Bob has more than twenty-five years of industrial hygiene, indoor air quality, scientific investigative, environmental risk assessment, and environmental management systems consulting experience.

He is Founder of QUEST Management International.

Bob lectures and publishes extensively, including his co-authored book International Environmental Risk Management: ISO 14000 and the Systems Approach. He has qualified and served in numerous jurisdictions as an expert in industrial hygiene, environmental monitoring, microflora/mold, meth, indoor air quality, environmental sampling, and risk management, for dozens of environmental contamination cases. Bob has a Bachelor’s degree in geology from Middlebury College and a Master of Science degree in Marine Geology and Geophysics from the Rosensteil School of Marine & Atmospheric Science.

Dinesh Wadhwani is an industry, air quality and lighting expert, entrepreneur in the technology and life sciences industries, and Founder/CEO of ThinkLite.

At ThinkLite, he works with a team of engineers to create “high value add” technological solutions in diverse fields including pharmaceutical, agriculture, poultry, data centers, general health and most recently, a technology solution that tracks the levels of airborne pathogens in indoor public areas and facilities, including COVID-19, among other viruses; so they can be addressed and managed to help optimize health and safety indoors.

Robert W. Powitz is Principal Forensic Sanitarian,
R. W. Powitz & Associates, P.C.,
Old Saybrook, CT.

He received his undergraduate education from the State University of New York and the University of Georgia. He holds an M.P.H. and Ph.D. degree in environmental health, epidemiology, and environmental microbiologyfrom the University of Minnesota.

Formally trained as an Institutional Sanitarian, Bob is currently a Forensic Sanitarian in private practice. He served as state Sanitarian and municipal Health Officer in New Jersey and Connecticut. He holds licenses as a Sanitarian in several states and has been nationally registered for 54 years. He was the Director of Environmental Health and Safety and Associate Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and served as Biological Safety Officer for the United States Department of Agriculture at the
Plum Island Animal Disease Center.

For over thirty-five years he wrote regularly appearing columns and articles on food safety, current environmental health issues, field instrumentation and institutional environmental health practice. He does frequent speaking tours for governmental agencies, industry, and professional organizations.

Bob is the recipient of the three highest honors conferred to a sanitarian: The National Environmental Health Association’s Walter S. Mangold Award; NSF International’s Walter F. Snyder Award; and the American Academy of Sanitarians’ Davis Calvin Wagner Award. He is a Diplomate Laureate in the American Academy of Sanitarians and a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Engineering and Technology.

Steve Ashkin has worked in the professional cleaning industry since 1981 and on the issue of Green Cleaning since 1990. Today he is considered the “Father of Green Cleaning” and the leader of the Green Cleaning Movement and the leading advocate for sustainability in the professional cleaning industry.  He has been actively involved with the US Green Building Council (USGBC) since 1993, a past member of the national Board of Directors and served on the Core Committee that wrote LEED for Existing Buildings.

Ashkin consults for public and private building owners where he is closely engaged with the owners themselves along with organizations such as the US Green Building Council, Building Owners & Managers Association, International Facility Management Association, and US federal, state and local institutions. In addition, he works up and down the supply chain assisting major international manufacturers of cleaning chemicals, sanitary paper products, powered cleaning equipment, plastic can liners and others; along with product distributors and providers of cleaning services. Furthermore, he works with major trade associations, labor unions, environmental groups, policymakers and media outlets where he currently has columns in 4 trade publications and speaking frequently at major industry events.

Among his long list of activities, accomplishments and awards includes:

• A founding member of the US Green Building Council, past member of their national Board of Directors and primary author of the cleaning credits in the LEED-EBOM Rating System.
• A member of the Board of Directors of the Green Sports Alliance and author of their “Playbook” (guide) to help professional and collegiate sport facilities “green” their cleaning program.
• A US Presidential Award recipient for his contribution to the development of the President’s Green Chemistry Awards Program.
• An Excellence Award Winner from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Children’s Health for his work to protect children from environmental threats.
• A Presidio Fellow in Sustainability and Sports presented by the Presidio Graduate School.
• The chairman of the ASTM Task Force that wrote the US national standard introducing the concept of “green” into the cleaning industry, and a member of numerous other standard development efforts including ISO, Green Seal, Ecologo/UL and EPA’s Design for the Environment program.
• The chairman of the Sierra Club’s National Toxics Committee’s Cleaning Products Reform Initiative and the Sierra Club’s representative to the BlueGreen Alliance which is composed of the major environmental and labor unions in the US.
• The technical advisor to several NGOs including Practice Greenhealth (the leading health care organization in the US focused on “green” issues”) and Healthy Schools Campaign where he served as lead author on their Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools.
• The author of 4 books including Green Cleaning for Dummies and The Business of Green Cleaning, published or quoted in over 700 newspaper and magazine articles; and given over 200 presentations – all on the subject of Green Cleaning and sustainability.

