It's easy to say we are going to commit to being a sustainable business, but what does it take to put this commitment into action?

The 9th annual Sustainable Business Breakfast, part of the Green Voice Speaker Series provided a platform for distinguished panelists and moderator Grant Ervin, Director of Environmental, Social, Governance, and Innovation at S&B USA to host an engaging conversation on topics like green business as better business, the future of sustainability through the lens of clean energy, and corporate responsibility. 

Guests enjoyed a complimentary breakfast and a live broadcast of the KDKA Morning Show with Larry Richert!

Grant Ervin currently serves as the Director of Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) and Innovation for S&B USA, an infrastructure integration firm based in Pittsburgh, Pa that specializes in civil construction solutions in the energy, transportation, ports and waterways and vehicle electrification space.

Grant serves as an integrator of activities by working across departments, agencies and sectors to form public policy and market-based solutions. He brings deep experience, intersecting the worlds of environmental, community and economic development and infrastructure policy to create innovative and sustainable solutions for local governments, private sector clients, community development organizations, and state agencies.

Prior to joining S&B USA, Mr. Ervin served as the Chief Resilience Officer and Assistant Director for the Department of City Planning for the City of Pittsburgh.

Mamadou Baldé is the Market Leader and Managing Director for CBRE’s Pittsburgh, PA and West Virginia operations. In this role, he is responsible for real estate sales and support professionals throughout Pittsburgh, PA and Charleston, WV. He serves as the strategic manager for all Advisory Services lines of business, including Property Management, Advisory & Transaction Services, Capital Markets, Occupier Outsourcing, Project Management and Valuation & Advisory Services.

Mr. Baldé oversees business operations and manages client relations, new business development and related services for the market. He drives growth within the Pittsburgh office for teams, clients and individual professionals through leadership that embodies CBRE’s core values and sustains a positive workplace culture.

Mr. Baldé is a graduate of Liberty University School of Law where he earned his Juris Doctorate and his Bachelor of Science in Finance. He is active in the Pittsburgh community, where he serves on the Board of VisitPittsburgh, Neighborhood Allies, Salvation Army of Western PA, PHLF & YPO.

Coming up on 20 years of practicing law, Nick brings his experience as an Associate, a Partner, and Corporate Counsel. Before starting his current role as Vice President of Legal, Environmental, & General Counsel, he was the Deputy General Counsel at Carmeuse.

Nick dedicated his work to advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, drafting corporate contracts, and giving both business and legal advice on matters such as corporate development, securities compliance, and governance matters.

Nick received his Doctor of Law (JD) from Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Olivia Cochran is the Strategic Variable Operations Manager at #1 Cochran, the region’s largest automotive retailer.

The third generation of her family to work in the business, Olivia is responsible for overseeing modern retail initiatives, including key systems partnerships, internal sales processes, and developing #1 Cochran’s electric vehicle operationalization plan.

Before taking on her current role, Olivia served as a Sales Manager at #1 Cochran Mazda North Hills and Variable Operations Project Manager at #1 Cochran Toyota. Prior to joining the family business, Olivia spent time working for a variety of companies both within and outside the automotive industry, including Discovery, Inc., TiER1 Performance, and Cadillac. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business, concentrating in marketing and management, from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a master’s degree in leadership and organizational performance from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College.

Derek Dauphin is the Director of Planning and Service Development at Pittsburgh Regional Transit. In this role, he oversees infrastructure planning, service planning, transit-oriented development, and public art. Collectively, the department’s projects are working to increase transit ridership, aid in the transition of PRT’s bus fleet to zero emissions vehicles, and bring other sustainability benefits to the communities PRT serves such as transit-oriented development, native habitat, green infrastructure, tree canopy, and solar power generation. In the last year, Derek has been helping the agency to establish its first climate action plan.

Derek has a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University and worked for the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability prior to relocating to Pittsburgh.

Joseph P. Dowd is Vice President of Zero Harm, formerly known as Global Safety, Health, and Environmental. Joe also has responsibility for legacy Site Remediation, Information Technology (IT), our Project Management Office, and increased capabilities in Data Analytics.

Earlier in his career at Koppers, Joe held the role of Vice President, North American Carbon Materials and Chemicals. Prior to joining the company, he served as Vice President and General Manager, North American Recycling for Exide Technologies, Inc. and Global President and Chief Operating Officer with Silberline Manufacturing. He was also employed with BASF Corporation for sixteen years in various positions of increasing responsibility.

Joe earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz School of Business. He previously served as Board Chairman for the JDRF Western Pennsylvania Chapter, and remains active in supporting the organization's mission.

Samantha (Sam) is a proud Pittsburgh native. Throughout her career she has been dedicated to driving impact within the organizations she has worked as well as in the communities they serve. She designed and executed DLC’s Community Impact Grant program which awards micro grants to grassroots nonprofits focused on education, environmental justice, and social equity.

She also stood up the company’s ESG strategy which led to the release of their inaugural ESG report in 2023. In her current role, Sam is focused on delivering on DLC’s vision of a Larger than Light Clean Energy Future for All by ensuring our diversity, equity, inclusion strategy is well represented and connected to our efforts in the marketplace, workplace, and community.

Sam was recognized as a New Pittsburgh Courier’s Fab 40 in 2022. She is a 2023 graduate of The Advanced Leadership Institute’s (TALI) Executive Leadership Academy and co-founder of Invest in Her.

