Welcome to the Environment Virginia 2008 website!

Spring is finally sneaking around the corner, which means it's time for the 19^th Annual Environment Virginia Symposium which will be held April 1^st-3^rd, 2008 at the Virginia Military Institute, driven by the theme "CommonWealth: Accelerating Solutions in a Rapidly Changing Virginia." We have been working to provide high level speakers and breakout sessions to educate and inspire attendees, as well as supply important business opportunities for our exhibitors and participants. As always, we want everyone involved to come away with meaningful advancement for themselves and their organization. Please review the initial 2008 Program.

To help our attendees in planning their trip, we have an interactive map of VMI, and the surrounding hotels.

We would like to highlight several of our confirmed Keynote Speakers, who will be speaking in sessions Wednesday and Thursday of the conference:

L. Preston Bryant serves as Secretary of Natural Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Secretary Bryant served in the Virginia House of Delegates for 10 years, where he sponsored landmark legislation to help preserve more than one million acres of nontidal wetlands, streamline the state’s stormwater management programs, and create a nutrient credit trading program to advance upgrades to more than a hundred wastewater treatment facilities that discharge into Virginia waters.  Bryant heralds from Lynchburg, VA, and received his B.A. in English from Randolph-Macon College, Masters in Humanities from the University of Richmond, and M.A. in Modern British Literature from the University of London.

Virginia Burkett is Chief Scientist for Global Change Research at the U.S. Geological Survey. She was formerly Chief of the Forest Ecology Branch at the National Wetlands Research Center and Associate Regional Chief Biologist for the USGS Central Region. Burkett has served as Director of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Director of the Louisiana Coastal Zone Management Program, and Assistant Director of the Louisiana Geological Survey. She was a Lead Author on the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third and Fourth Assessment Reports (2001 and 2007) and an IPCC Technical Paper on Water to publish in 2008. She coordinated the Coastal and Southeast synthesis chapters of the U.S. National Assessment of climate change and its impacts. Burkett has been appointed to over 40 Commissions, Committees, Science Panels and Boards and was among the IPCC scientists that shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Douglas R. Oberhelman is a group president of Caterpillar Inc. He has responsibility for human services and sustainable development functions, as well as Caterpillar’s growing remanufacturing business. He also oversees machinery marketing operations in North America and worldwide manufacturing, marketing and support of industrial and large power systems. Oberhelman was elected a vice president in 1995, serving as Caterpillar’s Chief Financial Officer. In 1998, he became vice president with responsibility for the Engine Products Division. He was elected a group president and member of Caterpillar’s executive office in 2002.  Oberhelman joined Caterpillar in 1975 and has held a variety of positions, including senior finance representative for Caterpillar Americas Co; region finance manager and district manager for the company’s North American Commercial Division; and managing director and vice general manager for strategic planning at Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi. He has a bachelor’s degree from Millikin University and has served on boards for Millikin University, Easter Seals, South Side Bank, The Nature Conservancy - Illinois Chapter, Ameren Corporation, National Association of Manufacturers, the Manufacturing Institute, and the Wetlands America Trust. 

Addison D. Davis, IV, Serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health.  He provides executive leadership for all Army environment, safety and occupational health programs including Army National Guard and Reserve activities. Mr. Davis works with key personnel in the Army, the Department of Defense, other Federal and state agencies and a host of non-governmental organizations in developing and advocating Army policies for environment, safety and occupational health programs. His responsibilities span a global organization that includes an annual environmental program of over $1 billion and oversight of the safety and occupational health policy for over 1.2 million Soldiers and Army civilian employees worldwide. 

John A. Luke, Jr. began his career with Westvaco in 1979. In 1983, he was elected  treasurer, and in 1986 he was elected vice president. Between 1987 and 1989 as a senior vice president, his responsibilities included corporate marketing function, international sales organization, and Rigesa, Ltda., Westvaco's Brazilian subsidiary. In 1989, he became a member of the board of directors. He was elected executive vice president in 1990, president and chief executive officer in 1992 and chairman in 1996. He was elected chairman of MeadWestvaco in November 2002. From 1971 through 1974, Mr. Luke served as an officer with the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam conflict. Mr. Luke has received degrees from Lawrence University and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and sits on several professional organizations.

