Ethel Bunch is the Founder and CEO of Sustain SC, a 501(c)3 bringing together a diverse group of business, economic development, academic, conservation and state agency leaders with the mission to connect the sustainability goals of business in South Carolina with local solutions that benefit the economy, environment and people.

Prior to founding Sustain SC, Ethel co-founded Witterng Advisors, a consulting group working with clients to raise the standard for informed decision making that maximizes South Carolina’s economic growth and strong natural resource based infrastructure. Serving organizations such as the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, Lowcountry Land Trust and Congaree Land Trust she helped match corporate environmental and social commitments with South Carolina’s needs.

She has 20+ years of fundraising and communications experience bridging the nonprofit and private sectors operating in healthcare, environment and education. She has served as Director of Development and Marketing for EdVenture Children’s Museum, Prevent Child Abuse South Carolina and Heathwood Hall Episcopal School.

Born and raised in South Carolina, Ethel earned a B.A. in English and Masters in Mass Communication from the University of South Carolina.

She is married to Bill Bunch and has two daughters, Caroline and Claiborne who keep her motivated and humble.

George E. “Chip” Campsen III is a native of Charleston, SC. An attorney and businessman, Chip has served in the South Carolina State Senate since 2004. He is Chairman of the Senate Fish, Game & Forestry Committee; Charleston County Legislative Delegation; Senate Sportsmen’s Caucus; and, Senate Religious Liberty Caucus.

Senator Campsen also serves on the Judiciary, Rules, Transportation, and Legislative Oversight Committees. His areas of focus include constitutional law; election law; conservation and natural resources; fiscal policy; and, criminal justice reform. He is former Chairman of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission that screens judicial candidates.

Senator Campsen holds J.D. and MBA degrees from the University of South Carolina, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Furman University. He has a 100-ton U.S. Coast Guard Captain’s License, and South Carolina Real Estate Brokers license.

Senator Campsen is President of Fort Sumter Tours, Inc. and SpiritLine Cruises, LLC, which operate passenger vessels in Charleston Harbor. He owns Campsen Law Firm, LLC, and manages several real estate investment companies.

Senator Campsen’s previous public service includes the South Carolina House of Representatives (1997-2002), Co-chairman of Governor Mark Sanford’s Transition Team (2002-03), and Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Mark Sanford (2003).

Senator Campsen enjoys studying history, political philosophy, economics and theology. He is an avid hunter, fisherman and surfer.

Dale Threatt-Taylor is the Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy South Carolina Chapter. She received a Bachelor of Science in Conservation from North Carolina State University and a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University in 2011. In 2012, she was selected as one of 30 agriculturalists in North Carolina identified to participate in the Agricultural Leadership Development Program at North Carolina State University.

Her career began as a Soil Conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and later joined the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District. In 2008 she was selected as District Director of Wake SWCD and Wake County Soil and Water Conservation Department. Her role as Executive Director for TNC SC has provided the opportunity to build new relationships between natural resource conservationists and environmentalists across the nation.

Dale’s conservation and environmental leadership includes service on many national, state, and local boards and committees. On August 1, 2020, Dale made history when elected to serve as Chair of the Soil and Water Conservation Society’s (SWCS) national Board of Directors. She also serves on TNC’s North American Agriculture Committee and on the Executive Board of Sustain SC. In 2021, she was accepted as a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Sustainability Leadership Initiative (SLI) in South Carolina. On April 22, 2021, Dale was invited to join the Board of Visitors of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. In the Fall of 2022, she completed The Riley Institute’s Diversity Leaders Initiative (DLI) at Furman University, becoming a 2022 Riley Fellow. Dale was asked to join NC State University’s Natural Resources Board of Directors beginning in 2023.

Having received many awards throughout her career, one caught her by surprise, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine from North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper for her dedicated work in conservation. She has served as keynote speaker on several occasions, most recently as the 2022 Spring Commencement Guest Speaker for Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment graduation ceremony. In August 2023, Dale was awarded The Hugh Hammond Bennett Award, the Soil and Water Conservation Society’s most prestigious award, which recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in the conservation of soil, water, and related natural resources.

Dale wants everyone to understand that locally led conservation begins with an individual, and together, our conservation work is so important in protecting the lands and waters on which all life depends.

