Environmental Law Forum 2026 – Day Two – Harrisburg

Pete specializes in Pennsylvania and federal legislative and regulatory policy. With over two decades of private practice experience and prior senior roles in the Office of the Governor in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and the United States Senate, he brings expertise in navigating complex legislative and administrative processes, paired with a deep understanding of the political dynamics that shape them. Pete represents a diverse client base, including industry leaders in manufacturing, rail freight transportation, natural gas production, energy, financial services, emerging technologies, healthcare, and retail. He has provided strategic counsel to Governors, Attorneys General, legislative leaders, and committee chairs on political and policy matters. Prior to co-founding 1812 Strategies, Pete was a partner at K&L Gates LLP, where he established and led the firm’s Pennsylvania policy group from 2002 until 2025. Before entering private practice, he served in Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker’s Cabinet as Secretary for Legislative Affairs, advising the Governor, senior staff, and cabinet secretaries on legislative, regulatory, and policy issues across all state agencies. From 1997 to 2001, he served as Deputy Secretary for Legislative Affairs under Governor Tom Ridge, acting as the Governor’s key liaison to the Pennsylvania General Assembly and advancing major legislative initiatives until Ridge’s appointment as Director of Homeland Security. Pete’s earlier positions include Director of Legislative Affairs at the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, Special Projects Director to the Republican Leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and Special Assistant to former United States Senator John Heinz. Pete Gleason has earned widespread recognition as one of Pennsylvania’s most effective and influential advocates in government relations, lobbying, and policy over more than three decades. Most recently, he was named to City & State Pennsylvania’s 2025 Fifty Over 50 list, which honors senior leaders who continue to cement their legacies and make significant impacts in politics, policy, and beyond, highlighting his veteran expertise in legislative advocacy, effective coalition-building, and deep knowledge of the energy industry as Managing Principal of 1812 Strategies. He has also been recognized in U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” for Government Relations Practice (including in 2023 and multiple prior years during his tenure at K&L Gates). In lobbying and influence rankings, he placed 9th among Pennsylvania’s “Top 50 Lobbyists” by City & State (2022) and was named the 53rd most influential person in the state’s public and private sectors by City & State (2021).

John C. Dernbach is Commonwealth Professor of Environmental Law and Sustainability at Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Director of that school’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Center.  Professor Dernbach has written widely on sustainable development, climate change, and environmental law. He is the principal author of Sustainability Essentials: A Leadership Guide for Lawyers (ABA Press 2022, with Matthew Bogoshian and Irma Russell), a short guide for lawyers and law students who seek to do sustainability-conscious lawyering.  He and Professor Michael Gerrard are the co-editors Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (ELI Press 2019), a comprehensive analysis and description of more than 1,000 legal tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050. He is also the principal author or editor of four books assessing U.S. progress toward sustainability and making recommendations (Governing for Sustainability (forthcoming 2023, with Scott Schang), Acting as if Tomorrow Matters: Accelerating the Transition to Sustainability (2012), Agenda for a Sustainable America (2009), and Stumbling Toward Sustainability (2002). Professor Dernbach coauthored a successful amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 18 prominent climate scientists in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. His scholarship and advocacy helped persuade the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in landmark decisions in 2013 and 2017 to reinvigorate the Environmental Rights Amendment to the state constitution. Prior to joining the Widener faculty, he was the principal drafter of four major waste and mining laws at the Department of Environmental Resources (now the Department of Environmental Protection).

Michael Sklaroff is a retired partner at Ballard Spahr LLP. He built Ballard’s Real Estate Department from the ground up from its inception in 1988 and served as Chair through 2012. As Chair of the Philadelphia Historical Commission, he planned, chaired and moderated six annual Pennsylvania Bar Institute Programs entitled “The Law of Historic Preservation.” He also planned and chaired a PBI program entitled “The Science of Land Use.” He was part of the course planning team for the PBI Program “The Supreme Court’s Decision in Robinson Township and the Future of Zoning in the Commonwealth,” together with colleague Harry Weiss and Jordan Yeager (now Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County). As part of the program, he moderated the sessions in Philadelphia and Mechanicsburg and delivered the paper “The New Landscape of Land-Use Litigation: Robinson Township.” He is founding chair (and now chair emeritus) of the Development Workshop, a 501 (c)(6) trade organization dedicated to population growth, job creation, strengthening the tax base and equal opportunity in the development industry in the Philadelphia region. He is a long-time member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and of the Counselors of Real Estate, and Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, where he serves on the Steering Committee of the Public Health Section. Mr. Sklaroff helped bring the first civil rights action in federal court to open the Philadelphia suburbs to fair housing and enforce the landmark zoning decision in Girsh Appeal, 434 Pa. 237 (1970). He was part of the team that that obtained site specific relief, which became part of Pennsylvania’s land-use jurisprudence. He argued for the municipality in The Piper Group, Inc. v. Bedminster Twp. Bd. of Supervisors, 30 A.3d, 2011 Pa. LEXIS 2333 (Pa. 2011), where the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (7-0) reversed a lower court decision and upheld an agricultural land preservation ordinance against a developer’s curative amendment challenge (and for the first time interpreted the 1988 provisions of the Municipalities Planning Code dealing with the municipal cure and the extent of site-specific relief). He is founder and executive director of the Pennsylvania Bipartisan Climate Initiative, Inc., a 501 (c)(3) public charity dedicated to the implementation of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment across the Commonwealth, especially to protect historically underserved communities from the burdens of climate change. He graduated from Columbia College (A.B. 1964) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D., 1967, magna cum laude), where he was Editor, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Member, Order of the Coif. Mr. Sklaroff served as law clerk to the Hon. Joseph S. Lord, Ill, Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1967 to 1969; Deputy Executive Director, Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia, 1972-1974; and Chair, Philadelphia Historical Commission, 2002 to 2008 (member 1996 to 2008). He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Legal Intelligencer in 2018.

