2022

Joe Davis is a nationally touring artist, educator, and speaker based in Minneapolis, MN. He employs poetry, music, theater, and dance to shape culture. His work has been featured on BET, CNN, and VH1. He is the Founder and Director of multimedia production company, The New Renaissance, the front man of emerging soul funk band, The Poetic Diaspora, and co-creator of JUSTmove, racial justice education through art. He has keynoted, facilitated conversation, and served as teaching artist at hundreds of high schools and universities including programs in New York, Boston, and most recently as the Artist-in-Residence at Luther Seminary where he earned a Masters in Theology of the Arts.

Dr. Missy Stults is the Sustainability and Innovations Director for the City of Ann Arbor. In this role, she works with all city operations, residents, businesses, the University of Michigan, nonprofits, and others to make Ann Arbor one of the most sustainable and equitable cities in America and to implement the A²ZERO Carbon Neutrality Plan. Prior to joining the City, Missy worked with cities and tribal communities around the nation to advance their climate and sustainability goals, including during her time as the Climate Director at ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability and as a consultant to philanthropic organizations. Missy has a PhD in urban resilience from the University of Michigan, a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and undergraduate degrees in Marine Biology and Environmental Science from the University of New England.

Liesl Eichler Clark has served as Director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) since January 2019. She oversees a $500 million budget that supports a 1,200-person team dedicated to protecting Michigan’s environment and public health. 

Nestled in the heart of the world’s greatest freshwater ecosystem, Michigan EGLE has a unique regulatory role in ensuring the Great Lakes and their connecting waters remain the vital cultural, recreational, and economic engines of the region. The agency also regulates air quality, waste management, drinking water, groundwater, oil and gas extraction, and contaminated site remediation.  

Clark led a reorganization which elevated Michigan’s commitment to Environmental Justice, climate mitigation and resilience, clean drinking water, and the Great Lakes. The newly-created offices of Environmental Justice Public Advocate, Clean Water Public Advocate, and Climate and Energy—as well as the longstanding Office of the Great Lakes—are now housed in the EGLE executive office with Clark and her deputies. 

Expanding and improving EGLE’s internal and external communications is a major focus for Clark as she strives to support and inspire the EGLE team, engage stakeholders, meet communities where they are, and better share EGLE’s work with Michigan’s 10 million residents – whom she refers to as her “10 million bosses.” 

Clark chairs the UP Energy Task Force and the Council on Climate Solutions and serves on the Council on Future Mobility, the Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice, the Michigan Dam Safety Task Force, and the Michigan Poverty Task Force, among others. 

Clark received a B.A. in Political Economy and International Relations from James Madison College at Michigan State University and a Master of Public Administration from Michigan State University. 

She lives in Livingston County with her husband, their two sons, and Bella the Polish Lowland Sheepdog who is fond of interrupting video meetings. She is working to hike every trail within a 50-mile radius of home, to see more of Michigan’s natural treasures and to spend more time “in the field” with her 1,200 colleagues when circumstances allow.

Dan is a Turtle Clan member of the Mohawk Nation and a citizen of the Rotinonshón:ni (Haudenosaunee – People of the Longhouse), originally from Ohsweken – the Six Nations community on the Grand River. Dan is an Associate Professor in the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent University, founding Director of the Indigenous Environmental Science/Studies program (IESS) and acting Director of the newly formed Indigenous Environmental Institute (IEI). He was also the first Director of Studies of Trent’s Indigenous Studies Ph.D. program. Dan designed and developed the IESS program – the first of its kind on Turtle Island. Granting both B.A. and B.Sc. degrees since 2009, the IESS program is an innovative and multidisciplinary undergraduate program that brings together principles of both Indigenous and Western (or neo-European/colonial) Knowledge systems for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. It is based on a collaborative partnership between university departments. Unique IESS courses, along with courses in Indigenous Studies and Environmental Resource Studies and Sciences, form the curriculum.

Dan is celebrated for his Traditional Rotinonshón:ni Knowledge and embeds this into his teaching and in developing the IESS program ongoing. Dan also acts as a cultural advisor and instructor for several programs at the First Nations Technical Institute, Ryerson University and several Ontario universities and colleges. Dan is invited to share across Turtle Island and lectures and teaches on diverse topics including Indigenous environmental Knowledges and philosophy, Indigenous responses to environmental issues, interactive science and Indigenous Knowledge systems, Indigenous education, pedagogy and Indigenous ways of knowing as founded upon Indigenous languages and cultures, the recognition and resurgence of Traditional Indigenous lifeways and practices, human health and the environment, Traditional Indigenous foods and medicines, natural resource development and restoration, community sustainability, international Indigenous networks, the recognition of Treaty and Indigenous rights and understandings of the environmental and human impacts of colonialism. Dan stresses the importance of learning from Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders as the critical foundation for Indigenous identity, vision and life purpose. He creates links between Traditional Indigenous teachings and science and promotes using a “Good Mind” as part of our responsibilities in taking the collective actions needed to restore the Earth for the next seven generations.