During her professional career, Maria Whitehead has held positions as an ornithologist, professor, and conservation professional. She was worked for 15 years in the direct conservation of land and water and the interdisciplinary realm of climate adaptation and community resilience. She had taught classes in Ornithology, Conservation Biology, and Ecology at Furman, The Citadel, College of Charleston and Clemson University. Today, as Vice President and Director of Land for the Southeast at Open Space Institute, she works across the eastern United States on varied conservation projects and initiatives including landscape-scale conservation projects, comprehensive community engagement strategies, and conservation finance tactics. As an adjunct professor at Clemson University, she teaches masters-level courses in wildlife ecology and conservation.

Bob is a Senior Mitigation Strategist with Water & Land Solutions where he utilizes broad experience obtained working at a high level in environmental regulatory arena since 2004. Bob has specialized in networking with natural resource and regulatory agencies, agencies responsible for business and infrastructure development, land trusts, consultants, attorneys and advocacy groups to achieve balanced decisions and positive environmental outcomes with both routine as well as controversial projects having significant impacts to Waters of the United States.

Bob utilizes lengthy field experience, collaborative professional relationships and an extensive knowledge of the South Carolina landscape and landowners to work in the arena of wetlands, wetland management, wetland ecology, wetland conservation, endangered and threatened species occurring in wetlands and wetland/stream regulatory policy to assist landowners, engineering firms and others to achieve balanced goals and objectives using a science-based approach. Bob founded Palmetto Natural Resource Management, LLC in July 2017. Additionally, Bob is a Board Member of Lowcountry Land Trust serving as Vice-Chairman, and he serves on the Lynches River Conservation Board.

On March 9, 2021, Governor Henry McMaster appointed Benjamin I. Duncan II (Ben) as South Carolina’s first Chief Resilience Officer. Ben previously served as Program Management Director with South Carolina Disaster Recovery Office. He also served as Deputy Program Management Director and Director of Support for the Disaster Recovery Office. Ben has served as either the Program Director or in other management capacities in Disaster Recovery for the past six and half years. Prior to moving to the Disaster Recovery Office, he served as Deputy Director for Administration with the South Carolina Department of Insurance.

In total, Ben’s public service career spans thirty-five years and includes positions with the South Carolina Budget and Control Board (now known as the Department of Administration) and multiple gubernatorial appointments. He served in executive leadership positions in three previous governor’s office administrations as the Human Resources Director, Director of Finance and Administration, and Executive Budget Director. He also served as a Deputy Director in SC Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

Ben is a graduate of Benedict College with a degree in Business Administration. He holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of South Carolina. He has completed numerous executive leadership programs, including the State and Local Government Training at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Business Executive Leadership for State Agency Directors at the USC Moore School of Business, Leadership South Carolina, as well as the Lexington Kentucky Council of State Governments’ Henry Toll Fellowship Program, a national premier leadership development program entitled Leadership Development for State Officials.

In addition to public service, Ben serves as an adjunct professor at Webster University. Throughout his teaching career, Ben has received numerous awards, including a 2014 Dedication and Service to Students Award from Webster University, and the 2015 Webster University Faculty Member of the Year Award. He served as the Executive Director to the Board of Trustees at SC State University and continues to serve on the Master of Public Administration Advisory Committee at the University of South Carolina. In 2020, he was reappointed to the Board of Trustees at Francis Marion University by the South Carolina Legislature; however, with his appointment to the resilience office, he resigned from that Board on April 7, 2021.

Ben is an active member of the community, serving in various capacities such as chairmanship roles for numerous civic and community boards. He is a member of Saint John Baptist Church in Columbia, SC, where he serves as Chairman of the Board of Deacons.

Mr. Clint Leach currently serves as Assistant Commissioner with the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. In this role since 2013, Clint directly manages the agency’s federal, state government affairs activities, economic development, marketing, communications and entrepreneurship program teams. He also serves on the agency’s senior leadership committee.

Prior to the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, he served for nearly 8 years as senior policy advisor to the South Carolina Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Hugh K. Leatherman, Sr.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Sustain SC, an organization whose mission is to promote commerce and conservation, as well as the South Carolina Economic Developers Association.

Clint is a proud Gamecock, having graduated from The University of South Carolina with both a Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and a Masters of Public Relations. Clint and his wife Rebecca reside in Columbia.

J. Raleigh West III began his tenure as Executive Director of the SC Conservation Bank in June of 2019. Raleigh was raised in Berkeley County and graduated from Wofford College.  He holds an MBA from The Citadel and earned his law degree in 2012 from the University of South Carolina. Prior to joining the Bank, he served as the executive director and general counsel for Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust in Moncks Corner, and an associate attorney for Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, PA.  Raleigh and his wife, Hall, make their home in Columbia with their two children, Scottie and Hugh.

