2008 Agricultural Outlook Conference
Keeping Louisiana's Agriculture Competitive
February 25-27, 2008
Alternative Energy Opportunities and Challenges
Thomas J. King, Jr. is the manager for the electric delivery technologies program. He leads Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) work for the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. He also leads efforts related to integration of renewables, energy storage, and distributed energy systems into the nation’s electricity grid.
Tom joined the ORNL Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program Office in September 2006. Prior to that, he worked in ORNL’s Office of Strategic Planning. He recently served as a contributor on the Laboratory Working Group that assessed the Science and Technology portfolio of the DOE.
Prior to joining ORNL, Tom was employed at Progress Energy where he held various management positions in the fossil generation area. He also was a program manager at DOE working in areas of distributed energy and industrial technologies. He holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University and an M.S. in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He also received a business degree from the University of Tennessee.
Tom and his wife Julie live in the Knoxville area and have two lively youngsters.
Policy, Outlook and Energy Implications for the Agricultural Sector
Dr. Abner Womack, a Fred V. Heinkel Professor of Agricultural Economics, serves as Senior Economist with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri of which he is a co-founder. He served as Co-director of FAPRI from 1984 until 2000 and again from 2002 to 2007. He served as Director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M from 2000 to 2002.
He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in mathematics from Auburn University and a Ph.D. degree in agricultural economics from the University of Minnesota. He joined the faculty at the University of Missouri in 1979.
Prior to 1979, Womack was with the USDA Economic Research Service. His work involved econometric models that focused on the structure of the global food system, and he served as Project Leader for the Forecast Support Group, an econometric team designed to complement USDA’s forecasting and farm program analysis. Womack is a Fellow of the European Union Center at the University of Missouri. He received the Charles A. Black Award from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.
In 2002, FAPRI received both the USDA Award for Superior Service and a Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service Certificate of Appreciation. In 2006, Womack received the Lifetime Achievement Award for significant and enduring contributions to the agricultural economics profession from the Southern Agricultural Economics Association. FAPRI received the Distinguished Policy Contribution Award from the American Agricultural Economics Association in 1991. The Missouri Farm Bureau honored Womack with the Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award in the education category, and the Graduate Professional Council for the University of Missouri-Columbia, Social Science Division, recognized his contributions with the Gold Chalk Award.
Opportunities for Forest Products in Louisiana
Forestry Outlook for 2008Charles A. "Buck" Vandersteen is Executive Director of the Louisiana Forestry Association, a private non-profit trade association promoting forestry in Louisiana. His duties also include the management of the Louisiana Forestry Foundation and the Forestry Political Action Council, ForPAC.
Vandersteen is a professional forester and tree farmer. He received his B. S. degree in forestry from the University of Massachusetts and a MBA from Louisiana Tech University. He is a graduate of the Institute of Organizational Management in non-profit management through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Vandersteen has served in the forest products industry in various capacities – growing, harvesting, and utilizing forest resources. He has served with the Peace Corps in Liberia, West Africa, as an advisor to that government in forestry-related matters.
He was employed by Continental Forest Industries in Jonesboro, La., as a procurement forester and landowner assistance forester. He was promoted to woodyard supervisor and transferred to Hopewell, Va. He authored a report, later published, on the cost savings using woody biomass as an alternative fuel for the papermaking process.
As Executive Director of the Louisiana Forestry Association, Vandersteen is involved in membership development, governmental affairs, educational programs and public awareness. He is also responsible for the financial and administrative operations of the association.
Vandersteen is co-chair of the Louisiana Forest Recovery Task Force dealing with hurricane salvage and recovery efforts. He is on the Board of Trustees for the Forest Products Industry National Labor Management Council and the Board of the Louisiana State University Agricultural Development Council. He represents LSU AgCenter on the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET) of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. He has just completed a two-year term as national Chairman of CARET. He serves on the Governor’s task forces on Environmental Protection and Preservation, Groundwater, Coastal Wetland Forests and Oversize Vehicles. He serves as treasurer of the Louisiana Society of American Foresters. He is on the Board of the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, Agricultural Leaders of Louisiana and the Poland Water Association.
