2024 Fall Speakers
Mike Abraczinskas
Director
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Air Quality
Mike Abraczinskas is currently the Director of the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) and has worked for DAQ for 25 years as of July 1, 2024. Mike oversees DAQ’s program activities including technical and policy issues, budget, operations, and strategic planning. Mike has diverse experience in air quality, including compliance activities, emissions and air quality modeling, regulatory development, planning, and quality management prior to being named DAQ’s Deputy Director in 2010, and Director in 2017.
His roles have involved leading technical staff working with diverse stakeholders to meet DAQ’s important mission. Mike is a leader in the air quality management field and is active in national and regional organizations comprised of State and Local Air Quality Agencies, including serving in 2024 as the immediate Past President in both the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies (AAPCA), and the Carolinas Air Pollution Control Association (CAPCA).
And, in 2024, Mike is serving as Vice-Chair of the Southeastern States Air Resource Managers Association (SESARM).
Mike graduated from North Carolina State University with a B.S. in Meteorology and a Minor in Environmental Science; is certified as an Engineer-In-Training (EIT); and is a graduate of the North Carolina Public Managers Program.
Ilya Alimov
Technical Director and the Acting QA Manager
TRC Environmental
Ilya is a Technical Director and the Acting QA Manager for the Air Measurements Testing Practice at TRC Environmental. Ilya supports projects for a variety of clients in both of the Carolinas, as well as across the nation. He works with chemical, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, and power generation industry clients on their environmental compliance issues. While his primary focus has been on Source Testing over the past 16 years, he also assists with projects requiring expertise in air quality, CEMS data, air emissions data management, and advanced air pollution monitoring techniques, including FTIR and GC. He was recently re-elected to the board of directors for the Source Evaluation Society (SES). Ilya immigrated from Russia in 1999 and has lived in the Raleigh, NC area since. Ilya lives with his wife Julia, their dog Teddy Bear, and their cat Laney. His hobbies include scuba diving (earning the PADI master scuba diver rating last year), home automation, tinkering in the garage with cars or electronics, woodworking, and traveling the world.
John Bird
Environmental Director
Roseburg Forest Products
John Bird is the Environmental Director for Roseburg Forest Products. He has a BS in engineering from Georgia Tech and a MS in environmental assessment from NC State. John is a licensed professional engineer in North Carolina. John is the chair of the American Wood Council’s Environmental Issues Committee and Chair of the NC manufacturers alliance science and tech committee. He lives in Southern Pines with his wife and two kids.
John Boyd
John Boyd chairs Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd’s Environmental Group and practices in the areas of environmental, regulatory, administrative and general corporate law. John's environmental practice includes permitting, enforcement, due diligence and risk assessment, real estate transactions, environmental audits, voluntary cleanup contracts, brownfield redevelopment and traditional issues surrounding toxic substances, hazardous and solid waste management, air emissions and water quality. He received his J.D. from the University of South Carolina, Master’s from the University of Michigan and B.S. from Sewanee: The University of the South. John serves on the Board of Directors for Sustain SC and is an adjunct professor (Federal Environmental Law and Policy) at the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law.
Robert Bright
Robert Bright graduated from NC State University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. He started with the Division of Air Quality in the Washington Regional Office in June 2001 and has served as the Compliance Coordinator / Environmental Engineer II for WaRO since 2003. He can be reached at robert.bright@ncdenr.gov or 252-948-3829.
Charlie Carter
Partner
Earth & Water Law Group
Charlie Carter represents clients in environmental regulatory and litigation matters before state, federal and local agencies. With over 40 years of experience, he has represented companies, governmental agencies, and private clients over a broad range of environmental regulatory programs, including permitting, rulemaking, compliance, and enforcement matters under the air, water and land use, solid and hazardous wastes, toxic substances, and coastal management programs. Significant matters include the landmark United States Supreme Court administrative law case, Chevron v. NRDC, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce on EPA's NOx SIP Call, and the West Virginia Manufacturers Association on Clean Air Act Section 126 cases. In July 2021, Charlie was appointed to a third 4-year term on the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission, the agency that establishes rules and policy for the State's air, water, and waste resources. The Commission is a 15-member group of citizens appointed by the Governor and General Assembly. Charlie’s experience includes nine years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as Associate Director of the Office of Congressional Liaison and Assistant General Counsel and Chief of OGC’s National Standards Branch. His EPA responsibilities included SO2 and PM SIPs and NESHAPs and NSPS rules with extensive appellate litigation and oral arguments before the federal District of Columbia, Second, and Third Circuit Courts of Appeals. He drafted Titles III and IV and other portions of the Bush Administration bill enacted as the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 for which he was awarded EPA’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Service. He was also awarded the agency’s Bronze Medal for the Benzene Hazardous Air Pollutant standards, which was enacted as the residual risk standard in Section 112(f)(2) of the 1990 CAA Amendments. Prior to EPA, Charlie was staff environmental attorney for Duke Power Company, Environmental Law Advisor for the Edison Electric Institute in D.C., and in private law practice. Following his EPA, Charlie has been in private practice with law firms in Washington, D.C. and North and South Carolina. Charlie is a member of the Bars of North Carolina, the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia and Fourth Circuits, and U.S. District Courts for North Carolina and the District of Columbia. Prior to his Juris Doctor at the University of North Carolina law school, Charlie earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (majoring in Electrical Engineering) at Duke University and served as a Design Engineer for the Sperry-Rand Corporation. Charlie has been selected by his peers for The Best Lawyers in America in Environmental Law for twenty years.
