Andres Villegas is President and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association and Georgia Forestry Foundation. In this capacity, he is responsible for advocating for Georgia’s $36.5 billion forest products industry and connecting 10 million Georgians to the states 22 million acres of working forests. The Georgia Forestry Association is focused on ensuring that Georgia remains the #1 forestry state in the nation.

As executive director of Community Relations in the Office of Institute Relations, Chris spends his days enriching current relationships and cultivating new ones on behalf of Georgia Tech.

Dennis joined The Kendeda Fund in 2017 and serves as the fund advisor for a variety of sustainability initiatives in the southeast. In 1978, Dennis co-founded Southface, an Atlanta-based nonprofit promoting sustainable homes, workplaces and communities. He ran the organization for 38 years, and under his direction Southface has become a trusted partner to federal and local governments, utilities, businesses and nonprofits, as well as a valuable resource to consumers.

FORMER PRESIDENT OF STUDENTS ORGANIZING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Rand is in her final year of the 3.5-year Master of Architecture program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Originally from Iraq, she came to the United States with an interest architecture and its impact on human behavior. She graduated with a B.A. in Architectural Studies from Oberlin College where she found her passion in environmental design to reduce the impact of global warming on the built environment and people’s wellbeing.

Odetta MacLeish-White is the Director of Georgia Initiatives at the Center for Community Progress. Prior to that, Odetta was the Managing Director of the TransFormation Alliance, a partnership of nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses working to ensure that opportunities and benefits provided by investment in transit communities are made available to ALL residents.