GreenBiz Team

Joel Makower, Chairman and Executive Editor

Joel is an award-winning writer and strategist on corporate sustainability practices and clean technology who, over 25 years, has helped a wide range of companies align sustainability goals with business strategy. He is the bestselling author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including The New Grand Strategy: Restoring America's Prosperity, Security and Sustainability in the 21st Century, and a sought-after speaker to companies and business groups around the world.

John Davies, VP & Senior Analyst

John leads GreenBiz's research as well as the GreenBiz Executive Network, a member-based, peer-to-peer learning forum for sustainability professionals from $1B+ corporations. He is a veteran entrepreneur and innovator who has launched start-ups as well as improved business operations. John is a frequent speaker on supply-chain and sustainability topics and has written extensively for business, industry, and educational publications.

Sarah Golden, Sr. Energy Analyst

Driven by the urgency of the climate challenge, Sarah follows trends and innovations that are accelerating the clean energy transition. She brings more than a decade of experience in climate, clean energy and politics. She holds B.A. in Politics and Environmental Studies from Whitman College, and was an Annenberg Dean’s Scholar at the University of Southern California, where she earned an M.A. in Communications.

Katie Fehrenbacher, Senior Writer and Transportation Analyst

Katie Fehrenbacher is a Senior Writer and Analyst covering transportation for GreenBiz Group, and Chair of VERGE Transport. She’s been a journalist writing about emerging technology and entrepreneurs for over a decade, including as a reporter for Fortune Magazine, Gigaom and Red Herring. She’s also led the editorial development of eight annual conferences including Fortune’s Brainstorm E and Gigaom’s Roadmap and Green:Net conferences.

Isa Anne Stamos, Director of Systems & Technology

Isa is a project and development manager who works with all the teams at GreenBiz to ensure the website and workflows are as impactful and efficient as possible. She is a 20 year veteran of the video game industry where she honed her project management and development skills to develop AAA console and mobile games.

Lina Bigaran, Finance and Operations Manager

Originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Lina manages the GreenBiz office. She is responsible for overall administration, finances, HR and accounting matters, providing full support to all the teams at GreenBiz. She holds a BA in journalism from University Cruzeiro do Sul, in Brazil.

Elsa Wenzel, Special Projects Editor

Elsa Wenzel is the special projects editor and former managing editor at GreenBiz Group. Elsa previously covered business, technology and sustainability for PCWorld, CNET, the Associated Press and MotherJones.com.

Pete May, President & Co-Founder

Pete co-founded GreenBiz Group in 2006 with Joel Makower. Prior to that he had over 20 years experience in B2B and technology media as an executive with companies such as Primedia, CMP and Miller Freeman. Pete was honored with the 2010 Folio 40 Award – C Level Visionaries Award. This award recognizes media industry influencers and innovators.

Greg Kerwin, Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer

Greg brings more than 25 years of sales, marketing and business development experience to his role at GreenBiz where he leads the marketing and revenue generating strategies. Prior positions include Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer at Code for America and at leadership roles at UBM, where he developed leading global events and digital media products, including running a $100 million global event portfolio and collaborating with O’Reilly Media on the successful launch of the Web 2.0 and Gov 2.0 event brands.

Paul Carp, VP Business Development

Paul leads Business Development for GreenBiz focused on event sponsorship, online and research thought leadership initiatives. With 15+ years of B2B experience in clean energy and sustainability across the federal government, large corporations and venture-backed startups, Paul has held roles in sales, marketing, policymaking, community relations and business operations.

Daniel Kelley, Creative Director

Daniel has more than 15 years' experience in art direction and graphic design for web, video, print, and apparel. His expertise includes motion graphics, video direction, graphic design, conceptualization, brand development, and making dry topics more exciting.

Becky Dempsey, Marketing Director

Becky leads marketing programs for GreenBiz, including direct marketing, collateral, and PR. Becky's strong environmental background includes extensive marketing experience from her previous work with multiple environmental non-profit organizations and a BA in Environmental Studies from University of California Santa Barbara.

Manasi Kaushik, Marketing Coordinator

Manasi is the Marketing Coordinator at GreenBiz. She helps implement the marketing strategies and lead marketing programs for the team. She holds a Master of Science in Journalism degree from Northwestern University, and has specialized in video, photojournalism and, marketing and communications. Previously, she was the Communications Manager for the team that won 1st place in the Communications Contest in the 2017 U.S. DOE Solar Decathlon — a national competition that challenges student teams to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses. She also holds a BA in English from University of Delhi and is passionate about the discourse around sustainability, and creating an impactful narrative around clean economy.

Taylor Flores, Customer Success Coordinator

As the Customer Success Coordinator at GreenBiz, Taylor manages sponsor deliverables such as sponsored newsletters, webcasts, articles, and event exhibits. Prior to GreenBiz, Taylor worked at the San Francisco Department of the Environment as a CivicSpark fellow. She graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelors in Business Management and a minor in Environmental Studies.

Holly Secon, Associate Editor

Holly Secon is the assistant editor at GreenBiz, where she supports the editorial team's journalistic work and other various projects. Previously, she created internal content and communications at Twitter and the National Writing Project. She holds a bachelor's degree in Media Studies from UC Berkeley.

