Breakout Sessions
The 10th Annual Wisconsin Sustainable Business Conference will present a variety of breakout sessions in both the morning and afternoon. These breakout sessions give attendees the opportunity to get detailed information from experts in the state. Each session will start with no more than 30 minutes of presentation from a panel, and then the moderator will open the session up to questions from the audience. It is generally during this open part of the session that really timely and valuable information is shared. This year, we are fortunate to be able to offer at least 5 breakout options in both the morning and afternoon, making for difficult choices for the attendees.
Women in Sustainability One of the morning breakout sessions is our “Empowering Women through Sustainable Businesses” breakout session. For the last several years we have had a panel focused on different topics related to women in the sustainability fields at the conference. We are very fortunate this year to present the following women who are involved in sustainability around the state.
Cynthia Bachman Cynthia Bachmann, Vice President-Fixtures Engineering, Kitchen & Bath Americas, joined Kohler Co. in 1995 and has served as Manager-Electronics Engineering and Director-Engineering, before being promoted to Vice President-Engineering, in 2001. She is responsible for the functional capabilities of product design engineering, engineering services, and program management which underwrite Kitchen and Bath advanced development, new product development, and sustaining engineering. She has played a key role in establishing product development capability for Kohler K&B in China and India. Cynthia champions a significant R&D program toward closed-loop advanced sanitation systems, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and several academic institutions.
Jacquelynn Voss Jacquelynn Voss is a Project Manager at Oshkosh Defense, LLC. As a founding member of the Oshkosh Corporate Sustainability Leadership Team, she serves as a representative for the Product Development department. Jacquelynn is active in the Oshkosh Corporation Women's Network (OWN) as a mentor and mentor circle leader. She engages in STEM activities inspiring and encouraging the next generation to be a positive influence on the world around them. Jacquelynn has over 20 years experience in various roles in Engineering including electrical design, testing, and managing software projects. She holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate as well as a Bachelor Degree in Business with a specialization in project management. Jacquelynn also has Associate Degrees in Electromechanical Technology and Natural Resources.
Jane McCurry Jane is the Executive Director of Wisconsin Microfinance, a Madison based 501(c)3 nonprofit. She is passionate about bringing sustainable aid to those who need it most. Jane is in her last year as an undergraduate student at University of Wisconsin-Madison working toward degrees in Operations and Technology Management and Environmental Studies. On campus, she is a part of the Chancellor’s Scholarship Program, pole vaults for the women’s varsity track and field team, and was the co-president of the Ethical and Responsible Business Network.
The session will be moderated by…
Jessy Servi Ortiz Jessy Servi Ortiz is the Sustainability Manager for Outpost Natural Foods, the fourth largest consumer food cooperative in the US. With her diverse background she supports vision and strategy development for business planning, helping the co-ops (and other businesses) align their action plans with intended results. At Outpost, Jessy is also responsible for companywide sustainability programming, oversees their lean process improvement team and works to continuously build a sustainable and thriving workplace culture. She manages green teams at all Outpost locations and is responsible for both internal and external communication of sustainability at Outpost. Jessy is the current chair of (Wisconsin) Women in Sustainability. She earned her MBA from Alverno College with a focus on sustainable business management in 2013 and was a 2014 fellow in the New Leaders Council, Madison. When not at work, Jessy enjoys being with her family, spending time traveling, being outdoors, gardening, biking and partaking in winter snow sports!
Other breakout sessions include:
Benchmarking Sustainability PerformanceStartFragment
WI Sustainable Business Conference attendees will learn different business sustainability strategies key to mitigating stakeholder risk. Once implemented, it is important to measure the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives. The breakout session, “Benchmarking Sustainability Performance”, will hear from a panel of sustainability leaders from Mercury Marine, Briggs & Stratton Corporation and SC Johnson about how they chose benchmarks, what was involved in getting buy-in from the floor, and how those benchmarks are used. EndFragment
Scott Louks
Scott Louks has over 20 years’ operational experience in project management, manufacturing, engineering, quality and continuous improvement at Mercury Marine. Scott coordinates Mercury’s global sustainability efforts revolving around four key pillars: responsible consumption of energy, caring for the environment, product stewardship and quality of life. Scott holds a BS Mechanical Engineering from Lawrence Technological University.
John Mourand
John Mourand is the Corporate Director of Environmental & Product Safety Compliance and Sustainability for Briggs & Stratton Corporation. In his role, he is responsible for global environmental compliance, energy and natural resource management, product safety compliance, due diligence activities, and public reporting on the corporation’s environmental and sustainability performance. He received his BS and MS degrees in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University and has 20+ years of environmental and operational management experience.
Jacob Madsen
Jacob Madsen is the current Director of Sustainability for SC Johnson. Mr Madsen joined SC Johnson in 2016 and is in charge of sustainability in North and South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Madsen previously worked as Manager in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Strategy and Operations practice where he led the supply chain sustainability strategy and assessment team within Deloitte’s Sustainable Operations in the Supply Chain offering. He received his education from Aalborg University in Denmark.
Renewable Energy and Facilities
featuring speakers such as...
Sean Hyland
Facilities Program Administrator with American Family Insurance. Accountable for strategic planning of American Family Insurance Company’s corporate data center infrastructure, ensuring risks are mitigated, resiliency methodologies are applied and efficiency is maximized. Responsible for implementation of the Corporate Energy Management Strategy and delivering on the key metrics focused on energy efficiency, CO2 reduction and implementation of onsite renewable energy generation. Leading the development and implementation of the Strategic Infrastructure Lifecycling program focused on asset optimization, expense management and risk mitigation.
Jack Williams
Jack Williams is VP Operations at Central Storage & Warehouse Co. CSW provides its customers with temperature-controlled warehouses throughout Wisconsin. In 2015, CSW installed Wisconsin’s largest rooftop solar array, generating 741 kW of peak electricity.
Jeff Lutsey
After graduating with honors from Northwestern University in the Chicago area, he worked for 15 years as a mechanical engineer on aerospace and nuclear energy projects. From 2002 to 2015 he worked with the U.S. Navy and Department of Energy, training Navy sailors, testing reactor plant safety systems and managing reactor design teams at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory. Lutsey returned to Door County in 2015 to reunite with family and to help direct operations and contribute to the sustainability mission at Waseda Farms.
This session will be moderated by...
Nick Hylla Nick Hylla is the Executive Director of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association where he works in partnership with organizations throughout the Midwest to advance renewable energy education and market development initiatives. Nick holds an MS degree in natural resource management, has more than 10 years of experience in non-profit leadership, and serves as the Principal Investigator on two US Dept. of Energy cooperative agreements as part of the SunShot Initiative. These efforts, focused on reducing cost and increasing market penetration for solar PV systems, have supported the development of the Midwest Grow Solar Partnership and the Solar University Network.
We hope to see you in December!
