December 2022
(Washington, D.C.): The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is delighted to announce the appointment of five new members to its Board of Directors: Jay Duffy, Linda French, Mathy Stanislaus, Mark Templeton, and Carita Walker. ELI’s Board includes environmental leaders from all sectors, including private law practice, corporate management, nongovernmental organizations, and academia.
“Uniting diverse interests in pursuit of pragmatic solutions and creative next steps is a hallmark of ELI. These five distinguished individuals bring a wealth of experience, energy, and new perspectives to the Board,” said ELI President Jordan Diamond. “I look forward to working with our newest members to advance ELI’s important mission of improving governance to support a healthy environment for all,” added incoming ELI Board Chair Robert C. Kirsch.
- Jay Duffy is an Attorney with the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) in, Boston, Massachusetts, where he focuses on reducing greenhouse gas pollution through environmental regulations utilizing his Clean Air Act and administrative law expertise. He was one of the lead drafters of the environmental and public health brief in West Virginia v. EPA and argued a portion of the case below at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to joining CATF, Jay worked at the Clean Air Council in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he focused on permitting oversight for natural gas facilities, power plants, and refineries. He now represents the Council and many other non-profits in Clean Air Act appellate litigation. Jay holds a J.D. from Villanova Law School where he was associate editor of the Villanova Environmental Law Journal and a member of the Delaware Valley Environmental Inn of Court. He also held internships with U.S. EPA Region 3 and PennFuture during his time at Villanova. Jay graduated from the New York City Environmental Law and Leadership Institute. He was recognized by the Environmental Law Institute as an “emerging leader” in 2020.
- Linda French is Global Head of ESG Policy and Regulation for J.P. Morgan Chase in Washington, D.C. Linda leads the firm’s advocacy and engagement globally on ESG-related financial policy and regulation, particularly as they relate to climate and sustainable finance. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan Chase, Linda led the Investment Company Institute’s (ICI) global advocacy efforts on policy issues related to sustainable finance and ESG investing. Linda has also worked in private law practice representing asset managers, funds, and fund boards; served as an attorney in the SEC Division of Enforcement; and held a variety of positions at a large asset manager. Linda is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Linda holds a JD, summa cum laude, from the University of Baltimore School of Law and a BA from the University of Maryland.
- Mathy Stanislaus is Vice Provost and Executive Director of The Environmental Collaboratory at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Environmental Collaboratory was established to transform the historic asymmetric power dynamics of environmental challenges by facilitating co-designed transdisciplinary solutions with community leaders with a focus on locally developed solutions that consider equity. Stanislaus joined Drexel from the Global Battery Alliance, a multi-stakeholder initiative established at the World Economic Forum, where he served as its first interim director and policy director with a focus on establishing a global transparent data governance system to scale up electric mobility and clean energy in alignment with the circular economy, human rights, and community development. Mr. Stanislaus served for eight years as the Senate-confirmed Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Land & Emergency Management for the Obama Administration, leading programs to revitalize communities through the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated sites, hazardous and solid waste materials management, chemical plant safety, and oil spill prevention and emergency response. Mathy was also the founding co-director of the New Partners for Community Revitalization in New York, an organization dedicated to strengthening low-income communities and communities of color by linking technical assistance, land use planning and finance through the redevelopment of brownfield properties in community based-environmental justice organizations, government, financiers, and property developers.
- Mark Templeton is a Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic, and a Research Affiliate of the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago (EPIC) at the University of Chicago Law School. In addition to teaching courses in environmental and energy law, he works with approximately 20 law students each quarter to litigate cases challenging illegal pollution, ineffective enforcement, and inadequate standards and to develop and promote innovative policies to improve the environment, public health, and equity. Professor Templeton has previously served as Trustee and Executive Director of the Office of Independent Trustees for the $20 billion Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust, and as the cabinet-level Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. From 2005 to 2009, Professor Templeton served as Associate Dean and Chief Operating Officer at Yale Law School. From 2001 to 2005, he developed environmental and sustainability strategies at McKinsey & Company, among other projects. Professor Templeton has also served as Special Assistant and Senior Adviser to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and as an adviser to the U.S. Delegation to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. He was a Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs from 1994 to 1996. Professor Templeton earned an AB, magna cum laude, in Social Studies from Harvard College and a JD from Yale Law School.
- Carita Walker is General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer at Shell Recharge Solutions in Los Angeles, California, where she focuses on building scalable legal systems for an electric mobility future. Previously with Qatar Shell Services in Doha, Qatar, she leveraged her deep background in environmental and corporate law to support Pearl GTL, the world’s largest source of gas-to-liquids products, and the Qatargas 4 LNG joint venture. Prior to her expatriate years in Qatar, Carita led environmental permitting for multi-billion-dollar capital projects, enabled businesses to achieve their goals by successfully identifying prioritizing and managing risks and delivered on complex commercial transactions. Carita has served in key professional and civic leadership roles. She chaired company Legal Recruiting, co-chaired the US United Way Campaign for Legal, and was Shell’s inaugural Leadership Counsel for Leadership Diversity Fellow. Carita received her undergraduate degree from Xavier University in Louisiana, studied at Harvard University, and obtained her JD from the University of California at Berkeley-School of Law.
For more information about ELI's Board of Directors, visit https://www.eli.org/board-of-directors.