Eric Faurot, CEO

Eric leads GreenBiz Group and is responsible for the overall strategy and growth of the company. Previously, he managed and produced some of the most influential technology events, including COMDEX, INTEROP, Black Hat and Web 2.0. Most recently he grew the technology division of UBM from $38 million to $63 million in three years.

Shana Rappaport, Vice President & Executive Director, VERGE

Shana directs numerous efforts for VERGE in addition to supporting overall strategy and program design. She leads GreenBiz’s work with the public sector and around cities, runs VERGE Accelerate for disruptive startups, and spearheads the interactive technology showcase components of VERGE Interconnect. She brings over a decade of experience and lifetime of passion for advancing sustainability solutions to the GreenBiz team.

Sydney Massing-Schaffer, Conference Manager

Sydney manages operations and develops content for GreenBiz events. Her background is in managing large fundraising events for non-profits. Previously, Sydney curated a wide range of performing arts and sporting events at her university. She also worked on the production side, specializing as an audio technician and stage manager. Sydney holds a BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Lauren Phipps, Director & Senior Analyst, Circular Economy

Lauren is GreenBiz’s Director & Senior Analyst on the Circular Economy. She is dedicated to accelerate circular economy solutions at the intersection of business, sustainability, technology, and equity. Previously, Lauren managed business development and sales for the Western territory at GreenBiz. Prior to joining the GreenBiz team, Lauren worked in international social enterprise, from water filtration in Guatemala to off-grid solar in Northern Ghana. She holds a BA in Environmental Analysis and Sociology from Pitzer College.

Kwasi Ansu, Strategic Programs Manager

Kwasi is a Strategic Programs Manager at GreenBiz, where he manages and the Accelerate program across GreenBiz events and the Startup Showcase at VERGE. Kwasi is a dedicated natural resource management professional with a long track record in the environmental sector, ranging from biodiversity conservation, to the responsible sourcing of commodities, to the deployment of renewable energy systems. He is passionate about leveraging the power of entrepreneurship to accelerate the uptake of sustainable practices in marginalized communities. Kwasi holds a B.A. in Sociology from Wesleyan University and a Masters Degree from the Yale School of Forestry, where he specialized in corporate sustainability.

Sara Cefalu, Senior Conference Coordinator

Sara coordinates operations and develops content for GreenBiz events. Her background includes teaching environmental education, promoting sustainability on a local scale, and organizing various environmental events. Sara holds a BA from the University of California, Davis.

Cecily Martinez-Caloca, Administrative Assistant

Cecily is the Administrative Assistant at GreenBiz with over 10 years of varied background in payroll, finance and customer support. Cecily has extensive experience with all administrative tasks and will provide support to all the teams at Greenbiz.

Originally from the Bay Area, Cecily hold a B.A in Communications from the California State University, Sacramento.

Heather Clancy, Editorial Director

Heather Clancy, GreenBiz Editorial Director, is an award-winning business journalist specializing in coverage of transformative technology and in translating tech-speak into business benefits. Her articles have appeared in Entrepreneur, Fortune, The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times.

Ellie Buechner, VP, Conferences

Ellie manages logistics and programming of GreenBiz events. She is dedicated to bringing together professionals to share trends, technologies and leadership practices to create business value. Her background includes teaching environmental education in Malawi and Nicaragua, tagging sea turtles in the Bahamas, and using social media to promote sustainability locally and globally. She holds a BA in International Studies from Middlebury College.

Shaandiin Cedar, Senior Account Executive

Before joining GreenBiz Group, Shaandiin worked for the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology, a nonprofit in Denver CO, coordinating marketing efforts and integrating residential energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. At GreenBiz Group, Shaandiin enjoys supporting the sales and marketing teams, helping to foster and accelerate corporate sustainability, innovative green technology and the transformation to a greener and more profitable economy. Shaandiin holds a BSBA in Marketing from the University of Denver.

Grace Chuang, Sales Operations Manager

Grace works with GreenBiz's sales, marketing and events teams to ensure seamless coordination, satisfactory delivery and optimal performance for contracts and accounts. She comes from a non-profit development background, and is passionate about social justice and community economic empowerment. Grace is a dual-degree graduate of the University of California- Berkeley where she studied environmental science, policy and management alongside cultural anthropology.

Sam Goldman, Account Executive

Sam Ho, Senior Graphic Designer

Sam is passionate about green and socially responsible design. At GreenBiz, they craft aesthetics for the company and assist the creative director with live event production. Their design thinking has been strongly influenced by their liberal arts education at Wesleyan University, where they graduated with honors in Art Studio. There, Sam worked as a media tech for Instructional Media Services, offering audio-visual support on campus and during school events. They have since then been sharpening their creative chops as a freelance designer within the Bay Area art community and, most recently, as a graphic & digital designer for Bonner Communications in San Francisco.

Grant Harrison, Business Development Associate

As Business Development Associate, Grant supports GreenBiz Group in the execution of its sales and outreach strategy. Prior to joining GreenBiz, Grant worked under the auspices of the USDA implementing conservation projects in fire affected regions of northern California, and most recently finished a graduate position with a sustainability communications firm in the UK. Grant holds a BA in American Studies from UC Berkeley and an MSc in Environmental Governance from Oxford University. Grant loves, more than most things, to surf.