Jessica O’Neill is a Senior Attorney at PennFuture. She is based out of Philadelphia, and her work focuses on water quality and watershed protection as well as the creation and protection of green space for all. She also works on issues related to the petrochemical and fracking industries that threaten our health and environment across Pennsylvania. Prior to joining PennFuture, she was an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. She also worked as an environmental lawyer in private practice, where she primarily focused on clean water issues, and as an Assistant Regional Counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency in its Mid-Atlantic office, bringing administrative enforcement actions under federal hazardous waste and toxic chemical regulations. In 2010, she served as an assistant counsel to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Ms. O’Neill clerked for the Honorable Louis H. Pollak on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Honorable Robert B. Kugler on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. She has an undergraduate degree in environmental studies from Brown University and graduated magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center. 

Mr. Bomstein is the Executive Director of Clean Air Council, the largest and oldest Philadelphia-based environmental advocacy nonprofit. Before becoming Executive Director, he served as the Council’s Legal Director, overseeing the work of the Council’s legal department while also litigating environmental matters and preparing regulatory comments. He received his B.A. in Mathematics from Cornell University in 2004 and his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2007. Before joining Clean Air Council as a lawyer in 2015, he was an associate in the Commercial Litigation Practice Group of Pepper Hamilton LLP, now Troutman Pepper Locke, specializing in antitrust and general commercial litigation.

Ms. McCabe is the managing partner of Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox LLP, working in the firm’s complex industrial and regulatory practices.  She counsels clients on a wide variety of environmental issues, including permitting, compliance and enforcement matters related to air emissions, hazardous waste, storage tanks, stormwater and wastewater pretreatment.  Ms. McCabe concentrates her practice in air matters for a wide range of industrial clients at both the state and national level. She has assisted clients with environmental due diligence, auditing, permit appeals, emergency planning, and defense of agency enforcement actions. Ms. McCabe has represented clients before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Environmental Appeals Board, and the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. She has been recognized in The Best Lawyers® in America, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, New Jersey Super Lawyers and Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Outside of the office, Ms. McCabe serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, among other volunteer roles in the community.  

Mr. McKinstry is principal in Robert B. McKinstry, Jr. Environmental and Climate Law and Consulting, which he founded upon his retirement from Ballard Spahr LLP, on March 31, 2018, after 31 years with the firm. He founded Ballard’s Environmental and Natural Resources Group and its Climate Change and Sustainability Practice Initiative. He is now concentrating his efforts in public interest law and consulting in the area of climate change and sustainability but continues to serve clients in the full range of environmental issues. He completed a six-year appointment as the Maurice K. Goddard Chair in Forestry and Environmental Resource Conservation at the Pennsylvania State University School of Forest Resources on July 1, 2007. While serving as Goddard Professor, Mr. McKinstry focused on international environmental issues where states and private companies and organizations had taken the lead in the face of federal inaction. He successfully represented a group of leading climate scientists before the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, where the Court ruled that there is authority to address emissions of greenhouse gases under the federal Clean Air Act. He represented clean energy utilities supporting EPA rulemaking in EPA v. EME Homer City Generation and Michigan v. EPA. He has written and spoken extensively on environmental topics. He authored the rulemaking petition seeking to have the PA Environmental Quality Board adopt a still-pending regulation establishing an economy wide greenhouse gas auction Cap-and-Trade program going to zero by 2052. he has been preparing amicus briefs in litigation supporting the RGGI regulation and is representing citizens opposing expansion of natural gas distribution based on its inconsistency with the need to address the climate crisis. Mr. McKinstry is a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and the American Bar Foundation. He is a member of the Environmental, Energy and Resources Section (SEER) of the American Bar Association, where he is a former Co-chair and a current Vice Chair of the SEER Committee on Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems. He is also a member of the Environmental and Energy Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Environmental Law Committees of the Philadelphia and Chester County Bar Associations. Mr. McKinstry is a Master in the Delaware Valley Environmental Inns of Court. Mr. McKinstry is the recipient of PBA’s Energy and Environmental Section 2010 Award for Distinguished Service and was named as MVP in environmental law by Law360 in 2014. He has been recognized by Chambers USA as a Leading Lawyer for Business in the fields of both climate and environmental law, has been named by The Best Lawyers in America in environmental law and environmental litigation Best Lawyers in America, has been named to Who’s Who Legal: Environment, and has been named as one of Pennsylvania’s Super Lawyers in environmental law.

Ms. Maxwell is a shareholder in the environmental group of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Her principal office is in Philadelphia. She focuses her practice on environmental litigation. Ms. Maxwell advises clients on regulatory compliance issues and represents clients in litigation in state and federal courts. Her work includes litigation of major contamination cases under the hazardous waste and Superfund laws. She also advises clients in transactions involving the sale of contaminated real property. Ms. Maxwell is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Linda K. Caracappa in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and her B.A., magna cum laude, with Departmental Honors in Law and Policy from Dickinson College. 

Mr. Heilman is currently Litigation Coordinator for the Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Chief Counsel. Since joining the Office of Chief Counsel in 1987, Mr. Heilman has primarily practiced in the areas of mining, air quality and oil and gas. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame du Lac in 1980, a J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law in 1985, and Masters of Engineering degree in Environmental Pollution Control from Penn State (Harrisburg) in 1998. He is also licensed as a Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the Office of Chief Counsel, Mr. Heilman clerked for the Honorable William D. Hutchinson then of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1985‐87) and worked for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation (1980 ‐ 85). Mr. Heilman has received the Governor’s Award for Excellence (2018), the DEP Secretary’s Award for Excellence (1999), the DEP Secretary’s Award for Dedication (2018), and the Dave Bucknam Outstanding OSM-NTTP Instructor Award (2024).

