Ann Blake

Biology Ph.D., twelve years of program management experience in environmental protection. Extensive knowledge of federal and California state environmental regulation and regional, national and international sustainability efforts. Facilitation experience with multi-stakeholder groups including state, local government, advocacy groups on regional, state, national policy issues.

professional experience

City and County of San Francisco, Department of Environment Toxics Reduction Program - Consultant July 2004-Current

Technical assistance in San Francisco's efforts to reduce toxic materials purchased and utilized by City agencies, residents and commercial facilities; technical support for World Environment Day 2005

EnviroSpec, Senior Research Consultant March 2004-Current

Leading Green Cleaners initiative to assist unions, janitorial service companies and building managers to switch to less-toxic cleaning products and practices in hotels, hospitals, schools, offices and other facilities. (http://www.envirospec.org/)

Commonweal, Senior Policy Fellow July 2002-Current

  • Represented Commonweal and International POPS Elimination Network (IPEN) at United Nations Environment Programme Global Priority Setting Meeting for Regionally Based Assessment of Persistent Toxic Substances, Geneva, Switzerland, March 2003;
  • Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee Meeting 7, Stockholm POPS Convention, Geneva, Switzerland, July 2003; provided formal comments on behalf of IPEN and policy direction to IPEN's 400 international participating organizations.
  • Ongoing technical support to IPEN NGOs internationally on Convention implementation.

Environmental Finance Center Region 9 - Senior Consultant September 2002-April 2003

Convened multi-stakeholder roundtables (industry, government, environmental and health advocates) on use of brominated flame retardants in consumer electronics and upholstered furniture resulting in joint industry/government workgroups to develop alternatives and proposed California legislation to phase out polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).

California EPA, Department of Toxic Substances Control - Pollution Prevention Coordinator November 1999-May 2002

  • Created new program to assist local governments in integrating source reduction/ pollution prevention into their day-to-day activities with long-term goal of reducing the use of toxic industrial chemicals.
  • Facilitated process to identify key regional source reduction issues in nine-county San Francisco Bay Area with Association of Bay Area Governments' Hazardous Waste Reduction Committee
  • Generated training program to target 33,000 member vehicle service and repair industry statewide; trained over 300 county environmental health, industrial wastewater inspectors, fleet managers, small business owners in best management practices to reduce solvent use and increase recycling in auto repair sector.
  • Served as liaison between pollution prevention and regulatory programs within Department; served as subject matter expert for local government, businesses; provided policy, regulatory and legislative recommendations on issues relating to reducing the use of toxics in manufacturing.
  • Participated in Cal/EPA inter-agency scientific workgroup on use of flame retardants;

California EPA, Department of Toxic Substances Control - Local Agency Training Coordinator November 1996-November 1999

  • Coordinated training for staff from 69 local agencies statewide, covering implementation of six delegated hazardous waste and hazardous materials inspection and enforcement programs
  • Coordinated development of training curriculum; managed $280,000 of training funds annually.
  • Facilitated multi-agency team of training coordinators to assess and fulfill training needs for local agency inspectors statewide.
  • Led multi-agency teams in evaluation of local agency inspection and enforcement programs.

California EPA, Department of Toxic Substances Control - Hazardous Waste Inspector March 1993-November 1996

Regulatory program implementation: co-managed staff of 15 inspectors; organized information-gathering and tracking, industry outreach; broad jurisdiction with region spanning urban and rural, industrial and agricultural sectors; RCRA and non-RCRA inspection and enforcement.

recent publication

  • April 2005: The Next Generation of POPS: PBDES and Lindane International POPS Elimination Network (http://www.oztoxics.org/ipepweb/egg/Sampling%20Report%201.html)
  • September 2004: Health & Environmental Hazardous of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) and Other Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) International POPS Elimination Network (IPEN)
  • June 2004: Brominated Flame Retardants in Dust on Computers: the Case for Safer Chemicals and Better Computer Design, Computer Take Back Campaign and Clean Production Action, co-author (http://www.computertakeback.com/the_problem/bfr.cfm)

representative presentations

  • National Environmental Assistance Summit, National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, Baltimore, MD International Chemicals Management: Relevance for North America, April 2004
  • Golden Gate Chapter, American Society for Quality, Oakland, CA, presentation, ISO 14000 Implementation: Theory and Practice, February 2004
  • University of California, Berkeley, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Spring Symposium, Brominated Flame Retardants in Consumer Products: An Emerging Health Concern, April 2003

professional activities

  • Board of Directors, Women's Action to Gain Economic Security, www.wagescooperatives.com, 2004-current
  • National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, Board of Directors, representing US EPA Region 9 (California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii), 2001-2004
  • Co-founder, co-president and Board Member, Bay Area Women's Environmental Network, 2000-2003

education

University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon Ph.D., 1991 Molecular Genetics of Neural Development Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts A.B., Biology, 1985