Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin has been working in the natural resources sector for over 10 years. After attaining a post-secondary degree in political science, Anne-Raphaëlle focused on studying law, more specifically environmental law, earning a civil law degree and a common law degree from the University of Ottawa. After completing her Master’s degree in environmental and natural resources management at Dalhousie University, she worked for several years as an environmental and social impacts management specialist for Hatch, Ltd., an international engineering consulting firm. In her current role as President of WaterPower Canada—voice of the hydropower sector in Canada—she promotes the many attributes of water power and the fundamental role it plays in the fight against climate change. Anne speaks French, English and Spanish and is certified in project planning and controls. She is also a co-founder of the Canadian Council on Renewable Electricity (CanCORE).

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Dean Jacobs, a former chief of the Walpole Island First Nation and the founding director of the Walpole Island Heritage Centre, has over 43 years of experience in public service and in enhancing community-based research capabilities. In 1976, Jacobs was the first Canadian First Nation individual admitted to the Smithsonian Institution’s American “Indian” Cultural Resources Training Program. He has been an expert witness in a number of hunting and fishing rights court cases. Awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Bowling Green State University (1998), University of Windsor (2006), and York University (2008), he was the recipient of the J. Norman Emerson Silver Medal (1998) from the Ontario Archaeological Society and The Commemorative Medal (1992) presented by the Governor General of Canada. He is also a recipient of two Eagle feathers from his peers.

The Walpole Island Heritage Centre he founded is recognized by scholars as one of the best First Nation community research offices in Canada and, in 1995, received the “We the Peoples: 50 Communities Award” from the Friends of the United Nations for its exemplary record in environmental research and sustainable development and has been designated by Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development as a “First Nations Effective Practices” site.

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Louie Porta is the Executive Director of Oceans North. With extensive experience living in, working in and exploring Arctic Canada, he oversees projects related to marine conservation, oil and gas, Arctic shipping, indigenous protected areas, coastal stewardship, and plastics. He formerly served as lead political adviser to Mary Simon during her appointment as Minister’s Special Representative for Arctic Leadership. He was appointed to serve on Canada’s National Advisory Panel—charged with recommending how Canada can meet its international conservation obligations.

Louie is also an adviser to the Students on Ice Foundation, is a senior associate for the International Institute for Sustainable Development, serves on the governing council of the Ocean Tracking Network and sits on the research oversight committee for Genome Canada’s investigation into oil spill countermeasures for the Arctic. He has a master’s degree from Dalhousie University’s School for Resource and Environmental Studies, and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his wife and three children.

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Professor Elizabeth Whitsitt has been engaged in a variety of issues in the area of international law, particularly international economic law. Her research interests include the unifying role of adjudication in global economic governance, and the relationship between international economic law and the regulation of natural resources, energy, environment and human rights.

Professor Whitsitt teaches various courses in international law and dispute resolution at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law. Professor Whitsitt received her LLM in international legal studies from New York University and completed her PhD in 2017. Her PhD research focused on the intersection of trade law and investment arbitration. More specifically, her work considered the role that adjudicators play in the continuing conversation about the relationship between the international trade and international investment law regimes and the extent to which these regimes are uniting through the process of adjudication. Professor Whitsitt has published and presented extensively in the areas of international trade and investment law. She is also the recipient of a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, a Killam Memorial Scholarship and the Marc Lalonde Prize for Excellence in International and Commercial Arbitration.

Professor Whitsitt is a member of the Law Society of Alberta, the Canadian Council on International Law (CCIL), the American Society of International Law (ASIL), and the European Society of International Law (ESIL).

Professor Whitsitt is also an appointee to Canada’s roster for NAFTA Chapter 19 Binational Panels.

