GoGreen Conference Portland

Advisory Team

Mark Brady | Clean Tech Industry Strategist, Business Oregon

Mark Brady is a Clean Tech Industry Strategist with Business Oregon, formerly the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. Mark is responsible for promoting industries and practices that leverage sustainability as a competitive advantage and foster the wise use of natural resources. He is also responsible for helping to ensure state policies facilitate the adoption of sustainability principles. Particular focus areas are electric vehicles, energy storage devices, smart grid technologies and wave energy. In addition, Mark serves as the Sustainability Coordinator for the Department to implement sustainability measures within the departments own operations. Mark previously worked as the Director of the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition, which is a public private partnership that works to reduce the amount of petroleum used in transportation. Prior to the Coalition, he worked for more than five years in environmental consulting. Mark has masters and bachelors degrees in engineering from Columbia University and University of Miami, respectively.

Megan Stein | BEST Business Center, City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

Megan Stein has over nine years of experience working on sustainability related programs. She currently manages the City of Portland’s BEST (Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow) Business Center, a free service for Portland area businesses looking to create a more sustainable workplace. BEST offers a team of Sustainability Advisors who, backed by the resources of the City and its expert partners, make going green a straightforward process. Advisors work with over 800 local businesses each year in the areas of transportation, water, energy and waste.

Colin Sears | Business Recruitment Manager, Portland Development Commission

Colin Sears leads the Clean Tech Team in the Business & Industry division at the Portland Development Commission. Since 2007, Mr. Sears has been at the forefront of the agency’s work to grow this sector of the economy, with an emphasis on the electric vehicle/energy storage, green development, and wind energy clusters. Since his arrival at PDC in 1999, he has worked closely on economic development projects and programs within several industry sectors including: activewear, bioscience, creative services, manufacturing and medical technology. His previous career experience includes economic research consulting in Maine and several years as a professional musician. His musical career includes stints as the drummer in punk bands Dag Nasty and the Marshes, and was a founding member of Fugazi. Mr. Sears holds a B.A. in history and a M.S. degree in geography with a specialization in economy and the environment, both from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Sheila Holden | Regional Community Manager, Pacific Power

As Pacific Power’s Regional Community Manager, Sheila works with local government, business and community leaders as the company’s interface. Sheila believes that how well Pacific Power does is directly related to how well the communities the utility serves are doing. She serves on various boards that have advanced collaborative partnerships to achieve economic development and sustainability initiatives both locally and nationally for more than 25 years. Sheila chairs efforts to support small business and create jobs through the Portland Family of Funds Advisory Board, the Interstate Urban Renewal Economic Development Committee, the North/Northeast Economic Development Alliance, and the Worksystems Inc.’s Regional One Stop Subcommittee. She also serves on the boards of Albina Opportunity Corporation, Microenterprise Services of Oregon and Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs Advisory Board and Albina Community Bank.