Mr. Sullivan was appointed Chief Counsel to PA DCNR in April 2024. He previously served as a Supervisory Counsel in PA DEP’s Southcentral Regional Office where he counseled the Waterways and Wetlands program, the Chesapeake Bay program, and the State Conservation Commission. His PA DEP practice focused on enforcement, litigation, and permitting matters related to pipelines, agriculture, and other water-related environmental issues. He also previously served PA DEP as Acting Deputy Chief Counsel and in the Bureau of Regulatory Counsel. Mr. Sullivan received B.S. degrees in Biology and Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University at University Park as well as a J.D. and a Certificate in Environmental Law, Science & Policy from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

John Herman is the Regional Chief Counsel for the Department of Environmental Protection’s Southwest Office of Chief Counsel in Pittsburgh.  The office includes a staff of 15 attorneys, and represents all of DEP’s environmental programs, including Air, Water, Waste, Drinking Water, Wetlands & Waterways, Mining, Radiation and Oil & Gas.  Mr. Herman is a 1982 graduate of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, and worked in private practice for ten years prior to joining the Commonwealth’s Office of General Counsel and DEP.

Mr. Garber is a shareholder in the Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Group of Babst Calland Clements & Zomnir, P.C. in Pittsburgh. He concentrates much of his practice on environmental, water, and land use issues facing the oil and gas, mining, and manufacturing industries, and on infrastructure development issues facing municipalities, municipal authorities, and developers. He represents exploration, development, and pipeline companies working in the Pennsylvania conventional and unconventional oil and gas industries, and represents companies and trade associations in other extractive industries in Pennsylvania, including coal and noncoal mining. Mr. Garber has written and lectured extensively on oil and gas, water, and development issues. He is ranked among Pennsylvania’s top environmental lawyers in Chambers USA: Americas Leading Lawyers for Business. He is listed in the environmental section, the water section, the natural resources section, the environmental litigation section, and the energy section of the Best Lawyers in America, and was selected as its Lawyer of the Year for Pittsburgh each year between 2014 to 2021 and again in 2024 for energy, environmental, or natural resources law, and was named to the 2023 Energy & Environment Power 100 by City & State Pennsylvania. He is recognized as one of Pennsylvania’s Super Lawyers, according to an annual survey published in Philadelphia Magazine. He has served on the council of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Environmental, Mineral and Natural Resources Law Section. Mr. Garber is a member and past chair of the Allegheny County Bar Association Environmental Law Section and is a member of the Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations. He is a member of the board of directors of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and the 3 Rivers Wet Weather Program, and is a former member and past chair of the board of the Allegheny Land Trust in Pittsburgh. Mr. Garber received his B.S. in biology from Pennsylvania State University, his M.S. in oceanography and limnology from the University of Wisconsin, his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Pittsburgh, and his J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law. He is an adjunct professor at Duquesne University School of Law, where he teaches courses in environmental law and litigation.

Mr. Mandelbaum is a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Environmental Practice. His principal offices are in Philadelphia and Boston. His practice tends toward environmental litigation of various sorts, including some Superfund matters that the government characterizes as among its most significant. He also advises on compliance, regulatory and transactional issues. He served as Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania Statewide Water Resources Committee and as a member of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Mr. Mandelbaum teaches “Superfund Litigation” and “Oil and Gas Law” in rotation at Temple Law School and the Superfund course at Suffolk (Boston) Law School. He was educated at Harvard University (A.B. 1980; J.D. 1983) and served as law clerk to Hon. Louis H. Pollak, then-United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.

Mr. Wolford maintains a solo practice, Wolford Law, in Erie. Before going into private practice, he served as Regional Counsel and as an Assistant Counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Northwest Region. Before joining the DEP, Mr. Wolford served as a prosecutor for the Office of Attorney General (OAG), Environmental Crimes Section and also as a civil litigation attorney for the OAG’s Torts Litigation Section. He was also a special prosecutor of environmental crimes for both the OAG and the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Wolford is currently a member of the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board Rules Committee and the State Water Plan Statewide and Great Lakes Committees. He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Environmental and Energy Law Section, a Past Chair of the Section Council, the current Chair of the Section’s Programs and Publications Committee, and previously served as a contributing feature editor for the Section’s newsletter. He has lectured for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (National Enforcement Training Institute), the DEP, the Erie County Bar Association, Pennsylvania’s minor judiciary, and various other organizations.  Mr. Wolford received his undergraduate degree from the Pennsylvania State University and his J.D. from the Temple University School of Law, and is a member of the Erie County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations.

Elizabeth Marx serves as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project (PULP), where leads PULP’s policy, litigation, training, and specialized projects in furtherance of its mission to secure just and equitable access to safe and affordable utility services for Pennsylvanians experiencing poverty. She currently serves as Chairperson of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’ LIHEAP Advisory Committee, the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Weatherization Assistance Program Policy Advisory Council, and the Department of Environmental Protection’s Climate Change Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the Public Utility Commission’s Consumer Advisory Council. She holds a BS, cum laude, in Political Science from Temple University, and JD, magna cum laude, from Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

Mr. Fiorentino currently maintains an office as a solo practitioner in Media, PA, engaging in Environmental Law, Zoning and Land Use, and Consumer Law. From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Fiorentino served as the Executive Director of Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center, a public interest firm based at Widener University School of Law. Formerly, he served as Senior Attorney and Air Program Manager for Clean Air Council, an environmental non-profit with offices in Pennsylvania and Delaware, as well as a stint as its Harrisburg Director. Mr. Fiorentino served for 17 years as a member of the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). He taught Environmental Law as an Adjunct in the pre-law program at Wesley College, Dover, DE. He has served on the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s Energy Task Force, on the Pennsylvania DEP’s Ozone Stakeholders Group, and on the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s New Source Review Workgroup. He has litigated environmental matters before federal and state appellate courts and trial courts, as well as administrative agencies, and has testified on energy issues before the Pennsylvania state legislature. Mr. Fiorentino has previously presented on the subjects of Impaired Waters Permitting and Electronic Research for Pennsylvania Bar Institute continuing legal education seminars. He has authored “The Small Business Compliance Guide for Key Federal Air Regulations” and co-authored “Title V: A Citizens’ Guide to the Stationary Source Permitting Process.” Mr. Fiorentino holds a J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, PA. His B.A. in Communications is also from Duquesne University.