He has served as President of the Southern Forest Heritage Museum and as Regional Director and Treasurer of the Alliance for America. He is Past Chairman of the Forest Industries Association Council of the American Forest & Paper Association and Past President of the National Council of Forestry Association Executives. He has served on the National Operating Committee of The American Tree Farm Program and on the Boards of the Central Louisiana YMCA, United Way, Louisiana Society of Association Executives, Leadership Louisiana of the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL), Bolton Avenue Lions Club, Dixie Girls Softball and Rapides High Parent Teacher Association.
Vandersteen received the Distinguished Service to Forestry Award in 1996 from the Louisiana Society of American Foresters and became a Fellow in the Society in 2004. In 2005 he was awarded an Honorary State FFA Degree in the Louisiana FFA Association and Honorary Membership in the LSU Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries Alumni Association.
Mr. Vandersteen is married to Elizabeth Kohler Vandersteen and has two children, Kathryn and Eric
Technologies for Producing Energy from Woody Biomass
Dr. William David (Bill) Batchelor, Hearin Eminent Professor and Head of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Co-director of the Mississippi State University Sustainable Energy Research Center. A native of Marietta, Ga., he was named Head of the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Mississippi State University on January 1, 2005. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Georgia in 1986 and 1987, where he conducted research in the area of crop growth modeling and artificial intelligence applied to integrated crop management strategies. He served as an Instructor in the Agricultural Engineering department at the University of Georgia from 1987-1990. He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Florida in 1993. His research focused on the development and application of computer-based crop growth models to simulate crop response to pest damage and optimum harvest date for peanuts. He served as a post-doctoral research associate in the Biological Engineering Department at Virginia Tech from 1993-1994, where he conducted research to develop a Geographic Information System to simulate the fate and transport of agricultural chemicals.
Batchelor was appointed assistant professor in the department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University in 1994. He was promoted to associate and full professor in 1999 and 2004, respectively. At Iowa State he developed an internationally recognized research program that focused on the development and application of crop growth models to assess causes of spatial yield variability, compute the trade off between economic and environmental performance of cropping systems, predict optimum crop response to stress, estimate the response of crops to global climate change and compute the interaction of forestry shelterbelts on crop production.
He has given invited presentations and led undergraduate education programs in Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Mexico. He became Professor and Head of the Agricultural and Biological Engineering department at Mississippi State University in January 2005 and was named a Hearin Eminent Professor by the Bagley College of Engineering at MSU in 2006. He is also Co-director of the Sustainable Energy Research Center at MSU, which consists of Department of Energy grants totaling over $14 million focused on bioenergy research for the State of Mississippi.
Batchelor has been principle investigator on 14 grants totaling more than $17 million and has been co-principle investigator on 23 grants totaling more than $8 million. He has received industry gifts totaling more than $13 million dollars and international grants totaling more than $500,000. He has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, more than 100 technical publications, five book chapters, three extension bulletins and four extension newsletters. He has given approximately 41 invited research presentations, 24 extension presentations and numerous invited international presentations on his research accomplishments.
Batchelor has been married for 17 years and has four sons who are 14, 12, 10 and 8 years old. They are very active in baseball and football in the Starkville community and enjoy MSU sports.
Solid Biomass Fuels
Harold Arnold, Vice President, Fram Renewable Fuels, LLC, Savannah, Ga., has worked in the forest industry in the southern United States his entire working life. He spent more than 23 years in the Forest Resources Division of Hercules Incorporated and held the position of Western Region Superintendent prior to his leaving Hercules in 1995. Since then, he has exported chips and other forest products through port facilities at Savannah, handled a variety of consulting projects for forest products industries in the South and completed several international forestry related assignments as a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development. Arnold joined Fram Renewable Fuels, LLC in October 2005.
Opportunities for Biodiesel
The Current Status of Biodiesel Production and Its Potential for Louisiana
Dr. Kurt Guidry is the Gilbert Durbin Professor of Agricultural Economics in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness with the LSU AgCenter. Guidry joined the LSU AgCenter in 1997 with a 100 percent Extension appointment with primary responsibilities in the areas of farm management and marketing focused on the soybean and feed grain industries in the state. Since that time, he has expanded his areas of work to include risk and financial management and agricultural policy.
As part of his extension programs, Guidry has developed more than 130 extension publications and newsletters and has made more than 200 presentations to producer groups and at professional meetings. He currently serves as the coordinator of LSU AgCenter disaster estimates and is the state coordinator for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program.