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Gustavo Alanís Ortega received his law degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, where since 1994 he has taught the environmental law course as a full professor at the law school. Alanís Ortega also holds a master’s degree in international law from the Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, DC. Since August 1993, he has been president of the Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (Mexican Environmental Law Center—CEMDA), a public interest environmental law firm based in Mexico City. He is also active as a columnist for El Universal, one of Mexico’s most widely read and influential newspapers; and columnist for the bimonthly journal Derecho ambiental y ecología published by the Centro de Estudios Jurídicos y Ambientales (CEJA). He is a member of the seventh cohort of the Leadership on Environment and Development Program (LEAD) of El Colegio de México.

Alanís Ortega serves on the boards of directors of the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) and the World Commission on Environmental Law (CEL) of the IUCN Environmental Law Programme. He is also a member of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), the Climate Change Advisory Committee in Mexico, and the Environmental Law Advisory Group at the Department of Sustainable Development of the Organization of American States (OAS). Between April 2008 and January 2015, appointed by the Mexico City Legislative Assembly, he served on the Citizen Board of the Office of the Environmental and Zoning Prosecutor (Procuraduría Ambiental y del Ordenamiento Territorial—PAOT) and, from 2009 to 2016, he was part of the Public Participation Group of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which contributed to make the company more socially responsible.

In December 2012, Alanís-Ortega was named to the CEC’s Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) for the third time, having previously served from 2001 to 2004 and 2008 to 2011.

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Adriana Nelly Correa Sandoval has had wide-ranging professional experience in consensus building, education and research. Correa Sandoval has been awarded the Rómulo Garza Award for Research twice (in 1997 and 2003), the Nuevo León Pro-Wildlife Merit Award (Education, 2008) and the “Women and Sustainability” Award (2011). The Planetario Alfa chose her as an environmental leader for the Green Revolution exhibition (2013).

She was Founding Director of the Andrés Marcelo Sada Chair at the Monterrey Institute of Technology (Tecnológico de Monterrey) (2001–2013) and  Director of Strategic Alliances at the Mario Molina Center for Strategic Studies (Centro Mario Molina de Estudios Estratégicos) (2013-2014).

Ms. Correa Sandoval has conducted research, managed projects and been a thesis director on basic ecology, valuation of ecosystem services, planning for sustainable development and land-use management. Moreover, she has made contributions as co-author and co-editor of the books: Tecnológico de Monterrey: un refugio para las aves (2010), Vida, ambiente y desarrollo en el siglo XXI and Ciencia ambiental y desarrollo sostenible (1997).

She participated in developing the Latin American input to the elaboration of the first international standard on sustainable water management (2010–2012). She coordinated, amongst other endeavors, the chapter on adaptative management of ecosystems and biodiversity in the Climate Change Action Program for Nuevo León (2008–2009), the Plan for Comprehensive Coastal Management of the Laguna Madre System of Tamaulipas (2004–2007) and Semarnat’s CCNDS Technical Commission for Environmental and Social Economic Policy for Sustainable Development (Comisión Técnica de Política Económica Ambiental y Social para el Desarrollo Sustentable) (2002–2007).

Ms. Correa-Sandoval has participated in some committees for the Mexico’s National Commission for Science and Technology (Conacyt). She represents academia in the technical board for ecological planning of the Cuenca de Burgos region; she sits on the Citizens’ Advisory Board of the Environmental and Natural Resources Protection Agency for the state of Nuevo León, and is member of the Technical-Scientific Subcouncil for the “Cumbres de Monterrey” National Park. A founding member of Pronatura Noreste, AC, she has been a member of its board of directors since 2008.

Since March 2002, she has been a Mexican representative on the CEC Joint Public Advisory Committee and serves as its chairperson for 2009.

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Bárbara Hernández Ramírez is a graduate in economics from Mexico’s Universidad Anáhuac with minors in political analysis and the history of Mexico.

In addition to her career as a businesswoman in the cosmetics industry and hotel and restaurant sector, Ms. Hernández Ramírez has engaged in significant work as an environmentalist, fostering environmental sustainability and financial approaches in the numerous projects and organizations she supports.

