Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Amanda Crespo Gómez is a 20-year-old third-year general natural science major at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Puerto Rico. She hopes to pursue a career as a pediatrician and medical researcher. During her student years, she has participated in extracurricular activities at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón that could help her develop her personal and professional background. She was accepted into La Red, a drug-prevention youth group that helps children pursue a healthy lifestyle.

She has also worked at the chemistry laboratory, where she gained theoretical and practical knowledge, and now works as a tutor at the Title V federal program. Crespo Gómez is also president of the Women in Science Student Association, where her leadership and networking skills have encouraged the members to be active in volunteer work and, as well, in a science internship program. In all of her activities, she strives for excellence in order to develop as a professional and help others.

Brock Dickinson is an assistant director of the Economic Development Program and an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo, where he holds the title of Entrepreneur in Residence. Dickinson has worked in local economic development for 25 years. He was previously CEO of MDB Insight, Canada’s largest specialist economic development consultancy, where he worked with hundreds of communities across North America. Before this private sector role, Brock headed a number of provincial and municipal economic development agencies in both Ontario and Nova Scotia, and spent six years as a consultant with the United Nations, leading sustainable development projects in 30 countries.

A graduate in communication sciences with specialization in organizational communication and communications research and a masters’ degree in social responsibility, from Anáhuac University of Northern Mexico (UAMN), Klaudia Sánchez Espíndola completed her doctoral studies in innovation and social responsibility from that university in 2015. She is presently working on her dissertation on citizen engagement. In addition, she is a lecturer and academic coordinator for degree programs in social responsibility and sustainability management.

Having worked for ten years as an institutional communications professional, she has conducted interviews with over 500 leading entrepreneurs and managers. She was also general coordinator of communication for the nine campus Anáhuac University system in Mexico, where she was in charge of communication and corporate image, led research on brand reputation and identity, managed corporate image campaigns and formulated communications criteria and policies in relation to image management. Sánchez Espíndola has profited from International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) workshops and programs, offered at the IABC’s Seattle and New York City offices, on topics such as global strategic communication, corporate image building, public relations in fundraising campaigns and communication administration.

Michael Vegh is a Heiltsuk Nation Steward. After completing his bachelor’s degree in environmental studies in 2018, he joined the Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance to further his passion for Indigenous stewardship. His professional work has involved executive roles within numerous Indigenous and environmental organizations, several positions as a field biologist within his traditional territory, and participating in policy development at both the national and regional levels to advance Indigenous-led stewardship.

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).

Paola Orozco Barragán is a student in the Faculty of Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development of Anáhuac University (Mexico) where she is presently in her next-to-last semester. She is also taking an online course on the circular economy and one given by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), entitled “Global Agreements on Sustainable Development.”

Orozco Barragán greatly enjoys learning about issues related to sustainability, including how to apply sustainability principles to Mexico’s contemporary problems, in the search for optimal solutions benefitting society.

Tom Lumpkin, PhD, holds the C.S. Trosper Chair professorship of entrepreneurship and is director of the Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at the Michael J. Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. His primary research interests include entrepreneurial orientation, social entrepreneurship, and family business. A globally recognized scholar whose research has been published in leading management and entrepreneurship journals, Lumpkin co-authored Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantages (with Greg Dess, Alan Eisner, and Gerry McNamara) and co-edited The Landscape of Family Business (with Ritch Sorenson, Keith Brigham and Andy Yu, 2013).

In 2018, he received the Mentor Award from Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management, which “recognizes exceptional mentoring activities at all educational levels in the field of entrepreneurship,” and was named among the top 100 most-influential strategy authors (from a field of 6,326 authors) in the Academy of Management Learning and Education. He received the 2009 Academy of Management Foundational Paper award for his paper, “Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking it to Performance,” published in 1996 (with Gregory G. Dess). A related paper (co-authored with Andreas Rauch, Johan Wiklund and Michael Frese) won the 2015 Greif Research Impact award from the Academy of Management.

Prior to becoming a professor, Lumpkin founded and operated TLC Home Improvements, a home repair business marketed to realtors that readied homes for the marketplace, and Lumpkin & Associates, a consulting firm that assisted businesses on new business development, market analysis, and strategic positioning.

A founding member of Entrai-dons, a local and social currency initiative in Quebec City, Victoria Thân was also, from 2016 to 2019, the chair of Enactus Laval University, a non-profit committed to entrepreneurial action that enhances society’s economic, social and environmental health. Her experience in advising some forty students active in five social entrepreneurship projects and enterprises led her to disseminate the results nationwide and participate in numerous competitions, which contributed to promoting these same initiatives and furthering their influence.

The first Quebecer to be named HSBC Woman Leader of Tomorrow, Victoria is renowned for her skills in project management, communications, social entrepreneurship and health care.

A recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Youth Medal, her greatest sense of fulfillment comes from contributing to the strengthening of the community’s economic and social fabric.