Core Team
Dr. Thomas Green has been a national
leader in market-based sustainability and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) initiatives for more
than thirty years. He is president and co-founder of the IPM Institute of North America, a non-profit
working to leverage marketplace power to improve health, environment and economics in agriculture
and communities through IPM and other sustainable practices. The Institute
(ipminstitute.org) co-leads the National
School IPM Working Group, which works to reduce pest and pesticide risks in schools, including
promoting IPM curricula for students and educators, operates IPM STAR Certification for schools,
and offers Green Shield Certification to facilities, structural pest management professionals
and IPM programs. The Institute partners with food companies including Sysco, McDonald’s,
ConAgra Lamb Weston, McCain Foods, Simplot and Whole Foods Market on sustainability initiatives.
The Institute was awarded Supplier of the Year for Quality Assurance from Whole Foods Market in
2015, earned the International IPM Excellence Award from the Sixth International IPM Symposium in
2009, was recognized as an US EPA Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program Champion in 2004,
2005, 2008, and received the US EPA Sustained Excellence in IPM Award and 2009 and 2012. Dr.
Green has served as a director of the Entomological Foundation since 2009, and as vice-president
and president from 2011-2014, and was awarded the Foundation’s Medal of Honor in 2015. He has
been a member of the Entomological Society of America since 1983, and served on the Presidential
Committee on Science Policy and the Presidential Committee on Awards. Dr. Green is a Certified
Crop Advisor and a USDA NRCS-certified Technical Service Provider. He holds a Ph.D. in entomology
from the University of Massachusetts and has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications
and presented at more than 250 professional and industry events.
Daniel Skolnik, Senior Software Engineer,
IPM Institute of North America. Daniel has over 20 years of software development experience. He has
worked as a sub-contractor for NASA developing software for a plant growth chamber and other spaceflight
hardware, worked on vision software for manufacturing, software for medical applications and has
experience writing applications for web-based systems. Daniel has a B.S. in Engineering and a Master’s
degree in Information Technology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Ariel Larson, Project Manager, IPM Institute of North America.
Ariel works on design and function of the Pesticide Risk Tool. She coordinates meetings and communucation
between team members. She is responsible for outreach to Pesticide Risk Tool users.
Consultants
Dr. Charles Benbrook worked in
Washington, D.C. on agricultural policy, science and regulatory issues from 1979 through 1997.
He served for 1.5 years as the agricultural staff expert on the Council for Environmental Quality;
from 1981-1983, he was the Executive Director of the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research,
and Foreign Agriculture, U.S. House of Representatives; from 1984-1990, served as the Executive
Director, Board on Agriculture, National Academy of Sciences; served as a research professor from 2012-2015;
ran Benbrook Consulting Services since 1991 to 2006 and is currently the principal there. He also currently
maintains Hygeia Analytics, a website whose mission is to inform,
challenge, and deepen insight into the roots of good health.
Dr. Susan Kegley, principal and CEO,
Pesticide Research Institute, provides expertise on dermal and inhalation risk to workers and bystanders.
Susan is an organic chemist with expertise in pesticide toxicology, pollutant fate and transport;
environmental monitoring and analytical chemistry; and experience with pesticide regulation, pesticide
data sources and the pesticide toxicology and epidemiology literature. After 14 years of teaching,
research and curriculum development in academia, she worked as a Senior Scientist for nine years at
Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-governmental, non-profit organization that works to promote
sustainable alternatives to toxic pesticides. Dr. Kegley started Pesticide Research Institute in 2006
Dr. Pierre Mineau, is the Senior Scientist
and sole proprietor of Pierre Mineau Consulting, specialising in environmental risk assessment of pesticides.
Pierre was formerly with the Canadian Government as Senior Research Scientist within the Science and
Technology Branch of Environment Canada. He continues to hold an Emeritus position with the government
as well as Adjunct Professor status at Carleton University in Ottawa and at the University of Saskatchewan
in Saskatoon. His research encompasses pesticide toxicology, wildlife conservation in agro-ecosystems,
biomarker development, risk assessment, sustainable agriculture and anthropogenic sources of avian mortality.
He continues to collaborate in the area of pesticide impacts and risk assessment with several international
agencies as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations in Canada and abroad. A list of
publications can be obtained by contacting Pierre; several are available for download
here.