ABOUT

Michael W. Burns earned a B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy and spent eight years in the Navy, working with people from Japan, Thailand, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Vanuatu Islands, Mexico.  He is currently the Founder and Executive Director of the 501 c 3 nonprofit company Community and College Partners Program, which has engaged in over fifty -fve projects from Alaska to the Bahamas, and works with 75 colleges and universities, as well as with two international schools: the American University of Central Asia, and the Bahamas Agricultural, Marine and Scientific Institute, as well as the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange; Environmental Defense Fund; Engineers Without Borders; the Environmental Protection Network; the Anthropocene Alliance, FEMA, and many others.

Rajul (Raj) Pandya is the Executive Director and Professor of Practice at the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University.  He also serves as the Senior B\Globa Futures Scholar.

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He has chaired the National Academies committee on Designing Citizen Science to Support Science Learning; serves on the boards for Public Lab and the Anthropocene Alliance and is a member of the Independent Advisory Committee on Applied Climate Assessment. He helped launch the Resilience Dialogues, a public-private partnership that uses facilitated online dialogues to advance community resilience. He was a founding board member of the Citizen Science Association and served as Education and Human Resource Commissioner for the American Meteorological Society.

Jewell A. Harper is a retired environmental attorney who served as attorney and senior manager at USEPA for twenty-eight years. In addition, she served as liaison between USEPA and Spelman College in a collaboration designed to support Spelman College in its efforts to infuse environmental sustainability into its infrastructure and curriculum and to export this model to other academic institutions which serve communities of color. She also taught Environmental Law and related courses in the Political Science Department at Spelman College for thirteen years.

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Her community affiliations include Paideia School Board of Trustees (emeritus); Atlanta Speech School Board of Advisors; Georgia Institute for Environmental Leadership Board of Directors; Social Equity Committee of the Atlanta Regional Commission; GreenLaw Board of Directors; Chattahoochee Riverkeepers Board of Directors; Eco-Action Board of Directors; Second Nature Climate Action Board of Directors; Turner Environmental Law Clinic , Emory University, Advisory Board; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; Links, Inc.

Javoyne Hicks is a seasoned manager, having served as Chief of Staff of the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4 under the Obama Administration where she supported the underlying concept of C2P2 and as Acting District Attorney for DeKalb County, Georgia. Javoyne is especially adept at guiding clients and organizations through the workplace investigations process and counseling management on office policies, procedures and best practices.

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Presently, she is using her litigation skills as a Senior Attorney with Lawrence & Bundy, LLC. Ms. Hicks works closely with clients to craft legal solutions that are enlightened, efficient and effective.  She is also heavily committed to promoting wellness in our community. As chair of the Attorney Wellness Committee, she creates and develops programs focuses on normalizing the conversation regarding mental well-being.

Bruce Holmes has had a lifelong commitment to helping others and giving back to his community.  His election to the Henry County Board of Commissioners was a continuation of this service to others. As District 5 Commissioner, he continues to create and grow opportunities to serve and support his community in areas of public safety, quality of life, transportation infrastructure and business development. 

He currently is the Vice President of Big 10 Construction & Development, LLC. Prior to this position, Commissioner Holmes enjoyed a successful career in the Pharmaceutical, Biotech and Molecular Diagnostics Industry, with 20 years in national accounts managing large health care systems.  He is also the Executive Producer / Host of The Black Vote and 99% Politics on Nubian TV.

Steve Brett has over 40 years of marketing experience and the ability to apply his skills to define your message, explain what you do, and make your content more compelling. Steve’s award-winning, full-service ad agency, Brett Associates, based in the New York/metropolitan area served Fortune 500 companies like the New York Stock Exchange, Hertz, and SONY, along with regional and local firms. The firm then began to help companies like The Citizen Watch Company and Sports Authority move from print to online. After moving to Atlanta, Steve founded Presentation Tune-up’s, LLC. Here he helps presenters say the right things to the right audience. Steve graduated cum laude from the New School with coursework in marketing, communications, psychology, and education, and graduated cum laude with a master’s at Teaching from Agnes Scott College.

Charlotte Bashforth is a seasoned executive, board member, and trusted advisor with more than 25 years of experience helping organizations strengthen governance, attain financial sustainability, raise capital and build long-term value. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of Bragg Hill Capital, where she partners with boards and executive teams to guide generally transaction-driven, strategic organizational transformation, and responsible growth, with a particular focus on aligning mission, resources, and measurable outcomes.

Charlotte previously served as Global Head of Corporate Finance at Broadridge Financial Solutions, a $10B global financial technology firm, where she worked closely with the CEO, executive leadership, and board to steward capital, improve transparency, and support enterprise-wide strategic initiatives. Earlier in her career at Diageo, she held senior leadership roles across business development, finance, and risk management, including Global Head of Audit and Risk for North America, where she helped embed strong governance, accountability, and risk oversight across a complex, large-scale organization.

Charlotte’s current and past board positions include serving on the boards of Summit (NJ) Area YMCA, Harridan Vodka, and the Clearwater Association, contributing deep financial and operational expertise, strategic insight, fundraising assistance and a collaborative, hands-on approach. She is particularly passionate about organizations that strengthen communities, expand access to opportunity, and operate with integrity and long-term stewardship. Charlotte holds an MBA with Beta Gamma Sigma Honors, from Columbia Business School and a BS from Cornell University.

Quentin Pair served as Senior Trial Attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ), from 1980 to 2015. In that position, he was the lead counsel representing the United States in civil enforcement actions alleging violations  environmental statues, particularly the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq., and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq. A recognized expert in the field of Environmental Justice, Mr. Pair has lectured before a wide range of professional and general public audiences and, consulted extensively with federal, state and tribal governments, NGOs, academia, and industry groups.

Mr. Pair is founding Chair of the USDOJ Association of Black Attorneys. From 2021to the present, he has been serving as Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Environmental Justice Task Force. Since 2004, he has been appointed Adjunct Professor at Howard University School of Law, where he teaches Environmental Law and Environmental Justice.