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Laura Hood Watchman  joined NALGEP in March 2010 as the Executive Director.  Laura has over fifteen years of experience in the fields of smart growth, green development, and land conservation planning.  Laura started her career at Defenders of Wildlife, where she became a Vice President overseeing advocacy programs on land use, transportation and public land conservation.  These programs promoted smart growth at the local, state, and federal levels.  More recently, Laura has worked as a consultant with a variety of clients including the Washington Smart Growth Alliance, the U.S. Green Building Council, and private developers.  Laura is a LEED AP, and she has specialized in LEED for Neighborhood Development, a smart growth and green development certification system.  Laura was on the original core committee developing the LEED ND rating system, and she has worked as a consultant to assist in revising the rating system and writing the Green Neighborhood Development Reference Guide.  Laura has a master's degree in Zoology from the University of Washington, and a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University.

You can reach Laura at laura.watchman@spiegelmcd.com or 202.879.4018.

Sophia Rios joined NALGEP in May 2010 as the Environmental Programs Assistant.  Before joining NALGEP, Sophia previously worked as an Intern at the White House Council on Environmental quality focusing on issues related to Recovery Through Retrofit (RTR), energy efficiency and federal agencies' responses to environmental issues.   She has interned at the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, as well as, the Transportation Sustainability Research Center for Innovative Mobility.  Her other environmental experience includes a stint with the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) as a student organizer for energy and environmental justice issues. In addition to supporting NALGEP, Sophia is also a Legal Assistant at Spiegel & McDiarmid supporting the firm on energy, environmental, transportation and telecommunication issues. Sophia has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Society and Environment from the University of California at Berkeley.  Sophia can be reached at sophia.rios@spiegelmcd.com or 202.879.3579.

Heather Cowan joined NALGEP in August 2008 as Administrative Assistant. Heather previously worked as a Senior Trainer and Software Support Specialist at McDermott, Will & Emery.  She also has several years of legal secretarial and administrative experience largely in law firm environments.  In addition to supporting NALGEP, Heather is a Legal Secretary at Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP supporting the firm’s energy practice area.  Heather can be reached at  heather.cowan@spiegelmcd.com or 202.879.3571.