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Denisse Diaz
Director of Air and Radiation Division
EPA Region 4
Denisse Diaz has been with EPA Region 4 since 1991 and is currently serving as the Director of the Air and Radiation Division. Previously, she was the Deputy Director for the Water Division; the Quality Assurance and Program Services Branch Manager in the Laboratory Services and Applied Science Division; the Branch Manager of the NPDES Permitting and Enforcement Branch in the Water Division and the Section Manager in the Office of Environmental Accountability. Before becoming a manager, she spent five years as a senior enforcement specialist/special assistant in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Division and started her career at EPA in the Air, Pesticides, and Toxics Management Division, where she served as an enforcement officer. She is a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering.
David J. Evans
David joined the staff of the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors in 1998. As the Board’s Assistant Executive Director he supervises investigations of engineers, surveyors and corporations as well as non-licensed practice. David also oversees business licensure and compliance; continuing professional competency; license applications and renewals; and the Board’s regular program of enforcement and education. David previously conducted criminal investigations in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Investigator. He is a past Chairman of the Committee on Law Enforcement for the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying and served on the Law Enforcement Advisory Group. David has a B.A. in History and Social Science from Eastern Connecticut State University.
Brad Granley
President / Founder
Leachate Management Specialists
Brad Granley is a licensed, professional engineer and the founder and president of Leachate Management Specialists. He has over 25 years of engineering experience ranging from the cleanup of complex, contaminated soil and groundwater sites to industrial wastewater treatment. He has focused the last 15 years in the solid waste industry, making an impact by helping to develop and implement novel on-site leachate treatment and disposal technologies. His project and professional performance include saving clients millions of dollars, reducing the carbon footprint of facilities, leading multiple National Engineering Excellence award-winning projects, speaking at numerous national and state level technical conferences, being named as a “Community Changemaker” by the National Waste and Recycling Association, being named one of “22 Innovators for 2022” by MSW Management Magazine, and recently receiving an international award in person from the Crown Princess of Thailand for his work with phyto-technologies for leachate disposal. He considers himself a very lucky man having a meaningful career, and more importantly a wonderful wife of 28 years and three wonderful grown children. He is an avid trail runner and lives near the Rocky Mountains in Denver, Colorado.
Mark Heaney
Senior Principal
Geosyntec Consultants, Inc.
Mark Heaney is a Senior Principal, Regulatory Compliance and Global Product Stewardship specialist based in New York and Washington, DC with more than 30 years of experience.
As a leader of Geosyntec’s global product stewardship team, Mark focuses on product regulatory compliance and enforcement programs across a wide range of consumer and industrial products, pesticides, and chemicals. Mark delivers EHS expertise focused on product safety and compliance as well as facilities operations to clients across sectors including consumer products, industrial chemicals, automotive supply, textiles, pesticides, industrial products manufacturing, energy utilities, and law firms. He brings experience in both environmental regulation and product stewardship for his clients, matching facility operational compliance skills with expertise in a multitude of product and chemical related regulations. His practical approach to regulatory challenges is focused on achieving his clients’ business objectives within applicable regulatory and supply chain frameworks. He has successfully guided clients through product and chemical registration efforts as well as multimedia facility EHS compliance audits. Mark’s deep experience in facilities EHS, supply chain management and product stewardship has led him to focus on system-wide approaches to managing compliance for clients from the factory to the shelf.
Larry Lamberth
Deputy Director
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Larry has been with EPA for over 33 years and is currently on detail to EPA Headquarters as the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) Senior Program Advisor. Larry’s position of record is the Deputy Director for the Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division in Region 4. Larry started as an inspector in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Program (RCRA) and has since served in management positions in multiple programs in Region 4. Larry is a graduate of Clemson University where he received a B.S. in Civil Engineering.
