GUEST SPEAKERS
Roger Martella is GE's Chief Sustainability Officer and head of global engagement, government affairs, and policy for GE Vernova. In his role, Roger is responsible for leading a comprehensive and cohesive approach to sustainability for GE as it relates to current issues and emerging trends in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). Roger also leads engagement with governments and stakeholders globally on partnerships to enable GE’s technology to contribute solutions to addressing climate change and the energy transition.
Roger previously served as General Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, and the Principal Counsel for Complex Litigation for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Natural Resources Section. Prior to GE, Roger co-lead Sidley Austin LLP's top ranked global environmental law and climate change practices.
Roger is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), the Environmental Law Institute, and several environmental NGOs and energy think tanks. Roger has co-authored and edited four books on the intersection of ESG, climate change law, international environmental law, and human rights, including co-editing the recently published Corporate Social Responsibility—Sustainable Business: Environmental, Social and Governance Frameworks for the 21st Century (Wolters Kluwer 2020). He also teaches a first of its kind course on International Environmental Law and Justice at Howard University Law School. In 2022, the Racial Justice Institute recognized Roger with a Racial Justice Champion Award. Roger is a graduate of Cornell University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. Roger also holds a J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Teena Piccione joined Google in 2019 as Managing Director to lead TMEG (Telco, Media & Entetainment, Gaming) Industry Sales and Customer Engineering teams within Google Cloud. In 2022, Teena moved to Google’s Core division as Senior Director suppoting Corp Engineering Team.
Prior to joining Google, she was the EVP/CIO for RTI International, a non-profit research institute, where she strengthened operational disciplines within Global Technology Solutions to deliver on new capabilities while ensuring RTI meets all client commitments. Before RTI International, Teena held leadership positions at Fidelity Investments as the COO and AT&T for 18 years running the Big Data Center of Excellence statup.
Teena sits on advisory committees with NC State University, the Digital Transformation Committee for the Governor of NC, The Kenan Institute and Cloud Girls. Previously, she sat on the Board of Directors at SADA. Teena works actively with Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Rewriting the Code, Clemon Agile Team, High Point University Presidents Club, and sponsors D&I training. Futher, she helped launch Triangle Women in STEM, a program for the Research Triangle Park region in Noth Carolina, and accelerated university internship collaboration.
Teena's contributions to Diversity and Inclusion span a 25+ year career & include awards like IT Women to Watch in STEM, Women to Watch by Diversity Journal, Top 50 CIOs in the USA, 2023 Mentor of the Year award, IT Executive of the Year at Innotech, Finalist for CIO of the year 2020, Diversity Champion Award at AT&T and Women of Color Community Service of Excellence award. Her awards have been for her hands-on work in technology and her creation of winning teams.
Teena has a master's degree in information technology project management from George Washington University and a bachelor of ats in journalism from Georgia State University. She lives in Noth Carolina with her husband and two daughters attending High Point University and Campbell University. In her free time, she enjoys music, reading, hiking, gardening and packing her own sunshine 86,400 seconds a day!
Philip Henson Director, Global Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Hanesbrands has responsibility for leading the company’s energy and environmental sustainability programs. Mr. Henson has an Industrial Engineering degree from Texas Tech University and a Master of Arts degree in Sustainability from Wake Forest University.
Mr. Henson has a distinguished career in the textile manufacturing industry spanning over thirty years with HanesBrands. Mr. Henson is an ambassador for sustainability and seeks to build resilient environmental stewardship with internal and external stakeholders. He is an active participant within the ENERGY STAR industrial partner’s network and has helped Hanes leverage this partnership to improve company energy performance and garner US EPA ENERGY STAR award recognition for the past 14 years.
Elise Saur Global Corporate Responsibility, Responsible Business Leader CPA and corporate responsibility professional. Advocate for sustainability, inclusiveness and transparency. Doting mother of two. Passionate about making the world a better place.
As the EY Global Corporate Responsibility, Responsible Business Leader, Elise brings the EY purpose of building a better working world to life by embedding responsibility, inclusiveness and sustainability more deeply across strategy and operations. Previously, she worked with EY clients on transformative transitions, both buy-side and sell-side, and started as an auditor for pre-IPO companies.
Elise earned an MSA in Accounting and a BS in Accounting from Boston College. Outside EY, Elise loves spending time outside with her family and is a mom to two strong and independent girls. Passionate about biodiversity and leading a more sustainable lifestyle, she’s been a beekeeper for three years and is slowly turning her backyard into a pollinators’ oasis.
Dr. Taylor Gray has been advancing the field of ESG research and practice for 15+ years and is currently the Director of Research & Analytics at Motive Inc., a leading tech-enabled ESG advisory and support service for private market investors and companies seeking to gain a competitive advantage from their ESG programs and data.
Dr. Gray completed his D.Phil. in Economic Geography with a focus in ESG from the University of Oxford in 2011, attending as a Clarendon Scholar, and later served as Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. Dr. Gray established an innovative ESG research agenda, with publications in Environment and Planning A, Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, and Growth and Change: A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy, along with conference proceedings including repeat participation in the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment Academic Conferences.
Transitioning into the private sector in 2014, Dr. Gray has assisted a wide variety of companies, from local start-ups to Fortune Global 500 firms, and investors to develop actionable value from ESG programs, data, and analytics.
Roberta Lobo is a Director in the Responsible Investing team at Nuveen. As part of her ESG Strategy work, Roberta is leading TIAA ESG Engagement Programs, supporting client engagement efforts, and executing sustainable business strategy goals.
Prior to this, Ms. Lobo spent six years at Bank of America Securities in Public Finance Investment Banking focused on debt structuring for Green and Social bond transactions.
Ms. Lobo has a B.A. in economics and political science from the University of Chicago.
Robert Yates is a data nerd with a poet’s soul and 20 years experience in communications, press relations, policy, research, risk, governance, and publications. A graduate of Wake Forest’s incredible MBA program, Rob has been working at OWL ESG – provider of the most accurate, freshest, most transparent, and most objective ESG data in the world – since September of 2022. He joined this small company after almost two decades in the rat race for two important reasons. One, he is not a rat, and sick of pretending. Two, he found an opportunity to make money while doing things that are good for the world around him, and wants to be someone of whom his children can be proud.
Nicole has been the Senior Assessment and Analytics Scientist for the Office of the Provost and the Division of Campus Life since the fall of 2022. Prior to this role, Nicole served for eight years as the Director of Wellbeing Assessment, a national survey research project of holistic, undergraduate student wellbeing.
Trained at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, as a psychologist with both research and therapy expertise, Nicole has a wide range of assessment and analytic skills that include clinical assessment, large-scale survey research, program evaluation, advanced multivariate statistics, data visualization, and qualitative research methods. In addition to working in higher education settings, Nicole has experience with nonprofit organizations, community clinics, hospital systems, and corrections systems.
Working with assessment and analytics in multiple contexts has shaped Nicole’s passion for applying advanced research and analytic tools to real-world issues like diversity, wellbeing, and mental health. Nicole’s work focuses on promoting inclusive and community-based approaches to wellbeing, integrating participatory and evidence-based practices into institutions’ standard procedures, and developing data and assessment systems that work in everyday settings.
About the Wake Forest School of Business
The mission of the Wake Forest School of Business is to shape the whole person. We help businesses create a better world through developing passionate, ethical business leaders who get results with integrity, and thought leadership that is visible and positively impacts the practice of business.