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    About UNC EFC
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The UNC EFC reaches local communities through the delivery of interactive applied training programs and technical assistance. The UNC EFC sees one of its major roles as increasing the capacity of other organizations to address the financial aspects of environmental protection. For this reason and to support the leveraging of resources, the UNC EFC does most of its training in a collaborative manner – partnering with established organizations that have environmental, but not necessarily financial expertise.

Our Mission
Our Staff
Where We Work
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In addition to direct community outreach, the EFC works with decision makers to assess the effectiveness of environmental finance policies at a regional or state level, and to improve those policies as a way of supporting local efforts.

Our Mission
The UNC EFC is dedicated to enhancing the ability of governments to provide environmental programs and services in fair, effective and financially sustainable ways. The UNC EFC provides a bridge between students and faculty in the university who work principally on environmental financing, management and planning tools, and the governments whose job is to use these tools for the public interest.

Our Staff

Faculty, Staff, and Researchers

Jeff Hughes, Director
Richard Whisnant, Professor of Public Law and Government
Stacey Isaac Berahzer, Project Director
Andrew Westbrook, Project Director
Shadi Eskaf, Project Director
Glenn Barnes, Project Director
Mary Tiger, Project Director
Lauren Patterson, Research Assistant/Environmental Finance Analyst
Andrew d'Adesky, Graduate Intern/Environmental Finance Analyst

Principal Collaborators

Lydian Altman, Associate Director, Public Intersection Project
Ricardo Morse, Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Government
John Stephens, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Government
Kara A. Millonzi, Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government

 

Faculty, Staff, and Researchers

Photo of Jeff Hughes Jeff Hughes is the Director of the Environmental Finance Center at UNC. Jeff works with local governments, not for profit organizations, and private companies to identify and implement innovative methods of financing and maintaining environmental facilities and programs. Jeff has a Masters in Water Resources Engineering from the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an undergraduate engineering degree from Duke University. Jeff served as the Chatham County Public Works and Utility Director between 1996 and 1999. He has worked extensively overseas as an environmental finance specialist with the Research Triangle Institute, providing technical support and training assistance to local and national governments throughout Eastern Europe and Africa.

Photo of Richard WhisnantRichard Whisnant is an Professor of Public Law and Government. He teaches environmental and administrative law, often to local and state officials such as city and county managers and attorneys, judges, and finance officers. As an Institute of Government faculty member, Richard works with local government on a daily basis to answer questions and give advice about environmental problems. Richard's interests and expertise are in environmental law, including the core air, water and waste statutes, the law of cleaning up contaminated property, and various specialized areas such as risk assessment, water resource management, coastal development, sedimentation and erosion control; administrative law, including the structure and processes of administrative agencies at the state and local level, regulatory reform, rulemaking, permitting and enforcement; and in financing environmental infrastructure. Richard is also knowledgeable in the area of digital content creation and distribution. He holds degrees from Harvard University, including a J.D. and a Masters in Public Policy, and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the Institute faculty, he served as General Counsel to the N.C. Dept. of Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
Photo of Stacey Isaac Berahzer

Stacey Isaac Berahzer is a Project Director with the Environmental Finance Center and works from a satellite office in Georgia. Stacey provides outreach services to local communities and disseminates tools and resources on topics such as funding strategies for stormwater management, rate setting practices, and general innovative financing techniques to improve water quality. She earned her Masters degree in Public Administration at UNC - Chapel Hill. She earned her undergraduate degree at NC Central University in Environmental Science. Stacey has worked in the area of pollution prevention and water quality at RTI International. Her experience in the field of education involved teaching high school, working with street children in Bolivia, research on closing the academic achievement gap in NC, and work in the area of "service-learning."

Photo of Andrew Westbrook

Andrew Westbrook works with the EFC on providing tools to help utility professionals and elected officials communicate effectively in order to implement proactive infrastructure financial sustainability measures. He has a graduate degree from the Environmental Sciences & Engineering Department of the School of Public Health at UNC – Chapel Hill. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign. As a graduate student at UNC, he has conducted research on the rate of disinfectant (chloramine) decay in drinking water distribution systems.