North America’s leading contractors hire Chris to write technical proposals, update sales libraries, create presentations, and deliver results — all under Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs).

Chris’ work compels, persuades, and engages customers for success, as seen in his 60.0% win rate via technical proposal, which has earned his clients over $1.64 billion in secured contracts. A former ABM VP sales of marketing, Chris has his Masters’ Degree in Management and his thesis on service quality.

Chris Arlen started Revenue-IQ to improve contractors’ sales capabilities and share lessons learned from more than 25 years ofconsulting with facility contractors.

Education
• MS, Management, Antioch University Seattle
• BA, California State University, Sacramento

Perry Shimanoff is a Certified Master Custodial Trainer with ISSA’s Cleaning Management Institute (CMI). He is the founder and president of MC2 Management and Communication Consultants, and has been involved in training both managers and front-line cleaning staff for more than 40 years. He has designed several computer applications for maintenance management, facility scheduling, and custodial operations; has served on the International Custodial Advisors Network (ICAN) Board of Directors; and is a current member of both ICAN and the IICRC standards committee. He has conducted more than 300 training seminars at more than 800 school districts, taught nearly 20,000 custodians nationally, written more than 90 articles requested by journals, and is a successful author.

Charles P. Gerba PhD—Professor of Environmental Microbiology, University of Arizona.

Charles P. Gerba, PhD is an internationally recognized environmental microbiologist and Professor of Environmental Microbiology in the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Soil, Water and Environmental Science, at the University of Arizona. His credentials include a BA in Microbiology, Arizona State University, 1969, and a PhD in Microbiology, University of Miami, Florida, 1973. He is also a member of the American Academy of Microbiology.

Dr. Gerba has authored more than over 700 articles—16 on coronaviruses as of January, 2022—and on behalf of the Departments of Environmental Science (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), Biosystems Engineering (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), and Community and Environmental Health (College of Public Health) at the University of Arizona.

His efforts are largely focused on quantifying the benefits of interventions such as disinfection and cleaning for reducing risk of infection.

His articles include several text booksin environmental microbiology and pollution science. He actively conducts research on the development of new disinfectants and drinking water treatment processes, new methods for the detection of pathogens, and microbial risk assessment. He was a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Committee on the development of the “Guide Standard and Protocol for Testing Microbiological Water Purifiers,” which forms the basis for testing the performance of water treatment devices used for outdoor recreation. He is a member of the U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board Committees on Drinking
Water and Research Strategies.

The public knows Dr. Gerba best for his crusading on behalf of household hygiene. He has made frequent media appearances, including Good Morning America, Today, and Dateline, and has been quoted numerous times in international and national reports, magazines and newspapers.

Dr. Allread is an Ergonomist for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC).
Established in 1912, BWC  is the exclusive provider of workers’ compensation insurance in Ohio and serves 257,000 public and private employers.With nearly 1,600 employees and assets of approximately $22 billion, BWC is one of the largest state-run insurance systems in the United States.

Dr. Allread is also the former Program Director of SRI-Ergonomics at The Ohio State University. In this position, Gary worked extensively with companies and organizations nationwide, to provide a variety of ergonomics technical support services. This included: conducting ergonomics worksite assessments and guiding improvement efforts; training employee groups about ergonomics principles; and developing and helping to manage companies’ ergonomics initiatives. A Certified Professional Ergonomist, he has lent his expertise to a wide range of industry sectors, including hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, automotive assembly, transportation, warehousing, all with the mission to improve work practices, reduce injuries, and improve productivity among employees. Gary also coordinated Ohio State’s popular Ergonomics Short Course, offered bi-annually, in both on-site and remote formats.

As a professional who works in both industrial and academic settings, Dr. Allread has worked closely with Ohio State’s ergonomics faculty and staff to translate research to useable formats for the benefit of industry. He has been a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society for 35 years and is former President of the Applied Ergonomics Society (March 2022-March 2023.)