About Us

Growing up in suburban Chicago, Cathy lived for summer vacations with her large family in the hills and mountains of South Dakota and Wyoming. Camping and hiking and sliding down the glaciers on an old shower curtain gave her a great love of nature.  Her interest in science started when her dad brought home a science kit from his work at a text book company. She remembers thinking that doing experiments was much more fun than reading books and doing worksheets. It wasn’t until after a couple of years as a chemistry major at University of Illinois that she realized that she could combine her two interests and started working in an environmental chemistry lab. From there she headed to University of North Carolina for a masters degree in environmental science, focusing on analysis of industrial pollution utilizing a technique called Toxicity Identification Evaluation and mass spectrometry. She spent most of her career in environmental consulting, first at Environ (now Rambol) in Arlington, Virginia, and later at Ecology & Environment in San Francisco and Long Beach. Before leaving consulting, she worked as an independent contractor for the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, developing sampling and analysis plans, managing large sets of environmental data, and performing risk assessments. Her career was not a straight path, however. Between Environ and E&E she lived on a tropical island in the South Pacific in the capital city of Vanuatu, Port Vila. There she managed Island Conservation Initiatives, the for-profit arm of the nongovernmental organization Foundation for the People of the South Pacific International (FSPI). In that role, she helped bring art and nursery supply jobs to local people. One of her motivators for working on climate solutions locally is knowing that every bit of carbon pollution we emit here is impacting her friends across the globe as sea levels rise and cyclones strengthen. In addition to her leadership role with Accelerate Climate Solutions, Cathy is co-chair of the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force (NEST), an all-volunteer organization focused on moving the community toward a more sustainable future. NEST’s goal is to advise city government, schools, businesses, and individuals on carbon reduction in the areas of energy supply, transportation, buildings & development, and waste. We also aim to support and enhance our city’s natural resources. Cathy manages volunteers, devises strategies, meets with elected officials and stakeholders, organizes educational programming, and mentors the NEST Youth team. As a former education facilitator at Fermi National Accelerator Lab Cathy taught visitors of all ages about the science of Fermilab. She also developed climate change and ecology labs and activities.

Marylee has been a resident of DuPage County since 2010, and has recently joined the board of Accelerate Climate Solutions, driven by her passion for environmental sustainability and community engagement. 
Her early career began as a Naval Hospital Corpsman from 1996-2001, where she served in Naples, Italy, in the ER and in Portsmouth, VA, in the ICU. After her honorable service, Marylee pursued her education, earning a bachelor's degree from Excelsior College in NY.
Her commitment to making a positive impact on the environment led her to work as a grant writer for the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. Later, she became a Project Manager for a Pharmacy Benefit Management company, championing environmentally responsible practices within the organization. 
With the birth of her first child, Marylee began to focus on creating a sustainable future for the next generation. She dedicated eight years to being a stay-at-home parent, during which time she actively engaged with the Home Owners Association (HOA) and initiated parenting groups in the community to raise awareness about eco-friendly practices. 
Joining the PTA, Marylee channeled her environmental passion into various fundraising initiatives and volunteer activities, empowering the school to implement sustainable practices and educate students on environmental stewardship. 
In 2013, she took her dedication to the next level by working with the Department of Natural Resources at the State of Illinois, where she played an integral role in supporting conservation efforts and raising awareness about environmental challenges. Her desire to create a more sustainable world for her children and others led her to wanting to serve on the Board of Directors with other like-minded individuals.

Coming Soon

Anuradha Verma is the secretary of Accelerate Climate Solutions and a contributing member of the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force (NEST) Waste and School District Engagement teams. She is also part of a grassroots organization based out of Chicago called Organizing for Plastic Alternatives (OPA), working to reduce plastic pollution. Her volunteer work doesn’t end there. She is using her passion for waste reduction to advocate for passage of a bottle bill in Illinois, working with Coalition for Plastic Reduction (CPR), Illinois Environmental Council (IEC), and Beyond Plastics on these efforts.  Born, raised, and educated in India, she recalls sustainability as an inherently Indian thought process. Indian Vedic philosophy asks you to respect what you have, conserve it, and give back to nature. Her father, a medical practitioner in New Delhi, was her role model in conscious consumption and provided a strong educational backbone to all his three kids.  She holds two bachelors, two masters, and a doctorate degree in biology from Delhi University, India. Currently working part-time in healthcare, Anu brings sustainable solutions and zero waste conversations to her workplace.  She brings these ideas to her neighborhood too. In 2020 she started a community compost program and also held zero-waste block parties, emphasizing the fact that a circular economy is a possibility and that there is no waste in nature.  She lives in Naperville with a very ambitious husband and 90 year old mum-in-law and getting over the fact that her three kids are all grown up now.