Bill Lane
Deputy Secretary for Policy and Legal Affairs/General Counsel
NCDEQ
Bill Lane serves as NCDEQ’s Deputy Secretary for Policy and Legal Affairs/General Counsel. His responsibilities include strategic legal and policy initiatives at the Department level and oversight of the Divisions of Coastal Management and Marine Fisheries. He joined DEQ as general counsel in February 2017. Before joining DEQ, Bill practiced environmental law for 20 years at Kilpatrick, Townsend, and Stockton in Raleigh, where he represented business and governmental clients. He served on the CAPCA board of directors from 2014 through 2021 and was the president in 2020. Prior to attending law school, he worked in environmental consulting and became a licensed professional engineer. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Peter J. McGrath Jr.
Moore & Van Allen, PLLC
Peter provides environmental counsel to clients across a broad spectrum of industries. He advises lenders, real estate developers, property managers, manufacturers, landfill operators, renewable energy developers, lenders and investors, and life sciences companies. He also helps clients comply with environmental law, providing regulatory advice in a wide variety of substantive areas, including solid and hazardous waste, coal ash management, stormwater and wastewater water discharges, air emissions, wetlands, chemical regulation, environmental remediation, and occupational safety and health.
Peter has successfully managed the environmental aspects of hundreds of corporate, financing, and real estate transactions, working in conjunction with other practice areas within the firm. That management includes conducting and coordinating environmental due diligence for target companies and properties, retaining and managing environmental consultants to investigate and quantify known and potential liabilities, counseling clients on environmental liabilities and risk allocation, drafting and negotiating the environmental provisions of transaction documents, assisting in the procurement of environmental insurance and other risk-mitigating solutions, and managing the post-closing resolution of environmental issues.
Peter has served on the Mecklenburg County Air Quality Commission for the past ten years and has been Chairman of the Commission for the past six years.
Mr. McGrath received a B.A , from Yale in 1983, and a J.D, in 1986 from the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Law Review. He has been included in Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite list since 2007, has been named to the list of Best Lawyers in America for environmental law, was named Charlotte Litigation - Environmental "Lawyer of the Year," by Best Lawyers in America in 2022 and 2024 and has been included in Chambers Partners USA list of leading environmental lawyers since 2008.
Steve Moore
Senior Managing Consultant
ALL4
Steve Moore is a Senior Managing Consultant with ALL4 located in Greenville, SC. Steve has 35 years of experience in areas of air permitting, air dispersion modeling, air quality auditing and compliance support, risk management and accidental release planning, and environmental report
Dale Overcash, PE
Principal Consultant
Trinity Consultants
Dale Overcash has 44 years of environmental experience principally dealing with air quality permitting and compliance issues. Mr. Overcash has 30 years of environmental consulting experience and prior to that worked 14 years as a permit writer and manager in the North Carolina Division of Environmental Management, Air Quality and Water Quality Sections.
Mr. Overcash is currently employed with Trinity Consultants as a Principal Consultant in the Raleigh Office. He serves as a senior technical lead for providing air quality permitting and compliance services to the industrial sector in NC and SC.
Mr. Overcash has served on the Board of Directors for Carolinas Air Pollution Control Association and was the CAPCA President in 2016. He currently is serving on some CAPCA committees.
Mr. Overcash has been an active member of the Science and Technology Committee for the NCMA where he served on the Steering Committee for the EEHS school and was previously the Dean of Air for the annual EEHS school for many years.
Mr. Overcash is a 1980 graduate of NC State University with a BS in Biological and Agricultural Engineering and is a registered PE in North and South Carolina.
Myra Reece
Myra Reece serves as the Interim Director of the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES), overseeing the bureaus of Air Quality; Environmental Health Services; Land and Waste Management; Water; and the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. A member of the former DHEC team for more than 30 years, Myra has served in leadership roles with the regional office system and as the Bureau Chief for the Bureau of Air Quality prior to becoming the director of Environmental Affairs. She works collaboratively with state and federal agencies, local governments, community leaders, businesses and industries. In the summer of 2021, Myra was named President of the Environmental Council of States (ECOS). ECOS plays a critical role in facilitating a quality relationship among federal and state agencies across the country. She has previously served in leadership roles with ECOS since 2019 as Planning Committee Chair, Secretary-Treasurer, and Vice President. Myra is part of important national conversations about the successes and challenges of protecting human health and the environment in an ever-evolving and modernizing climate. Myra received a bachelor's degree in microbiology from Clemson University and a master's degree in public health from the University of South Carolina. She’s also a graduate of the Management Academy for Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a graduate of the Southern Center of Excellence in Environmental Health at Emory University and has obtained professional certification as a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager
Brittany Robinson
Air Lead/Environmental Program Manager
International Paper
Brittany Robinson is the Air Lead/Environmental Program Manager for International Paper. She has 28 years of experience in environmental compliance for pulp and paper mills. This includes a co-op with EPA Region IV, six years in environmental consulting and 22 years with International Paper. She has a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech and is a Professional Engineer in the states of North and South Carolina.
