Christy Slay

CEO and VP, Science & Impact

Dr. Christy Slay was appointed TSC’s interim CEO in 2021 and also directs TSC’s science and research application activities, working to develop a global, transparent, scientifically based measurement and reporting system for product sustainability. Slay has been with TSC since its inception in 2009 and has held key leadership roles during her tenure. She currently leads the way in our strategic planning for THESIS, directs the research and development team in THESIS content creation, leads the development of TSC’s Commodity Mapping program, leads many of TSC’s high–profile partnerships, and is the Principal Investigator on several of TSC’s largest grants. She publishes in notable scientific journals, most recently in Nature Climate Change on global forest carbon fluxes and Science on the drivers of global forest loss. She has also co–authored reports on sustainable agricultural metrics and climate change resilience in supply chains featured on HSBC’s Centre of Sustainable Finance. Christy was recently featured on CNBC as an expert on supply chains and climate change. Christy has 23 years of experience as an educator in both collegiate and environmental education settings. In addition to her adjunct faculty role at the University of Arkansas instructing a graduate sustainability course at the Walton College Graduate School of Business, she holds an adjunct faculty position at ASU’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts. She received her doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Arkansas. Prior to her graduate research, she led curriculum development and strategic planning with the National Audubon Society where she also authored articles for Audubon Magazine. She received her B.A. in biology from Hendrix College attending courses at Birkbeck College at the University of London. She serves on the board of the Ozark Natural Science Center, a residential nature education center for school children. In her spare time Slay co–leads cave ecology research for the HICAVES Project on the island of Hawaii discovering new species and featured in a documentary on Nature PBS. Christy is based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is an avid birdwatcher, and loves spending time exploring the Ozark mountain trails and rivers with her biologist husband Mike and rescue dog Roxie.

Carolyn Baltz 

VP, Development

Carolyn Baltz joined The Sustainability Consortium on June 29, 2015. Prior to joining TSC, Carolyn dedicated 11 years to strengthening the membership efforts of the Arkansas Alumni Association at the University of Arkansas. Carolyn was instrumental in growing stewardship programs for members, engagement measurement practices and membership acquisition strategy. In addition to her expertise in relationship management, Carolyn led efforts to create and market a new brand identity for the Association. Carolyn received a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Journalism with a minor in Advertising and Public Relations. She currently volunteers for multiple non-profit organizations in the Northwest Arkansas area.

Koen Boone

Managing Director, Europe

Koen Boone is Director Europe of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) and employed by Wageningen University and Research (WUR). Before joining TSC, Koen led a research center focusing on monitoring sustainability of Dutch food chains. Koen has more than fifteen years of experience on measuring sustainability on all kinds of levels (product, company, sector). He worked together with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) on the development of GRI guidelines for sustainability reporting for the Food Processing Industry.

Kevin Dooley

Chief Scientist

Dr. Kevin Dooley is a Professor of Supply Chain Management and a Dean’s Council of 100 Distinguished Scholars in the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He is Chief Scientist of The Sustainability Consortium, developing science and tools to improve the sustainability of consumer goods. Dr. Dooley is a world-known expert in the application of complexity science to help organizations improve. He has published over 100 research articles and co-authored an award-winning book, “Organizational Change and Innovation Processes”. He is on several journal editorial boards including Journal of Supply Chain Management and Journal of Business Logistics. He has been awarded two patents on Centering Resonance Analysis, a novel form of network text analysis, and is co-founder and CEO of Crawdad Technologies, LLC, a provider of text analysis software for academics of Business at Arizona State University.

Erin Killeen

Director, Science and Impact

Erin Killeen is the Director, Science & Impact at The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) where she leads the development and implementation of research and technical projects related to supply chain sustainability, focusing on TSC’s Sustainability Insight System (THESIS). Killeen has previously contributed to TSC as Coordinator for Technical Development and as a Research Associate for TSC’s Food Beverage, and Agriculture sector, developing TSC science-based content across various tools. Killeen holds a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics degree from the University of Arkansas and a Master of Science in International Rural Development degree from the University of Gent, Belgium. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas in Economics, with a minor in Anthropology and Environmental Soil and Water Science. Furthermore, she holds expert knowledge regarding the topic of food waste across the supply chain. Killeen enjoys exploring nature while floating rivers and bike-packing with family in tow.

Rosemary Lapka

Director, Impact Services

Rosemary holds an MBA/MS in Sustainable Systems from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Communication Design from Carnegie Mellon University. She has worked with TSC as a project manager since 2020 and has engaged with TSC since 2011 both as a Trained Technical Service Provider and graduate intern. Her career has focused on driving and managing projects and programs within sustainable design, supply chains, sourcing, and policy management, primarily within the food/agriculture and grocery retail industries. She has worked with Fortune 500s, large and small private companies, non-profits, and academia across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and SE Asia. 