On a hot day in the middle of July many years ago, Briana built a solar-powered “oven” to bake a s’more. It was only a cardboard box, no larger than a mini fridge and no heavier than a loaf of bread, covered in bright tin foil and hot glue. The cardboard oven was certainly less convenient to use than a traditional gas-powered oven, but Briana was pleased (1) to have something warm and sugary to eat and (2) to show herself that she could harness a more environmentally-friendly method of energy generation to complete a task, however small. As a seventh grader interested in human interactions with the natural world, she knew that this activity was relatively harmless, but that others, unfortunately, were not. A quick scan through newspaper headlines and scientific journals revealed only a few of the environmental crises that abounded in her backyard and throughout the world, from the increasingly late arrival of snowfall in the winters of her Michigan hometown to the raging fires painting the sky red in California, from the rapidly vanishing ice sheets at the poles to the rising waters swallowing up islands in the Pacific. It was clear that human activities—our use of natural resources, our generation and consumption of energy, our handling of wastes—played a major role in these crises, and that experts of all kinds were needed to implement environmentally-responsible ways of powering homes, transporting people, consuming goods, and ultimately living better on this planet. The desire to contribute to a resilient world in the face of climate change led her to earn a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Chicago. Over four years, she filled test tubes with lake water to measure contamination from septic tanks, pored over primary research on environmental health, and set foot in dozens of laboratories to identify conservation strategies in the most energy-intensive spaces on campus. She now serves as an Energy and Conservation Specialist in the Will County Land Use Department, where she improves energy and water efficiency by implementing Will County’s 2021 Energy & Conservation Plan. Her day-to-day involves benchmarking energy consumption and costs in County-owned buildings, collaborating with facilities staff to fund efficiency projects, and coordinating regularly with public- and private-sector partners to advance programs that steward our resources wisely. She enjoys delving into sustainability topics from a variety of angles, especially the glories and pains of the ongoing clean energy transition. Fortunately, we can make this transition using technologies much more sophisticated than cardboard ovens.

Marc is a retired Finance executive with 30+ years of experience at Fortune 500 companies and a former CPA who is leveraging his business experience to support organizations that work at solving environmental issues. He has been active in local environmental groups and has worked to support environmental causes since being a member of NYPIRG in college. Marc has been a resident of Naperville since 2013, and has recently been named Treasurer for Accelerate Climate Solutions.

Since 2019, Maureen Stillman has been the chair of the Energy committee of the Naperville Environmental and Sustainability Task Force (NEST), which is a volunteer organization reporting to the Naperville city council and mayor.  NEST works with Naperville electric utility and community stakeholders in an effort to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as it relates to energy.  The primary focus is on our electricity generation and empowering residents and commercial businesses to reduce their carbon footprint through renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.  NEST worked with Naperville Electric to modify an incentive program which allows local rebates to both solar deployments and energy efficiency efforts, helping over 500 Naperville residents to deploy solar.  Ms. Stillman is also working with the Northern Illinois Conference United Methodist church, which includes 350 churches, on a NetZero initiative and has spoken at several local churches about sustainability.  Maureen has a bachelor’s degree in Math from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master’s degree in computer science from Northwestern University.  Maureen is currently employed in cybersecurity support for mobile devices and is lucky to work on troubleshooting iOS and Android devices for her day job. She is passionate about making the planet more sustainable for her two children and future generations to follow.   Her hobbies are exercise, weight lifting and QiGong and she enjoys outdoor hiking in the DuPage forest preserves especially during the pandemic.  She is also a member of the Fox Valley Electric Auto Association, which promotes electric vehicles.

My name is Ashfaq Syed, I am an active resident of Naperville and passionate about making a difference in the city that I am proud to call home. My passion for Naperville goes beyond social engagement into real impact as reflected by the various boards and committees that I am committed to. I am a current trustee & President on the Naperville Public Library Board, a board member for Loaves & Fishes, a board member for Naperville Neighbors United and on the Diversity Advisory Board for the Daily Herald. I am also a graduate of the Naperville Citizen Police Academy and the Naperville Citizen Fire Academy. I serve as a Committee Member for 360 Youth Services, a Civic Engagement Committee Member at the Islamic Center of Naperville with 4,500 families, and I am an Advisory Board Member at Sonia Shah, a non-profit organization that provides scholarships to underprivileged girls in the United States. In 2019, I was asked to co-chair the 2020 US Census Naperville Complete Count Committee. I was honored to work with Mr. Mark Rice, Chairman of Naperville Complete Count Committee, to create innovative strategies for a widespread outreach campaign that was incredibly successful despite the challenges of Covid. Due to our hard work, Naperville was recognized as the #1 City in America for US Census Self Responses. Because of our success increasing census participation in Naperville, our city will receive more federal and state funding, which significantly impacts our city budget and alleviates some of the local tax burden on our citizens. In recognition of our invaluable contribution to the 2020 US Census in Naperville, we were honored with a City of Naperville Mayoral Proclamation. I am an active PC for the Wheatland Democrats and have hosted many signature drives and collected hundreds of signatures for candidates running for office. I have hosted fundraisers and meet & greet for many of our accomplished leaders, including Congress members, Senator, Dupage and Will County Board candidates, Naperville City Council candidates, Park District candidates. Professionally, I have a successful career that spans over 20 years in the Banking and Finance industry and currently serve as the Vice President for a global financial institution with locations in Naperville. I live in Naperville with my wife Ayeisha Bakhateeb and our three children. I have spent many years working with local non-profits, community organizations, religious and secular groups, and elected officials to help make Naperville the great city it is today. I use my experience and leadership skills from my extensive community involvement to ensure that Naperville remains the diverse, welcoming, and prosperous city we have worked so hard to create. I look forward to talking with you more over the coming months about my vision for Naperville and I hope I can count on your support.