Shawn W. Weis was appointed Chief Counsel for the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) in April 2024. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Weis served as Assistant Counsel to PENNVEST for nineteen years, focusing her practice on handling revenue-based, asset-based and real estate structured transactions for financing sewer, drinking water, storm water, Brownfield and non-point source projects. While serving as Assistant Counsel, Ms. Weis assisted the agency with the development of the nation’s first nutrient credit clearinghouse, a state program for the remediation of Brownfield sites, and the design and development of an integrated online system for settlement on funding awards. Prior to joining PENNVEST, Ms. Weis served as In-House Legal Counsel for KnowledgePlanet, Inc., an international software platform company based out of Reston, Virginia, and an Associate in the Corporate, Business and Real Estate Sections of the Harrisburg-based law firm of Keefer Wood Allen & Rahal, LLP. She has also served as clinical law professor for the Penn State Dickinson School of Law, teaching a course on elder law. Ms. Weis is a graduate of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law and Elizabethtown College where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Economics. Ms. Weis is a member of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Women in Public Finance, the Pennsylvania Association of Bond Lawyers and the National Association of Bond Lawyers. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union since 2017 and currently serves as the Board Chair.

MaryAnne Wesdock was appointed to the Environmental Hearing Board by Governor Josh Shapiro in December 2023 and is based in Pittsburgh. Prior to her appointment, she served as Senior Counsel to the Board and former Chief Judge and Chairman Thomas W. Renwand. Judge Wesdock serves as the Board’s liaison to the Environmental Hearing Board Procedural Rules Committee and is a co-editor of the Board’s Practice and Procedure Manual which is relied on by practitioners before the Board. She was instrumental in developing the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Environmental and Energy Law Section Pro Bono Program. She also supervises the Board’s internship program and serves as a mentor to law students through the PBA Environmental and Energy Law Section. In 2006, Judge Wesdock was awarded the prestigious Environmental Law Lifetime Achievement Award by her peers in the PBA Environmental and Energy Law Section in recognition of her work at the Board and her contributions to the Section. Judge Wesdock is the Past Chair of both the PBA Environmental and Energy Law Section and the Allegheny County Bar Association Environmental and Energy Law Section. Prior to joining the Board, she served as Assistant Corporate Counsel to Hanover Foods, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated summa cum laude as valedictorian. She received her J.D., with honors, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Paul J. Bruder, Jr. was appointed to the Environmental Hearing Board by Governor Shapiro in 2023. Judge Bruder received his undergraduate degree from Lebanon Valley College in 1990 and his law degree from the University of Dayton in 1994. He began his career at the former Department of Environmental Resources, later the Department of Environmental Protection, then spent 25 years in private practice first at Rhoads & Sinon and then Mette, Evans & Woodside in Harrisburg, At both firms, he was the Chair of the Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group, and also served as the President of the Mette Evans Board of Directors for two years. Judge Bruder was appointed by Governor Corbett to serve a four-year term on the Chesapeake Bay Citizens Advisory Council from 2012-2015. He lives in Camp Hill with his two daughters.

Mr. Bennett is the Senior Manager, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, Governmental Services at PJM Interconnection. He is the PJM liaison for Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In this role, he interacts with state utility commissions, executive agencies and legislators on energy policy in the areas of RTO grid reliability, transmission planning, operations and wholesale markets. Prior to joining PJM, Mr. Bennett was the Managing Director at Energy Advocacy, LLC, a boutique consultancy focused on regulatory policy in the retail and wholesale energy markets. Mr. Bennett also held management roles in government affairs for both PPL EnergyPlus and Exelon. Mr. Bennett has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. PJM Interconnection, founded in 1927, ensures the reliability of the high-voltage electric power system serving 65 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. PJM coordinates and directs the operation of the region’s transmission grid, which includes over 82,000 miles of transmission lines; administers a competitive wholesale electricity market; and plans regional transmission expansion improvements to maintain grid reliability and relieve congestion. PJM’s regional grid and market operations produce annual savings of $2.8 billion to $3.1 billion. For the latest news about PJM, visit PJM Inside Lines at insidelines.pjm.com.

In 2007, Keith founded Independence Solar in New Jersey and strategically led the company’s full-service, high-quality commercial solar focus while expanding its presence throughout the Northeast. Keith’s guidance and market-driven decision-making skills have ensured the Independence Solar team is experienced and adept in the growing solar landscape. Based in the Mid-Atlantic region, Keith manages business development initiatives in this area, including partnerships with third-party influencers. Keith has over 16 years of experience in solar development, including completing one of the largest roof-top solar installations in the country, the 10.1 MW Holt Marine Terminal in Gloucester City, New Jersey. Prior to Independence Solar, Keith worked for Allco Renewables, US Solar Finance, and Verterra Renewables, managing the financial analysis and development of over $300 million of solar, wind, and biomass projects. Keith holds a B.S. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from MIT, where he focused on the economics of solar.

Kacy C. Manahan is a Senior Attorney with Delaware Riverkeeper Network. Her work focuses primarily on natural gas infrastructure and Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, as well as a variety of issues relating to the preservation of the Delaware River watershed. Kacy is a graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, where she earned a certificate in Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law. Prior to her current position, Kacy served as a clerk in the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, and practiced at a boutique environmental firm in New Jersey.

