BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Green Empowerment is a State of Oregon not-for-profit corporation. The Board of Directors plays an integral role in advancing the mission of the organization. The all-volunteer Board provides strategic leadership, fiduciary oversight and policy guidance to the organization while helping the organization secure resources to implement our programs.
Interested in joining our organization? We are currently seeking new board members.
David M. Siegel
Chair
Dave is an award-winning urban and regional planner with over 40 years’ experience helping build communities locally, across the country and internationally. He is past national President of the American Planning Association, responsible for leading the 13-member APA Board of Directors in governing the association, and in setting and achieving strategic goals. Dave was elected to the College of Fellows for the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2008, and helped found and currently serves as a member of the Oregon 2050 Coordinating Committee, a joint effort of the APA, AIA, ASLA and other partners dedicated to formulating and advancing a vision for Oregon.
Steve Gretzinger
Vice Chair
Steve Gretzinger has dedicated his career to developing innovative approaches to sustainable forestry. Living in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru for over 20 years has honed Steve’s ability to work with different cultures on different sides of the fence to achieve the same goal. He has a unique track record that includes channeling substantial investor capital into large private reforestation efforts in Brazil, leading the turnaround of a large forest products company in Peru’s Amazonian region, spearheading the design of Guatemala’s award-winning community forest concession program, assisting indigenous groups in Nicaragua’s Miskito Coast and Panama’s Darien region to maintain their traditional territory by actively managing native forests, and helping International Finance Corporation clients in India, Africa and South America to diversify their supply chains. Steve now works as Acquisitions Manager for Portland-based GreenWood Resources to develop new investment opportunities in Latin America.
Harrison Pettit
Treasurer
Harrison is an entrepreneur with 25 years of experience leading strategic growth initiatives in agriculture, bioenergy and the forest products industry. Today, he is a Partner and Vice President of Pacific Ag, LLC, the nation’s largest crop residue harvest and supply company. Board service awakens a long-held interest in rural international development starting as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin’s Year in India Program followed by 2.5 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines, a job at Peace Corps supporting the AID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program, and as a World Bank Intern designing Social Investment Fund Projects for Latin America.
Wendy Stickel
Secretary
Wendy Stickel has worked in international development for over 30 years, including overseas assignments and extensive travel with USAID and the World Bank in Latin America and Southern Africa. Throughout her career she has spearheaded programs that support partnerships between local governments and civil society organizations and the communities they serve, including an innovative program of grants to black-led community-based organizations in apartheid South Africa to prepare for that country’s transition to majority-rule. She has also worked extensively in program evaluation and strategic planning, served as a senior advisor to USAID’s public-private partnership initiative, and developed guidelines for designing and evaluating USAID’s programs to develop local capacity to ensure sustainability of program benefits.
Joe Richards
Board Liaison to Technical Advisory Committee
Joe is a senior engineer and business leader with over 26 years of U.S.-based and international water resources engineering, project management, and civil design experience. He is a Principal Engineer at Stantec based in Portland, Oregon. He provides leadership within Stantec’s Environmental Service Business Center focused on Ecological Restoration. Joe has worked on a national and international basis in the water resources field including international development work with Peace Corps Nepal and Green Empowerment where he served as Program Director from 2001 to 2003. Joe was instrumental in establishing the Asia Renewable Energy Network for Green Empowerment and completing development of the Long Lawen Project with partner organization PACOS. Joe’s technical understanding in water resources, renewable energy and community development enables him to effectively interface with diverse audiences to solve community issues with appropriate technologies through local NGOs.
Adrienne Pierce
Adrienne has spent over 25 years in the renewable energy and semiconductor industry building successful products and programs. Starting with winning second place in the 8th grade science fair for her Independent Energy House, she has a passion for building sustainable communities and a more equitable infrastructure globally within the for-profit and nonprofit sector.
