Development Coordinator
Michelle Alten-Kaehler
Michelle Alten-Kaehler has worked her entire career to bring people together to discuss and collaborate on innovative ideas, solutions and strategies to local and global issues. As a freelance writer for many years, she has written articles about environmental issues, wildlife, travel, arts, and culture for national magazines. She has also worked as an educational consultant. Michelle holds BA degrees in French and German from Binghamton University, an MA from the University of Massachusetts, and an EMPA from the University of Washington. In her free time, Michelle is often outdoors, walking, hiking and enjoying the nature of the Pacific Northwest.
Community Outreach and Policy Coordinator
Nayeli Campos
Nayeli Campos, Community Outreach and Policy Coordinator, originates from San Jose, and runs our farm waste and toxics programs. As a recent graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Nayeli brings her unwavering commitment to positive change and sustainability to our team. She is dedicated to leading community-based projects that have one common goal – making our world a more sustainable, equitable, and vibrant place to live. Her journey in effecting change began as a UC Global Food Initiative fellow, working within UCSB’s sustainability department. Here, she laid the groundwork for a healthy vending program on campus. This experience ignited a passion for sustainability and zero-waste initiatives. In her free time she enjoys nature, baking, and finding ways to veganize her favorite Mexican recipes. (Contact: nayeli[at]zerowastewashington[dot]org)
Waste Reduction Program Director
Xenia Dolovova
Xenia Dolovova, Waste Reduction Program Director, plans and facilitates Zero Waste Washington waste reduction efforts, including community-based projects, research, and statewide policy projects. Before moving to Seattle and joining ZWW in early 2019, she lived in Abu Dhabi where she managed projects in a start-up environment. Originally from Moldova, she has 11+ years of experience, business, marketing, and sustainability, holding an MBA degree from Paris Business School and a PMP Certificate. She leads Zero Waste Washington’s Fix-It Fair program and Repair Economy movement, Organics management research, Phthalates research, Zero Waste Hackathon, Litter Assessment project, and organizational communication efforts. (Contact: xenia[at]zerowastewashington[dot]org)
Policy Strategist
Harpreet Kaur
Harpreet Kaur, , focuses on policy issues including organics (yard and food waste) diversion from landfills and helping build a circular economy in Washington. Harpreet was formerly in the corporate world and has pivoted her career to become a sustainability advocate. She is enthusiastic about combining her business expertise with her passion for zero waste policy. Her former positions include category manager and account manager at Amazon, supply chain planner at Weyerhaeuser, and supply chain planner/buyer at Paula’s Choice, Starbucks, and Zulily. She has a BS from Central Washington University and serves on the board of the Center for Women and Democracy.
Sustainability Analyist
Andrea Ramirez
Andrea Ramirez, Sustainability Analyst, works on environmental issues such as the presence of toxic chemicals in durable products. Andrea holds a degree in Chemical Engineering and has always been passionate about solving problems while looking for sustainable alternatives. She has worked on Research and Development projects within the Food and Beverages industry and decided to focus her professional journey on studying product and materials environmental impacts driven by data and circular design. Andrea has also participated as a volunteer in several projects in Venezuela and Argentina and really enjoys the impact she can see directly from these initiatives. While keeping her time dedicated to sustainability matters, you’ll likely find Andrea enjoying a yoga practice and outdoors activities wherever she is, hiking, camping, running, and exploring national parks are some of her favorite hobbies.
Finance and Operations Manager
Millicent Rhoades
Millicent Rhoades, Finance and Operations Manager, has been with Zero Waste Washington since October 2023. She is managing member at tController for the .
Executive Director
Heather Trim
Heather Trim, Executive Director, joined Zero Waste Washington in 2016. Prior to Zero Waste Washington, Heather has been active in zero waste issues, including helping lead the Seattle bag campaign and helping get the ban on styrofoam serviceware products passed. Previously, Heather was Director of Science and Policy at Futurewise, focusing on habitat, shoreline, stormwater and other issues related to landuse. Before that, she worked on similar issues and including toxic pollution and plastics. Heather earned a BS in geology from Yale University and a PhD from UCLA in geochemistry (Contact: heather[at]zerowastewashington[dot]org or 206-441-1790)
Board of Directors
Holly Beale
Holly Beale has a passion for making big impacts for positive change towards a more sustainable, greener, cleaner, more equitable world. She started and leads the global Community Environmental Sustainability program for Microsoft’s Datacenter Community Development team; building a program to positively impact the long-term environmental health of the communities in Microsoft’s global datacenter footprint. The program involves working directly with local groups and supporting locally relevant sustainability projects across carbon, water, waste, and ecosystems focus areas. Beyond Microsoft, Holly is on the Board of Directors for American Forests, frequently engages publicly to share her sustainability experience, and is very active in the outdoor community rock climbing, ice climbing, ski mountaineering, paragliding, trail running, and mountain biking, and has several speed records on Washington peaks.
Tere Carral
Tere Carral is the CEO and Founder of Bridge Latino, a multicultural marketing agency focused on the Latino/Hispanic market. Tere initiated her career with Procter and Gamble Mexico, managing high-revenue brands. She was then selected to transfer to the P&G headquarters in Cincinnati, where she managed the global strategy and later worked at Cranium, The Schwan’s Food Company, and Topps Company/Wizkids. Tere holds a bachelor degree in Actuarial Science from the Anahuac University in Mexico City and holds an MBA from IPADE University in Mexico City w/ exchange in HEC Paris, France. Tere is also a Trustee for The Evergreen School.