Gregory Stella
Senior Scientist and Managing Partner
Alpine Geophysics, LLC
Mr. Stella, a managing partner and senior scientist at Alpine Geophysics, LLC, is internationally recognized as a technical authority in the modeling and policy application of emission inventories for ozone and particulate matter pollutants and precursors. For over thirty years he has coordinated with both public and private workgroups, modeling centers, and stakeholders to develop, evaluate, and apply control measures and program designs in support of emissions and air quality policy decisions.
Prior to joining Alpine Geophysics in 2003, Mr. Stella was on staff at EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards where he managed and prepared the emission inventories, control strategies, and associated emission modeling data for multiple ozone, PM, and regional haze rulemakings. Mr. Stella is a recipient of two U.S. EPA Gold Medals for the NOx SIP Call Rulemaking and the Tier-2 Tailpipe Standard; projects in which he participated while at EPA.
Mr. Stella received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Stephen Stroud
Environmental and Regulatory US Operations Director
West Fraser
Stephen has 16 years of experience in environmental compliance for the wood products industry. This includes environmental consulting and operational support. He has a Bachelor’s in Paper Science Engineering from North Carolina State University.
Rhonda Banks Thompson, P.E.
Chief, Bureau of Air Quality
South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (DES)
Columbia, SC
Rhonda Thompson has been with the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (formally DHEC) for over 34 years. She has been the Chief of the Bureau of Air Quality since 2016. Prior to becoming Bureau Chief, she served as Assistant Bureau Chief for 9 years and also director of the permitting division.
At the regional and national level, Rhonda is immediate past Secretary/Treasurer of the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies (AAPCA), Board Member and previous Chair of the Southeastern States Air Resource Managers (SESARM), and President of the Carolinas Air Pollution Control Association (CAPCA) Board of Directors. Rhonda was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster to represent DES on the Interagency Electric Vehicle (EV) Working Group.
Rhonda has a B.S. Degree in Engineering from the University of South Carolina, and she is a Registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in South Carolina.
Michael Traynham
Environmental Law Attorney
Maynard Nexsen
Michael is an experienced environmental law attorney based in the Columbia, South Carolina office of Maynard Nexsen. Prior to joining the firm in 2020, Michael worked for Fort Jackson as an in-house Environmental Law Attorney, advising the installation's Department of Public Works on numerous environmental issues, including groundwater, dam safety, hazardous waste management, and NEPA compliance.
Michael also previously served as Chief Counsel for Environmental Quality Control at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. His responsibilities included overseeing legal services for the Bureau of Water, Bureau of Air Quality, and Bureau of Land and Waste Management, as well as advising agency staff on environmental permitting and enforcement issues affecting the State of South Carolina.
Michael received his B.S. from the University of South Carolina Honors College and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He lives in Irmo and volunteers with Scouts BSA Pack 95 and Troop 91 (mostly to go camping with his three girls) and in various ministries at Crossroads Church.
Michael Verzwyvelt
-Started with DHEC in stack testing in 1998 and left for the private sector in 2001
-Came back in 2014 in the Technical Management Section
-Moved back to stack testing in 2016
-Became the Program Manager in 2019
-Bachelors of Science in Biology
-Lives in Columbia
Tom Wassel
Tom has over 50 years of experience in the design, manufacture, installation, commissioning and operation of process equipment. His experience has crossed multiple industries including Primary Metals, Chemical, Waste water treatment, WTI facilities, Textiles, Food. Pulp and Paper, Wood and Government applications. His area of experience includes boilers and furnaces using Biomass, opportunity fuels, Waste, natural gas, Coke Oven Gas, Blast Furnace Gas, Producer Gas, Propane and other low BTU gases, All Oils #1 through #6, straight run and blended fuels for utilization in multiple industrial applications. In addition he is conversant with the available methods to control the emissions from these processes. Tom currently sits on two NFPA Committees; Fundamentals of Combustion Hazards and Fluidized Bed Boilers. He is a registered PE.