As President and Chief Executive Officer, Thurston (Trip) L. Chavis, III is responsible for running all facets of Milliken Advisors. Trip has over 29 years of experience in the industry focusing early on technology advancements and innovative timber inventory solutions for Milliken. Recently Trip has led Milliken to broaden the scope of services to include nature-based solutions, corporate sustainability and a comprehensive portfolio approach to land asset management focusing on complimentary efforts like forest carbon, wetlands and stream mitigation, conservation easements, solar and others. In 2014, Trip was selected to lead Milliken as the President and CEO. Residing in Chapin, SC, Trip is married to Melissa and together have a son, Wrye, born in 2003. Trip and his family are members of Lake Murray Presbyterian Church where Trip is an Elder. Trip is Chairman of the Board for Rural Land Investments, LLC, current Immediate Past Chair of the South Carolina Association of Consulting Foresters, current President and Board member of the Congaree Land Trust, Board member of Sustain SC, a Shi Institute Sustainability Leadership Initiative Fellow and member of the Forestry Association of South Carolina.  Trip earned a B.S., Forest Resource Management from Clemson University in 1994.

Based in Greenville, Rob is an Sr. VP with Avison Young, a full service commercial real estate services firm with 124 offices globally.  Rob's professional focus is industrial real estate brokerage he has a passions for adaptive-reuse redevelopment of historic industrial buildings.  He has spent time working to preserve near-urban wilderness tracts in the upstate of South Carolina.  He is proud to serve on the board of Sustain SC, is a Liberty Fellow and has served on boards relating to sustainability and conservation.

Rob grew up in Caracas, Venezuela and Nashville, TN and he went to The University of the South: Sewanee for undergrad, and Emory Goizueta Business School for his MBA.  Outside of work and parenting his and Katie's 3 kids, Rob has a hard time sitting still.  His primary hobbies are trail running, mountain biking, whitewater kayaking, surfing, sailing, traveling with family and friends, and getting his family into (and out of) the woods as often as possible.

Kathleen Biggins is the Founder and President of C-Change Conversations, a national nonprofit dedicated to fostering understanding about the risks of climate change to our economy, health and security, and geopolitical stability. She wrote the C-Change Conversations Primer – a non-partisan, science-based presentation – that has been lauded by both conservative politicians and chief scientists of internationally known climate organizations. The Primer has been presented to a wide range of businesses and associations, reaching over 17,000 people in 32 states and internationally. C-Change has received accolades from leaders in government, finance, health, and education, as well as recognition by the southeastern conference of the World Presidents Organization, the Financial Executives Networking Group, the Garden Club of America, and the Land Trust Alliance.

In 2014, Kathleen recognized that climate change was a significant risk but that few people were talking about it because it was seen as such a polarizing and far-off topic. That year she pulled a team together to create C-Change Conversations with the goal of depoliticizing the issue and helping others understand how it might impact them personally.

Kathleen hails from New Orleans and loves the South. She graduated from UVA, attended the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg, Germany, as a Rotary Scholar, had a career in journalism and advertising, and now lives in Princeton with her husband and their dog.

Senator Tom Davis has lived in Beaufort, South Carolina, since 1985, practicing law at the firm of Harvey & Battey, P.A. He is the managing partner in the firm's real estate department.

Senator Davis obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Furman University in 1982, graduating magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He obtained a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1985, graduating with highest honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif, and receiving the Simon E. Sobeloff Prize for outstanding constitutional law scholarship.

He served in Governor Mark Sanford’s administration as senior policy advisor, co-chief of staff, deputy chief of staff and chief of staff from 2003 to 2007. During his time with the governor’s administration, Senator Davis led the State of South Carolina’s successful negotiations with the State of Georgia to co-develop a new port on the Savannah River in Jasper County.

In November 2008, Senator Davis was elected State Senator for South Carolina Senate District 46, which is comprised of almost all of southern Beaufort County, a portion of northern Beaufort County, and a portion of Jasper County; he was re-elected to second and third four-year terms in 2012 and 2016.

In recognition of his legislative services, Senator Davis has received awards from a broad range of public advocacy groups, including the South Carolina Club for Growth and the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers (for fiscal conservatism), the Conservation Voters of South Carolina and Sierra Club South Carolina (for protecting the environment), the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina (for promoting increased choice in education), and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the South Carolina Public Health Association (for increasing access to healthcare).

