2025 RESIDENTS FORWARD YOUTH CLIMATE SUMMIT PANELIST BIOS
Stacey Saltzman – My Style Camp
Stacey Saltzman created My Style Camp, located in Port Washington New York, to inspire kids to express themselves through fashion design, just as she once did when learning to sew from her grandmother. After a career designing for Alvin Ailey, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jessica Simpson Kids, and Tommy Hilfiger Kids, she left the corporate world in 2016 to build a more meaningful, hands-on creative space for children.
Starting with pop-up workshops, Stacey grew My Style Camp into a thriving studio in Port Washington, where kids learn to design, sew, and upcycle real clothing and accessories. The program emphasizes creativity, confidence, and sustainability—teaching young designers to turn old materials into something new while celebrating their unique style.
In addition to classes, My Style Camp hosts birthday parties, where kids design and create their own fashion pieces, making for a fun, stylish, and unforgettable experience.
“Fashion is more than trends—it’s a tool for self-expression, confidence, and a more sustainable future.”
Stacey received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and continued her Fashion education at FIT.
Haley Lieberman – ClimateHaven
Haley is the Director of Community and Marketing at ClimateHaven, where she is passionate about establishing a supportive community for our entrepreneurs tackling the climate crisis. Additionally, Haley is an Affiliate at Yale’s Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), where she advises on sustainable fashion initiatives, including Moving the Needle, an interdisciplinary effort driving research, dialogue, and innovation in the field.
Before her role at ClimateHaven, Haley exemplified the entrepreneurial spirit by founding and contributing to scaling startups at the intersection of technology and sustainable consumption. Most notably, she is the founder and former CEO of ShopTomorrows (acquired), a nationwide circular marketplace facilitating the exchange of essential goods between friends, families, neighbors, and communities, and co-founder of Treasury Collective an emerging community-driven marketplace connecting consumers with secondhand and sustainably-sourced products through trusted curators. Both platforms share a joint mission of increasing access to secondhand products to combat the overproduction and overconsumption of fast fashion. In addition to her entrepreneurial endeavors, Haley has shared her expertise in textile sustainability, sustainable fashion, and the business of fashion, teaching at universities across the northeastern United States. Her perspectives and insights have also found their way into publications such as Time, WWD, Hearst Media, and Nasdaq.
Haley received her BA from Bates College and MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Currently, she resides in Connecticut with her family, where, in her leisure time, she enjoys dancing and treasure-hunting at local markets.
Lexie Sachs – Good Housekeeping Institute
Lexie Sachs is the Executive Director of strategy and operations at the Good Housekeeping Institute, where she oversees testing for product reviews. She has more than 15 years of experience in the consumer products industry and a degree in fiber science from Cornell University, where she focused her research on sustainable textiles. Lexie serves as an expert source in various media outlets, regularly appearing on national broadcast TV segments, including the Today Show, Good Morning America and CBS Mornings. Prior to joining Good Housekeeping in 2013, Lexie worked in merchandising and product development in the fashion and home industries.
Dr. Sarah Meyland, MS, J.D.
Sarah J. Meyland, MS. J.D., is a water specialist with a background in groundwater protection, water resources management, and environmental law. Dr. Meyland is sits on the NYS DEC Steering Committee for the ongoing Long Island Groundwater Sustainability Study. Dr. Meyland has experience as Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Technology and Sustainability, NYIT College of Engineering and Computing Sciences. Dr. Meyland has worked in New York government as the co-executive director of the NYS Legislative Commission on Water Resource Needs of Long Island. She was the watershed director for the Suffolk County Water Authority, and the program coordinator for the Nassau County Planning Federation.
Dan Yannaccone, LLA, ASLA, WEDG
Associate Principal, MNLA
Dan Yannaccone is an Associate Principal at MNLA who has been instrumental in the firm’s success since 2008. Boasting over 20 years of experience, Dan is a visionary site planner dedicated to integrating ecological and sustainable principles into his designs, creating spaces that resonate with people and the environment. His expertise shines through in the successful leadership of projects nationwide, including waterfront parks, resiliency initiatives, parks, streetscape enhancements, historic and cultural landscapes, and cutting-edge stormwater management systems. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Rutgers University.
