ELI Welcomes Nine New Members to Its Leadership Council

(Washington, D.C.): The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is delighted to announce nine new members have joined its Leadership Council: Linda J. Fisher; Margaret "Peg" Hill; Beth Myers-Graham; Margaret E. Peloso; Bob Perciasepe; Ann Powers; Justin Savage; Margaret Spring; and Carlton Waterhouse. “We are so fortunate to have these outstanding individuals join the ranks of our Leadership Council,” said ELI Leadership Council President Kathy Robb. “ELI’s vision is a healthy environment, prosperous economies, and vibrant communities founded on the rule of law. As esteemed thought-leaders in the field of environmental law and policy, the newest members of our Leadership Council will bring valuable guidance and expertise to ELI as they make law work for people, places, and the planet.”

• Linda J. Fisher served as DuPont’s Vice President for Safety, Health & Environment and as its Chief Sustainability Officer. At DuPont, Linda was responsible for advancing the company's sustainable growth, safety, health, and environmental programs; global product stewardship; the company’s regulatory affairs program; and corporate philanthropy. Before joining DuPont, Linda served in several key leadership positions in the public and private sector, including Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Vice President of Government Affairs for Monsanto, and Of Counsel with Latham & Watkins.
• Margaret "Peg" Hill is a member of Blank Rome's Energy and Environmental Practice Group, where her primary focus has been in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and energy industries. Peg has a multi-faceted background and experience working in-house for Gulf Oil Corporation, as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice's Environmental and Natural Resources Division, as a lobbyist before the U.S. Congress, and in private practice counseling clients with respect to state and federal environmental laws in litigation, compliance, and transactional matters.
• Beth Myers-Graham is a Senior Vice President at AECOM and the Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) Technical Practice Director. Over the last two decades, Beth has led Mergers & Acquisition, compliance, environmental management systems, and permitting related programs for Fortune 1000 and public sector clients both domestically and internationally. As a strategic leader, Beth focuses on expanding and enhancing AECOM's broad EHS technical capabilities across the global footprint. Beth enjoys cultivating client relationships and providing services that are critical to business operations.
• Margaret Peloso is a Partner with Vinson & Elkins, where she focuses her practice on climate change risk management and environmental litigation. She advises energy companies, financial institutions, and funds on climate risk analysis and disclosure. The other significant component of Margaret's practice focuses on translational science. She advises clients on a broad range of litigation and regulatory matters in which there are significant scientific or technical issues that require the use of outside experts. Prior to joining Vinson & Elkins, Margaret completed her Ph.D. in environment at Duke University, where she wrote her doctoral dissertation on legal and policy issues associated with sea-level rise adaptation.
• Bob Perciasepe is President of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Bob has been an environmental policy leader in and outside government for more than 30 years, most recently as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He is a respected expert on environmental stewardship, natural resource management, and public policy and has built a reputation for bringing stakeholders together to solve issues. While Bob served as Deputy Administrator from 2009 to 2014, EPA set stricter auto emissions and mileage standards, increased protections for the nation’s streams and rivers, and developed carbon emissions standards for power plants. Bob was previously assistant administrator for the Agency’s water and clean air programs, leading efforts to improve the safety of America’s drinking water and lower sulfur levels in gasoline to reduce smog. Bob is also a member of ELI’s Board of Directors.
• Ann Powers is an emerita professor of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law's Center for Global Environmental Legal Studies at Pace University. Her areas of instruction include the law of oceans and coasts, international environmental law, U.N. diplomacy, and water quality. Before joining as faculty at Pace University, Ann served as the vice president and general counsel of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and as a senior trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. Outside of her role in academia, Ann has worked on various projects at the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), including the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law and the Oceans, Coasts & Coral Reefs Specialist Group of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law.
• Justin Savage is global co-leader of Sidley Austin LLP’s environmental practice and serves on the firm-wide Marketing and Practice Development committee. He also serves on the firm’s COVID-19 Task Force. Justin focuses on high-stakes environmental litigation and strategic counseling, including government enforcement actions, internal investigations, and rulemaking challenges. For nearly a decade, Justin served as a trial attorney and senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division. During that time, Justin also acted as an instructor at DOJ’s National Advocacy Center, where he taught hundreds of assistant U.S. attorneys and other agency lawyers on topics that included trial advocacy, evidence, and the Clean Air Act. Justin regularly serves as a lecturer for the American Law Institute’s Environmental Litigation Course and the D.C. Bar’s course on effective commenting in the rulemaking process.
• Margaret Spring is Chief Conservation and Science Officer at Monterey Bay Aquarium where, for the past seven years, she has overseen the aquarium's conservation policy, research, and markets programs, including Seafood Watch and its environmental sustainability initiatives. From 2009 to 2013, Margaret served as Chief of Staff, and later Principal Deputy Undersecretary, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Before her tenure in the Obama Administration, Margaret led The Nature Conservancy's California coastal and marine program. Margaret also served as General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, advising members and developing key ocean and climate legislation. She is a member of ELI’s Board, and she currently chairs the Committee on the United States Contributions to Global Ocean Waste convened by the National Academies of Science.
• Carlton Waterhouse is a Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law and Director of the Howard University Environmental Justice Center, which works to support local communities confronting environmental injustices and provide policy interventions that promote environmental and climate justice in local, national, and global arenas. A member of ELI’s Board, Carlton is an international expert on environmental law and environmental justice, as well as reparations and redress for historic injustices. He lectures globally on climate justice and group based inequality.  In 2019, he testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, and in 2018, he completed a Fulbright research fellowship in Brazil examining race and police violence.  A prolific writer, Carlton is currently completing a book that explores the U.S. Supreme Court’s past and current role in maintaining racial hierarchy in American society.
  
  

The ELI Leadership Council is the Institute’s group for the most prominent environment, energy, and natural resource leaders in the nation. The Council recognizes leaders for their commitment of resources and time to the Institute’s vision of a healthy environment, prosperous economies, and vibrant communities founded on the rule of law. Members participate in events and have a chance to network and engage other leaders in discussions about key environmental law and policy issues.