city planning and management.

Sharon has a Masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University New York’s School of International and Public Affairs. She studied urban planning at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Architecture as a Japan/ADB fellow. She speaks English, French, and several Philippine languages.

Director, Cyber Security and Privacy Research Institute at The George Washington University, USA.

Costis Toregas

Dr. Costis Toregas is the Director of the Cyber Security and Privacy Research Institute at The George Washington University (https://cspri.seas.gwu.edu/), where he manages scholarship projects and conducts research in cybersecurity. His research interests include cybersecurity risk assessment and organizational strategies, the role of insurance in cyber risk management and exploring a fuller utilization of Community Colleges in cybersecurity work force strategies.  He is a Senior Adviser to the National CyberWatch Center (https://www.nationalcyberwatch.org/), as well as a Director of the National Cyber League (https://www.nationalcyberleague.org/).

He is a respected consultant to national governments and intergovernmental organizations, and a much sought-after speaker on the impact of technology in government and society.  His experience in developing innovative strategies for governments is reflected in the 30+ years he led the non-profit Public Technology Inc. which networked government innovators in technology and its applications.  He currently grounds his work in the reality of government as the IT adviser to the Montgomery County Council, Maryland, where he helps shape policy approaches for the $220m of IT expenditures in the County's $6B budget.

He is a Board member and Treasurer for Ecocity Builders, an organization which mirrors his interest in sustainable urban environment, and a contributing author to the “Capital Cities and Urban Sustainability” book released in 2019 by Routledge.   He is a member of the Expert Group for the Global Risk Assessment Framework of the UN ISDR program and a co-chair of its Communications and IT Working Group; this platform provides him with the opportunity to increase the awareness of global leaders regarding the impact of cyber security on the economy and continuity of operations for all vital sectors of the economy at global scale.  In addition, Dr. Toregas has supported technology-based efforts in GIS, environmental data and decision support systems in the Arab Gulf Region since 2003.

Dr. Toregas has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Environmental Systems Engineering from Cornell University.

Vice President of the Board of Ecocity Builders, USA.

Rick Pruetz, FAICP

Rick Pruetz has been an urban planner since 1979 and became a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2004. Prior to 1999, he served in various public sector positions including City Planner of Burbank, California. Since then, he has been a planning consultant specializing in the use of transferable development rights (TDR) as a means of preserving farmland, environmental resources and historic landmarks. During that time, he has participated in the preparation of TDR feasibility studies and ordinances for over thirty communities. Rick has written six books on TDR and other planning topics and contributed articles on planning and preservation to several publications including the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Brookings Institution. Rick also serves as Vice President of the Board of Ecocity Builders.

Assistant Director of Sustainability with the City of Vancouver, Canada.

Brad Badelt

Brad Badelt is the Assistant Director of Sustainability with the City of Vancouver. He oversees a range of climate mitigation and adaptation initiatives to help Vancouver achieve its goal of becoming the greenest city in the world. He is closely involved in partnerships between the City and local universities through CityStudio as well as the Greenest City Scholar program, and he is a co-instructor in the University of British Columbia’s Education for Sustainability graduate program. Brad has a master’s degree in water resources engineering and more than 15 years of experience in urban sustainability.