Sustain Southern California (Sustain SoCal) is committed to its mission of accelerating sustainability and economic growth through innovation, collaboration and education in region.
As Southern California’s population, industry, workforce and tourism continues to grow and change, it is vitally important to proactively address the region’s sustainability, environmental and infrastructure needs and objectives.
Formerly known as Cleantech OC and Sustain OC, Sustain SoCal has a long history of exploring and implementing pragmatic, real-world solutions to the challenges created by growth, change and inefficiency that face Southern California and beyond.
Challenges create opportunities.
Sustain SoCal conducts conferences, workshops and networking events to help in the sharing of knowledge and establish connections that have a positive impact on both the economic progress and sustainable future of the area and its residents, businesses and visitors.
For key sectors such as Energy, Water and Transportation, Sustain SoCal has gathered together stakeholders and formed Sustainability Networks are collaborating towards seeking common solutions and enabling economic growth. Working Groups within each Sustainability Network focus on specific issues and challenges that can be addressed through innovation and economic opportunities.
Sustain SoCal participants and sponsors range from established and emerging cleantech companies, start-up companies, corporate organizations of all sizes, municipal / regional / state / national agencies and governments, schools, hospitals, non-profit organizations, investors and more.
Networks / Partnerships: Fostering cooperation and collaboration among the public, private and academic sectors in the area of sustainability and cleantech within and around the greater Southern California region.
Partnerships (partial list)
Association of Energy Engineers SoCal Chapter (AEE SoCal)
Association of California Cities Orange County (ACC OC)
Center for Sustainable Energy
Cleantech San Diego
Energy Storage North America (ESNA)
Executive Next Practices Institute (ENPI)
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)
Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC)
OCTANe
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
University of California, Irvine (UCI):
Information hub: Serving as an information and data clearinghouse to ensure that its members have the latest and most complete information concerning sustainability initiatives and practices and the clean technologies.
Advocacy: Serving as the voice for its members and industry in Southern California, Sacramento and Washington D.C.
Mentorship and Advisory: A service to its community in mentoring and advising toward sustainable growth inclusive of sustainable practices such as, business planning, strategic partnerships, supply chain management, human capital management, recycling, cleantech assessment and integration, etc.
Networking & Collaboration: Providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, information, and business opportunities among large corporations, cleantech companies, local government, investors, academia and non-profits.
Platform to share best practices: Providing singular and multi-disciplinary foci to discover solutions.
Social media promotional vehicle: All tools available to members
Roundtables, workshops and lunch and learns: Coordinate focus meetings with a segment or whole of Sustain OC. Members bring ideas to the Sustain SoCal Board.
Education: We serve to educate our community and raise awareness in all matters related to sustainability with an emphasis on clean technology.
Scott Kitcher – President & CEO
Tony Jones – Chairperson
Ryan Baron – Vice Chairperson
Randal Kaufman – Treasurer
Scott Kitcher (interim) – Secretary
Nadereh Afsharmanesh
VP, Sustainability, Earth Friendly Products
Cristina Amorim
Vice President, Facilities & EHS, Chief Sustainability Officer, Thermofisher Scientific, Life Sciences Solutions Group
John Arena
Business Outreach Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Jam Attari
CEO, BayWa r.e. Solar Projects LLC
Ryan Baron
Of Counsel, Best Best & Krieger
Dennis Calvert
CEO, BioLargo
Marc Campopiano
Partner, Latham Watkins
Ken Chawkins
Business/Policy Manager, SoCalGas, a Sempra Utility
Mackenzie Crigger
Sustainability Manager, Chapman University
Michele Davidson
CEO, FTS Lighting Services, Inc.
Angelina Galiteva
Board of Governors Member, California Independent System Operator (CAISO)
Suzanne Gentilini
Senior Manager, Business Development, Engie Services US
Greg Giebel
Managing Director, Roth Capital Partners
Shiv Grewal
Principal, Auctus Capital
Steve Gross
CEO, IHI Power
Greg Guard
President, JWC Environmental
Sulaiman Hamidi
Director, Sustainability, Allergan
Chris Harrington
Educator
Tyler Henn
VP & GM, Clean Energy Renewables subsidiary of Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
Chris Ivey
Shareholder, Stradling
Tony Jones
Senior Scientist, Geosyntec Consultants
Randal Kaufman
Sales Director, Transformative Technologies, Black & Veatch
Tom Koutroulis
Director, County of Orange, OC Waste & Recycling
Greg Miller
Exec. VP, Market Development, Ice Energy
Brendan O’Donnell
Regional Sales Manager, ChargePoint
Theodore Papagiannis
Partner, Knobbe Martens
Gary Saleba
President & CEO, EES Consulting
Richard Sudek
Executive Director, UCI Applied Innovation
Scott Tapia
Sales Manager / Southern California, ABM
Patrick Thompson
CEO, EcoPAS
Drake Welch
Vice President Customer Care, Calpine Energy Solutions
Sustain SoCal Programs Director:
Alan Ring – alan@sustainsocal.org