Steve Gilbert
Steven G. Gilbert, PhD, DABT, is founder and director of the Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders (INND). He is a Diplomat of American Board of Toxicology and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington. Previously, Steve worked for Health Canada in Ottawa and owned and ran biotechnology pre-clinical research companies. In recent years, Dr. Gilbert published his book A Small Dose of Toxicology- The Health Effects of Common Chemicals and created Toxipedia, a free, online encyclopedia on the toxicology, human health effects, and environmental effects of chemicals, drugs, and consumer products. He has also been engaged in education about In the health and environmental impact of past and present work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. He passionately believes that one of the most important things that public health professionals can do is to widely share their knowledge and scientific information.
Moji Igun
Moji Igun is the founder of Blue Daisi Consulting which offers zero waste + sustainability consulting services to small businesses. She serves small businesses by connecting them with the tools and resources they need to reduce waste and implement more earth-friendly business practices. Moji is certified as a TRUE Zero Waste Advisor and enjoys drawing connections between zero waste and the broader spectrum of sustainability. You’ll likely find Moji nerding out about plants, cats, or sustainable small businesses.
Hannah Johnson
Hannah Johnson has trained and worked in waste reduction strategy and zero waste implementation for the past eight years. She is the founder of two companies; HumanEco Design & Consulting and Durable Dish which specialize in zero waste strategy for commercial and private businesses and waste reduction for large and small-scale events. Hannah is excited to serve on the Zero Waste Washington board because she believes in the mission and the drive to engage the community and advocate for more sustainable waste prevention methods. In her free time she loves to write and enjoy the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
Teresa Jones
Teresa Jones has over 30 years of experience working in television. In late 2006, she joined the Startup Sales Team at KUNS-TV, the local Univision affiliate, where her current title is Multi-Media Market Consultant. In the course of her career, Teresa has produced and co-hosted several Spanish Language TV and Radio programs. She does Voice-Overs on TV/Radio commercials, documentaries and promotional videos, and has Emceed at several local community events. Teresa is very involved in the Latino Community. Over the last 10 years, she has sat on several Boards, including Casa Latina and the Pierce County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. More recently, she served as an Advisor to the Board of Directors of the Washington Hispanic Media Association or WAHMA.
Kyle Loring
Kyle Loring detests waste, and fondly recalls a time when the local dump on Anderson Island doubled as an exchange depot, and when a youngster could collect and turn in recycling to earn a little pocket change. Although a few decades have passed, Kyle continues to look for ways to reduce waste in his personal life and is thrilled to support Zero Waste’s efforts to curb waste at a grander scale. In his day job, he wields environmental and land use laws to empower clients to save species and beautiful places from extinction. In his off hours, he explores as many of those places as possible, preferably with his wife and his bike.
Mai Nguyen
Mai Nguyen serves at as the Chief Operating Officer of Seattle Goodwill and oversees a wide and critical scope of service for the organizations operations across Northwest Washington including information technology, asset management, financial operations, and risk management. Mai has been recognized for her commitment to her community throughout her career, including receiving the Denise Louie Education Center 2016 Dream Award for her dedication to early education for children and families in the Seattle area. She currently serves as the board treasurer for George Pocock Rowing Foundation.
Jay ONeal
Jay ONeal works as the Director of Finance and Operations for Washington State Charter School Association. He gained his passion for recycling working in large recycling facilities at Republic Services, and managed their $65mm P&L business unit in Seattle. Previously, Jay worked at Starbucks, and Target. He began his career in the United States Marine Corps, driving tanks while enlisted then as an aviation supply officer. Jay lives in White Center with his wife, three kids, and various animals. He enjoys opining about business strategies, running, and a great music or comedy show.
Patty Liu
Patty Liu is currently the Recycling Program Manager of the West Coast team of Green Eileen and Eileen Fisher. She holds an MBA of Sustainable Business from Pinchot University, now known as Presidio Graduate School. Her interest in solid waste is focused in closed loop design and reusability.
Tristen Pamphlet Gardner
Tristen Pamphlet Gardner (he/him)is an ex-rugger and recovering science nerd who has been working in the field of hazardous waste for over 12 years with a focus on compliance and education. Starting as an inspector for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and now as a Policy Liaison at the Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County. Tristen is passionate about determining who is responsible for environmental contamination and keeping our communities healthy and educated about their own risks.
Shirlee Tan
Shirlee Tan, PhD has been working in the field of science policy for over 17 years, with a main focus on the effects of chemicals on human health. Her career has primarily focused on chemical regulation and science policy at the national, international, and now local levels. Her early career began at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where she served as an Environmental fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has since worked for the Smithsonian Institution, the EPA, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France, as a consultant to the Endocrine Society, and now as the lead toxicologist for Public Health Seattle and King County. Shirlee strongly believes that everyone has the right to know how chemicals affect health, and an informed public can help decision-making and the market towards safer and cleaner products and policies. In her spare time Shirlee loves exploring the natural world with her family and experimenting in the kitchen.
Sally Wolf
Sally Wolf has been an enthusiastic volunteer on environmental issues for many years. She worked on the successful ban on styrofoam, opting out of yellow pages delivery and the Green Bag Campaign in Seattle, and as a former member of the Board of Directors of CELP (The Council for Environmental Law and Policy) has worked on the Columbia River Treaty and other clean water issues in Washington State. She is a retired attorney whose career included most recently serving as the Internal Auditor for the Seattle Housing Authority. She was a long-term member of the board of Building Changes, addressing the complicated issues of homelessness. In her free time she enjoys hiking, biking, traveling and spending time with friends.