Andrew Babbin, Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professor of Chemical Oceanography and Marine Microbiology
Co-Director of Restoring the Atmosphere, Protecting the Land and Oceans Mission
​​Andrew Babbin is a field-going oceanographer, biogeochemist, and climate scientist. He joined the MIT faculty in 2017 in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. His research exploring how microorganisms shape global climate has taken him around the world, sampling lakes in Antarctica, coral reefs in Cuba, waters across the global oceans, and air in the Galapagos.

He has recently established a new atmospheric chemistry sampling station in the Galapagos to quantify the emissions and variability of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, from the tropical Pacific Ocean. At MIT he teaches an introductory global carbon cycling course and an advanced lab- and field-based oceanography class where students go to sea and conduct science firsthand.

Julie Wormser, Chief Climate Officer, City of Cambridge
Julie Wormser is the inaugural Chief Climate Officer for the City of Cambridge. Wormser was the co-founder of the Resilient Mystic Collaborative (RMC) and Senior Policy Advisor to the Mystic River Watershed Association. She served as the Executive Director of The Boston Harbor Association and co-led the Boston Living with Water international design competition, in collaboration with the City of Boston and Boston Society of Architects. She received a B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College and an M.P.A. from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Brian Swett, Chief Climate Officer, City of Boston
Brian Swett is the City of Boston's first Chief Climate Officer. In addition to overseeing the Environment, Energy and Open Space Cabinet (EEOS), as Chief Climate Officer, Brian is charged with spearheading the Mayor's bold agenda on climate action throughout the City while advancing Boston's commitment to sustainability, resilience, and environmental justice. Brian is a nationally recognized leader in climate change and sustainability strategy with over two decades of leadership experience in municipal government, private sector real estate development, federal government, and non-profit sectors. Prior to accepting the role as Chief Climate Officer Brian served as a Principal at Arup, a global engineering, design and consulting firm focused on sustainable development. Most recently he served as their Americas East Leader and a member of the Americas Region Board.

Brian returns to the City of Boston where he previously served as the Chief of EEOS from 2012 to 2015. Over his tenure, Brian led a variety of major policy and program initiatives including developing and passing a rental inspection ordinance and Boston’s energy benchmarking ordinance, BERDO. He launched Climate Ready Boston, the City of Boston’s initiative to plan for the near and long-term impacts of climate change and led the update of the 2015 Climate Action Plan. Under his leadership, Boston was recognized by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) as the #1 city in the country for energy efficiency policies and programs in their 2013 and 2015 biennial rankings.

Sanjay Seth, Former Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor for Climate and Equity, EPA New England
Sanjay Seth is a nationally-recognized climate and environmental expert who has worked across the public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors. He was most recently Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor for Climate and Equity for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1, a 590-person office of EPA focused on New England. In this role as an appointee in the Biden-Harris Administration, he directly supported the Regional Administrator to craft and implement policy, planning, operations, and personnel strategies across all programs, with a focus on climate change and environmental justice. Sanjay also recently served as a Lecturer at Harvard, where he taught on climate change, urban planning, and public policy.

Previously, he managed the City of Boston’s Climate Ready Boston program, which focused on implementing a multi-billion dollar plan to help prepare Boston for the impacts of climate change. Prior to Boston, Sanjay worked on an interdisciplinary team on behalf of the City of New York to help plan a multi-billion dollar investment to protect New York from the impacts of climate change.

While at Harvard, he founded the Climate Leaders Program, a year-long interdisciplinary program for students with a professional interest in climate action. He was also co-founder and co-president of Harvard Alumni for Climate and the Environment, a 3,000-member nonprofit affiliated with the Harvard Alumni Association.
 

María Belén Power, Undersecretary of Environmental Justice and Equity, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
María Belén Power grew up in Nicaragua in the aftermath of the revolution. She currently serves as the inaugural Undersecretary of Environmental Justice and Equity at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs with the Healey-Driscoll Administration. She previously served the Associate Executive Director of GreenRoots, a community-based organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the urban environment and public health in Chelsea. Power co-founded GreenRoots and oversaw the environmental justice campaigns of the organization. She was appointed by President Biden to serve on the newly established White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. She holds an undergraduate degree in sociology from Augsburg University, a Master of Public Policy from Tufts University, and a Certificate in Non-Profit Management and Leadership from the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. Power sits on the board of the ACLU Massachusetts.

Chef Irene Li
Irene Li is a graduate of The Mountain School, Milton Academy, and Cornell University. Her life experiences range from organic farming to prison education and many things in between. She’s passionate about carefully sourced ingredients and high-quality jobs. Under her leadership, Mei Mei implemented open-book management with Rethink Restaurants in order to improve the business while providing team members with valuable hospitality skills and financial know-how.

Irene is involved with a number of community organizations and serves on the boards of Project Bread, the Independent Restaurant Coalition, The Food Project, and Spoonfuls.

In the weeks that followed the COVID-19 emergency, Irene launched Unsung Restaurants, a campaign to raise money for under-the-radar, mom and pop, and immigrant-owned businesses, partnered with Off Their Plate to lead a grocery program for hospital workers, and co-founded Project Restore Us whose mission is to serve working immigrant families by raising funds and paying restaurants to package and deliver culturally relevant grocery staples -- including rice, beans, maseca, and produce -- straight to their doors in the neighborhoods hit hardest by the pandemic.

Today, Irene’s focus is on transforming the restaurant world into an industry in which worker'’ needs and potential are taken seriously. In late 2021, she joined Visible Hands’ inaugural cohort of underrepresented tech founders with this goal in mind. Inspired by her peers, team members, and experiences in the industry, she is building Prepshift, a tech tool and consulting firm that supports businesses of all sizes to thrive sustainably and equitably.