With trade there are always “buzzwords”, and SUSTAINABILITY is definitely one we are hearing more often. But what does it mean, and how does it impact Global Trade and Supply Chains? The International Steering Committee wants to help answer these questions and more!

This is a great opportunity to meet international trade resource providers in the region and receive help and resources.

Join us to network and learn from speakers:

Deepa Poduval is a Senior Vice President who leads Black & Veatch’s Global Advisory Practice. In this capacity, she provides executive leadership for the company’s Strategic and Digital Advisory solutions and for clients worldwide, assisting them in achieving their goals related to sustainability, growth, and resilience with respect to their critical human infrastructure.

Furthermore, as Black & Veatch’s Sustainability Leader, Deepa aids the company and its clients in generating economic value while promoting positive environmental and social change through sustainable infrastructure.

Deepa serves on the board of directors of the GridWise Alliance and was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Houston for 2023.

Nathan Berg is Co-Owner of Berg Reinvigorations, a regional sawmill that sells responsibly harvested hardwood and softwood timber from private, public, state and federal forest lands across the Southern Midwest. He started the company in 2017 with his wife, Jamie Berg. After working within the energy industry for approximately 10 years, he left and began Berg Reinvigorations. Over the past 7 years, the company has grown to offer a wide array of highly specialized products within the lumber industry while still remaining true to its personal and relationship-driven focus.

Richard Rocha is a Principal Environmental Engineer at Bayer CropScience’s chemical plant located in Kansas City, Missouri. He has over 30 years of experience managing environmental regulatory compliance activities at chemical plants and in the investigation and remediation of contaminated properties. His main areas of responsibility include assuring chemical plants’ compliance with various regulatory authorities. He also serves as an internal company resource providing subject matter expert technical assistance on environmental topics to other Bayer facilities located throughout North America.

Our Moderator:

Jason Haney is a senior member of the Corporate Innovation Group at Black & Veatch, an employee-owned Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC), and consulting company with a 100-year legacy of innovations in sustainable infrastructure. He has been with Black & Veatch for over 12 years and is based in the Kansas City area.

Jason is the Director of the Black & Veatch IgniteX Accelerator Program. IgniteX is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize-recognized program where Black & Veatch partners with start-up companies to help them scale solutions for critical human infrastructure.

As part of the Innovation Group, Jason helps drive smart, rapid, profitable growth; discover opportunities; and challenge convention. He co-founded and co-lead an internal corporate innovation team to develop, test, and de-risk new solutions and business models to solve the housing crisis in an affordable, sustainable, and resilient manner.

Prior to joining the Innovation Group, Jason was a senior performance consultant where he assessed business challenges and risks and developed and implemented performance improvement initiatives to improve business objectives.

Before Black & Veatch, Jason was in public service at a State Government agency in Kansas as the Director of Performance Improvement, responsible for operations and performance improvement initiatives.

Jason started his professional career as an officer in the United States Navy, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander.