2017 Speaker Bios
Roy Malone
Director of Center Operations, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Roy W. Malone Jr. is director of the Office of Center Operations at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Named to the position in April 2015, he oversees 127 specialized civil service employees and about 700 contract employees with an annual budget of approximately $100 million.
The Office of Center Operations provides environmental, engineering and occupational health services, facility management and operations, logistics and transportation, protective services, emergency management, industrial labor relations and subordinate site operations, among other services.
From July 2012 to his current appointment, Malone was director of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. He was responsible for 20 civil servants and more than 500 contract employees with an annual budget of over $80 million. Michoud is a multi-tenant manufacturing facility where development of the Space Launch System and Orion manned spacecraft are underway. SLS is the most powerful rocket ever designed to carry human explorers, their equipment and science payloads deeper into space than ever before, to an asteroid and to Mars. Michoud, a NASA-owned facility that is managed by Marshall, is one of the world's largest manufacturing plants.
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Noel Hand
City of Gulf Shores, Assistant Director of Public Works
As assistant director of the City of Gulf Shores Public Works, I oversee the daily operations of Maintenance, Streets, Recycling, Custodial and Landscape Divisions. Our Recycling Department manages the city’s recycling drop off center and maintains the recycling receptacles. In July of 2014, the city implemented a pilot program of beach side trash and recycle pickup. During the pilot program we collected 10 tons of material. 3 short years later, the City now manages and processes over 200 tons of recycling! We have also spearheaded special events to become greener events and make a heavy emphasis on recycling.
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Danny Skinner
Protec Recycling, Founder
Danny is the founder of Protec Recycling, a full-service electronics recycling company with a focus in data security, based in Birmingham, Alabama. Before devoting himself full-time to recycling, Danny owned and operated a chain of smartphone & tablet repair shops throughout the state, which diverted electronics from landfills by promoting repair rather than replace. He studied business at Auburn University. Danny is an avid golfer and loves spending time with family. His wife, Sara, also works at Protec Recycling.
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David Cannon
Republic Recycling, Inc.
2001- 2010 – Region VP American Investment Properties
2011- 2015 – Region Manager Republic Services
2015 – Present – General Manager Republic Services Huntsville/Shoal Market
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Kendra Burns
McDowell Environmental Center, Animal Program Manager
Kendra manages the educational animal programs at Camp McDowell and spends her days hanging out with raptors and reptiles. Her favorite part of her job is sharing their unique stories with people of all ages. She has always been passionate about recycling and has implemented 10 collection programs at camp through Terracycle, which diverts hard to recycle products such as toothpaste tubes, cereal bags, and granola bar wrappers from the landfill. The money donated for these recycling collections goes to purchasing food, supplies, and enrichment toys for the education animals. Camp McDowell just built its own recycling center on property and Kendra is happy to be a part of advancing camp towards its future goal of being zero landfill.
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Will Sagar
Executive Director, Southeast Recycling Development Council (SERDC)
Will is the Executive Director for SERDC. SERDC's efforts include a specific focus on the economic impact of the recycling industry. He works from his hometown of Brevard, North Carolina. Will graduated from the University of North Carolina with a double major in Economics and Mathematics. He has extensive experience in starting recycling programs, landfill design and installation, household hazardous waste, and electronics collections programs. When not at work or in meetings, you can find Will on his bicycle.
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Gavin Adams
Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Materials Management Chief.
Gavin is responsible for the Alabama Recycling Program, Scrap Tire Permitting/Compliance and Marketing Programs. He joined ADEM in 1992 and has worked in grant management, program development, technical assistance, recycling, source reduction, site assessment and remediation, and other multimedia Departmental programs including Pollution Prevention and Environmental Education. Mr. Adams has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Biology from Auburn University at Montgomery. He has also served as an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certified Lead Auditor, and is certified in Hazardous Waste and Emergency Operations.
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Leigh Shaffer
Birmingham Recycling and Recovery
Leigh has worked as the sales manager at Birmingham Recycling and Recovery since November 2015. She is also currently serving as the vice president on the Alabama Recycling Coalition's executive board. Leigh worked previously for Auburn University as the recycling coordinator for the Waste Reduction and Recycling Department. Auburn is also her alma mater where she earned a bachelor's degree before leaving the south after college to explore living and working in national parks in California and Hawaii. From there she spent seven years in Seattle as an office manager, yoga instructor, pet sitter and nature lover. After taking a year off to travel the US and Ireland, Leigh returned to Alabama in 2008 and is happy to be warm again and nearer to family in her hometown, Mobile.
