Rohan Parikh is the former Head of Sustainability at Infosys, where he architected the foundational ‘Net Zero’ strategy for its “Unreasonable Goals,” saving the company over $240 million. After proving sustainability is profitable, his mission expanded to shaping India’s Solar Open Access Policy. He is a co-inventor of a patented radiant cooling system and holds a Master’s in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Scott Shell is a Strategist with the ClimateWorks Foundation and the Global Industry Hub working to decarbonize heavy industry around the world including cement, concrete, and steel. Scott is a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects and spent most of his career as a partner at EHDD Architecture in San Francisco. He led the design of many university research buildings and independent schools, including a number of the first net-zero energy buildings in collaboration with a talented team of architects and engineers.

Michael Wara is a lawyer, scholar and advisor focused on sustainability policy. Wara is Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program and a senior research scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, where he manages a multidisciplinary team that provides fact-based, bipartisan, technical and legal assistance to policymakers engaged in the development of novel climate and energy law and regulation. Wara is also the Senior Director of Policy within Stanford’s Sustainability Accelerator where he connects Stanford students and faculty with cutting edge policy debates on climate, energy, and sustainability, leveraging Stanford’s analytical expertise to craft real world solutions to these challenges.

Wara was an appointee to the California Wildfire Commission which made recommendations to the state on better managing utility caused wildfires and served on the California Catastrophe Response Council, the oversight board of the Wildfire Fund. Wara has advised the California Senate, the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Office of Electric Infrastructure Safety on strategies to address the wildfire crisis. Wara also serves on the Tamalpais Valley Design Review Board in Marin County.

Prior to joining Woods, Wara was an associate professor at Stanford Law School and an associate in Holland & Knight’s government practice. He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his Ph.D. in Ocean Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

César is a California architect and works as Technical Marketing Manager at Autodesk, where he serves as a global spokesperson for building products innovation. He teaches BIM at Stanford University and chairs the national AIA Technology in Architectural Practice (TAP) knowledge. César has driven large-scale BIM strategies and held roles at top firms, including Gensler and HOK. His project portfolio features the $12 billion Santa Clara City Center, Salt Lake City International Airport, and major Apple and Salesforce campuses. He is a frequent speaker on technology’s impact on design.

Therese Peffer, PhD, is a project manager and researcher at UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) and CITRIS. She manages and conducts research on smart building technologies, building-to-grid interactions, demand response, and decarbonization projects, aiming to create comfortable, energy-efficient spaces. Dr. Peffer serves as Associate Director for CIEE and the CITRIS Climate initiative and co-chairs the annual Behavior, Energy and Climate Change (BECC) conference. She holds a PhD in Architecture with a building science emphasis from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Architecture from the University of Oregon.

Robin Z. Puttock, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, is an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University and a practicing architect with over twenty years of professional, national award-winning, sustainable design experience. She is the editor and contributing author of Teaching Carbon Neutral Design in North America: Twenty Award-Winning Architectural Design Studio Methodologies (Routledge 2025) and is the project architect of many LEED certified buildings as well as the first US Department of Education Green Ribbon School recognized by President Barack Obama. Robin serves as the 2025 Chair of the National AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Leadership Group.

Adele Houghton, FAIA, DrPH, LEED AP, is President of Biositu, LLC where she works at the intersection of buildings, public health, and climate change. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows and received a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she also teaches. Her book Architectural Epidemiology (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025), co-authored with Professor Carlos Castillo-Salgado of Johns Hopkins University, proposes a novel method for architectural design: combining neighborhood-scale environmental health data with participatory community engagement to maximize a building’s positive ripple effect on community and planetary health.

Suggested Readings:

Houghton A, Castillo-Salgado C. Architectural Epidemiology: Introducing a Transdisciplinary Field of Study and Practice Using Real Estate as a Mechanism for Epidemiological Interventions on Climate Change and Chronic Disease. Proceedings of the ARCC-EAAE 2022 International Conference, Resilient City: Physical, Social, and Economic Perspectives. 2022; pp. 41-48. Available from: http://www.arcc-arch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ARCC-EAAE-2022_Proceedings_Digital-Version.pdf

Houghton A. “Co-Benefits” as a Lens Through Which COVID-19 Building Upgrades Can Advance Environmental Sustainability, Climate Mitigation and Adaptation, and Social Equity. Harvard Public Health Review. 2020; 27. Available from: https://bcphr.org/29-article-houghton/

Frieden TR, A Framework for Public Health Action: The Health Impact Pyramid. American Journal of Public Health. 2010; 100(4): 590-595. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2009.185652

Optional: Houghton A, Li X. The Alignment Process: Generating Value for All Through Community Benefit Design. 2023; pp 1-59. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aTWUF0I8sC3Z4IbvVihzCamk4AGL_ehm/view?usp=sharing

Alignment Process website: https://www.alignmentprocess.org

Bryan Simpson has over 10 years of experience in the field of building decarbonization and energy efficiency in New York City’s private and public sectors. As the Agency Chief Decarbonization Officer at the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), Bryan directs the agency’s efforts to decarbonize its building portfolio through energy efficiency, beneficial electrification, transitioning to low-embodied carbon construction practices, and complying with all relevant decarbonization-focused Local Laws and Executive Orders. Also at DCAS, he was a capital project division manager and deputy director of the division of energy management. He has a background in energy auditing and as a licensed mechanical engineer providing building systems consulting services to multifamily and commercial building owners in the tri-state area. 

Mark Z. Jacobson is Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment and of the Precourt Institute for Energy. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering, an A.B. in Economics, and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford in 1988. He received an M.S. and PhD in Atmospheric Sciences in 1991 and 1994, respectively, from UCLA and joined the faculty at Stanford in 1994. His career focuses on better understanding air pollution and global warming problems and developing clean, renewable energy solutions to them. He has published six books, including his latest, “No Miracles Needed,” and over 185 journal articles. He is ranked as the #1 most impactful scientist in the world in Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences and #6 in Energy among those first publishing past 1985. In 2018, he received the Judi Friedman Lifetime Achievement Award “For a distinguished career dedicated to finding solutions to air pollution and climate problems.” In 2023, he was named one of the top 100 globally “who have made an impact on the world this year” by Worth magazine. He has served on a committee to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, appeared in a TED talk and on the David Letterman Show, and co-founded The Solutions Project nonprofit. He served as an expert witness in the first U.S. constitutional climate trial to win, Held v. Montana, and the world’s first constitutional climate trial to reach a settlement, Navahine v. Hawai’i. His work is the scientific basis of the energy portion of the U.S. Green New Deal and laws to go to 100% renewable energy worldwide.

A graduate of University of Texas at Arlington, Stephone possesses a Bachelors of Arts in History and Master of Science in Sustainability. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and is a freelance writer for several publications.

Stephone has recently become a Just Economy Institute Fellow. The Just Economy Institute educates and connects a growing movement of financial activists who are shifting the flow of capital and power to support the well-being of all people and the planet. Because of his work and passion, Stephone has been named one of Forbes Next 1000 as a Social Entrepreneur.