Dan’s commitment to sustainable practices and his ability to navigate complex regulatory landscapes positions contribute significantly to the successful realization of notable projects such as West Point Foundry Preserve, Newport Park and Pier, and Little Island ensuring they align seamlessly with client objectives and broader environmental considerations.
Brian Schneider
United States Geological Survey
A life-long Long Islander, Brian Schneider earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Earth Science from
Adelphi University. He began his professional career with the United States Geological Survey as a
Hydrologist working on a variety of water resource investigations. Of note was his work on the East
Meadow Artificial Recharge Project where over 800 million gallons of treated wastewater was returned
back to the ground water reservoir through a state-of-the-art recharge facility. He moved on to Nassau
County working for 34 years in the Department of Public Works on a vast number of projects across
different disciplines including water resources, drainage, sanitary sewers, buildings and park renovations.
He managed the 2004 & 2006 Environmental Bond Acts overseeing the $175 Million dollar budget for
Open Space purchases, Park Improvement Projects and Storm Water Quality Improvements throughout
the County.
His last four years at the County, he served as Deputy County Executive of Public Works and Parks,
Recreation and Museums overseeing the function of these two significant Departments, and he
supported the County Executive throughout the pandemic providing safe working environments for
essential workers and developing protocols and strategies to keep parks and recreational facilities open
to the public.
For the past two years, he has been working for the New York Water Science Center of the US Geological
Survey as a Program Development Specialist working with staff and cooperating agencies to deliver on
the mission of providing science for better decision making.
Michael E. White, ESQ
Michael E. White works as a consultant on special projects with Winters Bros. Waste Systems of Long Island, LLC, recently acquired by Waste Management. Prior to coming to Winters Bros. Michael was Director of Government Affairs for Tunnel Hill Partners LLC. Michael is an attorney and has concentrated his law practice in the areas of environmental law, solid waste, municipal law, land use, natural resources and freight rail transportation. Michael is the President and owner of L I Strategies, Inc., an environmental planning consulting firm.
Michael serves as a Vice Chair of the Long Island Regional Planning Council and was previously the Executive Director of the Council. Prior to that appointment he was a partner in the firm of Jaspan Schlesinger Hoffman LLP heading the Environmental Law Practice Group and part of the Municipal Law Practice Group.
Michael is on the Board of Governors of New York Sea Grant, an Adjunct Faculty in Environmental Management for the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences of Stony Brook University, Interim Director of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute at SoMAS and Principal Investigator on a grant from New York State to provide regional solid waste management for Long Island. Michael serves on the Long Island Commission on Aquifer Protection and the Steering Committee for the Long Island Sound Tidal Energy Project. Michael was a Commissioner on the Blue-Ribbon Commission on Sustainability and the MTA. Michael is the recipient of the Touro College Law Center Pro Bono Attorney of the year in 2004, the Old Westbury College Foundation Theodore Roosevelt Preservation Award in 2005, Co- Honoree with his wife Judy of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in 2008 and named Educator / Professional Environmentalist of the Year by the 2014 Stony Brook University EarthStock Program.
Prior to joining JSH LLP, Michael was managing partner of White & Kretzing P.C., which merged with JSH in 2002. He is admitted to practice in the Courts of New York, the Eastern and Southern District Federal Courts of N. Y., the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. He received his Juris Doctorate from Touro College Law Center and has degrees in Environmental Studies and Earth and Space Sciences, with graduate studies in Marine Sciences at Stony Brook University. Prior to his legal career, Michael served as an environmental planner in the Department of Environmental Control of the Town of Huntington, and then as Director of that Department, was an environmental consultant in the private sector, worked in the Environmental Monitoring Division of the Suffolk County Department of Environmental Control and then with the Suffolk County Department of Health Services Water Quality and Drinking Water Supply Bureau and was a research scientist at the Marine Sciences Research Center of Stony Brook University. He is a former Chair of the Environmental Law Committee of the Suffolk County Bar Association as well as a former member of the Board of the Suffolk County Water Authority, the Long Island Regional Planning Board 208 Technical Advisory Committee and the Long Island Regional Ashfill Board.
Nick Skeadas
Founder – Curbside Compost
Prior to starting Curbside Compost, Nick worked for almost a decade in asset management with Northern Trust. Prior to Northern Trust, Nick worked in investment consulting and the consumer product industry.