Ms. Smokelin is an attorney at Reed Smith, LLP and a thought-leader on environmental and emerging energy issues, greenhouse gas legislation, and related environmental issues in the RGGI states, California, and the European Union as well as the international arena. She represents clients in a broad range of environmental and energy issues, including environmental civil enforcement and litigation matters, as well as regulatory and transactional issues for energy and manufacturing companies. Her practice focuses on all aspects of regulatory and litigation counseling in the fields of environmental, natural resource, and energy law, with a particular emphasis on emerging air issues. She has shared speaking engagements with the White House special assistant to the president for energy and climate change. Additionally, she is chair of the Pittsburgh Women’s Initiative Network of Reed Smith, where she works to promote a support network among women in the firm’s award-winning women’s program, and to further women’s career advancement and professional development. Ms. Smokelin has argued before administrative tribunals on emerging Clean Air Act issues, developed standardized trading agreements for carbon projects on California, and performed due diligence on major acquisitions in the Marcellus Shale play. As well as being a delegate at the Paris climate talks and other international climate negotiations, she has led or participated on teams in some of the most significant air appeals and hearings on aggregation issues for the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania. Her clients include energy companies (large and small), textile manufacturers, battery recycling facilities, iron and steel manufacturers, petroleum refiners, chemical producers, chapter 11 bankruptcy debtors and creditors, landfill operators, and municipalities and municipal redevelopment authorities. She has represented clients in the international climate arena as well as in the state courts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia; in the U.S. District Courts throughout the Midwest and the Eastern United States; and in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal for the Third Circuit and the District of Columbia. She also represents clients in a broad range of environmental issues, including environmental civil enforcement and litigation matters concerning the Clean Air Act, Superfund, RCRA, and the Clean Water Act, as well as various state law equivalents. She has been involved with groundbreaking air permitting aggregation litigation as well as several successful Title V permitting challenges for Pennsylvania clients, along with defending toxic tort and property damage claims based on the discharge of hazardous pollutants into the air, soil, surface and groundwater. She is a key player in due diligence on major acquisitions in the Marcellus Shale play. She has reviewed and evaluated environmental assessments involving multiple facilities at diverse locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and she helps clients understand the pros and cons of alternative provisions and different structures for doing business. She advises clients, including REITs, with the purchase of real estate, on qualifying as bona fide purchasers under CERCLA or meeting the test for innocent landowner and contiguous property owner defenses, and obtained liability protection for buyers of contaminated property under various state programs. She received her J.D., summa cum laude, from University of Pittsburgh and also holds B.S.E., University of Pennsylvania, Systems Science and Engineering; Minor: Wharton School, Decision Sciences.

Logan Welde is the Legislative Director and a Staff Attorney with the Clean Air Council focusing primarily on energy law, preemption law, municipal legislation, and waste issues. Before joining the Council in August 2012, Logan was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, a financial analyst at Credit Suisse, manager of toy operations at Marvel Comics, and at Blue Man Group. Logan received his law degree from Temple University School of Law and his Bachelor’s from University of Vermont.

James R. May, Esq. is Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor of Law at Washburn University, where he teaches environmental and constitutional law and human rights, and co-directs the program in environmental, energy and resources law. May is a Kansas native who joined Washburn Law in 2024 after decades in academia elsewhere, including at Widener University, and law schools at Georgetown, Duquesne, Hawai’i, Pace, Pittsburgh, Utah, and Vermont. May is an award-winning teacher, human rights litigator, and author. As a teacher May was awarded the Albert Young Fellowship in Constitutional Law and the Douglas E. Ray Award at Widener University (Delaware Law), the Robinson Environmental Law Award at Haub School of Law at Pace University, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Kansas School of Law, and membership in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. May was appointed the founding Chief Sustainability Officer at Widener University, where he established the Faculty Executive Council and chaired the Sustainability Council, and chaired committees on hiring, faculty governance, faculty development, and tenure. He is founder of the Global Environmental Rights Institute and the Dignity Rights Institute at Widener University Delaware Law School, where he is Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus. As a lawyer May has championed causes to promote and protect environmental public health and welfare and human rights. May has litigated human rights and environmental cases pro bono publico throughout the United States, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights, and various UN bodies. May was lead counsel in pioneering cases to restore water quality and conserve threatened and endangered species and to enforce environmental justice and constitutional rights to a clean environment. May also contributed to landmark cases of Juliana v. U.S., American Electric Power v. Connecticut, Village of Kivalina v. U.S., Held v. Montana, Comer v. Murphy Oil, Atencio v. New Mexico, and Massachusetts v. the U.S. EPA, and serves as the Special Legal Advisor to the ABA Task Force on Environmental Justice and on the board of the Dignity Rights Initiative of the ABA Center for Human Rights. For this work May is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the American College of Environmental Lawyers, recipient of the American Bar Association’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy, the Conservation Award from the Sierra Club, and the National Award from the American Canoe Association, and has been recognized by LawDragon and Martindale Hubbard as one of the world’s leading environmental lawyers. May also founded or co-founded the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center (now at Widener University), the Eastern Environmental Law Center (now at Columbia University), and Dignity Rights International. May has published 20 casebooks and treatises and more than 120 book chapters and articles for Yale, Penn, Cambridge, Oxford, Edward Elgar, Routledge, Hein, UCLA, Case Western and many others. His casebooks include Modern Administrative Law; Modern Environmental Law; Modern First Amendment Law; Climate Rights; and Dignity Law: Global Recognition, Cases and Perspectives. His environmental law treatises include Principles of Constitutional Environmental Law; Environmental Human Rights and the Anthropocene; Encyclopedia of Human Rights and the Environment; and Global Environmental Constitutionalism. His human rights treatises include Advanced Introduction to Human Dignity and the Law; Dignity Under Law: A Global Handbook for Civil Society (2021); Dignity Under Law: A Global Handbook for Jurists (2021); and, Putting Dignity in Practice: Implementing the American Bar Association’s Recognition of Human Dignity As Foundational to the Rule of Law (2023 American Bar Association). Recent publications include Subnational Climate Rights in America, 26 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 26 (2024); From the Courtroom to the Frontlines: A Roadmap for Advancing Environmental Justice, 50 Human Rts. ___ (2024) with Quentin Pair and Nadia Ahmad; Is There a Human Right to a Healthy Climate?, 50 Human Rts. ___ (2024); Climate Rights in Brazil and the United States: A Convergence in Contrasts, 56 Case W. Res. Int’l L. 439 (2024), with Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas and Luciene Bauer; Critique of Juspositivist Theory of Judicial Decision, 29 Novos Estudos Juridicos 1 (2024), with Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas and Orlando Luiz Zanon; “Still Not at All: Environmental Sustainability in the Supreme Court,” 92 UMKC L. Rev., 724 (2024); “Can the Constitution Save the Planet?,” in Democracy in a Hotter Time: Climate Change and Democratic Transformation (David W. Orr, ed., MIT Press 2023), with Katarina Fischer Kuh; “Environment and Economic and Social Rights,” The Oxford Handbook of Economic and Social Rights (Cambridge University Press, with Erin Daly; Introduction to Dignity Law, 17 Jrnl Disaster Res. 301 (2022), with Erin Daly; “Making Sense of Environmental Human Rights and Global Environmental Constitutionalism,” The Routledge Encyclopedia of International Environmental Law, 2021; “Putting Dignity in Practice: Implementing the American Bar Association’s Recognition of Human Dignity As Foundational to the Rule of Law,” American Bar Association, Center for Human Rights 2021, with Erin Daly, SSRN here; “The Indivisibility of Human Dignity and Sustainability,” The Cambridge Handbook on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development, Edited by Sumudu Atapattu, Carmen G. Gonzalez and Sara Seck, Cambridge University Press 2021, with Erin Daly; Dignity Rights for a Pandemic, 17 Law Culture, and the Humanities (2021); “The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Dignity Under Law,” in International Environmental Lawmaking and Diplomacy Review 2019, 15-33 (University of Eastern Finland) (Tuula Honkonen & Seita Romppanen, eds.), with Erin Daly; Human Dignity and Environmental Outcomes in Pakistan, 10 Pakistan L. Rev. 1 (2019), with Erin Daly; Why Dignity Rights Matter, 19 European Human Rights L. Rev. 129 (2019); “Dignity Law and Practice in America,” Report to the House of Delegates (2020 American Bar Association). May received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Bowman Scholar) and J.D. (National Environmental Law Moot Court Champion) from the University of Kansas and LL.M. in Environmental Law from Haub School of Law at Pace University (Feldshuh Fellow).

