Jeff Aldi is currently a Vice President – Finance & Accounting for Comcast Cable, and has held various finance and accounting leadership roles with Comcast Cable since 2002. Prior to this position, from 1996 to 2002, Mr. Aldi was an audit manager with Arthur Andersen LLP in Philadelphia, PA and San Jose, CA and with KPMG LLP in Philadelphia. Mr. Aldi’s non-profit experience includes prior service on the Board of Directors for Equality Forum. Mr. Aldi earned a BS in Accountancy from Villanova University, and is a certified public accountant, licensed in Pennsylvania.

Russ Allen been a Council activist for many years. He is currently President of the Council’s Board. Russ serves as principal at The Writers Studio, a communications and freelance-copywriting practice in Jenkintown, Montgomery County. He often writes on science and technical subject matter for promotional and educational projects. He has a special expertise in health and medicine, and his clients include a variety of organizations in the healthcare industry. Russ previously served as Director of Medical Communications for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He has a B.S. from the University of Virginia and a M.S. in science and technical communications from Drexel University.

Laura Blank first started working with the Clean Air Council in 2007 while she was the President of Temple University’s Students for Environmental Action club. She is currently the Director of Talent and Operations for Equal Measure, a Philadelphia-based evaluation nonprofit where she develops performance management and recruiting and talent strategies, manages HR tools and policies and implements learning strategy for the organization.  Prior to working at Equal Measure, Laura founded a youth wilderness survival camp in California, served as Aramark’s first Environmental Sustainability Manager and was an Environment and Communities Intern at the William Penn Foundation. Laura graduated from Temple University with degrees in Environmental Studies, Economics, and Tourism & Hospitality Management.

Benjamin Cromie is a Senior Planner at CHPlanning, a comprehensive, municipal, and environmental planning firm. He specializes in sustainable development, especially recycling, stormwater management, greening, air emissions, and transportation projects. He has facilitated many large and small community engagement events from focus groups and public meetings to large conferences and information fairs. Before his urban planning career, he worked for several years in nonprofit arts management in the Philadelphia cultural sector. Benjamin is a Pennsylvania Master Gardner with a passion for transforming neglected spaces and creating habitat with native plants. He has taught workshops on horticulture, art, and urbanism for the Fleischer Art Memorial, American Philosophical Society and the University of Pennsylvania.

Kelsey DeMerlis is the Director for the Center for Community Services at the PA Department of Community & Economic Development. Within her role, Kelsey leads the Center’s community investments through the Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program. Kelsey is committed to creating equitable community investments focused on ending cycles of poverty across the commonwealth. Prior to DCED, Kelsey led Community Engagement for the City of Philadelphia’s West Philadelphia Promise Zone, implementing a collective impact approach for a place-based initiative aimed to reduce poverty and bring greater opportunity to communities. She has a background in youth workforce development with an emphasis on community partnership and business development. Kelsey has been recognized as a Keeper through Leadership Philadelphia. She also served as the Chapter Director for New Leaders Council Philadelphia. She is a board member at the Clean Air Council, Keep PA Beautiful and Philadelphia’s Sunday Breakfast Club, a space where Philadelphia’s rising and established leaders meet.

Neil Doshi is currently a physician practicing in the Philadelphia area. He holds Board Certifications in both Internal and Sleep Medicine. A native of Los Angeles, California, Neil moved to Philadelphia in 2011 to complete his residency and specialty training in Sleep Medicine. He is excited to join the Board of the Clean Air Council, and hopes to lend his expertise on the environmental impact on human health. He is passionate about policy being based on good science. When not practicing medicine and advocating for the environment, Neil enjoys travelling, running outdoors, and spending time with family.

Allie Gannon became involved with the Clean Air Council through a fellowship program while pursuing her MBA at Temple University. She was impressed by the organization’s mission which led her to become a Board member. Allie has always had a passion for sustainability initiatives and currently leads Environmental Strategy at U.S. Bancorp. She has graduated from the Penn State Master Gardener program where she helped develop a compost committee at a local community garden. Now she enjoys composting at home! She also enjoys traveling the world, spending time outdoors, and teaching her kids about sustainable living.

Rishika Ghosh is a Senior Associate at the Philadelphia Green Capital Corp. (PGCC), the green bank affiliate of the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA). She joined PGCC in 2021, and is focused on pipeline and program development. Passionate about innovative cleantech and energy equity, Rishika has over a decade of academic & professional experience in wind engineering and sustainable development. Rishika holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS and an M.Eng in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.

Vivek Girisan is a licensed Mechanical Engineer who works as a Sustainability Consultant for Engie Impact (New York, NY). He designs decarbonization roadmaps for Fortune 500 size corporations while simultaneously helping them optimize their energy usage. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at SRM University in India and obtained his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at NC State University in Raleigh, NC. Outside of work, Vivek enjoys learning Spanish, playing tennis, skiing, and playing guitar.

As Director of Service-Learning at LaSalle University, Louise works collaboratively with faculty to facilitate the integration of service-learning into myriad university course syllabi. She chairs the Project on Justice, serves on the Core Curriculum Advisory Board, and has served on the Women’s Studies Board, the Middle States Self-Assessment Task Force, and the La Salle Neighborhood Nursing Center Board. Along with two colleagues, Louise founded and teaches in the Leadership and Global Understanding Minor. Most recently, she headed up the university-wide application to the Carnegie Foundation, seeking its 2010 Community Engagement Classification, to a successful conclusion. In addition, Ms. Giugliano has received a grant to do Capacity Building from the Philadelphia Network for Neighborhood Development in the NW region of the city. She works with the Penn Project on Civic Engagement as a moderator of public forums. Ms. Giugliano earned an MA in Political Science from George Washington University.