Guidry received his B.S. degree in AgriBusiness from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1991. He received his M.S. degree from Louisiana State University in 1993 and his Ph.D. degree from Oklahoma State University in 1997, both in Agricultural Economics.
Technologies for Producing Biodiesel: Commercial vs. Small-Scale Production
Dr. Mark Zappi currently serves as the Dean of Engineering at the University of Louisiana and as full professor of chemical engineering in the chemical engineering department. He also serves as the Director of UL Bioprocessing Research Laboratory.
Before arriving at UL in August 2005, Zappi was a member of the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering at Mississippi State University. Prior to his arrival at MSU, he served 15 years as a research environmental engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center. He has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Louisiana and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Mississippi State University.
Zappi’s research areas include development of bioprocesses for the production of commodity and specialty chemicals, such as ethanol, acetic acid, biodiesel, fatty acids, biopolymers, proteins and biogas. He has generated more than $30 million in R&D funding and published more than 150 technical publications. He holds two patents relating to bioprocessing and has three additional patents pending in the same subject area. He is also currently working with several private companies on the commercialization of bio-based products and processes within Louisiana and other regions of the Southeastern United States.
Biodiesel: A Company Perspective
Mike Lamartiniere – waiting to hear
Feedstocks for biodiesel and ethanol production in Louisiana
Dr. Donald Boquet, Jack and Henrietta Jones Endowed Professor of Agronomy, located at the LSU AgCenter Macon Ridge Research Station, Winnsboro, La. Reared on a family farm in Bourg, La., Boquet earned B.S. degree from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in agronomy and plant breeding from LSU. He has been a Research Agronomist with the LSU AgCenter for 32 years.
The primary goal of Boquet's research program is to conduct applied research that directly benefits clientele of the LSU AgCenter by providing answers to current and potential future problems faced by the agricultural community. Research centers on production systems and management practices for agronomic crops to increase productivity or profitability of cropping systems under irrigated and non-irrigated culture. Emphasis is placed on optimizing crop yields in systems that improve soil and water quality.
The overall research program uses a systems approach to problem solving, with primary Louisiana row crops as the commodities in those systems. A number of specific practices have been evaluated including fertilization, tillage regimes, irrigation scheduling, winter cover crops, planting dates, crop rotations, row spacing, plant populations, beneficial use of agricultural, industrial and municipal wastes and variety testing to determine optimum inputs and effects on crop growth, yields and sustainability.
Opportunities for Ethanol
Technology for Producing Ethanol and Feedstocks in Louisiana
Dr. Gary Brietenbeck is a professor of soil microbiology in the School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences in the LSU AgCenter in Baton Rouge. He has worked in a number of areas over the years including beneficial use of industrial, municipal and agricultural wastes, nitrogen dynamics in soils and global climate change. His current interest lies in the production of bioenergy feedstocks, especially oilseed crops, that do not directly compete with food or fiber production.
Corporate Plans for Producing Ethanol
Russ Heissner is the Director, Technology Development & Analysis with Verenium Corporation and has more than 21 years of experience in the brewing, biopharmaceutical and semiconductor industries in the areas of process engineering, operations management and business development. He currently serves as Director of Technology Development & Analysis for the Biofuels Group of Verenium Corporation, a pioneer in the development of next-generation cellulosic ethanol and high-performance specialty enzymes. Heissner joined Verenium (formerly Celunol) as a member of the project development team in January 2005. In October 2006 he moved into the role of project manager for the renovation and expansion of the Jennings, La., cellulosic ethanol pilot plant. In his current position, Heissner is responsible for managing the company’s technology development process.
Prior to joining Verenium, Heissner held the position of Director of Business Development at Kinetic Systems, Inc., one of the world’s largest high-purity process piping systems companies, where he was responsible for northeast region sales and account management for strategic clients. he began his career as Brewmaster and Vice President of Operations at the Mass Bay Brewing Company, more commonly known as The Harpoon Brewery, in Boston, Mass. After leaving the Harpoon Brewery in 1992, Heissner took on the role of Pilot Plant and Facilities Manager of Opta Food Ingredients in Bedford, Mass., and developer and manufacturer of novel food ingredients. While in that position, he guided the design and construction of the company’s new corporate headquarters and pilot plant facility, as well as managed plant operations and laboratory facilities. In late 1993, Heissner left Opta and became the Eastern U.S. Sales Manager for JV Northwest, Inc., a small, family-owned stainless process systems provider. During his five years at JV Northwest, he oversaw the design and construction of nearly 80 craft brewery systems throughout the eastern United States, Canada and Mexico.
