Meet SWEEP’s Steering Committee
ROB WATSON
Founder, Co-Chair
ADAM GENDELL
Committee Member
JON MICHAEL HULS-GARCIA
Committee Member
JAMES THOMPSON JR.
Committee Member
DUNCAN WATSON
Committee Member
Rob Watson – Founder, Co-chair
Rob Watson, LEED Fellow, is an international leader in market transformation in solid waste, green buildings and sustainable tourism. He is best known as the “Founding Father of LEED,” which he launched in 1993. Under Rob’s direction, LEED became the largest and fastest-growing international standard by which green buildings are measured. Author Thomas Friedman called Rob “one of the best environmental minds in America.” In 2019, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine recognized Mr. Watson as one of the “25 Most Influential Alumni” in the College’s 250-year history.
At the forefront of technical innovation in solid waste management, Watson is a Principal with Upland Road Developers, which develops waste separation and processing complexes called SMART (Sustainable Materials and Advanced Recovery Technology) Centers that can separate and transform 95% of the incoming waste stream into commercial products. As part of transforming the solid waste sector, in 2016 Mr. Watson launched the SWEEP—Solid Waste Environmental Excellence Performance–Standard, a comprehensive framework for triple bottom line performance of municipal solid waste programs.
Mr. Watson received his MBA from Columbia University in 2006, a MS in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley in 1990 and his AB from Dartmouth College in 1984.
Adam Gendell – Committee Member
Adam Gendell is a Senior Manager at GreenBlue where he works with the Sustainable Packaging Coalition conducting industry-facing work with a broad range of packaging stakeholders. Since joining GreenBlue in 2010, Adam has worked on topics including life-cycle-oriented package design, recyclability considerations, sustainability goals, and impact measurements. Adam has also developed and delivered training seminars for hundreds of packaging professionals, and he oversees the Coalition’s Fall conference SPC Advance. Most recently, Adam spearheaded a collaboration between packaging trade associations, recycling-focused NGOs, and government agencies to conduct a robust nationwide study on the availability of recycling programs. He coordinates several of the SPC’s Industry Leadership Committees and is a frequent speaker and writer on sustainability topics.
Jon Michael Huls-garcia – Committee Member
Jon Michael Huls y Garcia is a business leader, academician, and Enviro-Minister, whose career began Earth Day, 1970. Huls is an advisor to the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA). He has provided technical consulting services to many clients including but not limited to: the United Nations, World Bank, Chemical Manufacturers Assn, and US EPA; Fortune 500 corporations such as Sodexo and Verizon; and over 100 municipalities in the US such as the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the County of San Bernardino, and the City of Dubuque, in Iowa. He is the founding CEO of Sustainable Environmental Management Co, a 25-year old MBE consultancy, the CEO for Online Marketing Staff, a digital marketing firm, and Chief Sustainability Officer for a C&D Debris recycler in Southern California. Huls is also a Professor in Sustainable Materials Management at Santa Monica College.
James Thompson Jr. – Committee Member
James Thompson heads Waste Business Journal, a research and consulting firm dedicated to the waste management industry. With over twenty years of experience in the industry, he is a leading expert on waste issues, pricing and business trends in the US. In 1991, he created the Solid Waste Digest, the industry’s first quantitative business newsletter. In doing so, he developed what continues to be the industry’s most comprehensive database of pricing, volume and supply statistics.
Today, the Waste Business Journal is the source of record for understanding the ever more complex and vertically integrated waste management industry. His company publishes important and highly regarded research on the many diverse aspects and segments of the business.
Mr. Thompson regularly consults with clients on issues of strategic, economic, regulatory, and policy issues related to waste management. His clients include corporations, governments, and agencies of the federal government. He has consulted to every major solid waste firm in the U.S. Consequently, his views have been presented in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Economist and National Public Radio among many other media. He also speaks at numerous industry conferences and other events.
Mr. Thompson holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University and a BA from Yale University.
Duncan Watson – Committee Member
Duncan currently serves as the Assistant Director of Public Works for the City of Keene, NH. He has been with the Department of Public Works since 1992. Duncan runs the Solid Waste Division which features the largest municipally operated materials recovery facility in the State of New Hampshire processing upwards of 7,000 tons per year, a 30,000 ton per year Transfer Station, an award winning Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility, and an organics composting operation. During his tenure in the Solid Waste Division, the City of Keene was named the best Municipal Recycling Facility in the State, and Duncan was awarded “Recycler of the Year” by the Northeast Resource Recovery Association. Duncan also oversees the operation of the City’s Highway Division which has over 120 miles of roadways, 52 miles of sidewalks and more than 5,000 drainage basins, as well as oversight responsibility for the City’s 150+ vehicle Fleet Services Division. Duncan has a Bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of New Hampshire and a Masters of Environmental Science degree from Antioch New England University.