Category: Speakers

Lidia Soto-Harmon serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Student Conservation Association (SCA), the largest provider of hands-on environmental conservation programs for youth and adults in the nation. Last year, the SCA engaged more than 2,000 youth and young adults in hands-on environmental conservation programs who collectively provided nearly 1 million hours of service at federal, state, and local parks and natural areas. SCA participants increase the nation’s climate resiliency, reduce wildfire risks, enhance equity and environmental justice, strengthen urban communities, implement historic preservation initiatives and retire backlogged maintenance projects.

Prior to joining the SCA, Soto-Harmon was the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital, the largest council in the country for 13 years, serving over 76,000 members in the Greater Washington region. During her almost 19-year tenure at the Girl Scouts, she also served as Chief Operating Officer for six years. She was directly responsible for building a compelling strategy to successfully expand access for girls across the region, transforming programs, creating experiences in the outdoors, and engaging communities to support and expand youth development. 

Before joining the Girl Scouts, Soto-Harmon served as Senior Vice President of Community Development for First Book, a national children’s literacy organization dedicated to getting new books into the hands of children from low-income families. She also previously served as Deputy Director of the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the U.S. Department of State and Senior Director for the Fannie Mae Foundation’s Targeted Outreach Department. She served as Chair and Trustee of Migration Policy Institute, Executive Committee member for the Booz Allen Foundation, Board Member for First Book – a national Children’s literacy organization, Chair of the Advisory Council for the master’s in public administration at the Schar School of Public Policy and Government and is an Adjunct Faculty member at George Mason University.

Each year, Soto-Harmon takes on a personal “summer challenge” to embody the SCA’s mission. In 2023, she traveled across Alaska to meet SCA participants, learning to cold-start a chainsaw and visiting programs from Denali National Park to Kenai Fjords. In 2024, she climbed her first mountain with an SCA Bronx crew at Acadia National Park, hauling 209 pounds of soil to the summit of Sargent Mountain to combat erosion—a true “Soil to Summit” expedition. Most recently, in 2025, she joined SCA staff and partners for a resupply run in Yosemite National Park, hiking more than 12.5 miles and hauling 170 pounds of supplies to support members working in the backcountry with the National Park Service’s Vegetation and Ecological Restoration Team.

Soto-Harmon holds a master’s in public administration from George Mason University and has participated in various Executive Leadership Programs at Harvard, Stanford and the Center for Creative Leadership. She has a bachelor’s in arts from George Mason University. She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum, the Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business, and Leadership Greater Washington Class of 2007. Soto-Harmon is married and has two fantastic bilingual adult children.

Emily Bohr holds a degree in Environmental and Sustainability Studies from George Mason University and attended the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (Class of 2021).  Since 2022, she has served as outreach specialist for Fairfax County’s Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination, connecting the Fairfax community with ways to take climate action through creative digital storytelling and community events and making local environmental issues real and relatable for residents of all ages and abilities. She resides in Arlington where she enjoys crocheting and birdwatching. 

Ashley Fortner is an elephant keeper at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, where she works with Asian elephants and contributes to conservation-focused animal care and research. A 2017 graduate of George Mason University and alumna of the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, Ashley has helped mentor students, support behavioral research projects, and care for the Zoo’s elephant herd, including the Smithsonian’s first elephant calf born in nearly 25 years. Her work focuses on conservation, animal welfare, and inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders

Jordan Eccles is a Presidential Innovation Fellow working with the Executive Office of the President – Council on Environmental Quality as Deputy Director for Innovation.  In this role, Dr. Eccles brings best practices in digital strategy, AI and data analytics, and mission-driven outcomes to infrastructure planning and build-out.  He is a technology and data science professional with over a decade of experience working to transform processes and tools in the Department of Defense, most recently working with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Operational Energy to develop approaches for maximizing combat capability by optimizing fuel use. In this role, he pioneered a software and productivity approach to fuel logistics, delivering programs saving tens of millions of dollars in fuel costs wasted on non-mission inefficiencies. Dr. Eccles previously supported the Air Force Encroachment Management and Community Partnership programs, preventing impacts to mission operations at over forty installations. Prior to working with the Air Force, he helped found a startup working in credit card security and served as its Chief Technology Officer and worked as a postdoctoral associate and adjunct professor at Duke University, researching topics in the energy and environment space. Dr. Eccles also served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the US Navy and a high school science and math teacher in Raleigh, NC.

