Event Program

Bill McKibben is founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. He’s gone on to write 20 books, and his work appears regularly in periodicals from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has won the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the alternative Nobel, in the Swedish Parliament. Foreign Policy named him to its inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers.

McKibben helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, which has organized protests on every continent, including Antarctica, for climate action. He played a leading role in launching the opposition to big oil pipeline projects like Keystone XL, and the fossil fuel divestment campaign, which has become the biggest anti-corporate campaign in history, with endowments worth more than $40 trillion stepping back from oil, gas and coal. He stepped down as board chair of 350 in 2015, and left the board and stepped down from his volunteer role as senior adviser in 2020, accepting emeritus status. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors. In 2014, biologists credited his career by naming a new species of woodland gnat—Megophthalmidia mckibbeni–in his honor.

Søren Hermansen has been the driving force behind the transformation of Samsø Island into a world renowned renewable energy exemplar.

Samsø, an island of 3,800 inhabitants, won a 1997 competition launched by the Danish Ministry of the Environment to select Denmark’s Renewable Energy Island. The effort started with Mr. Hermansen, a former high school environmental studies teacher, who tirelessly explained the benefits of clean energy to the people in his community during countless town meetings. Within ten years, the island succeeded in becoming 100% self-sufficient through renewable energy, and is now exporting its excess wind-powered electricity to the rest of Denmark.

Mr. Hermansen is currently Director of the Samsø Energy Academy, which opened in 2007. The Academy arranges yearly exhibitions, workshops and corporate events, which regularly attract 6,000 politicians, journalists, and students from around the world. Researchers from both Danish and foreign educational institutions are able to conduct energy research at the Academy, and island residents can get free advice on sustainable solutions.

For his innovative work, Mr. Hermansen was named one of the “Heroes of the Environment” by Time Magazine, and in 2009 he was awarded the Gothenborg Award, which some call the Nobel prize for the Environment. He is a highly renowned speaker at conferences and international events, presenting on solutions for the deployment of renewable energy and promoting the experience of Samsø as an inspiration and a model for other regional sustainability projects worldwide.

Melissa Hoffer is Massachusetts’ first ever Climate Chief. She joined the Biden Administration as a Day 1 political appointee, serving as the Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. She led the EPA’s Office of General Counsel through the transition until November 2021, and continued to serve as Principal Deputy General Counsel. Prior to that, she worked in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office as Chief of the Environmental Protection Division beginning in 2012 and was named Chief of AG Healey’s newly formed Energy and Environment Bureau in 2015. Hoffer oversaw the work of the Bureau’s attorneys on matters including prosecuting civil and criminal enforcement of environmental laws, proceedings before the DPU, energy policy, and defensive cases. She led the Office’s litigation against ExxonMobil for deceiving Massachusetts investors and consumers about the risk climate change poses to Exxon’s business and global financial markets, and the impacts of its fossil fuel products on climate change.

Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Hoffer held senior roles at the Conservation Law Foundation and practiced for many years as a litigator and environmental lawyer at WilmerHale. She also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander, Boston Federal District Court. She received a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law, Certificate in Environmental Management from Tufts University, M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts, and B.A. from Hampshire College. In her spare time, she raises a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats at her farm in Barre, Massachusetts.

The President of the Board of the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative, Savarese is former CEO and Executive Chair of Cape Cod 5, recognized as a leading bank and top employer.  She recently stepped down from her position after leading the community bank for nearly 20 years, during which time it grew to  more than $5 billion in assets with 550 employees in 26 locations. Savarese formalized the integration of environmental stewardship into the “5 Ways” the Bank serves the community and expanded it to include mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. Savarese extends her commitment to combating climate change and building resiliency to her volunteer and community activities, in addition to her service to the Climate Collaborative. Just recently, Savarese was appointed by Governor-Elect Maura Healey to the Climate Readiness, Resiliency and Adaptation transition policy committee. Previously, she was appointed by the former governor of Massachusetts to the Clean Heat Commission. She traveled with a Massachusetts group to Denmark in June 2022 to learn more about the country’s clean energy transformation. 

Savarese has also been recognized for her efforts in the banking industry, being named to the list of 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking by American Banker Magazine for 11 consecutive years, was the chair of both the American Bankers Association and the Massachusetts Bankers Association and has been named to committees advising the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and the FDIC. She is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Suffolk University and recently joined the Board of Trustees. In addition, she has served on a number of local boards serving the region and has received numerous awards and recognitions.

Dan Wolf founded Cape Air in 1989 and served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer from its founding through 2021. Dan continues to serve the company as the Chairman of the Board of Directors and stays current with his Air Transport Pilot license. Dan was elected in November 2010, 2012, and 2014, respectively, to represent Cape Cod and the Islands in the Massachusetts State Senate, where he served from 2011 through 2016. Each term, Dan was appointed as the Senate Chair of the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, focusing on legislation around labor, workplace safety, and workplace development. As a business and community leader, Dan continues to serve on many of the region’s most important non-profit and civic organizations, including on the Board of the Collaborative, as Chair of the Governance Affairs Committee.

Dr. Heather Goldstone oversees Woodwell Climate Research Center’s communications activities, bringing the rich stories of Woodwell scientists to diverse public audiences. Dr. Goldstone has extensive experience as both a scientist and a journalist, and she is passionate about melding data and narrative in climate change stories that build awareness and inspire action.

Dr. Goldstone came to Woodwell Climate from WGBH, where she founded and hosted a weekly science-focused radio show, Living Lab Radio. Previously, she wrote the Climatide blog about coastal communities facing climate change. Her extensive reporting on science and the environment has appeared in outlets ranging from Cape Cod Times and Commercial Fishery News to NPR’s Morning Edition, The Takeaway, and PBS News Hour. In 2014, she was recognized for the breadth of her work with WGBH’s Margret and Hans Rey/Curious George Producer award.

Dr. Goldstone fell in love with the ocean as a child, and pursued a career in marine research before discovering a passion for science communication. She serves on the Woods Hole Sea Grant Marine Outreach Guidance Group, is deeply involved in supporting local public schools, and frequently teaches or mentors students in communication skills.