Elizabeth Lankenau is a public service-oriented Philadelphia enthusiast and urban planning professional. She’s demonstrated experience in cross-functional problem solving on complex infrastructure issues. She has extensive experience in the public and private sectors and is highly skilled at managing through complex systems to ensure project delivery. She thrives as a connector across professional disciplines to build sustainable, mutually beneficial relationships.

Amy Sinden teaches in the areas of environmental, climate, and natural resources law.She is also a member scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform and a fellow in the American College of Environmental Lawyers. She has received various awards and accolades for her writings critiquing the over-use of economic theory in environmental law and exploring the application of human rights norms to environmental conflicts, which have appeared in a variety of outlets, including the Iowa Law Review, the Harvard Environmental Law Review, and The American Prospect and have twice been selected for the Land Use and Environmental Law Review’s annual compilation of the five best environmental law articles of the year.Prof. Sinden received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.Before joining the Temple faculty in 2001, she practiced law for 10 years, including representing citizens’ groups in clean water and endangered species litigation with Earthjustice and PennFuture.

Bonnie Barnett defends clients in large-scale environmental disputes and helps protect them with advice on regulatory compliance and the environmental implications of business and real estate transactions. In addition to her more than 30 years of litigation and advisory experience, she is one of the country’s top Superfund lawyers and is valued for her experience with remediating contaminated sediment sites and helping clients with the allocation of remedial costs. Bonnie is a member of the firm’s board.

Roger Miksad is the President and Executive Director of Battery Council International, a trade association formed in 1924 to advance the North American battery industry. He joined BCI in 2020, and today leads the association in representing its members’ interests. Mr. Miksad leads BCI’s regulatory and legislative strategy and engagement on all matters, including occupational safety and health, sustainability and environmental issues, government investment, legislative relations, and other matters. Mr. Miksad served as BCI’s outside legal counsel from 2009 as a Partner at the law firm of Wiley Rein LLP, where he also represented other chemical and consumer products industries. A graduate of Virginia Tech University, Mr. Miksad holds a Juris Doctor from Washington & Lee University. Mr. Miksad also serves as President of the American Battery Research Group, a subsidiary of BCI that provides pre-competitive research consortium management services.

Todd Aagaard joined the Villanova Law School faculty in 2008. He is currently the Heller McGuinness Leadership Chair and served as vice dean of the Law School from 2015 to 2019. His scholarship focuses on the fields of environmental law, energy law, and administrative law. He has published numerous articles in leading law journals, including the Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Florida Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, University of Illinois Law Review, and Washington Law Review. He co-authored (with Andrew Kleit, an energy economist at Penn State) Electricity Capacity Markets, published in 2022 by Cambridge University Press. In addition, he is a co-author of Practicing Environmental Law, a practice-based environmental law casebook published by Foundation Press and currently in its third edition. He is a visiting fellow at Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan environmental economics think tank. Aagaard received his BA with honors from Pomona College, his MS from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and his JD magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. While at Michigan, he was the editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review and an executive editor of the Michigan Journal of Race & Law. Following completion of his JD and MS degrees, he clerked for Second Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi, before joining the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as an attorney in the Appellate Section. At the Justice Department, he briefed and argued civil and criminal cases in federal courts of appeals in the areas of environmental law, natural resources law, Indian law and administrative law.

