Featured Speakers Biographies

Ron Meepos

In addition to his role as Mayor of Rancho Mirage, Ron currently represents the City as a member of the CVAG Executive Committee. He has also served for four years on the Cove Communities Service Commission and was the Commission's chair for one year. He has served as a member of the Riverside County Transportation Commission, and on the Transportation and Energy and Environmental committees of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.

Barbara Riordan

In addition to serving on the California Air Resources Board, Mrs. Riordan serves as a public member of the Board of Directors for the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District, serving San Bernardino County's high desert area. In December 1996, Mrs. Riordan retired from elective office after 13 years as a member of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, two years of which she served as Chairwoman, and four years as a member of the Redlands City Council.

Mrs. Riordan, a California native, graduated from the University of Redlands in 1961 and has attended San Francisco State University and Stanford University for graduate work. She also holds a general secondary and lifetime teaching credential from the State of California.

David Allaway

David Allaway is a senior policy analyst at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. He coordinates DEQ's Waste Prevention Strategy (the "reduce, reuse" part of "reduce, reuse, recycle") and is the Solid Waste Program's lead staff on greenhouse gas, energy, and life cycle analysis related issues.

In 2004, he chaired the Technical Subcommittee on Materials and Waste for Governor Kulongoski's Advisory Group on Global Warming. David's current projects include an evaluation of the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with materials consumed in Oregon; development of a methodology for estimating consumption-related greenhouse gas emissions at the community scale; an environmental screening of waste prevention practices in residential construction; life cycle analysis of drinking water delivery systems; and participation in the Steering Committee of Wal-Mart's Packaging Sustainable Value Network.

Prior to joining DEQ, David was employed for over ten years at an environmental consulting firm where he worked on solid waste planning, waste reduction, hazardous waste, and energy and water conservation projects throughout the United States. In California, David worked with Stopwaste.org, the US Navy, and numerous cities including San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, and Redondo Beach. David has a B.A. in physics and a concentration in science, technology, and public policy from Carleton College, Minnesota.

Wesley Chesbro

In his long career in public service, Wesley Chesbro has served on the Arcata City Council, Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, and the California Integrated Waste Management Board. In 1998 Mr. Chesbro was elected to the State Senate, where he served eight years representing the North Coast of California in District Two. He is now serving his first term in the State Assembly.

Throughout his career as a public servant, Mr. Chesbro has been a passionate supporter of the environment, preserving access to education and healthcare in rural communities, labor, rural local governments and those with disabilities accessing the care they need.

Mr. Chesbro was appointed to be a founding member of the California Integrated Waste Management Board in 1990, where he served until 1998. The Waste Management Board is responsible for implementing the California comprehensive recycling law (AB 939) and ensuring that at least 50 percent of California's solid waste is recycled.

In November 2008, voters on the North Coast returned Mr. Chesbro to once again serve as their representative in the state Legislature, when they elected him to the State Assembly, District One. The First Assembly District stretches from just north of Santa Rosa to the Oregon border.

Stephen Bantillo

Stephen Bantillo, is the former Assistant Director, Division of Recycling, at the California Department of Conservation from June 2007 through July 2009, and was responsible for managing the largest beverage container recycling program in the nation.

Mr. Bantillo has blended his interests in public service and the environment over the last two decades, developing and managing widely recognized environmental programs in the process. He was responsible for developing the City of San Jose's yard trimmings collection program, which recycles more than 150,000 tons of green waste per year. He also managed the city's commercial garbage and recycling program, and developed the San Jose's award-winning construction & demolition recycling program, which has been modeled by other cities around the nation and in Canada.

While with San Jose, Mr. Bantillo created funding for schools to incorporate recycling and teach principles of environmentally responsible behaviors to tomorrow's "green leaders." Mr. Bantillo was appointed to the San Jose Unified School District's "Measure F" Bond Oversight Committee, and worked with the district on "green" construction and remodeling projects.

Mr. Bantillo has served on the board of the National Recycling Coalition and is past vice president. He also has served on numerous local, state and national non-profit community and professional organizations.

Jerry Powell

Jerry Powell is the owner of three magazines (Resource Recycling, Plastics Recycling Update and E-Scrap News). He edits Resource Recycling. In addition, he aids in the management of two annual conferences, The E-Scrap Conference and Exhibition, and The Plastics Recycling Conference and Exhibition. Both conferences are the world's largest in their fields.

Previously Jerry founded and managed a recycling consulting firm for a decade and founded and managed a recycling business in Portland, Oregon for more than eight years.

He is a past three-time chair of the board of the National Recycling Coalition and the three-time chair of the board of a state recycling association. He has spoken on waste management and recycling issues in 48 states and five Canadian provinces.