Staff
Jeff Omelchuck, GEC Director and EPEAT Program Manager
Jeff is the Director of the GEC. He has extensive experience as the Managing Principal of International Quality Associates, Inc., a private consultancy helping clients design, implement, and improve formal management systems and achieve registration to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and similar standards. Through IQA he has filled interim executive management positions and managed dozens of complex projects, often in the electronics industry. Jeff is an RABQSA certified Lead Auditor and Skill Examiner and conducts certification audits for two internationally accredited registrars. Prior to founding IQA, Jeff spent the first 10 years of his career in the electronics industry in positions generally spanning product development and manufacturing operations in the Silicon Valley and then the Silicon Forest of Oregon. Jeff received an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Montana State.
Wayne Rifer, EPEAT Program - Stakeholder Processes Manager
Mr. Rifer has provided environmental consulting to public and private sector clients for over 25 years with a focus on integrated waste management. In 2000 he was one of the early initiators of product stewardship in the electronics sector with a focus on multi-stakeholder solution-oriented processes. Under an EPA grant he managed the Western Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative (WEPSI), a regional stakeholder dialogue, that had two major objectives: 1) to address the need to establish recycling programs for electronic products at the end of their useful life and 2) to promote improved environmental design through market-place incentives.
The first objective resulted in Wayne’s participant as a negotiator in the National Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI), a stakeholder negotiation that sought to develop a national system for the management of end-of-life electronics. Following the closure of NEPSI, he has continued to work with industry to find solutions to this as-yet unsolved challenge on the state level.
The second objective resulted in the initiation of the project to develop the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). Wayne served as the project manager of EPEAT through the multi-stakeholder development and implementation process, and is now a member of the GEC team.
Sarah O'Brien, EPEAT Outreach Director, Green Electronics Council
Sarah O’Brien is EPEAT Outreach Director for the Green Electronics Council, educating purchasers and the general public about the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) system for purchasing environmentally preferable electronics. Prior to joining the GEC, Sarah was EPP Program Manager at Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E), assisting health care facilities, systems and Group Purchasing Organizations across North America to reduce health care’s environmental impact and improve facilities’ environmental performance through purchasing initiatives.
Prior to H2E, as a Senior Outreach Associate with national nonprofit INFORM, Sarah assisted government agencies, institutions and businesses to reduce their purchase of products containing persistent toxic chemicals. As part of her work with H2E and INFORM, she was an NGO member of the national stakeholder team that developed and implemented the EPEAT standard and system, and served as a member of the EPEAT Board of Advisors.
Earlier, as an environmental advocate for the National Wildlife Federation and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Sarah worked throughout New England developing, analyzing, negotiating and promoting public policies on environmental health issues at the state, regional and national level. She is a former board member of the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, has presented to audiences throughout the US and has written frequently for the health care media on environmental purchasing topics.
Additional Staff
The GEC is supported by the capable office staff of the International Sustainable Development Foundation. Thanks ISDF!
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The Green Electronics Council is a program of the International Sustainable Development Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.