Photo of Shadi EskafShadi Eskaf joined the Environmental Finance Center in 2004 and has worked on projects analyzing environmental systems in local, statewide and regional settings. Shadi conducts research on a range of topics including water systems collaboration and regionalization, water and wastewater rates and rate-setting, residential water consumption, infrastructure capital needs and funding. Shadi is currently a doctoral student in the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. He received his Master's degree in Environmental Engineering from the same department in 2003, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2000. Shadi has also worked for the World Bank, Mercury Associates Inc., and Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
Photo of Glenn BarnesGlenn Barnes joined the Environmental Finance Center in 2006. Barnes teaches courses, provides direct community assistance, and carries out research on a range of topics including stormwater management, water and sewer rate-setting, wetlands, woody debris recycling, and green government. Prior to joining EFC, he worked for non-profits in New England focusing on renewable energy, biofuels, and environmental regulation. Barnes holds a BA and MPA from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mary Tiger is a Project Director for the Environmental Finance Center and provides outreach services to local communities on water conservation strategies and sustainability. Ms. Tiger holds a masters of public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill a BS in Environmental Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Mary interned with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities during the summer of 2008. There she conducted a process evaluation of their irrigation violation ticketing process and helped CMU explore the policy behind drought surcharge development. Prior to moving to Chapel Hill, she served as the Utility Conservation Coordinator for Loveland Water and Power in Colorado.
Lauren Patterson is a PhD student in the geography program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her Master's degree at UNC examined the effect that flood policy had on the development patterns of human populations exposed to riverine flooding. Prior to coming to UNC, Lauren's previous research experience has included an internship with the Geographic Information Sciences and Technology division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory working on population modeling.

Andrew d'Adesky started working with the Environmental Finance Center in 2008. He performs research on a range of topics including water rate setting, interlocal agreements and water systems collaboration. Andrew is currently attending the Master of Public Administration program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Originally from Miami, Florida, Andrew holds a BA in Political Science and Religious Studies from Florida International University.

Principal Collaborators

Lydian Altman joined the School of Government in 1999. Her prior work has been with public sector organizations, including several years as a director or board member of a nonprofit rape crisis and domestic violence agency, community college administrator, staff to a chamber of commerce, and in local government administration. In her current work with the Public Intersection Project, she promotes and fosters better cross-sector working relationships for more effective public problem-solving. Altman also facilitates strategic planning with boards and employee groups. Many of her project-generated articles have been published in Popular Government, ICMA’s IQ Report and PM Magazine, the American Review of Public Administration and PA Times. Altman holds a BS in industrial relations and an MPA from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Rick Morse joined the School of Government in 2006. He previously was assistant professor in the Public Policy and Administration Program at Iowa State University. He has also served as a project manager at Virginia Tech's Institute for Policy Outreach. He has worked extensively with state and local public officials on community collaboration processes in Virginia and Iowa. More recently, he led a team of colleagues consulting on a county-wide community visioning effort in Wilson, North Carolina, and continues to do advising and teaching in the areas of collaborative problem solving, visioning, and citizen participation. His publications include several articles and book chapters on collaboration and public participation. He also is lead editor of two recently published books on public leadership, Transforming Public Leadership for the 21st Century (M.E. Sharpe, 2007), and Innovations in Public Leadership Development (M.E. Sharpe, 2008). Morse holds a BA and MA in public policy from Brigham Young University and a PhD in public administration/public affairs from Virginia Tech.

Photo of John Stephens

John Stephens earned his B.A. from Earlham College, Master of Philosophy from The City University, London, and Ph.D. from George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Before joining the Institute of Government in 1996, he was Research Director of the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management. Previously, he had managed political campaigns, worked for a congressman, and was a lobbyist for the Home Builders Association of St. Louis, Missouri. He coordinates the Institute's public dispute resolution program and teaches public dispute resolution and citizen participation in the Master of Public Administration program. John's specialties are multi-party negotiation and consensus-building. His publications include Guidebook to Public Dispute Resolution in North Carolina, Public Management Bulletin: Using a Mediator in Public Disputes, solo authored, and Reaching for Higher Ground: Tools for Powerful Groups and Communities, Listening to Citizens: County Commissioners on the Road and School Funding Disputes: Mediate, Don't Litigate, all co-authored. He is also the editor of Popular Government.

Photo of Kara Millonzi Kara A. Millonzi joined the School of Government in 2006. She previously practiced law with Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP in Boston and clerked for the Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer, United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and the Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Recent publications include "Lawful Discrimination in Utility Ratemaking: Classifying Customers within Territorial Boundaries" and "Lawful Discrimination in Utility Ratemaking: Classifying Extraterritorial Customers," both published in Local Finance Bulletin. Millonzi earned a B.A. in economics, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University at Buffalo and an M.A. in economics from the University of Maryland at College Park. She earned a J.D., with highest honors, Order of the Coif, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served as editor in chief of the North Carolina Law Review.

For a list of past staff, please click here