Rise Up Boston: A Climate Event

A native of Boston, James “Jimmy” Hills, grew up in the very communities in which he has spent a lifetime advocating. He is a proud graduate of Boston Public School’s Madison Park High School and University of Massachusetts at Boston, and recently graduated from the Non-Profit Management Leadership Certificate Program at the Boston University Questrom School of Business. Jimmy’s professional experience includes serving his community in various non-profit direct service and leadership positions. He has also served at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Since March 2020, Jimmy has become an essential part of the Boston news ecosystem, delivering his podcast, Java with Jimmy, 9:00 am Monday - Thursday.

Bridget Callahan is an associate sustainability manager at Ocean Spray Cranberries. She is responsible for implementing Ocean Spray’s sustainability strategy with the plants, farmer-owners, and at the corporate office. Before Ocean Spray, Bridget worked in waste management where she supported large consumer packaged goods companies on their landfill diversion goals. Bridget is a board ember for the Massachusetts Oyster Project, a non-profit working to restore native shellfish populations to the beaches and coastal estuaries of Massachusetts. She studied environmental science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. In her spare time, Bridget likes to swim, run, and travel.

Katy Galle is the senior vice president of Research, Development & Sustainability at Ocean Spray Cranberries. She leads a technical organization to cultivate cutting-edge new products and packages to fill the innovation pipeline for Ocean Spray underpinned with emerging science, nutrition, regulatory compliance, food safety, and quality assurance in addition to strategic sustainability initiatives. Prior to Ocean Spray, Katy was vice president of Culinary Innovation at Dunkin’ Brands, for both Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins teams, where she led them to create a three-year innovation pipeline aligned with Dunkin’s aggressive growth platforms. Katy is a twenty-year veteran of PepsiCo, where she developed an extensive background in beverage innovation and commercialization and launched many new products globally.  She has also held prior product development and basic research roles at Seagram’s and Kraft Foods.  She served on the board of governors for the Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association, volunteered with IFT leadership selection committee, and holds an MS in biotechnology from Manhattan College and a BS in biochemistry from McGill University.  Katy and her husband have four daughters, ages 20 to 28, along with two French bulldogs. In her spare time she enjoys jogging, playing softball, and cooking.

While with Department of Energy, she is on leave from her Associate Professorship in Sociology/Anthropology and Health Science at Northeastern University. She is a cofounder of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI), a network of academics and non-profits working to develop more just and effective forms of environmental governance through ensuring and improving public access to data. Sara is a cofounder of Public Lab, a non-profit that developed open source, Do-It-Yourself tools for community-based environmental analysis. Her award winning book Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds describes the need to rethink the extractive research systems that proceed and enable extractive industries.

Cate Mingoya-LaFortune is a people-centered climate adaptation planner, community organizer, educator, parent, and cautious optimist. Raised in an environmental justice neighborhood, Cate is committed to furthering a future where all people live in clean, thriving communities. Cate received her B.A. in Biology from Reed College; a Master of Science Education from CUNY Lehman; and a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She lives with her family, community, and container garden in Massachusetts. 

Zoe serves as a Climate Resilience Project Manager on the Climate Ready Boston Team in the City of Boston’s Environment Department. As a project manager, she supports neighborhood climate resilience planning, the integration of climate change preparedness into planning, projects, and policies. Zoe served as the project manager for Boston’s Heat Plan and now supports the implementation of heat resilience projects.