Keynote Speakers

The following are Keynote Speakers:

Major General Ronald L. Johnson
Deputy Chief of Engineers / Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Johnson, a Chicago native, was commissioned as an Engineer Officer from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1976. He has served as Director of the U.S. Army Installation Management Agency, where he directed the management of 181 Army installations, over 75,000 military and civilian personnel and a budget exceeding $8 billion. He has also served as principal advisor on installation management to the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management. His numerous awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster). He is an inductee into the 2005 Academy of Distinguished Engineering at Georgia Tech.

General Paul J. Kern (Army, Ret.)
Cohen Group

Kern is a Senior Counselor for the Cohen Group, a consulting team led by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. From 2006 to 2007 he served on the Military Advisory Board of the National Security and the Threat of Climate Change Report project of The CNA Corporation. Kern concluded his 40-year Army career as Commanding General of the Army Materiel Command in 2004. He also served as Senior Advisor for Army Research, Development and Acquisition and Commander, 4th Infantry Division. Kern had three combat tours and his numerous awards and decorations include the Defense and Army Distinguished Service Medals, Silver Star and two Bronze Stars for valor. He is a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The National Security and the Threat of Climate Change Report can be downloaded at: securityandclimate.cna.org/report/.

Ralph Peterson
CH2M HILL

Ralph Peterson is a career employee of CH2M HILL having started working for the company in 1965 as a student at Oregon State University. He is now the chairman, president and chief executive officer of CH2M HILL Companies, Ltd., based in Denver. He has served on the Board of the World Trade Center-Denver, the National Congress for the Advancement of Minorities in the Environmental Professions, the Board of the Construction Industry Round Table, and the CEO Coalition to Advance Sustainable Technology. He also serves on the Board of the Colorado Energy Science Center, and Chairs the Advisory Board of the Colorado Association of Black Professional Engineers and Scientists. Peterson received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Colorado School of Mines in 2000. He was previously inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Engineers in 1998. Ralph is a member of numerous professional societies and engineering honorary organizations, and serves as a corporate partner with the Smithsonian Institution.

Michael L. Cain
Director, Army Environmental Policy Institute

Michael Cain is the Director for the Army Environmental Policy Institute (AEPI) located in Washington DC. The AEPI supports the Army Secretariat in the development of environmental policies and strategies. He has served in a variety of environmental management positions for the Army and Navy including Deputy Director for Environmental programs for ACSIM, the Chief of the US Army's Central Regional Environmental Office, Environmental Division Chief, NAS Moffett Field, Calif., and Environmental Protection Branch Chief at Fort Sill, Okla. His education includes a MS of Environmental Science from the Univ. of Oklahoma and a Senior Executive Fellowship at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. His public service began as a Soldier in 1971.

• Keynote Presentation
  Bootprinting Army Sustainability - A Secretariat's Perspective