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Alan Gurganus
Alabama Environmental Council
Raised in Tuscaloosa, Alan serves as the Recycling Director for Alabama Environmental Council (AEC) in Birmingham after more than a decade of teaching environmental education. He has a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Bioethics from the University of Alabama and an M.A. in Environmental Leadership from Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Having observed both the road blocks and progress of recycling in Alabama, Alan is working to move recycling forward and position Alabama as a leader in sustainable waste management. He leads AEC's recycling and waste reduction initiatives, as well as other sustainability programs.
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Ashley Chambers
City of Tuscaloosa, Environmental Educator
Ashley is the Environmental Educator for the City of Tuscaloosa specializing in business and citizen recycling opportunities, as well as stormwater and water treatment education and outreach. She leads the City's environmental education programs and provides tours of City environmental facilities to residents, schools, and academic groups in West Alabama. She graduated from The University of Alabama in 2008 with a B.S. in Geological Sciences and was employed by NASA within Marshall Space Flight Center's Environmental Engineering office after college before joining the City of Tuscaloosa in 2012.
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Rachel Mansell
City of Florence, Education and Outreach Coordinator
In 2015, the City of Florence was chosen by The Recycling Partnership as one of the first cities to receive a grant to help them achieve city-wide curbside cart collection. Rachel is also currently serving as President of the Alabama Recycling Coalition. She has a Master’s in Education. She worked as an educator in the Florence School System before making the journey into the recycling world.
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Nicole Reyes
City of Guntersville
Nicole LeCroy Reyes is a native of Guntersville, Alabama and currently serves as the City of Guntersville Recycling Coordinator and Executive Director of Keep Guntersville Beautiful. She holds a B. A. in Political Science and Communications and a M. Ed. in Instructional Leadership from Lipscomb University. She has over 20 years experience as a highly successful award and grant writer. In 2016, Mrs. Reyes became one of the first graduates of the Keep America Beautiful Certified Environmental Professional Program. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Recycling Coalition and Marshall County Chapter of People Against a Littered State. Nicole is married and has 2 sons.
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Corinne Hayes
Applied Chemical Technology
Corinne serves as special assistant to Ray Shirley, the Founder/Chairman of ACT by working in marketing, project research, client patents, and project management. She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1993 with a B.S. in mathematics and again in 1995 with a M.S. in physics/computational science. Corinne worked at ACT for one year in 1988 and then returned to take her current position in 2014.
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Larry Christley
Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation
Larry is the Program Manager for the Materials Management Program at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from the University of Tennessee at Martin. The US Environmental Protection Agency twice awarded him their National Notable Achievement Award (2011 and 2013) for his work on the National Measurement Project. He is recipient of the Tennessee Employee Suggestion Award for a process improvement project that saved the State over a half million dollars. He was finalist in the 2012 Department of Environment and Conservation’s David Draughn Award for Excellence. He instructs and is a Certified Recycling Systems Manager with Solid Waste Association of North America. He is an avid photographer and self-proclaimed master chef. He is married to Michelle and is almost an empty-nester with two of his three children out of the nest.
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Laura McMillan
EPA Region 4
Laura works for EPA Region 4 in Atlanta, she started in January of 2017, and primarily works in school food waste reduction, and with landfill programs across the 8 regional states. She is the new state contact for Alabama for regarding sustainable materials management. Previous to working with the EPA she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia where she taught fish farming to rural farmers.
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Mike Smith
Max-Pak Balers
Michael Smith is the Vice President of Waste Processing Equipment, Inc., also known as Max-Pak Balers. Mike has been with Max-Pak for 25 years. He served as Sales Manager for the first few years, taking over as VP of Sales & Marketing. In 2008 he became Vice President/Owner of Waste Processing Equipment, Inc.
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David Barr
Joe Wheeler State Park, Ranger
David Barr has been a park ranger at Joe Wheeler State Park for 33 years. He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of North Alabama with a major in Geography and a minor in History. Mr. Barr is also involved with The Boy Scouts Of America and currently scoutmaster of Troop 153 in Killen, AL. He's a long time recycler and believe very much in the program; recycling and both home and work. David is an avid outdoors man, conservationist, and naturalist. He acts as an interpreter in the park and takes groups on hikes and explain the geographical, historical and natural features of the park.
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