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.

Elsa Wenzel, Managing Editor

Elsa has covered business, technology and sustainability for PCWorld, CNET, the Associated Press and MotherJones.com. She holds an MS from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern and a BA from the University of Iowa.

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, Administrative 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.

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, Director of Research & Sr. Analyst

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

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.

Liza Boulet, Community Manager

Liza leads efforts to engage the ever-growing GreenBiz community through its digital and event platforms. She is passionate about driving sustainable and inclusive change in the business world. Previously, Liza played an integral role in organizing the largest event for next-gen responsible business leaders and managed environmental projects at her university. She holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Pittsburgh.

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.

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.

Elaine Hsieh, VERGE Program Director & Senior Analyst

Elaine heads programming for VERGE. With 20 years of experience helping businesses on sustainability, green building, energy and technology issues, she serves as a catalyst helping people understand and respect the interconnectedness of our world. Elaine has been featured in Mashable, Reuters, The Guardian, and other publications for her social media influence within the green building, green business, and sustainability communities.

Shana Rappaport, Director of Strategic Programs

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, Analyst, Circular Economy

Lauren is GreenBiz’s circular economy analyst and Conference Chair of VERGE Circular. 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.

Sara Cefalu, 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.

Holly Secon, Editorial Assistant

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.

Heather Clancy, Editorial Director

Heather Clancy is an award-winning journalist specializing in coverage of transformative technology and sustainable business practices. Heather's articles have appeared in Entrepreneur, The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times. She is a senior writer for GreenBiz, and author of FORTUNE Data Sheet, a daily dose of enterprise tech news.

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.

Alan Robinson, VP Business Development

Alan has spent more than two decades in B2B media. Prior to joining GreenBiz in 2008, he served as group publisher for EDN Worldwide with Reed Business Information. Previously, he was director of online advertising for PartMiner, Inc., and served in various international media director roles with CMP/United Business Media and Miller Freeman.

Shaandiin Cedar, Business Development Associate

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, Business Development Assistant

Sam helps support and coordinate logistics for the GreenBiz sales and business development teams. He is a recent green MBA graduate from CSU’s Global, Social and Sustainable Enterprise program with 2+ years’ experience conducting market research and new venture development in the cleantech and social entrepreneurship space. Much of his MBA was spent researching and modeling innovative business models within various sustainable products & services sectors, as well as serving as a board member and chief event planner for CSU’s Net Impact chapter. Aside from his lifelong pursuit of climbing and ski-mountaineering, Sam’s ultimate passion revolves around helping companies expand their market share in tandem with social/environmental change by crafting actionable and economically viable solutions to environmental issues.