Nick Lazor is the Director of the Bureau of Air Quality for the Department of Environmental Protection in Harrisburg. His program covers all aspects of air quality in Pennsylvania including permitting, planning, monitoring, compliance, and coordination with federal and local agencies. Mr. Lazor is a 1994 graduate of Slippery Rock University. Prior to becoming director, Mr. Lazor managed the air monitoring program for 13 years. Mr. Lazor is also recently retired from the PA Army National Guard, serving over 38 years in various positions culminating as the Ft Indiantown Gap Garrison Command Sergeant Major.

Nikolina Gaudin is an Assistant Counsel with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Regulatory Counsel. She counsels the Bureau of Waste Management, Biosolids program, and Environmental Justice program. Mrs. Gaudin graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and received a B.A. in English and French from the Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Gould is the Co-Chair of the Energy & Environmental Law Group at McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC. He focuses his practice entirely in the environmental law and toxic tort areas, and counsels business and industrial clients in all aspects of environmental law compliance. The scope of his practice includes compliance counseling, permitting, and litigation relating to environmental matters. Mr. Gould has extensive experience in the remediation and reuse of environmentally impacted properties. He works with business and real estate/land use attorneys on counseling regarding the environmental implications of business and real estate transactions, and land use matters ranging from storm water and wetlands to alleged health implications of proposed development. Mr. Gould also litigates environmental and toxic tort matters before all state, federal and administrative courts and tribunals. He received his B.S. from Old Dominion University and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law. He is the co-editor of the PBI treatise Environmental Law and Practice, and is the immediate past Chair of the PBA Environmental & Energy Law Section.

Dom McGraw is a seasoned energy and sustainability leader with extensive experience in energy services integration, operational optimization, and strategic project management. As Program Director of Energy & Climate Solutions for the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability, he oversees large-scale citywide projects and leads initiatives to enhance energy efficiency, renewable energy adoption, and resilience. With expertise in renewable energy procurement, advanced analytics, and cross-functional collaboration, Dom is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM), WELL AP, and LEED AP O+M. He holds a Master of Science in Information Technology Leadership from La Salle University and a Master of Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Brian J. Slipakoff practices in the area of commercial litigation, handling a wide variety of complex commercial disputes. He counsels clients concerning both appeals and at the trial level involving claims related to mortgages, credit cards and other consumer financial products, contract disputes, business torts, securities and commercial fraud, various class actions, procurement bid protests in state and federal courts throughout the country, as well as Pennsylvania charter school application and authorization process. In 2010 through 2018, he was named a Rising Star for Pennsylvania. Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and numerous federal courts, Mr. Slipakoff is a 2003 cum laude graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and a 2000 graduate of the University of Maryland.

Ms. Despot is an Assistant Director with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and is assigned to its Bureau of Regulatory Counsel in Harrisburg. She counsels the Department’s Chapter 102 program (Erosion and Sediment Control), which includes NPDES permitting; agriculture regulatory programs; and the State Conservation Commission. Prior to this work, she was counsel to the Department’s municipal waste, residual waste and recycling programs. She has also served as assistant counsel to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Prior to joining the Commonwealth, Ms. Despot was an associate with Tucker, Arensberg & Swartz in Harrisburg and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Lawrence F. Clark, Jr. of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. Ms. Despot received her J.D. from the Widener University School of Law in 1993 and her B.A. from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania in 1990.

Michael Fischer is Executive Deputy General Counsel for the Office of General Counsel. Prior to this position, he was Chief Counsel and Executive Deputy Attorney Genera for the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. Supreme Court; US Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Ninth, Tenth and the District of Columbia Circuits; and the US District Courts for the Eastern, Middle & Western Districts of Pennsylvania and the District of Colorado. He is a graduate of Columbia University School fo Law, J.D., and Priceton University, BA.

Jason Lalli is President of Encotech, Inc. He is experienced with environmental remediation equipment integration, groundwater and air contamination, industrial treatment systems, biological/wastewater treatment systems, oil and gas water recycling and remediation, and new technology development. Prior to this position, he was President of 2GL Tech. He is a graduate of Harvard University.

