Coneybeare Cleantech Leaders Conference to Target Drought Crisis in Southern California

    IRVINE, CA, April 23, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- As the region's water supply becomes more imperiled by the day and global temperatures continue to rise, some of the greatest minds in the clean technology field will be coming to Southern California to discuss the world's most severe environmental challenges and offer solutions. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 14 at the Eureka Building in Irvine, and admission is $69.

The Coneybeare Cleantech Leaders Conference will feature cost-effective, high-impact and scalable strategies including innovations in water, solar and renewable energy. Venture capitalists, community and government leaders, utility executives, property owners and managers, clean technology companies, and green architectural, engineering, and construction firms will all be part of this inaugural event.

"In order for us to tackle the challenges of climate change, water conservation and energy efficiency, every industry has to contribute to developing a path to a more sustainable future," said Jerry Yudelson, a LEED fellow, U.S. General Services Administration national peer professional and the author of 13 books on issues such as green marketing and sustainable development. "The Coneybeare Cleantech Leaders Conference is unique in that it will bring together a number of innovators and business disruptors who are thinking up the next generation's planet-enhancing solutions with key players from the public and private sectors."

The full-day event will be held at The Eureka Building, a 3-acre campus-style creative office and event space, and will include lunch and happy hour on the patio. Sponsorships and exhibits are available.

"We are so excited to bring this event to Southern California and, particularly, to Orange County," said Victoria Betancourt, CEO and President of Coneybeare Cleantech, a full-service recruitment firm in the cleantech and renewable energy industries with offices in Santa Ana and San Francisco. "Orange County has emerged as a massive generator of green jobs. The high-caliber of speakers that this conference was able to secure in its first year speaks volumes about our local cluster of innovation. I expect the Coneybeare Cleantech Leaders Conference to be a destination event for many years to come."

Event speakers include:

Jerry Yudelson, LEED Fellow
Jerry Yudelson is the past president of the Green Building Initiative (GBI). The Green Building Initiative is a national nonprofit and the US provider of the Green Globes green building rating and certification programs. Jerry is also a LEED Fellow, Federal GSA National Peer Professional and the author of 13 books on green buildings, water conservation, green homes, green marketing and sustainable development including his most recent book, The World's Greenest Buildings: Promise vs. Performance in Sustainable Design. Jerry is a registered professional engineer with more than 25 years' experience. He holds engineering degrees from Caltech and Harvard University and an MBA (with highest honors) from the University of Oregon.

Mayor Miguel Pulido, Mayor of the City of Santa Ana
Miguel Pulido has served as mayor of Santa Ana, Calif., since 1994. Mayor Pulido was chairman of the Energy Committee for the United States Conference of Mayors from 2006 to 2012. He oversaw major initiatives such as the American Recovery Act, where he assisted Congress in bringing billions of dollars to cities for municipal alternative energy projects. He has also chaired the California Natural Gas Partnership and is a current board member of the Orange County Transportation Authority. As an engineering energy consultant, he's working with California utilities to bring hundreds of megawatts of solar projects on to the grid. Pulido has worked his entire adult career in the field of alternative energy. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in energy from Cal State Fullerton.

Brad Lancaster, consultant, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond
Brad Lancaster owns a successful permaculture consulting, design, and education business focused on integrated and sustainable approaches to landscape design, planning, and living. Through his business he's been able to share this passion and many of the fun innovations and daily adventures that come about from striving to live more sustainably and comfortably in the Sonoran Desert. At home Brad and his brother harvest about 100,000 gallons of rainwater a year on a 1/8-acre urban lot and adjoining right-of-way. This harvested water is then turned into living air conditioners of food-bearing shade trees, abundant gardens, and a thriving landscape incorporating wildlife habitat, beauty, edible and medicinal plants, and more.

John Irvine, MBA, consultant and principal at Energy and Associates
An experienced sustainability consultant, John Irvine is principal of Irvine-based Energy and Associates. He helps clients with strategic planning, marketing, communications and training related to sustainability. He has spent more than a decade evangelizing high-performance building development and operation. He is an outspoken promoter of energy efficiency programs that involve building operators, occupants and policymakers. His educational efforts focus on the energy behavior of building occupants, as well as on techniques for boosting resource conservation in both buildings and communities. A proponent of sustainable design and energy efficient operations, he helped develop a "Roadmap to Net Zero Energy Operation" for a major federal building.

Dalip Jaggi, founder of Eva Smart Shower
At 25, Dalip Jaggi is the founder of the respectable brand and digital agency, Devise Interactive, and hosting company, Hostannual.com. He is also the Director of Technology for Orange County's newest and hottest start-up, Eva Smart Shower, a smart shower that will help you save water while you shower. Recently, he has accepted the chief technology officer role at Rich-Uncles.com, a real estate investing platform for everyone. He holds the interactive chair at the AD2 Orange County chapter and the digital lead at Forge54, a non-profit organization.

Jeff Brain, CEO of Ciralight Global, Inc.
Jeff Brain is a successful entrepreneur, recognized civic leader and governmental strategist. He is partner and chief executive officer in Ciralight Global, Inc., a nationally recognized Green Company that is the only provider of active Daylighting Skylight products that enable businesses, stores and schools to turn off their electric lights for up to 10.5 hours a day.

Marjolein Helder, PhD, MSc., CEO of Plant-e
Marjolein Helder (1983) graduated as a PhD on electricity generation from living plants at the sub-department of Environmental Technology of Wageningen University in November 2012. Since then, she's been working full-time as Plant-e's CEO. With a PhD in environmental technology and a minor in entrepreneurship and management, she is well equipped to run a technology-based company. Her active engagement in several boards (a.o. alumni association KLV, Rugby Club Wageningen) combined with her positive attitude and energy has led to a vast network in the Netherlands and abroad.

Joe Stecher, entrepreneur
Joe Stecher received a Bachelor's and Master's from the University of California, Los Angeles in writing with a specialty in technical writing. He has many years of experience with projects including aerospace, helicopters, electronics, integrated chips, satellites, servomechanisms, automation, strategic planning, and Egyptology. Joe is a small business owner and entrepreneur. He is devoted to the environment and has global concerns such as human individual consciousness and collective integration, evolution, overpopulation, and climate change.

About Coneybeare Cleantech
Coneybeare Cleantech is a full-service recruitment leader in the sustainable technology and renewable energy industries, offering retained and exclusive contingency recruiting, direct hire and contractor placements, consulting and training services as well as reference checks. Its team of recruiters, who have built a robust employer and candidate network, produces superior results and makes the process of finding and placing premier talent seamless. The company was founded in 1986, and has focused its efforts on the sustainable technology and renewable energy industries since 2009. For more information, visit http://www.coneybeare.com.

# # #