Thematic Session: Infrastructure and Natural Resource Use

Gina Damasco is a civil rights and social justice attorney, with over a decade of past experience as a mediator and compliance team attorney for the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Ms. Damasco provides consultative guidance on civil rights investigations, public interest law, human rights advocacy, and trauma informed lawyering. Ms. Damasco has experience working in site development for the wireless telecommunications industry, and has represented public agencies and organizations while an attorney with the Newark New Jersey law firm of Sills Cummis and Gross. While at Rutgers Law School - Newark, where she graduated with her J.D., Ms. Damasco received an award for Outstanding and Dedicated Service for her work assisting indigent special needs children with the school’s Urban Legal Clinic. She also was the Team Captain of the Rutgers Newark Philip C. Jessup Atlantic Regional International Moot Court Competition, and served as a research assistant in the areas of exclusionary zoning practices, and on disability rights laws impacting the contingent workforce. Additionally, she served as a production editor for the historic Rutgers Women’s Rights Law Reporter founded by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Ms. Damasco received a specialization in European Legal Studies in Paris from Tulane Law School, and served as a U.S. Congressional Intern with the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology during her Foreign Policy Semester Program with American University. Ms. Damasco graduated with her B.A. in English Literature from New York University, and served as a member of its Parliamentary Debate Team. Ms. Damasco has recently been honored with an Omega Women’s Leadership Center Juno Fellowship, and is also presently working to form her own nonprofit with a mission to remove barriers to safe, inclusive, and equitable work place environments through a variety of pro bono legal supports and services.

Andrea DiGiovanni is the Strategic Projects Lead at Neighbourlytics - a SaaS social analytics platform that helps city-makers understand, measure and benchmark the quality of life and wellbeing in cities. Since launching in 2017, Neighbourlytics has created data for more than 500 neighbourhoods across 10 countries, sparking a global conversation about making wellbeing the new focus of city performance.  As the Strategic Projects lead at Neighbourlytics, Andrea heads up Neighbourlytics' Launch Cities program, working with city governments to create near real-time insights to measure and benchmark the quality of life in their municipality. Prior to joining Neighbourlytics, Andrea was the Director of Program Development for evolve24, leading development and launch of new analytic offerings with a focus on ‘Data for Good’ applications, including Wellbeing and Sustainability. She is co-inventor of a patent-pending analytic to measure population Subjective Wellbeing. Andrea has applied her experience in social science research, development, market strategy, and communications to design and manage solutions for innovative, technology-driven organizations in both the public and private sectors. A graduate of New York University, Andrea lives in Arlington, Virginia. When not working with Neighbourlytics to create human-centered cities, she enjoys exploring new places, and teaching and practicing yoga.

Amanda currently works as the Environmental Director for the Town of Secaucus, New Jersey. She is a Representative to the UN of Foundation for Post Conflict Development, a foundation that is based in East Timor and works primarily on development. She has served as a youth delegate in conferences such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha, Qatar and in Paris, France. Amanda is a Climate Reality Leader and was trained to effectively present information about climate change. Amanda is a recipient of the 2014 United Nations ATOP Peace Award for her work in Environmental Sustainability and was chosen as one of the top 50 Most Influential People of Hudson County, NJ. She has also received the North Jersey Young Environmental Innovator Award for 2015 and was Hudson County Woman of the Year in 2018. Amanda also has a Tedx talk about her journey titled “How I Became a Change Agent”. She has a Master of Science in Sustainability Management from Stevens Institute of Technology.

K.N. Gunalan (Guna) is senior vice president of transportation alternative delivery, Americas at AECOM, based in Salt Lake City, UT. Previously, he was a vice president at Parsons Brinckerhoff. Guna has managed large complex infrastructure projects, providing technical advice on civil, structural, geotechnical, pavement, and materials issues on a variety of projects around the world. His collaborative approach has contributed to many successful programs and projects ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than 3 billion dollars. He has been active in ASCE for many years, including leadership roles as Region 8 director (2009-2012), Region 8 governor (2005-2007), Utah Section president (2002-2003), and Texas Section High Plains Branch president (1992). He served as the chair of ASCE’s 2014 Global Engineering Conference in Panama City, Panama, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal. Most recently, he served as a governor for the Geo-Institute and was a member of the steering committee for the 2017 ASCE India Conference. Guna has been married for 35 years to Duru. They have a son, Kabilar, and a daughter, Pallavi. He loves to read, travel, and learn about new cultures.

A highly efficient and dedicated individual with over 15 years' combined experience in project management, operations, research and administration in non-profit and social development. Passionate about environmental management, sustainable agriculture and renewable energy, dedicated to enabling sustainable development in Sub Saharan Africa. David is the Founder and Executive Director of GIFSEP - Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation based in Nigeria; Mike advocates, educates and mobilizes communities to respond to a changing climate. He is volunteer West Africa Coordinator for The African Climate Reality Project and the African Regional Coordinator for Citizens Climate Lobby. Driven from deeply held conviction, with his personal mantra “Thou shall not pollute the Earth”, he applies a degree in Agricultural Engineering with a specialization in Soil and Water Management and a post graduate certificate in Renewable energy. His passion is training people, young and old, in best practices for sustainable land management, food production and environmental conservation. One of his initiatives is the #SolarForIDPCamps which is aimed at providing clean energy access to nearly 2 million persons taking shelter in different Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across Nigeria by lighting up the IDP camps with Solar.

A development economist and lawyer with over 35 years of varied experience, Mr. Tripathi has served with the UN since 1998 in key positions in Europe, Asia and Africa in the areas of Climate Change, Human Rights, Democratic Governance and Legal Affairs. He was Chair of the Committees on Laws, Treaties and Administrative matters for the UN-mediated Cyprus unification talks in 2004; UN Recovery Coordinator for Aceh and Nias where he facilitated international cooperation and funding of over US$ 7 billion for post-tsunami and post-conflict recovery efforts in support of the Indonesian government and affected populations; and Executive Head of UNORCID, a UN System Office of 10 UN Agencies established by the UN Secretary General in 2011 to facilitate the implementation of a US$ 1 Billion REDD+ partnership between Indonesia, Norway and other stakeholders on climate change mitigation and adaptation through the conservation of forests and preservation of peat-land and bio-diversity. Mr. Tripathi was instrumental in establishing the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF) in Indonesia in 2016 and the Sustainable India Finance Facility (SIFF) in 2017 to leverage ‘private finance for public good’ at mega-scale to achieve transformative social and environmental impact in developing countries. He continues to serve on the boards of these institutions. Mr. Tripathi is a Senior Distinguished Fellow on Natural Resources Governance at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and serves on the Advisory Council of the Natural Capital Declaration (NCD). He previously served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on Forests; and in India as a member of its national civil service.