Martin is the Director of Responsible Investing at Federated Hermes, leading firm-wide ESG integration, engagement and analytics across equities, fixed income and liquidity solutions.

He has 17 years of investment management experience most recently as an Equity Portfolio Manager and current member of the Federated Hermes’ Risk Management Committee, Proxy Voting Committee and Product Advisory Board. Prior to Federated Hermes, Martin was a Senior Operations Manager with McMaster-Carr and Legislative Director Assistant with the United States Senate Banking Committee.

Martin is an Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Rochester Simon Business School, member of the CFA Institute ESG Technical Committee, serves as an advisory member on the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and Forbes Financial Council ESG and Sustainability Lead.

Ben currently serves as Senior Counsel for Wesco International, where he oversees a broad
spectrum of corporate and commercial responsibilities, with a particular focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and sustainability initiatives.

Before joining Wesco six years ago, Ben was outside counsel with Linklaters LLP, advising European corporate clients on a range of corporate finance matters. His experience also includes serving with the U.S. Peace Corps in The Republic of Moldova and pro-bono work for various international NGOs, as well as local organizations in Pittsburgh, on various topics including anti-human trafficking, environmental rights, and public health financing.

Ben is excited to discuss Wesco's commitment to conducting its business responsibly, actively reducing its environmental footprint, and helping customers to achieve their sustainability objectives.

Rebecca L. Lucore is responsible for devising new models that apply the company’s commitment to sustainable business practices and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) to its social programs, philanthropy, community relations and sustainability initiatives.

Lucore is a leading voice in Corporate America for empowering employee purpose and creating
employee-citizen-philanthropist to drive sustainable communities through the transformation of
traditional corporate volunteerism to next gen Skills-Based Volunteerism (SBV). With SBV, teams of employees use their skills and expertise to help nonprofits and municipalities solve organizational challenges in IT, marketing, finance, systems, et al. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Covestro Center for Community Engagement at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh which provides SBV and other volunteer training to Covestro employees and those of other companies throughout the region wishing to create their own citizen philanthropists.

Lora Phillips is PNC Bank’s senior vice president and director of Responsible Business Strategies, overseeing PNC’s efforts to integrate corporate responsibility considerations into its business practices. She leads PNC’s corporate responsibility reporting and public goal setting efforts, climate action strategy, and environmental and social risk management functions, and supports our sustainable finance and climate policy and regulatory readiness efforts. Phillips also oversees the bank’s corporate responsibility stakeholder engagement strategy, helping to ensure that PNC is effectively communicating with employees, customers, investors, and community groups on responsible business issues.

Prior to joining PNC in 2017, Phillips spent 16 years at Symantec Corporation, holding a number of corporate responsibility, community relations, philanthropy and employee engagement roles.

Justine Russo is on the front line of PITT OHIO’s award-winning sustainability programs. Her responsibilities include heading the cross-functional Steering Committee, implementing the company’s carbon calculator, and reporting on actionable sustainability metrics. Russo served on Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Board of Directors from 2017-2022 and was named Board Chair during her tenure.

As part of her role at PITT OHIO, Justine also develops data-driven solutions, delivering analysis and tools that leverage information from throughout the PITT OHIO organization, with a concentration on customer, marketing, and sales analytics.

Justine graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with an MBA and a BS in Civil Engineering.

Anna J. Siefken, LEED AP BD+C, is Deputy Director for the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Infrastructure, which enables our nation’s largest energy consumer – the federal government – to leverage its annual purchasing power of $630 billion to transition its portfolio of 300,000 buildings totaling $3B square feet to carbon pollution-free electricity, and its 600,000 cars and trucks to zero-emission vehicles.

She concurrently serves as the United States Delegate to Mission Innovation’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) with oversight on Zero Emission Shipping, Industrial Decarbonization, and the Green Powered Future. Siefken is also an appointed Ambassador for Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) by the U.S. Energy Secretary.

Katie Spear has over 30 years of marketing experience and currently serves as the VP of Marketing for S&B USA. Her experience includes all aspects of marketing and branding for the entire S&B USA family of companies. Katie co-leads S&B USA’s ESG committee and is a member of its DEI Committee.

She is also on the Board of the Pennsylvania Economy League of Greater Pittsburgh, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference, in the Leadership Pittsburgh XL cohort, and a member of the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), where she has earned her Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) accreditation.

Katie holds a BS in Chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.

Holly Vogt, Senior Director, UPMC Center for Sustainability, is committed to bringing forward thinking to drive change. The UPMC Center for Sustainability was established in 2023, and under the leadership of Chief Administrative Sustainability Officer John Krolicki, and Chief Medical Sustainability Officer Dr. Michael Boninger, Holly helps coordinate efforts to achieve sustainability goals across UPMC. Going forward, a holistic approach will embed sustainability as a core value into every UPMC department and service line, and all employees will be charged to think more sustainably.

While at UPMC, Holly has been involved with the Oakland Energy Master Plan, participated in the Student Sustainability Design Challenge associated with the Energy Innovation Center, and assisted with UPMC’s sponsorship of the 2023 CleanMed Conference in Pittsburgh.

Previously, Holly served in a dual role as the Director of Sustainability for Beaver County and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protect (DEP) Recycling Coordinator for Beaver County, PA. She has over 20 years of experience maximizing resources to achieve program development and growth with successful outcomes.

Produced by The Green Voice Collective