SPLC Founding Summit 2013

The Council’s Founding Summit took place at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC on August 27-28, 2013.  The sixty-two participants from forty-eight organizations represented a diverse and balanced group of actors in the institutional purchasing marketplace, including private and public sector purchasers (40%), suppliers, service providers and manufacturers (31%), and certifiers, standards developers, and NGOs (29%).  Over the course of two days, the participants provided the Council’s Steering Committee with input on the Council’s governance, guiding principles, 2013-2014 workplan, and more.  Additionally, significant time was devoted to building relationships and sharing perspectives across sector and stakeholder boundaries.

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  • Founders, partners, steering committee, staff and observer participants at the Founding Summit.
  • Attendees show their support for a proposal during a plenary session.
  • Sajid Ghani of CIPS Sustainability Index speaks during a break-out discussion.
  • Matthew Swibel, Director of Corporate Sustainability for Lockheed Martin, speaks during a small group discussion.
  • A break-out group discusses the proposed workstreams.
  • Stephan Sylvan, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Policy at US EPA, and Roger Somerville, Assistant Director of Purchasing at Michigan State University, participate in a break-out group discussion.
  • Break-out group discusses strategic action planning for sustainable purchasing.
  • Shabnam Fardanesh, a Steering Committee representative for the Department of Energy, listens to John Edelman, a representative of the Professional Services Sustainability Consortium.
  • Jason Pearson, Executive Director of SPLC, sets the stage for a workstream prioritization exercise.
  • Christina Simon, Sustainable Supply Chain Program Manager at Lockheed Martin, participates in a workstream prioritization exercise.
  • Dr. Anastasia O'Rourke of DEKRA Sustainability and Jessian Choy from City of San Francisco participate in a workstream prioritization exercise.
  • Lynda Rankin, Sustainable Procurement Manager for the Government of Nova Scotia, addresses attendees during a plenary session.
  • Anand Raghu of EcoLab speaks during a plenary session.
  • Jeff Malcolm of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) speaks during a plenary session.
  • Rob Shimp, a representative for SCS Global Services, gives feedback during a plenary session.
  • Alicia Culver, Executive Director of the Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN), addresses the group during a plenary session.
  • Yalmaz Siddiqui, Co-Chair of the SPLC Steering Committee and Senior Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot, addresses attendees during a plenary session.
  • Jason Pearson, Executive Director of SPLC, explains the relationship between each proposed workstream.
  • Chris O'Brien, SPLC Steering Committee member and Director of Sustainability at American University, reports back to the plenary the outcome of a break-out group's discussion.
  • Anand Raghu from EcoLab presents a break-out group's proposals.
  • Dr. Anastasia O'Rourke from DEKRA Sustainability and Co-Chair of the SPLC Steering Committee gives remarks during a plenary session.
  • Mark Rossolo of UL Environment and an SPLC Steering Committee member speaks during a plenary session.
  • Brad Miller from BIFMA addresses attendees during a plenary session.
  • Alison Kinn Bennet of US EPA and an SPLC Steering Committee member speaks during a plenary session.
  • Left to right: Anand Raghu, EcoLab; Mark Rossolo, UL Environment and SPLC Steering Committee member; Jessian Choy, City fo San Francisco.
  • Brennan Conaway from the General Services Administration converses during a break with Dr. Anastasia O'Rourke, an SPLC Steering Committee Co-Chair.
  • Left to right: Cynthia Cummis, WRI and SPLC Steering Committee member; Stephan Sylvan, US EPA; Yalmaz Siddiqui, Office Depot and SPLC Steering Committee Co-Chair; Sajid Ghani, CIPS Sustainability Index
  • Debbie Jaslow-Shatz, a Facilities Buyer at Bloomberg, talks with Tim Warman of the Sustainbility Standards Partnership.
  • Small groups discuss the results of a pre-Summit survey.
  • Left to right: Anand Raghu from EcoLab, Michelle Perkins from SciQuest and Scott Weiss from Apex Clean Energy.
  • Left to right: Cynthia Cummis, a Steering Committee member and Deputy Director of the GHG Protocol at World Resources Institute; Mark Sajbel, Sustainable Acquisition Program Manager at US Department of Agriculture; Shabnam Fardanesh, Program Lead at US Department of Energy and Steering Committee representative.
  • Left to right: Annie Bevan, GreenCircle Certified; Dana Falstad, ARAMARK; Chris O'Brien, SPLC Steering Committee member and Director of Sustainability at American University; Don Casella, Connecticut Contract Team Leader and representative from National Association of State Procurement Officers.
  • Left to right: Karen Hamilton, King County; Jessian Choy, City of San Francisco; Stacey Foreman, City of Portland; Jonathan Rifkin, District of Columbia (SPLC Steering Committee member).
  • Raymond Randall of Waste Management and Sam Hummel, SPLC's Director of Outreach.
  • Yalmaz Siddiqui of Office Depot and Anand Raghu from EcoLab.
  • Cynthia Cummis of World Resources Institute and Stephan Sylvan of US EPA.
  • Left to right: Johanna Kertesz of State of Minnesota; Alison Kinn Bennet of US EPA (SPLC Steering Committee member); Mark Rossolo of UL Environment (SPLC Steering Committee member); Stephan Sylvan of US EPA; Stacey Foreman of City of Portland; Karen Hamilton of King County
  • SPLC Steering Committee Co-chairs, Yalmaz Siddiqui and Dr. Anastasia O'Rourke, concluded the Summit by giving out several awards for noteworthy participation.
  • Raymond Randall of Waste Management and Johanna Kertesz from the State of Minnesota won the "Mind and Body Award" for getting up and running 8 miles before the meetings started at 8am.
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Photos by Laura Seltzer-Duny