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Connecting Kids to Nature Speakers and Panelists
Keynote Speaker
Barbara O’Brien is a long-time advocate for young children and teens and has a history of innovative policy initiatives.
Prior to becoming Lt. Governor, O’Brien spent 16 years as president of the Colorado Children’s Campaign, a statewide public policy and advocacy nonprofit organization. Her leadership has produced major statewide policy initiatives that increased funding for schools, created charter schools, expanded early childhood education, increased access to health care for uninsured children, reduced teen smoking and expanded after-school programs.
As lieutenant governor, O’Brien has an ambitious agenda for education, health and wellness, and aerospace issues.
Education
Colorado has one of the most educated populations in the nation but faces some education challenges. Gov. Ritter appointed Lt. Governor O’Brien to serve as the co-chair of the P-20 Education Council, which oversees education reform and innovation from pre-school to post-secondary education. In its first year, the P20 Council successfully advocated for expansion of full-day kindergarten and pre-school statewide.
Health & Wellness
Colorado is one of the nation’s healthiest states, but its residents are on the same obesity trend upward as the rest of the country. To help change the trend, Lt. Gov. O’Brien is working with the Metro Denver Health & Wellness Commission and LiveWell Colorado, a public-private partnership to encourage small steps toward healthier habits in schools, communities and at work.
Speakers
Kevin J. Coyle
Vice President for Education and Training
National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Reston, VA
Since joining NWF in 2005, Coyle has set new directions for NWF’s education efforts. He has positioned NWF as a leader in developing and supporting federal environmental education legislation for increased public funding and has set new national standards for effective climate change education. In 2006, NWF also inaugurated a daily outdoor Green Hour education and marketing program for U.S. parents and is starting campaigns for state legislative reforms to fight the growing problem of nature deficit in today’s video indoor-bound children. He has expanded NWF’s acclaimed Certified Wildlife Habitat™ program including a new Flyway Cities campaign. And, NWF now plans to dramatically increase the number of outdoor classrooms in the nation’s largest school systems.
Coyle also serves as vice president in charge of NWF’s award-winning children’s magazines including: Ranger Rick, Your Big Back Yard and Wild Animal Baby, read by some three million children each month.
Coyle has helped expand NWF’s college and university program to lower greenhouse gas emissions at 1,000 major campuses and to activate thousands of student leaders to reverse global warming. Recently, NWF launched new training programs to help adult activists and civic leaders address global warming science, solutions and wildlife adaptations. This work included designing and implementing a high-profile effort to train 1,000 U.S. activists to deliver the award-winning presentation developed by former Vice President Al Gore as seen in An Inconvenient Truth.
Prior to NWF, Coyle was president of the National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF), a national philanthropic foundation chartered by Congress to strengthen U.S. environmental learning. While there he authored the book, Environmental Literacy in America. Before that he was president of American Rivers, the nation’s principal river conservation organization. He also helped to establish River Network, a national grassroots organization, and was President and co-founder of the American Land Resource Association. He served two terms as chairman of The Natural Resources Council of America. In 1998 he was named one of the top-ten U.S. river conservationists of all time.
Early on, Coyle spent ten years at the U.S. Department of the Interior where he was assistant regional director for state and local programs for the National Park Service’s Northeast Office. There he directed the Land and Water Conservation Fund Grants program and natural resource planning programs. In 1980, he received the Department’s Meritorious Service Award, the highest distinction bestowed on a mid-career employee.
Originally from Philadelphia, Coyle holds a degree in social work from LaSalle University, a law degree from Temple University, and a Conservation Leadership Certificate from the Wharton School at Penn.
Robert E. Roberts
Regional Administrator
From 1995 to 2002, he was the first full-time executive director of the Environmental Council of States (ECOS), the national, non-partisan, non-profit association of state and territorial environmental commissioners. He served as secretary of the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources from 1990 to 1995, and led successful campaigns for the first-ever permanent funding source for water projects and for the most comprehensive environmental protection act in South Dakota history. Roberts’ last assignment in a 23-year Air Force career was as commander of the 812th Combat Support Group at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, at that time the largest operational base in the Strategic Air Command. From September 1970 to September 1971, he was executive officer for Air Force Advisory Team #3, Bien Hoa Air Base, Vietnam. He also served as White House Liaison Officer in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, and on the staff of the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe, Casteau, Belgium.
He is an honors graduate in history from the University of Alabama, has a Masters in Public Administration from Auburn University, is a Distinguished Graduate of the Air Command and Staff College, completed the Industrial College of the Armed Forces by correspondence, and has completed executive training at the Governors’ Center at Duke University. In 1999, Governing magazine named him a “Public Employee of the Year,” one of ten such designations nation-wide, and the only association executive ever so designated. In 1992, the Council of State Governments named him a Henry Toll Fellow. In 2000 and 2001, he served as a member of the National Environmental Policy Commission, appointed by the Congressional Black Caucus, and participated in listening sessions across the United States regarding environmental justice. He served as the interim chair of the Rocky Mountain Energy Council, a White House initiative to help coordinate the efforts of federal and state agencies regarding energy development and distribution.
