YEO Policy Academies Clean Energy & Environmental Justice Pol. Academy | Page 18

Detailed Agenda
SATURDAY » FEBRUARY 20, 2016

Svante Myrick
City of Ithaca, NY
Svante L. Myrick was sworn into office in January 2012 and became, at
24, the City of Ithaca’s youngest mayor and first mayor of color. Myrick
was first elected to the Common Council at the age of 20 while still a
junior at Cornell. His first budget included a radical overhaul of city
government that merged departments, streamlined processes, and
was able to successfully close a $3 million deficit—all while delivering
the lowest tax increase in the City of Ithaca since the year 2000. Myrick
turned his dedicated mayoral parking space into a public park and made
sorely needed revisions to the City of Ithaca’s sidewalk policy. He also
overhauled the city’s storm water utility legislation; led a successful implementation of the total
rehabilitation of the Commons, Ithaca’s downtown pedestrian mall; and made changes within the
Ithaca police department to improve police and community relations.

Satya Rhodes-Conway
Mayors Innovation Project

Clean Energy & Environmental Justice Policy Academy | 2016
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Satya Rhodes-Conway is the managing director of the Mayors
Innovation Project and a senior associate at the Center on Wisconsin
Strategy (COWS). She works with cities across the country to
implement innovative policy that promotes environmental and
economic sustainability and builds strong, democratically accountable
communities. She has researched and written extensively about local
policy that promotes sustainability, equity, and democracy. RhodesConway served three terms on Madison’s City Council, giving her a
practical perspective on local government and policy. Before coming to
COWS, she analyzed state endangered species programs for Defenders of Wildlife, researched and
wrote about progressive environmental policy at the State Environmental Resource Center, and
taught undergraduate biology and ecology. She has degrees from Smith College and the University
of California - Irvine.

Andrew Seth
Sustainable Strategies D.C.
Andrew Seth is the president of Sustainable Strategies D.C., a
Washington, D.C.-based firm that helps local governments secure
community revitalization resources, as well as the executive director
of Climate Communities, a national coalition of localities interested in
sharing local sustainability best practices and advocating for federal
policies that curb greenhouse gas emissions. He previously served as
a partner at The Ferguson Group, a project manager on enviro