Agenda	Participants | Presentation Summaries
Presentations	Workshop Home

Participants | Presentations

Riva Krut, Ph.D., Vice President, Cameron-Cole, LLC.
Biography
Dr. Riva Krut has a Ph.D. from the University of London, School of Oriental & African Studies, Modern African History. She has a diverse professional consulting and business career that includes experience in organizational development, benchmarking, business development, environmental management and corporate sustainable development and policy. She currently consults on the design and implementation of strategies, management systems and communications for corporate environmental, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development functions; EMS implementation; globalization and its consequences for development. She is the author of fifteen books/major reports, including the annual benchmark survey entitled "The State of Global Environmental Reporting."

Workshop Presentation
Riva's opening night presentation was designed to be evocative and thought-provoking. Entitled "Learning from a Decade of EMS Experience," she described the evolution of Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) and their enduring value. Dr. Krut argued that there have been three phases of EMS evolution. The first phase witnessed innovation, experimentation and diversity of approaches. The second phase saw the emergence of standardization under ISO 14001. We are currently in the third phase. Innovation, experimentation and diversity have reappeared on a broader scope of issues, including voluntary public reporting, the application of EMSs in the supply chain, and the use of EMS/ISO 14001 as one of many tools companies now use to improve environmental performance.

Vincent Giordano, General Electric, EHS Compliance Council
Biography
Vincent attended the University of Connecticut and graduated with a B.S. in 1979. In 1983, he graduated with a J.D. from George Washington National Law Center. Following graduation from law school, he worked for the US EPA in several different roles including: Rule writer, Office of Toxic Substances (1983-1986), Case Support Officer, Office of Compliance Monitoring (1986-1988), Enforcement Counsel, Office of Enforcement, Deputy Enforcement Counsel, Toxic Division (1988-1991). Vincent then went to work for GE in the following roles: EHS Compliance Counsel (1991 - 1996), Plastics Europe Process Safety Manager (1996 - 1998), and EHS Compliance Counsel (1998 - present). His responsibilities include providing counsel as an Audit Leader and for the Clean Water Act.

Workshop Presentation
Vincent's presentation focused on strategies and techniques to lead change in an organization. His presentation was extremely interactive and he showed the group how to accelerate change through various games and activities. Vincent shared tools and tactics for working through the following phases of the change acceleration process:
· Creating the Need
· Shaping the Vision
· Mobilizing Commitment
· Setting Expectations
· Monitoring Progress
· Making the Change Last.

New vocabulary we learned from Vincent: "high pot" defined as the "young-blood" that has high potential to be successful in the company.

George C. Thomas, PE, HS&E Management System Program Manager,
Eastman Kodak
Biography
George earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University in 1972. In 1973, he graduated from Johns Hopkins University with an M.S. in Environmental Engineering. George has worked for Eastman Kodak since 1973 with roles in manufacturing (engineering and maintenance), services (waste & wastewater treatment, power plant operations, and silver recover operations), and staff (environmental engineering and compliance, purchasing, industrial hygiene, pollution prevention program management, and HSE management systems). Since 1998, George has also been an Adjunct Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Workshop Presentation
George's presentation focused on Compliance Assurance techniques and systems used at Eastman Kodak. George identified the former compliance assurance process at Kodak and the improvements they have made to really make the EMS work on a day-to-day basis. He identified expectations of employees relative to compliance assurance and how the compliance hierarchy works. George then unveiled the 130 requirements checklists his group has developed for the line personnel and a remarkable electronic system that helps to manage compliance at the line level. George remarked on the extra discipline and follow-through that goes along with third party ISO 14001 certification.

New vocabulary we learned from George: "aspect-laden" defined as a system or organization with a whole bunch of environmental aspects.

Kira Drummond, Senior EH&S Associate, Pfizer Global
Biography
Kira attended Colgate University and graduated with a B.A. She has a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Following graduation, Kira taught high school chemistry in Connecticut. She is currently a Senior EHS Associate at Pfizer Global Research & Development - Groton Labs. She is responsible for managing the development and maintenance of compliance assurance mechanisms related to environmental, health and safety programs. In her role she facilitates regulatory issues identification, tracking and applicability determination, develops and implements an internal review program to ensure compliance with applicable EHS regulations, coordinates the development and utilization of IT solutions for the Groton Labs EMS, and facilitates the implementation and maintenance of the ISO 14001 standard.

Workshop Presentation
Kira focused her presentation on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Kira talked about the historic use of SOPs and how operating procedures are typically contained in several different types of systems and manuals that were hard to keep up to date and how Pfizer is working to overcome these obstacles. She pointed out the importance of SOPs not only internally to the company, but also externally as part of the EMS system and the relationship with stakeholders. Kira provided some guiding principles for the development of SOPs, including the need for an SOP on how to create and manage SOPs. She shared an impressive electronic system that Pfizer uses to write, share, and control their EH&S SOPs.

New vocabulary we learned from Kira: "legacy employee" defined as a person that has been around for a while and should be updated.

James T. Curtis, P.E., L.S.P., EHS Office, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Biography
Jim earned a B.S.E. degree from Princeton and a Masters degree from Northeastern University, both in Civil Engineering. He is a registered Professional Engineer and Licensed Site Professional, has over 17 years of progressive managerial and technical experience in a wide range of fields related to environmental and business performance. Particular areas of focus include environmental compliance, waste site cleanup, Environmental Management Systems, sustainability, and recycling and waste reduction programs.
Jim joined MIT's Environmental Management Program in 2000 following a career in consulting at CDM Inc. In his MIT work, he has taken an active role in the EHS Management System development and currently serves as the Assistant Chief Project Manager. In this role, he works with MIT's administrative and research departments, faculty and students, Senior Counsel's office, and the Real Estate Office to advance the Institute's mission in manner compatible with environmental stewardship. A principal focus is the development of sustainable practices to ensure compliance and continuous improvement for MIT's 2800+ laboratories, 150+ campus buildings, and off-site research facilities.

Workshop Presentation
Jim's presentation provided a nice link bringing together information from the corporate presentations and the approach a university took to the development of an Environmental, Health & Safety Management System (EHS-MS). Jim talked about MIT's impetus for change, the key challenges the university had to overcome, and what the university has done to address those challenges. He shared the EHS-MS organization and development of roles, responsibilities and accountability, especially "how to instill a culture of accountability in an academic environment." Registration of each unit (lab, center, etc.) was key to the EHS-MS. Jim also talked about developing assessment and training systems and beyond compliance environmental stewardship, giving examples of MIT's voluntary initiatives. He showed us the environmental virtual campus that MIT has developed to help colleges and universities understand regulations that apply to them and to share best practices. Check it out at http://www.c2e2.org/evc.

New vocabulary we learned from Jim: "C/B/R" for chemicals, biologicals, and radiologicals.