Heissner holds a B.S.degree in Fermentation Sciences from the University of California at Davis. In 1992, he received his M.B.A from Boston University.
Dedicated Energy Crops -- Switchgrass, Miscanthus and Others
Dr. Emily Heaton manages agronomic product development for Ceres, Inc. (www.ceres.net), one of the leading developers of dedicated energy crops used as feedstocks for cellulosic biofuels. She is a frequent lecturer on energy crops and has authored or co-authored several papers on energy crops and impact of atmospheric change on food crops. While pursuing her doctorate in crop sciences at the University of Illinois, she pioneered research comparing the biomass production of miscanthus and switchgrass, helping to establish University of Illinois as a center for the research and development of biomass crops that was recently leveraged into a $100 million investment from BP. Heaton is a member and past-president of Crop Science Graduate Student Organization at UIUC as well as a member of the American Society of Agronomy, American Society of Plant Biologists and Ecological Society of America, among others. She can be reached via email at eheaton@ceres-inc.com.
Developing Sugar Crops as Ethanol Feedstocks
Dr. Ed Richard Jr. is a native of Louisiana. He received his B.S. from Nicholls State University, his M.S. from LSU, and his Ph.D from the University of Illinois. He currently serves as Research Leader/Location Coordinator for the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service’s Sugarcane Research Laboratory at Houma, La., where he has been employed since 1980. The focus of the lab’s research is to develop improved varieties for the production of sugar and other value-added products and environmentally friendly management strategies that lead to increased production efficiency.
Richard has been instrumental in the release of three high-fiber sugarcane varieties to the biofuels industry in 2007 and the expansion of research efforts at the sugarcane laboratory to develop cold-tolerant varieties of sugarcane that can be grown successfully as bioenergy feedstocks in areas outside the traditional cane growing areas of the United States.
Opportunities for Community Rural Development
Uniting Leaders for a Common Energy Goal
Brent Bailey is a 1994 graduate of the Mississippi State University Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering where he obtained a B.S. degree in Biological Engineering with Environmental Emphasis.
After graduation, Bailey worked as an environmental consultant for two central Mississippi environmental engineering firms. In 1999, he went to the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation to become the organization’s Environmental Programs Coordinator and served in that capacity for more than seven years.
In late 2006, Bailey began an association with the 25x’25 Initiative and serves as the Southeast Facilitator for state alliance activities. The 25x’25 vision entails production agriculture and forestry producing 25 percent of total U.S. energy needs by the year 2025 while continuing to produce safe and abundant food and fiber. Bailey is working with agriculture and forestry leaders to mobilize support for renewable energy solutions from agriculture and forestry and communicating to the public agriculture’s potential role in a new national energy strategy.
Update on USDA Energy Programs
Chris Cassidy –
Grow Your Profits: An overview of USDA Rural Development's Renewable Energy and Value-Added Grant and Loan Programs
Kevin Boone is a Renewable Energy Coordinator with USDA Rural Development. Boone is located in the Lafayette Area Office, administering the Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvement Grant and Loan Program, Value-Added Producer Grant Program, as well as other USDA Renewable Energy Initiatives and Programs in Louisiana. Clyde C. Holloway serves as USDA Rural Development’s State Director, and John H. Broussard is the Business and Cooperative Programs Director.
Boone has 17 years of service with USDA ranging from a Farm Loan Officer, Loan Resolution Specialist and Commercial Loan Specialist to his current position as a Renewable Energy Coordinator.
Boone is a native of St. Landry Parish and resides in Sunset, La., with his wife and four daughters.
Alternative Energy and Rural Development
Dr. Alan Barefield is the Associate Director of the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) and Extension Professor with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. His primary roles are to facilitate economic and community development educational programming efforts with the Extension Service and the Southern region. Specific areas addressed include business and entrepreneurship development in the areas of value-added agriculture, tourism, light manufacturing and retail; leadership; community economic and social analysis; and community infrastructure development and analysis.
