Pittsburgh Earth Day and Duquesne Light Company Present
K&L Gates Partners Center, 210 6th St, Pittsburgh
May 21, 2025 @ 5 PM
Join us for an insightful evening spotlighting the visionary women shaping Pittsburgh’s sustainable future. GreenForce Women: Leading Pittsburgh’s Sustainable Future will feature dynamic conversations, local leaders, and actionable ideas driving environmental progress. Connect, collaborate, and celebrate the power of women leading the green movement in our city.
Moderated by Hollie Geitner, Allegheny Conference and Board Member of PA Women Work
This discussion will explore strategies to cultivate diverse talent, foster innovative cultures, and create opportunities that shape the future of sustainable infrastructure.
PANELISTS INCLUDE:
- Melissa Bilec, Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Co-director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation at the University of Pittsburgh
- Alicia Booker, Director of Workforce Development, Allegheny County Airport Authority
- Michelle Buys, Director of Environmental Compliance, ALCOSAN
- Velvet Gaston, Partnerships Director, WRISE (Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy)
- Samantha Hartzman, Head of Social Impact and Chief Diversity Officer at Duquesne Light Company (DLC)
- Tracy L. Lawless, Government Affairs Counselor, K&L Gates LLP
- Laurie Roy, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, S&B USA
Moderated by Hollie Geitner
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Allegheny Conference and Board Member of PA Women Work
Hollie Geitner is the chief marketing and communications officer for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. An Accredited Public Relations (APR) professional with more than 25 years of strategic communications and marketing experience, she oversees the Conference’s efforts to amplify its mission of driving economic growth, improving quality of life, and enhancing the Pittsburgh region’s reputation as a top destination for business and talent.
She’s actively engaged in the community as a member of Women United (WU) of the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania and the Professional Women’s Network (PWN). Additionally, she serves on the board of directors of Pennsylvania Women Work and volunteers her time as a mentor for the Three Cups of Coffee program. She also supports Light of Life Rescue Mission and Dress for Success.
An award-winning member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), she was inducted into PRSA’s Hall of Fame in 2023. Her other honors include being named a Community Champion by the Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber, a Cribs for Kids distinguished woman of achievement, an ATHENA award finalist, and 2021 Pittsburgh Magazine Woman & Business and 2013 40 Under 40 honoree.
Distinguished Panelists Include:
Melissa Bilec
Co-Director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Melissa Bilec is a prominent voice in sustainable engineering, climate change solutions, and environmental justice. She is George M. and Eva M. Bevier Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and co-directs the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, a center advancing sustainable research and education at the University of Pittsburgh. She serves as the Special Assistant to the Provost for Sustainability.
Dr. Bilec's research is dedicated to developing sustainable solutions for buildings and healthcare to tackle climate change. She is an expert in life cycle assessment and utilizes a systems-level approach, applying techniques like building energy modeling and indoor air quality assessments. Her work aims to mitigate climate change and address global waste challenges by advancing circular economy principles in the built environment.
Alicia Booker
Director of Workforce Development, Allegheny County Airport Authority
Alicia Booker serves as the Director of Workforce Development at the Allegheny County Airport Authority. In this role, she is responsible for the workforce development initiatives and activities at Pittsburgh International Airport and throughout the airport campus. Her primary responsibilities include developing workforce programming, deploying key metrics and research.
She joined the Authority in January 2023, as a seasoned workforce professional with more than 30 years of experience. Alicia spent 17 years working in the public workforce system, including four years as the Chief Executive Officer leading a dual-county Workforce Investment Board. Her background includes extensive work developing career pathways, implementing sector-based workforce strategies, and developing in-demand training programs.
Michelle Buys
Director of Environmental Compliance, Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN)
Ms. Buys, Environmental Compliance Director at ALCOSAN, joined ALCOSAN in 2016. She brings over 30 years of technical and regulatory experience in wastewater treatment, conveyance, and collection systems. Before joining ALCOSAN, Ms. Buys spent 15 years as an Environmental Health Engineer III with the Allegheny County Health Department’s Public Wastewater Management Division, where she played a pivotal role as the project engineer in collaboration with the Department of Justice, EPA, and PADEP during the negotiation stages of the ALCOSAN Consent Decree. Additionally, she managed 55 administrative consent orders for the sanitary sewer municipalities which contribute flow to ALCOSAN.
Velvet Gaston
Partnerships Director, WRISE (Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy)
Velvet Gaston has a background in environmental engineering, commercial product management, and innovation in energy. Velvet has had roles supporting renewables and energy systems at Duquesne Light Company, Form Energy, EDF Renewable Energy, Tesla and Weavegrid. Velvet has successfully led development of new products and services within these organizations and scaling of first of their kind programs. Her background also includes work in regulatory programs, electric vehicles, battery energy storage, and manufacturing operations. Velvet completed her undergraduate at North Carolina State University, majoring in Environmental Engineering. She then received her Master’s in Atmosphere/Energy at Stanford University, focused on distribution level power systems modeling.
Samantha Hartzman
Head of Social Impact and Chief Diversity Officer at Duquesne Light Company (DLC)
Samantha (Sam) is a proud Pittsburgh native and currently holds the position of Head of Social Impact and Chief Diversity Officer at Duquesne Light Company (DLC). 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, an organization dedicated to empowering and uplifting women owned enterprises throughout Southwest PA.
Tracy L. Lawless
Government Affairs Counselor, K&L Gates LLP
Tracy Lawless is a government affairs counselor in the firm's Pittsburgh and Harrisburg offices, where she is a member of the Public Policy and Law practice group. She concentrates her activity in healthcare, as well as a diverse array of clients including manufacturing and transportation. She advises companies on strategic policy development, issue management, government solutions, and advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels. Representative work includes Medicaid managed care, hospitals and health systems, opioid treatment providers and long-term care.
Prior to joining the firm, Tracy was a legislative director for a healthcare network for over four years. In addition, she worked as a project manager for a real estate development company and was a policy consultant. She worked as a deputy policy director for a candidate for Governor, and she was the Pennsylvania state campaign director for the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI National). Tracy was the director of legislative affairs for the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) for monitoring life science policy issues at the NIH, USDA, and FDA for 10 years.
Laurie Roy
Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, S&B USA
Laurie Roy is Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for S&B USA, an infrastructure solutions company based in Pittsburgh. She is a seasoned global human resources executive with a distinguished career—including 20 years with Alcoa Corporation—blending visionary leadership and a strong commitment to community service. With roots in the U.S. Army, Laurie's leadership style is marked by her ability to build meaningful relationships and provide insightful guidance to transform and empower teams.
Laurie is responsible for the strategic leadership of S&B USA’s human capital with strategies that inspire employees around common goals, vision, and values. She supports the executive leadership team to fulfill the company’s business plans with an agile framework enabling the firm to hire the right people, engage and develop them to perform exceptionally, and foster a culture supporting long-term career success. As the construction industry prepares for a generation of experienced engineers and trades workers to retire, Laurie has championed opportunities for women to enter and thrive in this sector. She is a catalyst for S&B USA’s Women in Construction initiative to engage, empower, and nurture women across all company roles.