Meet Our Speakers!

Mimi Johnson - Director, Office of Emerging Contaminants - Environmental Management Division, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Mimi joined the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in May 2020. She serves as the Director of the Office of Emerging Contaminants in the Environmental Management Division. The Office coordinates the PFAS response in Wisconsin from interagency response activities following detection of PFAS exceedances in drinking water to rulemaking and implementation of legislative initiatives to address PFAS in the state. The office also coordinates the inter-agency Wisconsin PFAS Action Council (WisPAC) and the PFAS External Advisory Group, a group of more than two dozen stakeholders from across the state. The Office also leads the Great Lakes PFAS Task Force, which facilitates collaboration and coordination of state and provincial efforts to address PFAS across the region. 

Mimi joined the DNR after several years at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Prior to returning home to Wisconsin and entering state service, Mimi spent a decade in Washington, DC working in consumer, health, and environmental policy. Mimi has a Bachelors from George Washington University and a Masters from Oslo Metropolitan University.  

Kimberly Harris, Senior PFAS Advisor - U.S. EPA-Region 5/Water Division

Kim Harris is the Senior PFAS Advisor for EPA Region 5 in Chicago, IL. In her role, she provides guidance to senior leadership and serves as the regional point of contact for multiprogram PFAS issues. Kim also leads a Regional PFAS Team in efforts to address PFAS across the six-state region-including Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. For over 15 years, the team has provided PFAS support to states, Tribes and local communities through research, site investigations, analytical method development, technical assistance, federal funding, and enforcement against responsible parties. Kim received her Bachelor of Science degree in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Rick Kubler – Lathrop GPM

Rick is a Partner with Lathrop GPM. He has over 30 years of experience in advising private and public clients on the acquisition, disposition and redevelopment of brownfield sites and associated environmental due diligence, risk assessment, and liability considerations. He is currently involved in many significant cleanup and redevelopment projects. Rick also specializes in representing clients in federal and state Superfund and environmental administrative proceedings and regularly counsels clients on environmental compliance, under and above-ground storage tanks, and pollution insurance matters. Rick is a member of the Minnesota Brownfields Advisory Committee and serves on the MPCA’s Vapor Intrusion and PFAS Stakeholder Advisory Groups.

Jeff Sepesi - Environmental Law and Science

Jeff Sepesi is principal at Environmental Law and Science, PLLC, a law firm focusing on environmental law.  Jeff has practiced environmental law for over 25 years at large and mid-size law firms, in solo practice and in-house at the 3M Company. During this time, he has addressed a broad range of environmental regulatory compliance, permitting, transactional, environmental litigation and environmental enforcement matters.  As in-house environmental counsel at 3M Company, his portfolio included facility environmental, safety and health, audits, OSHA compliance, TSCA compliance, site remediation, third party/legacy sites and PFAS issues. Prior to becoming an attorney, he was an environmental scientist at CH2M Hill and Barr Engineering. 

Amy Hadaris – MPCA

Amy Hadiaris has been the supervisor of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) Program since 2019. Prior to becoming supervisor, she worked for 20 years as a hydrogeologist in the VIC program.  Amy holds a B.S. in Natural Resources Policy and Management from the University of Michigan and a M.S. in Hydrogeology from the University of Nevada. She is a licensed professional geologist in Minnesota.  

Sean Leary - GZA

Sean Leary is an Associate Principal and Vice President of Transaction Risk Management with Vieau/GZA, a multidisciplinary environmental consulting firm based in Norwood, MA.  He is also Vieau /GZA’s District Office Manager for their Minneapolis office.  He is an Environmental Professional with 17-years of environmental due diligence and remediation consulting experience with degrees in Biology and Environmental Science.  Mr. Leary also serves as a national instructor and content developer for ASTM International, where he teaches Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessment courses to a diverse profile of industry professionals and regulators.  Mr. Leary's environmental due diligence experience is extensive, including oversight of thousands of Phase I ESAs and hundreds of Phase II Investigations across the nation. His due diligence consulting expertise also includes review and management of hundreds of Property Condition Assessments (PCAs) nationwide.  Mr. Leary also sits on the Board of Governors for the Environmental Bankers Association (EBA), where he cochairs the Content Committee charged with education for the organization.

Ben Czeck - Mortenson

Mr. Czeck has over ten years of experience in Academia, Environmental Consulting, Energy Utilities, and the Construction Industry with an educational background in Geology and Environmental Science. Mr. Czeck’s strengths include managing numerous tasks, both in the office and the field, while developing creative solutions to safely and effectively resolve environmental issues. 

He has worked on hundreds of projects and has experience managing projects, conducting field work, developing corporate trainings, managing corporate initiatives, working with customers, and ensuring compliance to the numerous Local, State, and Federal Regulatory frameworks. 

Jeannie Martin – Stantec

Jeannie Martin is a Senior Project Manager with Stantec and works as  an Account Manager and/or remediation sector lead for several corporate 500 industrial manufacturers while supporting local and national PFAS projects as a subject matter expert. She is an Environmental Professional with 25-years' experience divided between industry and consulting. Prior to Stantec, she worked at Amazon in the Due Diligence and Remediation group and with 3M managing global programs, remediation, due diligence, and as a subject matter expert for hazardous materials and facility exits. Ms. Martin's strengths include building teams to meet complex project needs across diverse disciplines. Ms. Martin has a B.S. in Geology and an MBA.

Kirk Koudelka – MPCA Assistant Commissioner for Land Policy & Strategic Initiatives

Kirk Koudelka was appointed assistant commissioner for land policy and strategic initiatives in May 2012.

Prior to that, Kirk served as the legislative director at the MPCA. He led the agency’s legislative efforts for the 2011 through 2014 legislative sessions in both roles.

Before coming to the agency, Kirk spent 11 legislative sessions at the Minnesota House of Representatives in various capacities. The last six years were spent focused on environmental and natural resources issues, four of which were with the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee. It included administering the Solid Waste, Recycling and Resources Conservation Working Group focusing on state level changes, but also internal changes at the Legislature.

Kirk has a bachelor of arts in political science and history from Hamline University.

Kristine Klos, Supervisior - Health Risk Assessment Unit - Minnesota Departments of Health

Dr. Kristine Klos is the Supervisor of the Health Risk Assessment Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health. Kris received her bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Minnesota in 1995 and her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in 2005 where she studied blood vessel growth in breast tumors. After earning her PhD, Kris completed a post-doc at the McArdle Cancer Research Center at the University of Wisconsin – Madison where she studied the stem cell response to DNA damage in a mouse mammary gland model. Kris was thrilled to return to her roots in Minnesota where she discovered that she could use her scientific skillset in the public service sector as a toxicologist/risk assessor at the Minnesota Department of Health. Kris is also the Mom of a busy 7-year old and volunteers all her free time in various roles in Girl Scouts.

David Jones - Scientist Supervisor,  Minnesota Departments of Health

Mr. Jones has worked since 1987 in the areas of infectious and chronic disease epidemiology, exposure and health risk assessment, indoor air, emergency preparedness activities, and human biomonitoring efforts for the Minnesota Department of Health and the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment. His education background includes a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Health from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. He currently Supervises the Site Assessment and Consultation Unit in the Minnesota Department of Health’s Environmental Health Division.