With over two decades of experience in organizational and economic development, Carolyn brings valuable expertise in leading transformational change and fostering institutional excellence. Carolyn is currently the Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at Penn Medicine and has guided numerous departments through strategic planning initiatives. Her deep understanding of healthcare strategy is complemented by her earlier work in economic development and community planning with a wide range of communities along the east coast. Carolyn’s commitment to community impact extends beyond her professional role through active board service with organizations in addition to the Clean Air Council, including City Year Philadelphia and, previously, Habitat for Humanity.

Jessica Bender Krow served for two terms as the president of the Council’s Board. She owns and operates her own scientific and engineering search firm, Bender Search Associates, Inc., providing job placements for technical and engineering professionals in North America. Co-founder and race director of the Run for Clean Air for 12 years, Ms. Krow is now an avid cyclist who hopes to attract the cycling community to clean air issues. Ms. Krow holds an M.A. in geography and has been an environmental educator at local colleges since 1978. She is also co-founder of the Philadelphia Chapter of Earth Island Institute.

Eric Langenmayr is currently a consultant with the Math and Science coalition of the Philadelphia Education Fund where he co-founded a volunteer STEM Tutor Program in Philadelphia. He is working to expand the program in addition to participating in the program as a volunteer STEM tutor at the Kensington Health Sciences Academy. Previously, Dr. Langenmayr was president of Whirl Associates, a startup company developing advanced materials for the digital imaging industry. Dr. Langenmayr worked for almost 30 years as an R&D scientist for the Rohm and Haas/Dow Chemical Company working in research, manufacturing, project management and technical service capacities. He developed an interest in environmental issues at an early age when his father’s fish camp on the Withlacoochee River in Florida was negatively affected by the construction of the Cross Florida Barge canal. Dr. Langenmayr holds a PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Florida and completed a 2-year Wharton Management Program in business administration.

David Mindel is an engineer with 42 years of experience at Cisco Systems and IBM, developing solutions with a focus on security and cellular wireless (5G). He developed an interest in environmental issues at college and joined the board through his association with other board members and the Clean Air Council’s successes in protecting clean air and water. David holds a BA from Temple University in Computer Science and professional certifications in security and networking. For 25 years, he has volunteered as a judge for Odyssey of the Mind creativity competition. He is also a board member of the Bucks County Country Gentlemen chorus and sings in 2 performing quartets.

Over the past many years, Ganesh Swaminathan has actively been involved in the social impact and cleantech space. His interests started with an education in Chemical Engineering (BS Johns Hopkins, MS Stanford) and an MBA at Wharton, UPenn. At Wharton, Ganesh led the formation of its first student-led impact investing fund; he also worked with Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, a spinoff from Alphabet, investing in sustainable technology infrastructure such as the plastics recycling industry. Currently, Ganesh is a strategy consultant with Boston Consulting Group in New York City, helping companies across multiple industries in the US, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia develop their digital and growth strategy. He has also been involved with the Impact Investment Exchange in Singapore, his hometown, identifying and performing diligence on microfinance institutions and impact enterprises in Southeast and South Asia. Outside work, Ganesh enjoys playing squash and indulging in art history!

Cynthia Haveson Veloric, PhD, is an art historian, independent curator, adjunct professor at the University of the Arts, (closed June 2024), published author, and environmentalist. Wishing to continue her lifelong commitment to environmental advocacy, she volunteered at the CAC from 2016-2019, writing LTEs, working on the Run for Clean Air, and Greenfest Philly. This experience helped shape her PhD dissertation which focused on contemporary artists’ responses to the climate crisis. In 2018 she curated the exhibition Repairing Our Earth, Diane Burko Artist/Environmental Activist. Her next exhibition Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change travelled to the Main Line Art Center, The Nurture Nature Center in Easton, PA, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communication in conjunction with the Society of Environmental Journalists conference (2024). She juried Global Warming is Real (2023) at the Museum of Encaustic Art, Santa Fe. Dr.Veloric presented a paper titled “Pollution Pods: Embodied Experience as Environmental Communication” at the International Environmental Communication Association conference in June 2023. Her public service includes the inaugural Pennsylvania Climate Convergence in Harrisburg, the Advisory Board of the Brodsky Center for Printmaking at PAFA, and the Board of the Main Line Art Center.

Oscar Wang founded College Together in 2013 much to the chagrin of his parents, who assumed that “non-profit” meant that he would never take a salary. After calming their fears, he then neglected to tell them that he did not have office space and proceeded to start the organization by stealing WiFi at a mix of boba tea and coffee shops across Philadelphia.

Oscar was the founder of E.M. Stanton Elementary School’s Civics and Rhetoric Program and the 2012 Samuel S. Fels Fellow for the School Reform Commission. His public education experience includes time at the Philadelphia Public School Notebook, the office of the Chief Financial Officer of the School District of Philadelphia, and Superintendent William Hite’s Strategy Delivery Unit. Oscar is a graduate of Haverford College with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Education Studies. He is a member of Sunday Breakfast Club and the Corporation of Haverford College. He is also an alumnus of New Leaders Council.

A native of San Marino, California (where the Eagleton scenes in Parks and Recreation were filmed), Oscar has fallen in love with Philadelphia. He has a controversial pick for best cheesesteak in town and, in his free time, enjoys eating lots of food, reading, meeting new people, seeking out happy hours, and doing impressions of random famous people. And yes, he still frequents those boba shops.