She is board chairperson of the Fundación Pedro y Elena Hernández, devoted to nature conservation and community development in different places in Mexico, especially in Valle de Bravo, northern Veracruz, and the Yucatán peninsula; Fondo para la Comunicación y la Educación Ambiental and Niños y Crías, which was able to restore the Caribbean pink flamingo to the point it could be removed from the endangered species list. She also chairs the Technical Committee of Protected Natural Areas and Yucatán Aquifer Fund; sits on the board of RARE Conservation, an international organization specializing in environmental education and conservation; is a board member of Unión de Empresarios para la Tecnología en la Educación; and is a member of the boards of directors of the Climate Institute in Washington, DC, and Fondo Pro Cuenca Valle de Bravo. She is also a member of the Veracruz Environmental Fund and the Gulf of Mexico Fund.

Paola Hernández Villalvazo graduated with honors from the Universidad Iberoamericana with a bachelor of laws degree; she also holds a certificate in international trade arbitration from the Escuela Libre de Derecho (ELD), a specialty in foreign trade from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and a master’s degree in environmental law (also with honors) from the Universidad del País Vasco (UPV). She has complemented these studies with two postgraduate courses in advanced negotiation techniques from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States).

Hernández Villalvazo began her practice in the private sector, working for two years in the field of telecommunications. Subsequently, she worked for six years in the public sector, representing the Government of Mexico on negotiation and implementation of the unfair trade practices and dispute settlement chapters of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as well as on the WTO’s Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes.

For the last 18 years, she has worked exclusively on environmental issues for Grupo Mexico, a mining company with activities in Mexico, the United States, Peru, and Spain. In addition to representing Grupo Mexico on the board of directors of the Private Sector Commission for Sustainable Development Studies (CESPEDES)—a body of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) that seeks to influence public policy through sustainability proposals with a business-sector thrust—Hernández Villalvazo has worked with Mexico’s most important industry associations on analysis and lobbying in relation to Mexico’s principal environmental laws. She was recently named coordinator of the Environmental Law Commission of Mexico’s National Association of Business Lawyers for 2019–20.

In the academic sector, she has spoken before the World League of Environmental Lawyers and has taught in the master’s program in environmental law at UNAM.

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Jerilyn López Mendoza is an environmental advocate with approximately 20 years of professional experience in a variety of governmental, utility and nongovernmental organizational (NGOs) positions. Currently, she works as a senior policy advocate with the Coalition for Clean Air, a California-based statewide NGO whose sole focus is improving air quality for Californians. In this role, she is responsible for helping reduce pollution from the freight and goods movement industries.

In positions prior to this, López Mendoza served as an appointee of Governor Jerry Brown as Deputy Director for the Office of Public Participation at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, as well as environmental affairs program manager for SoCalGas, coordinating California Air Resources Board (CARB) policy for the utility. In addition, she has served as a commissioner on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, the California manager for NGO ICLEI -Local Governments for Sustainability, and vice president of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners for five years. During her tenure as Harbor Commission vice president at the Port of Los Angeles, she helped develop and implement the world’s first landmark, port-related “Clean Air Action Plan,” as well as the Clean Truck Program.

For nine years, López Mendoza worked as policy director and staff attorney at the Environmental Justice Project Office of Environmental Defense Fund in Los Angeles, where she helped incubate the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, a successful community-based organization, to create new green space in the urban core, and pioneered the use of community benefits agreements to ensure community assets and reduce environmental impacts from large-scale development projects. López Mendoza earned a law degree from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.

She is the recipient of several environmental honors, including the Trailblazer Award from UCLA School of Law’s Public Interest Law and Policy Program and the Los Angeles League of Environmental Voters Smith-Weiss Environmental Champion Award. Born and reared in Montebello, California, López Mendoza lives in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles with her husband and young daughter.