Gerald P. McCarthy has served as Executive director of Virginia Environmental Endowment since its founding in 1977. Currently, he also serves as the Richmond District representative on the Commonwealth Transportation Board and the boards of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority and VCU Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences. Prior to the Endowment’s founding he served as Chairman and Administrator of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Council on the Environment in both the Holton and second Godwin administrations. The University of Virginia recently established a new leadership award in his name. Mr. McCarthy was also recently honored by Kodak, the National Geographic Society, and the Conservation Fund as a recipient of the American Greenways Award for his work to conserve land and water resources.  He has also been honored by The Nature Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Mr. McCarthy holds a Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College in New York.

John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia. John was raised on a small dairy farm in southwest Missouri and received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. He worked in private industry for a time and spent thirty years in various professorial positions at North Carolina State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Georgia, and University of Missouri before retiring in early 2000. Since retiring, he spends most of his time writing and speaking on issues related to sustainability with an emphasis on economics and agriculture. Ikerd is author of Sustainable Capitalism; A Return to Common Sense; Small Farms are Real Farms; and Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture.

Nella Barkley is one of the nation’s leading authorities on career and life change, has devoted more than twenty years to helping individuals and organizations unlock their full potential. Her process, Life\Work Design, developed with the late John Crystal, co-founder of Crystal-Barkley and contributor of the fundamentals of Richard N. Bolles’ best selling, What Color Is Your Parachute?, has helped thousands of clients create financially rewarding and personally satisfying lives. Going far beyond traditional outplacement or career counseling, the carefully structured process enables clients to take an entrepreneurial approach to applying their skills to create new enterprises, new careers, or new roles in their present organizations. She received her B.A. in French and Political Science from Sweet Briar College.

Environment Virginia will be hosting several events to compliment the 2008 Program. First, we are in the process of coordinating a career fair for college and university students to benefit both students in the region and Environment Virginia's Hosts and Sponsor. The event will be the evening of April 2nd at Cameron Hall. More details can be found at 2008 College Career Night.

Environment Virginia will also be presenting its 2008 Environmental Leadership Award at the April 2nd banquet. This award recognizes a Virginian who has made significant individual efforts to better our environment.  Nominees will be judged on the basis of Vision, Expertise, Commitment, Integrity, Communication Skills, Diplomacy, Management Skills, and Charisma. The votes are in, and our finalists are moving onto the next stage. Thank you for helping us to recognize an outstanding environmental leader in Virginia!

Aside from its own Leadership Award, Environment Virginia 2008 is also pleased to announce it will host the Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards at the Wednesday, April 2nd banquet.  If you would like to attend the awards banquet ONLY, please go to the dinner ticket sign up page. For more information on the awards, instructions, and judging, please visit www.deq.virginia.gov/info/geeaward.html.

“The only way that we will truly preserve our natural resources is if individuals take on the responsibility in their jobs and the rest of their lives and inspire others to do the same."

Captain Ron Erchul, Founder of Environment Virginia

  View Presentations
We collected and posted over 60 presentations from Environment Virginia 2007. Please click the link above to access the presentation index.

Environment Virginia 2008 acknowledges the generous support of our Hosts, Supporting Organizations and Sponsors: 

2008 Hosts: Virginia Departments of Environmental Quality, Conservation and Recreation, and Health; United States Army Corps of Engineers (Norfolk District), Virginia Environmental Endowment, and the Virginia Military Institute Research Laboratories, Inc.

2008 Supporting Organizations: Virginia Departments of Game and Inland Fisheries, and Historic Resources, The Virginia Marine Resources Commission

2008 Sponsors:

Benefactors - Dominion, Honeywell, O'Brien & Gere, Philip Morris USA, Smithfield Foods, Waste Management of Virginia Inc.

Contributors - Appalachian Power, Carter Machinery Company, Coors Brewing Company, E.I. DuPont, Earth Tech, Inc., Environmental Services and Consulting, Froehling & Robertson, Inc., Gannett Fleming, Inc., Georgia Pacific, Lees Carpets, Luck Stone Corporation, Merck & Co, Northrop Grumman Newport News, ProChem Analytical Inc., Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Friends - MeadWestvaco, Riverworks Discovery, VMA Outreach, Woods Rogers PLC

We would also like to thank International Paper for helping supply a reusable sports bottle for each attendee at the conference! In an effort to reduce waste, Environment Virginia will have water stations set up around the conference to refill these bottles at, reducing the amount of bottled water at the conference.