COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY PARTNERSHIP LEADERSHIP TEAM

Renae Hesselink

Renae is a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council West Michigan chapter, past Chair of the Board of Directors and currently board member and the Chapter’s Green School Advocacy Committee Chair. She has been with Nichols (a distributor of custodial and packaging supplies) for 22 years in various positions and nine years ago moved into to a new role within the company as Vice President of Sustainability. In 2010 Nichols achieved LEED-EB O & M (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance) and achieved recertification in October 2015 under LEED O+M Version 4.0.

Nichols is also part of the Michigan’s Pollution Prevention program and a winner in the 2014 and 2015 USGBC West Michigan’s Battle of the Buildings competition. Renae has been involved in the successful implementation of more than forty Green Cleaning programs that have led to LEED either for new construction or existing building credits for buildings around the state of Michigan. Other roles include: Goodwill of West Michigan Board of Directors, Leadership team of the Muskegon Sustainability Coalition; Kent County Lodging Association Green Team and Chair of TEDxMuskegon. She was also recognized as the 2015 ATHENA of the Lakeshore recipient.

Michael Vargo

Michael is Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Grand Rapids Community College, and also helps lead GRCC’s sustainability initiatives.   He has a lifelong interest and involvement in social equity and environmental issues.

Michael came to GRCC in 2004 from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.  He is a clinical psychologist by training and has worked in a variety of clinical and educational settings in the United States, Canada and abroad.  Michael earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology at Grand Valley State University, his master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and completed his clinical training at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Alison Waske Sutter

Alison Waske Sutter joined the City of Grand Rapids as the Sustainability Manager in September 2017. She has over 15 years of experience in the sustainability field and is a licensed attorney. As the Sustainability Manager, Alison is responsible for managing the City’s Sustainability Plan, which serves as the City’s strategic plan and is based on the quadruple bottom line with four pillars – environmental quality, social responsibility, economic vitality and governmental accountability. She is currently focused on developing a comprehensive energy plan for the City, which will include strategies for the City to meet its 100% renewable energy goal by 2025 as well as mechanisms to engage other community stakeholders in steep energy reductions.

Before joining the City, Alison’s career included sustainability positions with SpartanNash, a Fortune 400 food distribution and retail business as well as sustainability consulting for the healthcare industry. She began her career as an environmental attorney with Warner Norcross and Judd in 2006. Alison currently serves on the Grand Rapids 2030 District’s Advisory Committee, as Immediate Past President of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum and on the Kent County Population Health Consortium Operations Council. She received her law degree and a Masters of Public Affairs from Indiana University and her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Cincinnati.

In her free time, Alison enjoys hiking and exploring nature with her husband, son and dog. She also loves eating food prepared with local ingredients, whether from one of our fantastic local restaurants or her talented husband.

Bill Wood

Born and raised in Central Illinois, conservation has been at the heart of Bill Wood’s professional career since his first job, working as a field researcher for the Critical Trends Assessment Program with the Illinois DNR.

He attended the University of Kentucky from 2004 – 2006, graduating with a Master’s Degree in Social Work. After graduation, he began working for Habitat for Humanity, starting one of that organization’s most viable “deconstruction” programs, which salvaged usable building materials from remodeled or demolished homes and generated revenue for Habitat’s housing operations.

Bill comes to Grand Rapids by way of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he successfully started and managed a Habitat for Humanity ReStore before being hired as Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Harrisburg Area. Since 2006, programs and initiatives under Bill’s guidance have kept over 1,000,000 pounds of building material out of the waste stream, reduced impact on local watersheds, and earned over $1,500,000 for Habitat programs.

As an experienced grant writer and program director, Bill has a knack for turning funders’ grant dollars into innovative, actualized ways to reduce waste and increase sustainability. In his hours away from work, Bill enjoys reading, bicycling, kayaking, hiking, honing his kitchen skills, and playing with his giant dog, Bela.

Kristen Trovillion

Kristen Trovillion is an experienced sustainability professional with a proven track record of grant administration, coalition-building, and stakeholder engagement. As the Sustainability Coordinator for Grand Rapids Public Schools, Kristen manages the district’s operational sustainability and works to pair sustainability initiatives with student learning. In her previous work at the Indiana Energy Office and Indianapolis’ Office of Sustainability, Kristen managed over $100M in building retrofit, renewable energy, and fleet conversion projects and collaborated on Indianapolis’ first city-wide sustainability assessment. Kristen holds a BA in Political Science from Alma College and an MPA in Energy Policy from Indiana University – SPEA.

Kris Spaulding

Kris Spaulding manages the people and planet aspects of Vivant’s triple bottom line focus while her husband and business partner Jason concentrates on the company’s profitability. She was the driving force in the pursuit of Vivant’s LEED and B Corporation certifications and is an advocate for businesses engaging with their community in a meaningful and impactful way. Kris plays an active role in building the West Michigan B Corporation Network, is the board chair of Local First, is on the Sustainability subcommittee for the Brewers Association and was named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan in 2016.
Kris has always been passionate for environmental and social issues and received a BS from U of M in Natural Resources and Environment. She started out her career in the non-profit sector with USPIRG (Public Interest Research Group) where she was the canvas director in the St Louis office focusing on environmental advocacy, consumer rights and government reform. She then worked at Herman Miller for 12 years where she held roles in dealer development, product management, and the environmental team. Kris also received an MBA from GVSU during this time.