• Susan Antler, Composting Council of Canada
• Ned Beecher, New England Biosolids & Residuals Association (NEBRA)
• Kate Billingsley, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Jack Bryden, BC Land, Air and Water
• Joseph Farrell, Environmental Consultant
• Ellen Harrison, Cornell Waste Management Institute
• Joe Kennedy, WCI Waste Conversion Inc.
• Albert Van Roodeslaar, Greater Vancouver Regional District

Susan Antler

Executive Director of The Composting Council of Canada

Susan serves as the Executive Director of The Composting Council of Canada, a non-profit, member-driven organization dedicated to the advancement of composting and compost usage across Canada. The Council has been in existence since 1990 and is well-recognized as the information network and catalyst for the composting industry in the country.

Susan works with a 20 person National Board of Directors who represent the various composting interests of the country. Together with the total membership, The Council has spearheaded a number of important initiatives designed to support the sustainable development of composting. Susan has an MBA in Marketing from Queen`s University.

Ned Beecher

Executive Director of the New England Biosolids & Residuals Association (NEBRA)

NEBRA's mission: To promote the environmentally sound recycling of biosolids and other wastewater residuals in New England and eastern Canada.

Ned Beecher has a BA in Geology from Amherst College and an MS in Resource Management and Administration from Antioch New England Graduate School. He worked on biosolids recycling projects for Resource Management, Inc. in central New Hampshire.

Since 1998, he has been director of the New England Biosolids and Residuals Association (NEBRA), a non-governmental organization (NGO) supported by a membership of public wastewater treatment utilities, private firms involved in residuals management, and interested individuals. There he administers membership services, research, public outreach and information-sharing efforts, including providing testimony, giving talks, organizing tours, and writing and editing NEBRA news for members and contacts. He was the lead author of NEBRA's 2001 report Saving Soil: Biosolids Recycling in New England (available at www.nebiosolids.org).

He assisted in the development of Third-Party Verification (auditing) for the National Biosolids Partnership's Environmental Management System program and was the Principal Investigator for the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) project on biosolids public perception and participation (published December, 2004). He helped convene and facilitate the Information Sharing Group for the EPA/USDA study on air emissions from biosolids land application sites and continues work for WERF as the principal investigator for the development of WERF's Public Partnering protocols, which are bringing diverse and non-traditional stakeholders into WERF's research program. He is the lead author of a paper in the Journal of Environmental Quality regarding public participation in biosolids management and research (January, 2005).

Ned lives by New Hampshire's White Mountains with his wife, Chris Clyne, and children Jesse (20) and Juliana (14).

Kate Billingsley

Acting National Manager, Fertilizer Section, CFIA

After receiving her Ph.D. in environmental microbiology, Kate worked for private bioremediation/environmental technology companies that focused on oil refinery and municipal biosolids waste treatment. She has been working in the Fertilizer Section of the CFIA for four years, where she is currently acting as National Manager of the Section. Prior to taking on this responsibility, Kate managed the safety assessments and pathogen sampling and testing of all products regulated under the Fertilizers Act.

Jack Bryden, M.Sc., P.Ag.

Environmental Management Branch - BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection

Jack is a professional agrologist with the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. In recent years he has taught extension courses at the University of Victoria on biosolids land application and Royal Roads University on soil-based wastewater treatment. For 2004/05 Jack has been seconded for two days a week by the UBC Bridge program. The Bridge Program is a scholarship funding and research training program linking the University of British Columbia's Faculties of Medicine, Engineering and Graduate Studies.

Jack helped write BC's original Production and Use of Compost Regulation and the Organic Matter Recycling Regulation, which includes treatment and land application requirements for septage, agri-industry wastes, municipal solid waste and municipal biosolids. Jack is the ministry's representative at meetings to establish Canada Wide Standards for Compost standards.

Jack is a director on the board of BC Water and Waste Association. Jack's interests continue to be waste management systems that conserve water and allow water and solids to be recycled beneficially to the environment.

Joseph Farrell

Environmental Consultant

After receiving his Ph. D. in chemical engineering from Cornell University, Joseph Farrell worked for over 25 years as Chief of the EPA’s Sludge Management Section in Cincinnati, Ohio. He developed and demonstrated processes for the treatment, use, and disposal of sludge. He was also the primary scientific resource in development of the parts of EPA's 1979 and 1993 sludge regulations related to reduction in vector attraction and pathogens in sludge. Since 1993, Joseph Farrell has worked as an Environmental Consultant. His work is primarily centered on thermophilic anaerobic digestion, the Federal 40 CFR Part 503 regulation, and pathogen reduction to Class A standards.

In June of 2001, he was keynote speaker at the EPA Workshop on Emerging Infectious Disease Agents, and in February of this year, he received the G. Elliot Whitby Award from the Water Environment Federation’s Disinfection Committee for his outstanding contributions to the disinfection field.

Ellen Harrison

Read Ellen Harrison's biography

Joseph W. Kennedy, P.Eng.

Founder and President of WCI

Joseph has had extensive experience over the past 30 years in solid waste management. He has directed the development, design, construction, modification and/or operation of twelve recycling and resource recovery plants throughout North America. He is founder and president of WCI. Prior to starting WCI, Mr. Kennedy worked with the Waste Management Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Environment, and with two waste management companies in positions responsible for design, construction, and operation of waste processing facilities.

Albert Van Roodeslaar, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Division Manager, Utility Analysis and Environmental Management, Policy and Planning Department, Greater Vancouver Regional District

Albert van Roodselaar has over twenty years of experience in the field of Environmental Engineering. He began his career as a researcher in water and wastewater technology at the Alberta Environmental Research Centre, followed by management of Edmonton's Rossdale drinking water treatment facility. Albert then worked as Senior Engineer for a quasi-judicial regulatory board (NRCB) and Director of Environmental Affairs for a multi-national forestry company, before taking on his current position at the Greater Vancouver Regional District. He is a registered Professional Engineer in BC and Alberta, and has a Doctorate in Chemistry.