Mindy is a data management specialist working in the registrar’s office at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, where she helps manage records on all of the animals and biomaterials in NZCBI’s care. She previously worked as an animal caregiver for more than two decades with a variety of species including bears, big cats, primates, and small carnivores. With a Ph.D. in psychology focused on animal behavior and cognition, she has conducted behavioral and cognitive research with bears in an effort to improve their management in zoos. Mindy consults with a variety of NGOs, accredited and non-accredited zoos around the world, and state animal law enforcement to help assess animal welfare issues and educate caregivers on proper husbandry for bears and other species. Mindy is the vice president of the Bear Care Group, an international non-profit whose mission is to foster improvements in global bear welfare. She is also the studbook keeper for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) sun bear population, and a member of AZA’s Bear Taxon Advisory Group Steering Committee.

Aliyah Griffith Is a marine biologist and the CEO and Founder of Mahogany Mermaids, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring children of color to engage in aquatic sciences. As a PhD Candidate in Marine Science, her work focuses on coral reef ecosystems, integrating scuba diving, satellite imagery and remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) to study reef resilience and management. Her research experiences have taken her from the reefs of Moorea, French Polynesia to the Caribbean coastlines of Barbados, and has been published in Integrative and Comparative Biology and Reef Encounter.

In 2022, she became the first African American to earn a graduate degree in marine science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her current work on reef management has earned recognition and support from organizations such as the National Geographic Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the International Coral Reef Society. As a National Geographic Explorer, Aliyah has contributed to promotional materials for The Little Mermaid and hosted a screening for families connected to her nonprofit. She also represented National Geographic during ABC Storyteller’s Spotlight at Essence Fest 2023. Passionate about inspiring future generations, she has authored a children’s book, My Secret Mermaid, showcasing careers in marine science and ocean exploration.

Jason is currently a contractor with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Previously he was a Research Professional at the University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory where he managed projects and was co-principal investigator for multiple research. Jason earned a PhD at George Mason University with a research focus on the shark trade in Costa Rica.

The major goal of Dr. Valderrama’s research program is to improve the environmental and economic management of living marine resources through the application of methods derived from economic and social science. His work is largely interdisciplinary and draws from disciplines as varied as marine biology, fish ecology, and natural resource economics. Dr. Valderrama has examined the environmental and economic performance of a number of fisheries in the U.S. and Latin America (Atlantic sea scallops, salmon, shrimp). In addition, he has investigated the production and environmental economics of a broad range of aquaculture species (shrimp, tilapia, catfish, hybrid striped bass, scallops, seaweed) and culture systems around the world. His research has also attempted to measure the potential of aquaculture to improve the socio-economic conditions of coastal communities affected by declining fisheries in developing countries. The accomplishment of marine conservation objectives through the development of sustainable aquaculture industries is another long-standing research interest. Dr. Valderrama has implemented his research program through academic institutions in the U.S. and Colombia, and also as an Aquaculture Officer for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Terrionna is an undergraduate Honors College research student at George Mason University. She is pursuing a degree in Environmental Science with a concentration in Human and Ecosystem Response to Climate Change. Her research focuses on the intersection between the environment and public perceptions.

Dr. Emily E. Conway is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Conservation, and Ecology in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. Dr. Conway’s research aims to use fundamental ecological theory along with the practice of ecological restoration to better understand the controls over community assembly specifically in urban areas. Her research has primarily been conducted in the field and has been centered on urban forests communities as well as restored and reconstructed grasslands in the Midwest and along the East Coast, with specific emphasis on plant
populations and communities as well as plant-animal interactions.