Carol Bogezi
Dr. Carol Bogezi is a conservation scientist interested in interdisciplinary multisectoral research approaches and believes that conservation and community development should be addressed collaboratively. She works as a Research Analyst at The Nature Conservancy, and lives in Rockville, MD. Born and raised on a farm in Uganda, Carol is intimately aware of the needs of humans competing for natural resources, and the value of both local ingenuity and education in overcoming poverty. Carol joined the Green Empowerment board because she believes that community development programs are vital in the protection of the environment. She also supports Green Empowement’s model of empowering local community efforts and their leadership to make the changes needed to improve community conditions. Carol holds a PhD in Wildlife Science from the University of Washington, Seattle, as well as a Master of Science in Environment and Natural Resources and Bachelors in Zoology, Botany and Psychology from Makerere University, Kampala Uganda. In addition to her conservation work, Carol runs Tusubira-We Have Hope a non-profit that supports youth education, women empowerment, and community development in rural Uganda, and serves on the boards of education and conservation organizations.
Claudio Pedretti
Mr. Pedretti is an Italian serial entrepreneur and industry leader considered an expert in solar mini-grids and in DRE generation (Distributed Renewable Energy). He is currently serving on several boards in the energy sector, both profit and non-profit. He is also the President of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Rural Electrification. UN SDG7 “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” is his passion and focus. He founded a few successful startups in the renewable energy sector. He is founder of Green Climate Venture (GCV), an early-stage impact investor focused in off-grid renewable energy sector and related applications.
Eli Lamb
Eli owns a small renewable energy and management consulting company: Green Lightning Consulting, LLC. He is promoting Oregon tax reform centered on taxing the carbon content of fossil fuels and is a founding partner of Social Venture Partners Portland. Eli’s specialties– research, writing, financial analysis and energy economics and policy — enable him to develop and compare alternative approaches to economics and energy policy.
Erick Petersen
Erick Petersen is Vice President of Business Development and Head of Strategic Partnering at Enel X, a global business leading the transformation of the energy sector as part of the Enel Group. Erick has been working in the renewable energy industry for 15 years and has spent his career building high performance teams and businesses.
Hillary Lewis
Jasmine Avgerakis
Jasmine is a professional humanitarian. She holds a Masters of International Management from Portland State University and has over 10 years of international experience. She has worked and led emergency programming in Colombia, Kenya, South Sudan, Nepal, Turkey, Greece, Yemen, Haiti, Somalia, and Puerto Rico. She recently worked for the Multnomah County Office of Emergency Management where she led the development of the Multnomah County Reunification Plan and produced an 18-segment video training for disaster workers. She is currently the Deputy Director for Mercy Corps Northwest supporting communities across the Pacific Northwest to uncover equitable access to resources, and charge toward a vision of breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty.
Robert Haley
Bob Haley is the founder of and partner in Advanced Wealth Management, a financial services advisory firm. He is a veteran (US Army), and an attorney by training who found happiness in a career other than the practice of law. He has spent the last 38 years helping individuals and organizations understand how to manage their financial resources to obtain financial stability and achieve their life goals.
Board Member Emeritus: Francie Royce
Francie Royce spent over 23 years with the City of Portland in various positions from City Planner, Annexation Coordinator to Project Manager focusing on alternative transportation programs and policy development. She is also a founding member of both the Portland-Corinto Sister City Association and the npGreenway, a trail advocacy group. Since leaving regular employment she has been delighted to have some freelance travel articles published and to contract as an event coordinator for a non-profit.
Late Board Chair: Linda Boise
Linda Boise was a health planner, educator, advocate, and researcher who worked in community service and health programs for over 35 years. In her role as director of education at the OHSU Layton Aging & Alzheimer’s Disease Center, she studied how health care is delivered for persons with dementia and their families and developed and evaluated model primary care programs. Linda’s volunteer service with Green Empowerment began in 2009 when she led a fundraising campaign to support building a solar water system in a village in Nicaragua. In 2013, she led a task force to develop recommendations for incorporating health outcomes assessment into Green Empowerment’s energy and water projects. Learn more about Linda’s contributions to Green Empowerment on our blog.