Panelists
Sandra Stenmark is a pediatrician and the director of the pediatric wellness and weight management program for Kaiser Permanente. In her roles as a pediatrician, wellness/weight manager director and mother of three sons, she has always been very interested in promoting health and wellness for children and adults in our community; a focus which aligns well with both Kaiser Permanente’s Thrive campaign and the Live Well Colorado program. Live Well Colorado is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, the Colorado Health Foundation and The Colorado Physical Activity and Nutrition Program. Live Well Colorado’s mission is to engage and support communities in the development and implementation of policies, programs and environmental strategies that prevent obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases.
Sandra has recently served on the Metropolitan Health and Wellness Commission and the Commission on School Nutrition and Physical Activity for the Denver Public Schools. She attended the Bighorn Policy Program on Environmental Sustainability in 2005. During her recent presentations at the Smart Growth Conference and the CDC Conference on Obesity and Diabetes, she has linked her experiences within the exam room to environmental and social policy.
Sandra Stenmark received her medical degree and completed her pediatric residency training at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Louise Chawla brings to her job as a Professor in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado a background in child development and environmental psychology. Her work relates to children’s experience of both natural environments and the public spaces of cities and towns, with a focus on the opportunities that these places can afford for positive development. As a Fulbright Scholar at the Norwegian Center for Child Research, she initiated a revival of the Growing Up in Cities project of UNESCO which engages young people in documenting and improving urban communities. Among her many publications, she is editor and co-author of Growing Up in an Urbanising World and author of In the First Country of Places. She serves as an editor of the journal Children, Youth and Environments and as an Executive Committee member of the University of Colorado’s Children, Youth and Environments Center for Research and Design.
Roberto Lopez Moreno is Founder and President of the Colorado based snowsports diversity initiative ALPINO and a lecturer at Colorado Mountain College. He is also a member of the College’s Ski Area Operations Curriculum Committee and a trustee of Denver Public Schools Balarat Outdoor Education Center; which annually serves over 4400 DPS fifth graders. Mr. Moreno is also now writing the nation’s first comprehensive “Guide to Snowsports Diversity Best Practices;” a jointly funded project of the National Ski Areas Association and the United States Forest Service. ALPINO has provided snowsports experiences for over 12,500 Denver area youth since 2003 and creates mountain recreation experiences for Colorado youth and promotes research and public dialogue designed to promote the business case for diversity and inclusivity in the mountain recreation industry.
Eric Bergman is Director of the Office of Smart Growth in the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. The office provides technical and financial assistance to local governments throughout Colorado in the areas of land use planning and growth management, and is involved in related legislative and policy issues. Eric holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Masters in Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Prior to working in state government, Eric served as director of research and communications for Colorado Counties, Inc. He lives in Westminster with his wife, Sandra, and their two sons, Cole and Porter.
Cheryl Lydon is the Elementary Science Coordinator for Denver Public Schools where she supports the implementation of a comprehensive science education program in including professional development and materials refurbishment. Prior to moving to Denver, Cheryl was the Washington State LASER Program Director and Teacher Education Manager at Pacific Science Center in Seattle. As Program Director, she supported seven regional sites across Washington State helping them to establish high quality professional development programs for teachers and administrators. As Teacher Education Manager, she provided direction to five statewide teacher education programs. She managed a National Science Foundation-supported Informal Science Education Project and a number of business-supported grants that supported science education reform in Washington. Cheryl has visited every corner of Washington State, bringing hands-on science to students and teachers as the Science on Wheels Program Manager. Cheryl started her career as a middle school science teacher and has a M.Ed. in Natural Science/Science Education from Western Washington University.
Moderator
Jill E. Cooper is an associate at Faegre & Benson LLP in the Denver office. Jill’s practice spans the areas of sustainability, environmental law, climate change, and renewable energy. Jill joined Faegre & Benson after serving five years as the senior advisor to the executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. In this role, she provided counsel on environmental, regulatory and policy matters, with a particular emphasis on emerging energy, climate change and sustainability programs and issues in Colorado and throughout the United States. Before that she was the Legal Administrator for the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division, worked at the Attorney General’s Office, Land and Water Fund, Radian Corporation and for the oil and gas industry. She has a Masters in International Management and JD from the University of Colorado. Jill serves on the Governor’s Pollution Prevention Advisory Board, Denver Mayor’s Greenprint Council, and board of directors for various other non-governmental organizations.