Renewable Energy and Economic Development
Kelsey Short is Director of Agriculture, Forestry & Food Industries with Louisiana Economic Development. In his current role with Louisiana Economic Development, Short is responsible for developing the agribusiness sector of the Louisiana economy. Strategies include assisting with business start-ups, expansions and recruitment. He has managed new capital investments projects of approximately $2.2 billion and facilitated the creation and retention of 5,200 jobs. Recently he led the development of a $126 million renewable fuels plant that will convert poultry fat and other agricultural by-products into diesel and jet fuel.
Short came to state government with 22 years experience in the food and agribusiness industry. His early years were with Land ‘O Lakes and the Pillsbury Company, primarily involved with food ingredient marketing and merchandising. Most recently he served 14 years with Omega Protein (formerly Zapata Corporation), the leading U.S. manufacturer of marine-based proteins, edible oils and organic fertilizers. As Executive Vice President his responsibilities included marketing, sales, manufacturing, logistics/transportation, quality control and product development. Short traveled extensively in Mainland China in the 1990s while developing a protein manufacturing plant in Guangdong Province. In 1997, Short led a three-man management team raising $145 million dollars in an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.
Short obtained a B.S. and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri. He is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma and a graduate of the Venture Capital Institute at Emory University.
Professional memberships include: Louisiana Industrial Development Executive Association, The Institute of Food Technologists, American Sugar League, Louisiana Meat Industry Association, Louisiana Forestry Association, Louisiana Forest Products Development Center Advisory Board (Chairman), Louisiana Food Processors Association, Louisiana Aquaculture Advisory Council, Louisiana Sea Grant Advisory Council, Louisiana Solar Energy Society, Renewable Energy Council of Louisiana, Louisiana Equine Council
Lake Providence Port - Ethanol Plant Project
Wyly Gilfoil has been the Lake Providence Port Commission Executive Director since December, 1994. He has managed port construction in excess of $13.5 million and successful applications for projects in excess of $20.9 million since 1995.
The Lake Providence Port ranked annually in the top 20 Inland Ports (USACE) and the number one tonnage port in Louisiana inland category.
Gilfoil received a B.S. Degree in Agronomy from LSU in 1975 with a focus in crop production and soil management.
State and Federal Incentives for Energy Efficiency and Renewables
Dave McGee is a native of Monroe, La., and lives in Baton Rouge. He worked 15 years at M. G. Dickey Industries, 2 ½ years in the pulp and paper section of Ford, Bacon & Davis and 6 ½ years for Dunham Manufacturing, Inc. The past eight years, McGee has been with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in Baton Rouge, where he is an Engineer Supervisor in the Technology Assessment Division. This division provides energy policy analysis, economic analysis, forecasting and modeling services to the Secretary of Natural Resources, the Governor's Office and the Legislature in all areas of energy.
McGee oversees industrial energy efficiency including Distributed Generation (DG) and Combined Heat and Power (CHP), renewable energy, commercial building energy efficiency and code development. He coordinates with the Louisiana Public Service Commission relative to Net Metering and Renewable Portfolio Standard and “green pricing” of electricity issues. He has worked with the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, the Louisiana Farm Bureau and USDA promoting renewable energy production. He has consulted with the LSU AgCenter on what they should be focused on in the renewables area. McGee is currently DNR representative to Department of Environmental Quality’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program.
McGee is a Registered Professional Engineer and has been a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers for more than 35 years. He is a Certified Energy Manager and member of the Association of Energy Engineers and the Louisiana Engineering Society. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army as a 1st Lieutenant. He holds B.S. degrees from the University of Louisiana - Monroe and Louisiana Tech University.
1000 Watts per Meter: Why Farmers Should Consider Solar
William (Bill) Ball is President of Natural Environments, Inc, and owner of the renewable energy business Stellar Sun in Little Rock, Ark. Ball established his company in 1976 and has been designing and marketing renewable energy systems in Arkansas for more than 30 years. In 1992, he founded the Arkansas Renewable Energy Association, a non-profit organization that educates Arkansans about renewable energy.