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Felicia Marcus was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown as a board member of the State Water Resources Control Board (Board), and was sworn in on July 2, 2012. Before her appointment to the Water Board, she was the Western Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a national environmental leader in bringing science, law, and policy expertise to solving our world’s pressing environmental and conservation challenges. Prior to joining NRDC, Ms. Marcus was the Executive VP/COO of the Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit devoted to conserving land for people.

During the Clinton Administration, she had been administrator of USEPA Region IX, where she was known for her work in bringing unlikely allies together for environmental progress and for making the agency more responsive to the communities it serves, particularly Indian Tribes, communities of color, local government, and business. While at EPA, Ms. Marcus worked extensively on the range of environmental issues under EPA’s jurisdiction, most heavily in air quality, Bay-Delta water, tribal, and US-Mexico border issues. Prior to that, Ms. Marcus headed Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works at a time when the City went from garnering lawsuits to garnering national awards for environmental excellence. Ms. Marcus came to Public Works after extensive experience as a public interest lawyer and community organizer in Los Angeles.

She currently serves on many non-profit boards and advisory councils, including the Public Policy Institute of California, Urban Habitat, Kesten Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy, and the Center for Diversity and the Environment. She is also an Obama Administration appointee to the Commission on Environmental Cooperation—Joint Public Advisory Council (US, Mexico, Canada) and was a Schwarzennegar Administration appointee to the Delta Stewardship Council prior to her appointment to that board.

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Octaviana V. Trujillo (Yaqui), Ph.D., is founding chair and professor of the department of Applied Indigenous Studies at Northern Arizona University (NAU), where she also teaches courses on tribal nation building.

Throughout her professional career, Professor Trujillo has been involved with education, health, social services, and cultural enhancement programs in conjunction with communities, tribal government entities, and higher education institutions.

She is the principal investigator (for community outreach) at the National Cancer Institute-funded Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention, which focuses on alleviating the burden of cancer among Native Americans of the southwestern United States through research, training and outreach programs that allow the Partnership to collaborate closely with the Hopi, Navajo, and Tohono O’odham communities it serves.

Professor Trujillo is also the NAU research, education and training co-director of the Center for American Indian Resilience (CAIR), a partnership with University of Arizona’s College of Public Health to reduce American Indian health disparities.

In 2011, Professor Trujillo served as a visiting fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. Previously, she was director of the Center for Indian Education at Arizona State University, and was formerly a member of the Tribal Council of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona.

Professor Trujillo received B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Arizona State University.

She has served on a number of local, national and international boards. These include the Global Diversity Foundation, which promotes agricultural, biological and cultural diversity around the world through research, training and social action. Professor Trujillo is also a member of the US Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), which advises the Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who serves as the US representative on the governing Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

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Considered one of the nation’s most experienced and respected environmental leaders, Robert Varney is a former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) New England Regional Administrator, who currently is President of Normandeau Associates, a science-based environmental firm with eighteen offices in 12 states. He was the longest-serving regional administrator and top environmental official in New England and is credited with instituting many innovative approaches and policy initiatives that have served as national models. Prior to EPA, Mr. Varney was one of the nation’s longest-serving state environmental commissioners, appointed by three Governors of both political parties.

Bob is nationally recognized for his efforts on global climate change; energy efficiency and renewables; homeland security and preparedness; clean air, clean water and safe drinking water; superfund and brownfields cleanup and redevelopment; environmental justice and healthy communities; restoration of rivers, lakes and coastal areas; strong and consistent enforcement and compliance assistance; strengthening partnerships; and improved agency management and performance.

Mr. Varney has chaired the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), State/EPA Superfund Policy Forum, Federal Ozone Transport Commission (OTC), Governmental Advisory Committee to the US Representative to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and New England Governors Conference Environment Committee. He also was a member of EPA’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council and currently serves on the NH Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the CEC Joint Public Advisory Committee (US, Mexico, Canada). Bob is the recipient of numerous environmental awards such as the EPA Lifetime Achievement Award, NE Water Works Association’s John H. Chafee Award, Environmental Business Council of NE’s Paul Keough Award and the ECOS Founder’s Award.

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