Senator Davis currently serves on the following committees in the South Carolina Senate: Finance; Banking and Insurance; Labor, Commerce and Industry; Medical Affairs; Legislative Oversight; and Corrections and Penology.

Governor Henry Dargan McMaster, a longtime public servant of South Carolina, was born May 27, 1947, in Columbia, South Carolina. He received a bachelor's degree in history from the University of South Carolina in 1969 and as an undergraduate was a member of Kappa Alpha Order and the South Carolina Student Legislature.

In 1973, he graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he was on the editorial board of the South Carolina Law Review. Later that year, he was admitted to the Richland County Bar Association. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserves, receiving an honorable discharge in 1975.

Governor McMaster was the first U.S. attorney appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Following service on the South Carolina Ports Authority Board of Directors, he was elected lieutenant governor in 2014.  McMaster was sworn in as governor in January 2017 following then - Governor Nikki Haley’s appointment as United States Ambassador to the United Nations and was elected to a full term as governor in November 2018.

Governor McMaster served on the Palmetto Health Foundation Board and is the recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, the state's highest civilian honor awarded to citizens of South Carolina for extraordinary lifetime service and achievements of national and statewide significance. He was previously named Public Servant of the Year by the Sierra Club and National Law Enforcement Officer of the Year by the Humane Society of the United States.

Governor McMaster and his wife, Peggy, have two adult children and reside in Columbia.

Howard Coker is President and CEO of Sonoco. In this role, Coker has global leadership, sales and operating responsibility for all of the Company’s diversified consumer, industrial and protective packaging businesses. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Global Paper/Industrial Converted Products.

Coker previously served as Vice President of Global Rigid Papers and Closures where he had responsibility for the Company’s global composite can operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, as well as paper, tube and core operations in Europe, Latin America and Australasia.

Prior to that, Coker served as Vice President, Rigid Paper and Closures, North America. In this role, he had responsibility for Sonoco’s 21 rigid paper container and seven metal and peelable membrane closure operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He was also elected a Corporate Officer in February 2009.

He also served as Group Vice President and held several leadership positions running global consumer-related and industrial businesses.

Coker joined Sonoco in 1985 and has held a number of sales, manufacturing and management positions at the Company in businesses serving consumer and industrial markets.

He is a 1985 graduate of Wofford College with a B.A. in Business Administration, and he received an MBA from Wake Forest University in 1990. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Wofford College, the American Forest & Paper Association and on the Board of Trustees for the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI).

Elizabeth Rhue, Vice President of Global Environmental, Sustainability, and Technical Services is responsible for leading Sonoco’s global sustainability programs and environmental services for all of the Company’s Consumer- and Industrial-related packaging businesses, including working directly with Sonoco’s key customers and business leaders to achieve improved product sustainability and environmental footprint for Sonoco’s operations. In addition, Elizabeth’s team is responsible for environmental compliance, product safety and Sonoco’s consumer packaging pilot facilities, testing labs, and design engineering services.

Elizabeth started her 17-year career at Sonoco as a Research and Development Engineer with Sonoco's Rigid Paper Container business and has held several technical and commercial roles, including Sustainability and National Accounts Manager for Sonoco Recycling, focused on delivering landfill diversion solutions for major consumer product goods accounts, and Director of Marketing for Sonoco’s Flexible Packaging division, working directly with large consumer product goods customers. Outside of Sonoco, Elizabeth is chair of the board of directors for Keep the Midlands Beautiful, a Keep America Beautiful affiliate based in the midlands of South Carolina focused on beautification and litter prevention.

Elizabeth holds a B.S. in Packaging Science from Clemson University.

Tom Hutto, P.G. is a Principal at GEL Engineering, LLC where he leads complex environmental and industrial development projects including permitting, site characterization, site development, dredging, and/or remediation. He routinely interfaces with SCDHEC and the US Army Corps of Engineers.  

Tom has long had a passion for land protection and sustainable development and believes industry and conservation have many shared interests. To that end, he serves on the Boards of the Lowcountry Land Trust and Sustain SC.  He also serves as a Councilmember in the Town of Meggett, SC.

As President of Mark Anthony Brewing since 2016, John has led the company through an unprecedented period of transformation. From a supply chain organization of only 12 people and a fully outsourced production model to a team of over 850 with 80% of its volume now produced one of three newly constructed company-owned breweries.