Ms. Songster is a shareholder at Lindhome & Songster, P.C., where her practice centers on oil and gas title matters in Pennsylvania and New York. Her work also includes supporting clients in oil and gas title litigation and transactional matters.
Before focusing on energy law, Ms. Songster practiced in real estate and corporate law, handling project financings for a major timber enterprise and managing asset transfers in connection with an acquisition by an international oil and gas company. Her real estate experience spans residential and commercial transactions, with particular depth in agricultural and timber-related financing. Ms. Songster earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and her B.A. in Government from Smith College in 1998. She is licensed to practice law in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, as well as before the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Legrome D. Davis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Songster is an active member of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL), the Michael Late Benedum Chapter of the AAPL (MLBC), and the Environmental & Energy Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Monica Walaan is the Chief Legal & Ethics Officer for the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (Pittsburgh Water), a non-profit, public utility providing essential and dependable water services to a population of approximately 500,000 throughout Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas. Monica oversees the legal affairs and ethics program of the company, manages the legal department, and serves on Pittsburgh Water’s executive leadership team. With her expert, broad-based legal counsel coupled with her strategic, forwarding-thinking approach to the legal function, Monica is responsible for steering the organization through a complex legal landscape, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, managing risk, and executing on the company’s mission, vision, and core values. She also oversees Pittsburgh Water’s ethics program, fosters a culture of integrity, and serves as a key resource for ethical guidance. Monica began her career as a commercial litigation attorney with Clark Hill. From there, she became the Vice President of Legal Affairs and Assistant General Counsel for the Pittsburgh International Airport, and eventually rising to Chief Legal Officer of Pittsburgh Water. Monica earned her Juris Doctor from Duquesne University School of Law and her dual undergraduate degree in political science and sociology from the University of Pittsburgh. She is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Professor Joshua Ash is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental Law & Policy Clinic. Under his leadership, the clinic works with the Pittsburgh community to foster local climate change mitigation and adaptation policy and projects, ensure a safe and clean environment for all regardless of race or income, and facilitate green and equitable economic opportunities. Ash’s research interests include policy mechanisms to improve public participation in climate mitigation and adaptation, sector-specific approaches to decarbonization including transportation, agriculture, and industry, novel approaches to environmental governance such as constitutional environmental rights, intergenerational equity, and environmental justice. He also brings a multi-disciplinary set of practical skills, including legal research, legislative advocacy, statutory interpretation, grant implementation, environmental permitting, project delivery of major transportation infrastructure projects, policy drafting program, program evaluation, and qualitative/quantitative social science research methods. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, Ash worked on national and state climate policy at the USDOT’s Volpe Center, the RAND Corporation, and most recently the Georgetown Climate Center. His work supported policies and programs such as the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, Buy Clean policies, the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) program, Justice40, and the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. Ash has also worked with the Government Accountability Office, the West Virginia Water Research Institute, and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as having worked as a project attorney for two billion-dollar infrastructure projects for Walsh Construction. Ash is also an active member of the American Bar Association Section for Environment, Energy, and Resources (for which he serves as co-chair of the Membership Diversity Enhancement Program and formally served in the Leadership Development Program). Ash holds a JD, a master’s degree in natural resource economics, and bachelor’s degrees in environmental geoscience, French, and international affairs from West Virginia University, as well as a PhD candidacy at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Tad Macfarlan is partner in K&L Gates LLP’s global Environment, Land, and Natural Resources practice group. Tad’s practice focuses on the environmental aspects of project development, transactional, litigation, and government enforcement matters (both civil and criminal). His clients include developers and operators of utility-scale solar, wind, and battery energy storage projects; oil and gas production, transmission and electric generation facilities; data centers; water and wastewater utilities; mine and quarry operators; hazardous waste processing facilities; other manufacturing and industrial facilities; and financial entities holding or acquiring an interest in such facilities. Tad regularly provides advice with respect to the regulatory regimes governing air emissions (including greenhouse gases); wetland and stream protection; wastewater and stormwater discharges; water withdrawals; hazardous wastes and materials; threatened and endangered species; cultural resources and historic properties; and local land use and zoning requirements.

Tori Giesler has extensive experience in the legal field, primarily focusing on regulatory matters within the energy sector. Currently serving as Managing Counsel at FirstEnergy since June 2011, Tori represents the company in state-level regulatory affairs for its Pennsylvania and New York subsidiaries while also providing legislative support. Previous experience includes roles as Associate Attorney at Hawke McKeon & Sniscak LLP, where Tori represented utility and industrial clients before various regulatory bodies. Early legal training included clerkships in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and work with the Ohio Environmental Council. Tori holds a Juris Doctor degree from Ohio Northern University—Claude W. Pettit College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Ohio Northern University. Additionally, Tori is a veteran of the Ohio Army National Guard.

Kristin Phillips-Hill was elected to serve York County citizens in the Pennsylvania Senate in 2018 and subsequently re-elected in 2022. In the 2023-24 session and again in the 2025-26 session, Kristin’s colleagues elected her to serve as the Senate Majority Caucus Chair, where she leads legislative discussions to advance the Senate’s agenda. As a former small business owner and school board director, Kristin has made government efficiency a cornerstone of her public service career. She successfully championed legislative initiatives ranging from overhauling the state’s permitting process to streamlining the delivery of health care through reforms to the prior authorization process. She also led the efforts on landmark human trafficking reform, overturned a century-old law that prohibited the right to freedom of religious expression, and successfully fought to ban outside, third-party funding from influencing the administration of elections in Pennsylvania. Throughout her tenure in the Senate, Kristin has been a leader on expanding access to high-speed internet across Pennsylvania, including chairing the Communications & Technology Committee during her first term. She continues this work as vice chair of the Senate Communications & Technology Committee and as a member of the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority, which she helped to establish in 2021, overseeing significant investments to expand broadband access statewide. Her work has resulted in meaningful bipartisan reforms that address the needs of constituents while ensuring fiscal responsibility. Kristin’s dedication to fiscal transparency extends to her personal conduct. She does not participate in the state’s pension or health insurance programs and commutes to Harrisburg in her own vehicle without accepting mileage reimbursement. She has been recognized by government watchdog entities for exceeding expectations in expense reporting for her transparency and accuracy. She also returns the automatic cost-of-living adjustment that is provided to legislators, executive officials, and judges back to the state Treasury. In addition to her leadership roles, Kristin serves as a member of the Senate Banking and Insurance, Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, State Government, and Appropriations committees. She also chairs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and serves as a member of the Legislative Data Processing Center. Kristin earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public policy from Rutgers University. She resides in York Township with her husband Rick. Together, they have three grown children: Victoria, Gavin, and Spencer.

Heggel Echeverria serves as the Director of Innovation and Client Value at Greenberg Traurig, LLP., where he orchestrates the development and implementation of cutting-edge legal technologies and innovative practices. With extensive experience in the legal industry, Heggel has a proven track record of driving efficiency and enhancing client services through strategic innovation. Heggel has a unique blend of technical strategic expertise through his training in engineering, computer science and business administration. Outside of work, Heggel mentors youths through his basketball and soccer coaching activities and serves his community through a variety of outreach programs

Vera Kanova serves as the executive deputy chief counsel at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Prior to that role, she served as an IT, technology, procurement, and RTKL attorney for the Office of Administration. Prior to that she served as an assistant counsel for the Department of Environmental Protection. Prior to joining the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, she was an associate counsel at Mette, Evans & Woodside and served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Mary D. France of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania. While in law school, she served as a certified legal intern for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, conducted research projects for Professor of Law Gary S. Gildin and was a pro bono advocate. Ms. Kanova graduated with distinction from the Pennsylvania State University, where she earned a B.S. in Information Science and Technology. Before going to law school, Ms. Kanova worked as an application developer where she gained practical experience in the software development and project management fields. She received her J.D. degree from the Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law, where she was a member of the Woolsack Honor Society.