Nick was on staff as a Teaching Assistant for the Academy of Grenoble in France. He holds a BA in Economics from Bates College and an MBA from Fordham University. Nick also completed the Master Composter Program at the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources.
Honor memberships: Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Delta Epsilon, FMA International Honor Society.
Marjorie Spitz – Rento
Table2Ground
Marjorie brings strategic guidance, organizational, business growth, marketing, and interpersonal skills together to help businesses and leaders succeed, grow, and learn.
She offers powerful expertise and is a proven leader with 30+ years of passionate commitment to building brands and helping corporations and organizations maximize their potential.
Having worked as an advertising executive, marketing and communications consultant, strategist, facilitator, and non-profit executive director, she understands the multifaceted efforts needed to extract insights to create innovative initiatives that yield success.
In 2022 Marjorie Co-Founded Table2Ground™, a sustainability company focused on diverting industrial, commercial and institutional food waste from landfill. In 2024 she Co-Launched the “Long Island Organics Initiative” with the mission to bring private and public entities together to create and implement an action plan for the highest use of organic materials and the sustainable use of organics on Long Island.
Through her work with Balance Integration’s she’s helped companies like NBA, Fanatics, KKR, Gogo, and Soros support their employee culture and well-being initiatives. Grounded in the philosophy that small changes make big differences, she launched MOJO Health + Wellness in 2014 where she offers well-being and leadership coaching, retreats, as well as business consulting to organizations like Dune Resorts and Physiofitness. In addition, she is a sought-after speaker and facilitator on topics such as self-sabotage, career development, performance, radical change, The Empowerment Dynamic, and how to thrive for organizations like Deloitte, Fly Female Founders, Leaders Lounge, Fast Company, Peer 150, Open Mind Strategy and KKR.
She recently led workshops for the DOE Community Education Council (CEC) Orientation, think tank brainstorms for the Leaders Lounge, co-led an 8-part series on empathetic leadership for Havas, and crafted and led webinars on how to start a community food scraps drop-off program for Food Waste Prevention Week, and how to bring an on-site food waste management solution to your municipality for CCM.
Maia Roseval – Farmingdale State College
Maia is the Sustainability Manager at Farmingdale State College (FSC) in Farmingdale, NY. Roseval earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sustainability from SUNY Oneonta, a master’s degree in Sustainable Communities from Binghamton University, and most recently an MPA from Baruch College. As FSC’s first Sustainability Manager, she is in charge of creating a more sustainable campus through program development, policy implementation, and educational outreach. Roseval leads the campus Sustainability Committee and co-leads the New York State Coalition Sustainability in Higher Education (NYCSHE). She was also recently nominated to sit on the SUNY Sustainability Advisory Council. She aims to make campus a more inclusive and environmentally friendly space for the community to live, work, and learn.
Andrew Marshall Fagerheim – PhD student Columbia University
Andrew is a first-year PhD student in Earth & Environmental Science at Columbia University. His research is based at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where he studies physical oceanography using autonomous float data, satellite remote sensing data, parallel computing, and machine learning methods. Andrew is also passionate about youth climate education, and serves on the Youth Advisory Board at The Wild Center, a science and nature museum in the Adirondacks.
Mario Ferone – Climate Jobs NY
Mario Ferone is the Long Island Organizer for Climate Jobs NY, a coalition of labor unions dedicated to building a clean energy economy and creating good union jobs.
With seven years of experience in state government, Mario previously served as Chief of Staff to Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti and as Director of Operations for State Senator Jim Gaughran.
A graduate of Stony Brook University with degrees in Economics and Political Science, Mario is passionate about empowering young people to take action in the environmental movement through advocacy, policy, and organizing.
Alysa Perez Kalbfell – Environmental Defense Fund
Alysa Kalbfell is the Manager of Marketing & Communications Operations at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). EDF is one of the world’s leading international nonprofit organizations that creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. Alysa started her career at EDF as an Executive Assistant to the SVP of Programs and has had various administrative roles before landing in her current role of overseeing the daily operations of the 100+ person Marketing & Communications Department
Alysa grew up in Port Washington and Manhasset. She graduated from Manhasset High School in 2000 and Lehigh University in 2004 with a degree in American Studies and a minor in Communications. She moved back to Port Washington in 2018 after living in New York City for over a decade. She was so happy to return to her hometown to raise her family. Alysa lives with her husband and two elementary-aged children.