John originally joined the Mark Anthony Group of Companies in 2012 as VP of Customer Service and Logistics. Transitioning the company's Supply Chain functions from disparate west coast and Canadian locations to the newly established Chicago office was his first task. He was responsible for building a new team and establishing several significant process improvement and waste reduction initiatives including redesigned companywide Sales and Operations Planning Process, streamlined transportation sourcing, tightened inventory controls, and improved customer service KPI’s.

By 2015 John was promoted to SVP of Manufacturing overseeing the “end-to-end” supply chain including oversight of third-party manufacturing, Procurement, Sales and Operations Planning, and Transportation. The 2016 launch of White Claw Hard Seltzer, one of the most transformational brands the BevAlc industry had seen in 50 years, would set the company on an entirely new growth trajectory. John and his team responded with a bold plan to vastly expand Mark Anthony’s manufacturing and distribution network, including significant investments of capital and technology with key co-pack partners, in addition to the onboarding of nearly a dozen new co-packer partners.

Despite delivering on that plan, it was clear that it was clear that the external network expansion would not be enough. In the fall of 2019, a bold plan was created to begin construction on the new company owned production facilities designed to meet current and future demand.

Late 2019 saw the groundbreaking of the first two of Mark Anthony’s US production sites in Hillside, NJ, and Glendale, AZ. Before those sites and the year 2020 were completed, John had already launched site selection for the 3rd brewery in the portfolio, breaking ground in Columbia, SC in January of 2021. In only 30 months, John had shepherded the completion of 3 technologically advanced breweries, two of which are the largest breweries built in the United States in the last 3 decades! While speed was key to construction, sustainability and deploying the latest green technology was the cornerstone of design. John was steadfast in not only honoring Mark Anthony’s heritage of environmental stewardship and sustainable practices. Major investments to ensure support of sustainability efforts such as CO2 recovery systems, direct rail service to the sites, and advanced wastewater treatment facilities were included in the over $1.4 billion dollar investment.

Prior to joining Mark Anthony in 2012, John spent 23 years with Kraft Foods in several progressive senior leadership roles within Logistics, Customer Service, and Supply Chain Operations in both the United States and Canada before joining The Mark Anthony Group.

Ashely Teasdel was promoted to Deputy Secretary of Commerce in November 2021. She most recently served as the director of the Business Services Division, which focuses its efforts on small business development, existing industry support, supplier outreach, emergency management and recycling market development. With the belief that every business, large or small, deserves every benefit it can get, Teasdel dedicated her time to developing statewide programmatic relationships to benefit local businesses and global enterprises alike.

In her tenure as director of the Business Services Division, Teasdel successfully merged the functions of the division through deliberate efforts to integrate the division’s purpose of what Commerce has dubbed as “Service After the Sale.” She was instrumental in the launch of support resources for start-ups and existing companies; accelerated the use of B2B platforms for specific industries; managed an initiative to build minority business engagement that included supplier outreach experiences; and developed ally outreach for effective coordination of small business support for more sourcing needs. Teasdel also led the agency’s COVID-19 response efforts and served on Governor McMaster’s AccelerateSC task force to support the business community in navigating impacts from the pandemic.

Prior to joining SC Commerce in 2015, Teasdel spent almost a decade working in the banking sector, focusing on small business advisory support and development within South Carolina. She served in a variety of roles including financial center management, small business advisor and commercial lending. Teasdel is an active board member of the SC Economic Developers Association (SCEDA) and the Business Development Corporation (CDC) of SC.

Teasdel holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Charleston Southern University and a master’s degree in business administration from Southern Wesleyan University. She is a graduate of the BB&T Leadership Development Institute in Winston-Salem, N.C., the South Carolina Economic Development Institute and the SC Certified Public Managers Program.

Teasdel resides in Irmo with her husband and two daughters.