Dan “Sunny” Schlesinger

Director, Finance

Dan “Sunny” Schlesinger, CPA, is the Director of Finance at The Sustainability Consortium where he leads the Circular Economy ROI Task Force aimed at unlocking the financial benefits of circularity projects. Schlesinger served as the Sr Finance Manager at the Health and Happiness Group, and before that as a financial analyst at the Competitor Group, Inc and audit and tax lead at Leaf & Cole, LLP. Schlesinger received his Master of Accountancy and Bachelor of Accounting from Case Western Reserve University. His expertise lies in problem solving, budgeting and forecasting, and communicating with executive teams. He is passionate about combating climate change and the outdoors. He recently spent 2 years in an RV traveling the country with his wife and Australian shepherd named Arya.

Amy Scoville-Weaver

Director, Retail

Cristian Becerra

Manager, Data Strategy

Cristian Becerra holds a BA in Business with a concentration in Sustainability and a certificate in Applied Business Data Analytics from Arizona State University (ASU) where he is currently pursuing a MS in Program Evaluation and Data Analytics. As the Manager of Data Strategy, he is responsible for successful use of THESIS data by TSC, retailers, members, and other stakeholders to ensure continued impact, global growth, and a sustained revenue model. Prior to joining TSC in 2018, Cristian was a Sustainability Analyst for the ASU Dell Inc. Mentoring Program where he created tools and process for collecting and analyzing global supplier spend data with CDP emissions data.

Jenn Benoit

Manager, Development

Jenn joined The Sustainability Consortium in 2018 as an Administrative Assistant in the University of Arkansas office.  Jenn received her bachelor’s degree in Family Studies and Human Services from Kansas State University.  Before joining TSC, Jenn worked as a Quality Assurance Specialist at Tallgrass Family Services in Oklahoma.  Prior to her work at the foster care agency, she was a Program Director at the Regional Prevention Center in Kansas.

Nathan Bolivar

Manager, Digital Marketing

Nathan Bolivar is the Manager, Digital Marketing at the Sustainability Consortium. Prior to joining he came from Arizona State University’s Technology Office where he worked as part of their development team in apps and design. Along with his passion for web, he has been involved with several lean startups at multiple stages. His expertise is in multimedia design, marketing strategy, and UI/UX for web and mobile. Nathan graduated with a BA in business administration and marketing from Adams State University in 2015, where he also competed as a track and field athlete. He is also a licensed real estate agent in Arizona.

Anusha Burte

Graduate Student Researcher

Anusha Burte was introduced to sustainability during her undergraduate studies in design, where she also learned research & data interpretation methodologies that helped me create consumer-focused sustainable products efficiently. Her professional experience and exploration have been in diverse industries from Fashion to Packaging in the Sustainability Space where she learned multiple business development and analytics. functions. Currently, she is pursuing her Master of Sustainability Solutions at ASU and working with Dr. Dooley on circular business models and defining and differentiating Products + Services, Product as a Service, and Material as a Service. At the same time, she is working on developing an ESG strategy and procuring investment for Dominican Republic Solar Project (Private-sector sponsor (ENSO) in typical solar project finance with a PPA backed by government utility). She is interested in developing sustainable manufacturing systems and supply chains while also studying the methods to reduce waste and GHG. 

Forrest Follett

Manager, Data Science

Forrest Follett began working for TSC in September of 2018 as the Manager of Data Science. His work supports the Commodities Mapping Program, analyzing global sustainability risks as they relate to various commodities and modeling their spatial distributions. Forrest’s background is in Archaeology, where he has several years of experience in the Cultural Resource Management sector and got his BA in 2012. He moved to Fayetteville to pursue his MA and is currently finishing his thesis, titled “An Investigation of the Affordances of Virtual Environments for Archaeological Data Presentation” which uses video games to make more interesting archaeological site reports. The common thread between his work in archaeology and his work for the consortium is his passion for making complex geospatial data into maps and visualizations that are easy to understand and make exploring a dataset simple and engaging.

Teresa Garcia-Moore

Manager, Science and Impact

Teresa Garcia-Moore is the Manager of Science and Impact for the Food, Beverage and Agriculture sector at The Sustainability Consortium (TSC). She holds an LL.M. in Agricultural and Food Law and a Ph.D. in Agriculture Policy both from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Prior to joining TSC, Teresa worked for five years as a research assistant at the University of Arkansas conducting research in food and agriculture policy. She also worked as a legal consultant in Fayetteville for Kramer Detergents, Inc., where she was responsible for advising the company on legal issues related to the chemical industry regulations and on the implementation of the corporate social responsibility program.