Notable past renewable energy projects include the design and building of an over three-story wooden waterwheel at Dogpatch, USA in 1982, numerous solar thermal and solar electric applications, including billboard lighting, water pumping, boat dock power, data acquisition, telemetry, hazardous materials monitoring, remote cabins, back-up power and net-metering systems. Clients include private individuals, business and commercial, local, state and federal governments.
After the hurricanes hit the Gulf in 2005, Ball delivered and donated the use of a portable PV (solar electric) power trailer to the St. Bernard Parish Port Authority. The trailer provided power for computers and lighting the port needed to get back up and running and was used on site for two months until full power was restored.
In the past few years Ball’s company has designed and built several net metering solar homes, and currently he is developing a 35-home solar subdivision in Little Rock. Ball is one of about 200 -- and one of two persons in Arkansas -- certified by the National Association of Board Certified Energy Practitioners.
In the pursuit of promoting and expanding the use of renewable energy, Ball authored the Arkansas Renewable Energy Act of 2001 and led the effort to get the legislation passed in the 2001 session. He has intervened as a party in a number dockets before the Arkansas Public Service Commission on behalf of the renewable energy industry dating back to 1993. This past Arkansas legislative session, Ball led a successful effort to improve the legislation passed in 2001.
USDA Section 9006 Program Success Stories from the Mississippi Poultry Industry
John Logan is married to Bettye V. Brinson and has three daughters and four granddaughters. For the past 12 years, Logan has been president and manager of Brinson Farms LLC, a poultry, beef and timber farming operation. In addition, for the past four years, he has been president of J & L Farm Services, Inc., a fuel and construction company.
Logan has patented the first poultry broiler waste biofuel in the United States. He is Chief Technical Officer/Board President of Eagle Green Energy, LLC. He is President/CEO of ARBO BioEnergy LLC, Mt. Olive, Miss. He is associated with several other energy companies. He has served on the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors, Jeff Davis County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, American Farm Bureau Federation Poultry Advisory Board, Mississippi Poultry Commodity Chairman, USDA-NRCS Advisory Board and Governors Renewable Energy Advisory Board.
Logan received a B.S. in Industrial Management and Computer Science from Mississippi State University, an M.S. in Industrial Education and an M.B.A. from University of Southern Mississippi. Logan is a retired Army colonel with 38 years service with Mississippi National Guard.
Logan has eight years teaching experience at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hinds Jr. College and PRC College. He has 30 years of computer marketing and management background, having retired as Senior Vice President for Unisys Corp, Atlanta, Georgia.
Success Stories of USDA Grant Program
Steve Tippin
Bob Palmiere
The Power of the Green Markets
Charles Reith is Director of Carbon and Energy Management at Pace, a global energy consulting firm. In that capacity, he directs programs to prepare customers in the industrial and utility sectors, as well as various governmental organizations, for climate change. Reith and his colleagues develop strategic carbon management plans that include GHG reduction strategies, carbon trading, carbon sequestration and deployment of renewable energy. Pace guides customers in business planning, training, technical analysis and implementation of climate-driven solutions.
Prior to joining Pace, Reith founded or co-founded a series of small businesses including Naturally Green, Laughing Crow Organics, Raintree Garden Center and Sustainable Systems. The latter venture provided consultancy services to businesses and government ministries in five continents, addressing ways to improve environmental performance and prepare for a more sustainable economy. His consulting portfolio includes waste management and beneficial reuse, toxicological and radiological risk management, energy systems and ISO 14000 environmental management systems. Before starting his own green businesses, Reith served as Vice President of Environmental Safety and Health for DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations Company, managing contractors for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
While running his own businesses, Reith has long served as an adjunct professor of environmental management at Tulane University, where he has taught courses on sustainable energy, risk management, environmental remediation and environmental development in the schools of business, law, public health and international studies. While a professor at Tulane, he was deeply involved in the response and recovery to Hurricane Katrina, serving on numerous task forces and private-sector initiatives to advance a green rebuild with widespread use of clean technology.
Reith has a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the University of New Mexico. His M.S. is in zoology from the University of New Mexico, and his B.S. is in Environmental Studies and Ecology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
He serves on the Boards of Directors of Louisiana Clean Tech and the Alliance for Affordable Energy.