As Director of Public Affairs & Government Relations, Morgan Crapps leads external affairs for Redwood Materials in the Southeast. Redwood Materials is developing a fully closed-loop, domestic supply chain for lithium-ion batteries. Redwood combines recycling, refining and remanufacturing on the same continent to return critical battery components to local battery manufacturers in a sustainable, closed-loop fashion. Today, Redwood is headquartered in Nevada and is in the process of building battery materials campuses in Northern Nevada and South Carolina. At each campus, Redwood plans to produce over 100 GWh of cathode and anode components per year – enough to power more than two million EVs. Prior to joining Redwood, Morgan was a principal at Parker Poe Consulting, where she led site selection and incentive negotiation projects for manufacturers across the country. She has also practiced law at a large regional law firm and served as a project manager and international business recruiter for the South Carolina Department of Commerce. She is a graduate of Clemson University and the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Lindsay E. Leonard is Senior Director for Government Operations for Boeing South Carolina. Named to her position in June 2014, Lindsay is responsible for government relations and community engagement in South Carolina. She leads a team who manage relationships with elected officials, business leaders, and community partners, advocate for key issues that advance Boeing’s business objectives, and lead philanthropic opportunities to give back to the community.  

Prior to joining Boeing, Lindsay was an Associate at the law firm of White & Case LLP, in New York, where she served in both the firm’s Competition & Commercial Litigation Group. She previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable David C. Norton, U.S. District Court, in Charleston. Lindsay also served in the U.S. Senate for Senators Jesse Helms and Ted Stevens.

Lindsay holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of North Carolina, and a Juris Doctor degree from the Fordham University School of Law. She currently serves on the following boards: Economic Leadership Council of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, SC State Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and Chair of the Manufacturing Committee, Clemson Industry Advisory Board, Sustain SC, and Meeting Street Schools.

Erica Call has spent the last 18 years in the energy industry supporting and advising numerous clients across North America to achieve their energy and sustainability goals. As a key member of Siemens Enterprise Energy Services Business, Erica supports strategic partnerships with programs that deliver enterprise data management, energy supply, decarbonization and mobility solutions. Erica helps Siemens clients deploy the Smart infrastructure that supports the way industry and organizations want to be — efficient, responsible and smarter. She is passionate about sustainability and helping her clients take action to drive decarbonization and innovation in their businesses in the fight against climate change.

Erica is a native of South Carolina and is a mother of two children (her eldest currently attends Clemson University). She loves living in South Carolina for its mild weather, beautiful rivers and lakes, mountains and beaches. Erica is a graduate of the University of South Carolina where she earned her degree in Business Administration with concentration in Management.

With over 26 years at Schaeffler Group, Brad Dineley has held progressive roles in plant management including experience in initial construction, start-up, integration, restructuring and stabilization. As Chief Operating Officer, Brad was instrumental in developing the Operations Department and in expanding its role in the Americas Region including Plant Operations, Production Technology, Digitalization, Lean Manufacturing, Special Machinery Building, Tool Centers, Supply Chain and Logistics, and Purchasing. Currently, Brad is the SVP of Operations Strategic Projects providing Executive Leadership for the Operational Focus Objectives including Sustainability, Digitalization and Automation, and SAP System Transformation.

Brad holds a Mechanical Engineering Degree from Queens University and his MBA from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University.

Dr. Joseph C. Von Nessen is a Research Economist in the Division of Research at the Darla Moore School of Business where he specializes in regional economics, regional economic forecasting, and housing economics. He regularly conducts a wide variety of economic impact analyses, feasibility studies, and independent market research projects for clients in both the private and public sector. In addition, he is responsible for the preparation and presentation of the University of South Carolina's annual statewide economic forecast, serves on the advisory committee for the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors, and is regularly invited to brief the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond on economic conditions in South Carolina. He is a frequent speaker for business and government leaders throughout the Southeast - providing information and consultation about business, markets, and local economies. He also makes frequent media appearances to discuss various local economic topics of interest. Dr. Von Nessen earned his B.A. at Furman University and his Ph.D. in economics at the University of South Carolina.

Caroline James is the Director of Sustainability at Atlantic Packaging, where she works with customers across the Fortune 500 and beyond to transition towards using more sustainable packaging. She is particularly interested in designing packaging for circularity, as well as in improving systems for recycling and composting. Caroline graduated from the Yale School of Management with an MBA in 2022, where she was also grateful to take many classes at the Yale School of the Environment. While at Yale, Caroline and her team won the Mochen Liao Award for research in industrial ecology and life cycle assessment.

Prior to Yale, Caroline was a consultant at Deloitte Consulting in the public sector practice, where she helped federal agencies tackle their toughest organizational effectiveness issues. While at Deloitte, Caroline founded the DC Sustainability Community of Practice and Engagement, a group focusing on improving Deloitte’s sustainability as a firm. Caroline graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a Bachelor’s degree in Government and minors in environmental studies and music.