Fernando is not an engineer or scientist. He’s just a guy who values environmental stewardship and sustainability. This was seeded in Arizona in the 1970s. Coming of age in the context of activist hippies with “ecology flags”, exposure to Native American’s symbiotic relationship with the earth and boy scout campouts to the most beautiful places in the state, inspired a passion for our natural world. As a teen Fernando joined the Sierra Club. As a young adult in Chicago, he volunteered in supporting environmental and political initiatives for the Sierra Club and Sydney Yates, member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois 9th District. Today, Fernando is most interested in win-win sustainability opportunities that increase the likelihood that sustainability will “stick”, for example lower costs, creation of new businesses, adding simplicity or other benefits. With a BS in Advertising from Arizona State University, early in his career he worked at global agencies in Chicago, San Francisco and Denver supporting clients across CPG, telecom, technology and consumer goods. More recently, he’s held executive Marketing roles at ConAgra Brands and The Chicago Bears. He brings an external perspective to opportunities and challenges, leadership of of cross functional team collaboration, as well as strategic focus with pragmatic execution to maximize success.

Rhonda Stephens is a dedicated wife, mother, and grandmother who is deeply committed to leaving a lasting legacy for her family. She is passionate about protecting her loved ones from environmental issues and believes in being a part of the solution. Her personal commitment to sustainability and environmental protection drives her professional endeavors, ensuring that future generations inherit a healthier, more resilient environment and culture. Professionally, Rhonda is a dynamic business professional with over 20 years of leadership experience in Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Project Management, Development, and Business Operations. With a Bachelor's in Business Administration/Management from Robert Morris College, Rhonda has built a reputation as a high-energy, confident leader skilled in engaging stakeholders and rallying teams to align with project and organizational goals. Her innovative and inclusive approach is crucial for fostering community engagement and involvement in implementing environmentally conscious practices. As the Founder and CEO of Inner 7 Consulting Group, Rhonda spearheads the development of sustainable company policies, procedures, and staffing models for non-profit and for-profit clients. Her strategic planning and policy development expertise supports Accelerate Climate Solutions' goal of promoting practical solutions that reduce carbon pollution and support the creation of a skilled workforce dedicated to waste reduction efforts. Rhonda brings a wealth of expertise and a passion for creating effective solutions. She believes that by actively leveraging her extensive experience in nonprofit business operations and talent/workforce management, she can assist Accelerate Climate Solutions' mission, to build sustainable and resilient communities for the future.

Jennifer Russell is a proud wife and mother of three who is passionate about creating clean and healthy communities. Born and raised in an Iowa farm family, Jennifer has a deep sense of stewardship over the land and believes everyone should live in a community with clean air, water and land. She enrolled in law school to improve her advocacy with the community and will complete her juris doctorate at Chicago-Kent College of Law with an Energy and Environmental Law certification in December of 2024. Jennifer has worked with a large utility company in the regulatory affairs and compliance departments, an international law firm in the environmental law department, and an environmental law legal clinic based in Chicago. She looks forward to using her experience to bring funding opportunities to the community and make sustainability initiatives more accessible.

Morning interns Jensen Coonradt (MIT), Avni Sebharwal (UIUC), Riley Leu (ISU), AbdulAhad Barkat (COD), Soham Dongre (WVHS), Vicky Ji (VT), Lana Alnajm (NW) worked to create an innovative, sustainable bike plan for the City of Naperville. They presented their plan to City Council and were even featured in The Chicago Tribune for their mission to create sustainable biking infrastructure throughout the city. Interns from this team also worked on website development and presented at a NEST meeting. The afternoon team, Becca Mask (Dayton), Emma Orend (NW), Nishi Marikumar (UIUC), Maddie Weir (U of WI-Madison), Molly Sincaglia (U of MN), and Campbell Metzger (NNHS) developed the BLAST toolkit, created the EcoBLAST environmental fair, engaged in civic actions, and so much more. All our interns learned skills that they will use in their education, careers, and lives, while developing a sustainability mindset. They are especially proud of learning how to raise their voices and take action to make their communities better.