Debra Harmon

Manager, Operations

Debra Harmon is the assistant to Euan Murray, CEO, at The Sustainability Consortium (TSC). Debbie has been with TSC since its launch in 2009, supporting administration and operations Scottsdale, Arizona office. Before joining TSC, Debra supported the Strategic Initiatives Officer for the Global Institute of Sustainability at the ASU Foundation.

Roel Helmes

Research Associate

I am a foodie with the idealism to improve the sustainability of our world’s food system. For this purpose, I inform and inspire businesses and governments with facts from environmental assessments. My role is to understand the information needs of customers and stakeholders, structure diverse data in my Life Cycle Assessments of agricultural and chemical supply chains, and share them in a tailor made way.

Jessica Leonard

Manager, Communication

Jessica Leonard is the Grants and Development Manager at The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), where she writes, develops and maintains TSC’s grants through large, multidisciplinary and collaborative proposal efforts to a wide range of global funding entities. Jessica’s background includes over 9 years of higher education and tourism marketing experience. Prior to joining TSC, Jessica managed social media content and strategy for the University of Arkansas as well as adjunct taught public relations classes. Before joining the university system, she was the Director of Communications for the Fayetteville Convention & Visitors Bureau and was named a 30 Under 30 honoree in the travel and tourism industry by Destination Marketing Association International. Jessica received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with an emphasis in Advertising and Public Relations and a minor in Marketing from the University of Arkansas.

Dhruvin Naik

Analyst, Programming

Dhruvin Naik comes to TSC as a Programming Analyst with a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering with concentration in numerical and computation methods. He finds implementing various algorithms, numerical methods, and approximation methods to solve complex problems both challenging and satisfying. Naik has worked in areas of machine learning, deep learning, image processing, UI designing etc. He has used C++ and python languages to accomplish various projects in the areas of machine learning, deep learning, computation imaging, UI designing and security.

Chris Randle

Data Analyst

Chris is a GIS Analyst supporting the Commodity Mapping Program, which uses models and client supply chain data in the production of comprehensible data visualizations highlighting sustainability risks such as deforestation, water, and child labor. His work includes data analytics, along with spatial analysis and cartographic, process, and technical solution design.

Prior to joining TSC, Chris was a helpdesk manager for TerraVia–a biotechnology company that supplied a variety of sustainable algae-based food and nutrition products.

Chris has a Professional Science Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies and a certificate in Applied Spatial Analytics from Antioch University in Keene, NH. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering Technology.

Willem Ruster

Business Development Manager

Willem Ruster is business development manager at Wageningen Research of the area “Sustainability Management in Agri & Food”. He has 12 years’ experience in running societal impact assessments in the private sector. In these years, he ran several complex, informal project structures and guided consultants and researchers in projects with among others ECPA, Crop Life International, EuropaBio, Copa-Cogeca, Monsanto, Bayer CropScience, Heineken, The Coca-Cola Company, IFC (part of The World Bank Group), Johnson & Johnson and Cargill. Between 2007-2017, he worked at Steward Redqueen, an international consultancy on sustainability strategy and impact measurement. Between 2015-2017, he acted as manager of Steward Redqueen’s agrifood and biotech cluster. Market experience: Europe (>10 countries & EU level), Africa (e.g. DRC, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt; Africa-level), South-East Asia (e.g. Vietnam, Indonesia, The Philippines). Willem hold a MSc in Economics with specialization in Development & Environmental economics.

Louise Sturges

Manager, Retail

Louise Sturges joins TSC as our Manager, Retail, with her most recent experience from TSC member Walmart, where she worked in multiple areas including Corporate Sustainability, Walmart.org, Environmental Compliance, and Global People. She lives in Bentonville, AR and loves time outdoors, board games, reading, and creative projects. She earned her Bachelor of Environmental Science at Hendrix College. She joins as our Retail Manager and will support brands and manufacturers using the THESIS platform and the growth of TSC’s network of trained service providers program. As the main point of contact for major, global retailers, the Retailer Manager works with diverse stakeholders to connect science to business to drive positive sustainability impact at scale.

Michelle Wald

Project Manager

Michelle Wald is a strategic leader passionate about using business as a force for good.  She has significant experience in strategic planning and operational execution across small and large consumer goods companies.  After studying business as a dual-sport athlete at Cal, she started her career in management consulting at McKinsey, then built a multi-functional skillset across various roles and geographies at Nike, and most recently led the US expansion of Tony’s Chocolonely, a Dutch impact company with a mission of 100% slave free chocolate worldwide. She currently enjoys playing sports, drawing, custom cake decorating, and chasing the sun.