Board Member Bios

PRESIDENT
Kelley Bartell is the Public Information Coordinator for the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority. She joined the VRA in 2002 and became active editing the Association’s newsletter and promoting outreach to citizens. Her background includes work promoting a variety of environmental issues, including the responsible stewardship of soil and water resources and habitat conservation.

VICE PRESIDENT
Bruce Edmonds is the Recycling Operations Manager at the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority. He has been in the recycling field since 1971. He currently runs the Authority’s recycling program and holds his Class 1 and Class 2 Facility Operators License. He has been a VRA Board member since 2002.

SECRETARY
Dori Brown has been the Recycling Coordinator for the City of Newport News since 1999. She has served on several local, regional, and state environmental groups and committees. In 2003, she was awarded the Charles Walter Nichols Environmental Excellence Award from the American Public Works Association. She served as President of the VRA from 2000 – 2002 and has been Secretary for the VRA since 2002.

TREASURER
Michael Clem is the Waste Reduction Specialist for Arlington County. His recent activities involve working with local governments in the Washington metropolitan area managing residential curbside recycling programs. He has also assisted in the establishment of recycling programs at the University of Maryland and John Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. His goal is to establish recycling programs that are a cost savings over traditional disposal methods.

MEMBERS
Georgiana Ball has been the State Recycling Coordinator with the Department of General Services since 1999. She also worked for the Department of Environmental Quality as a Recycling Analyst from 1989-1995. She is member of the EPA Region 3 E-cycling team, the Recycling Markets Development Council, and MACREDO. She served as President of the VRA from May 2002 through June 2004 and as an ex-officio member of the VRA Board going back to 1994.

Alan Coomber is a Sales Manager for Tidewater Fibre Corp. (TFC) for the Tidewater Peninsula area. Originally from England, he has been in the solid waste business for almost 20 years in various capacities. In 2001 he moved to the United States and began working for TFC. His focus is to expand the recycling and waste collection business in on the Peninsula. He is proud to state that he will become a US Citizen in December 2004.

Steven Heinitz has been the Recycling Coordinator with Virginia Commonwealth University since 2001. He has also worked in a sales position for Tidewater Fibre Corp. in Chester helping to develop their commercial recycling and refuse service in the Greater Richmond area. He has been active in his local chapter of the Sierra Club.

Gloria Puffinburger is the Solid Waste Manager in Frederick County. She is responsible for coordinating the recycling, litter prevention, environmental education, waste reduction, and solid waste collection functions. She initiated a regional electronics recycling program in 2001, which has now become a permanent diversion effort. She was named Keep Virginia Beautiful’s outstanding individual for 2002, is current President of the Virginia Council for Litter Prevention and Recycling and has served on the VRA Board since 2003.

John Schlegel has been the Regional Sales Manager for AERC Recycling Solutions for the past 10 years. Formerly assigned to the AERC office in Allentown, PA, John is now working in the AERC office in Ashland, VA. With a Department of Transportation hazardous materials certification, he has a vast understanding of proper and safe transportation and shipping of hazardous materials. He routinely gives presentations on recycling and the various waste streams.

EX-OFFICO
Steve Coe is an Environmental Specialist II with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and coordinates waste tire projects, administers recycling and litter prevention grant programs, and serves as the Information Clearinghouse coordinator/contact for recycling and litter prevention topics for the Division of Environmental Enhancement. Steve has been an ex-officio representative on the Board for over 7 years.