Instructor Bios
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Joe Carbone - Senior Instructor
Joe is an independent consultant specializing in training, facilitation, decision making, environmental policy, and organizational development. He served as the Deputy Associate Director for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) at the Council on Environmental Quality in 2016 where he worked on NEPA guidance and procedures.
Joe retired after 37 years of federal service with the U.S. Forest Service where he oversaw the agency’s NEPA policy in Washington D.C. and Atlanta. He also served as the U.S. Forest Service Acting Deputy Director for Recreation, Heritage, and Volunteer Resources, the Chief of Staff for the Acting Under Secretary of Agriculture during an administration transition, and as a natural resource legislative assistant for a U.S. Senator. His field experience includes forestry, recreation, and firefighting work on national forests in New Hampshire, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and North Carolina.
Joe has a Master of Science in Forestry specializing in environmental policy and law from the University of Idaho (1985). He has a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of New Hampshire (1978) and an Associate of Arts from Bradford College (1975).
Andree Duvarney - Senior Instructor
Andrée is an adjunct instructor at Johns Hopkins University in their Master of Environmental Science and Policy program. She retired in 2017 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with over 30 years of experience, 20 of which were providing national-level agency leadership implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and other environmental requirements. During her time with the federal government, Andrée also served for a year as a Legislative Fellow for a U.S Senator addressing agriculture, public lands and natural resource issues.
As the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) National Environmental Coordinator, Andrée developed national environmental compliance policies and procedures, developed and delivered training in workshop settings, classroom settings and through online webinars, and assisted NRCS personnel in resolving NEPA and other environmental compliance issues. She led development of the first NRCS National Environmental Compliance Handbook and gained Agency leadership and White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) support for an innovative and ultimately successful strategy to implement NEPA for NRCS Farm Bill conservation programs. She wrote multiple NRCS national programmatic environmental assessments and reviewed and commented on NRCS field-prepared NEPA documents. She served as the NRCS liaison to CEQ, and served as a member of multiple interagency CEQ workgroups to improve the NEPA process and subsequently was invited to serve on a number of details to CEQ.
Andrée worked extensively on NEPA issues across agency lines, represented NRCS on USDA workgroups to streamline infrastructure project permitting and to support Administration efforts toward “One Federal Decision.” She provided USDA environmental compliance leadership for formulation of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council established pursuant to the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act). Andrée provided persuasive input to new Council regulations implementing NEPA that resulted in maximizing NEPA efficiency through the use of programmatic approaches and protecting the privacy of the private individuals USDA serves. Andrée also helped develop interagency NEPA documents supporting the expenditure of funds recovered under the Oil Pollution Act as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
While working for another USDA agency, Andrée provided USDA-wide leadership with USDA and Department of Justice attorneys to resolve the first major case involving ESA Section 7(a)(1), which requires federal agencies, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service, to use their authorities to carry out programs for the conservation of threatened and endangered species.
Andrée has a law degree from George Mason University, a Master of Natural Resources (MNR) degree from Virginia Tech, where she was elected a member of Phi Kappa Phi, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with Honors from the University of Virginia. She is also a member of the Virginia Bar.
Joe Krueger - Instructor
Joe Krueger is a NEPA practitioner specializing in national forest environmental planning and policy who retired in December 2023 after 36 years of federal service with the U.S Forest Service working in Washington D.C., California, Utah, Montana and the Southern Region. Joe was recently the Environmental Compliance Branch Lead for the Forest Service Policy Office. Prior to that, Joe was the National NEPA Strike Team Leader providing project management services for a number of high priority projects. Joe has also been a technical advisor for the US Government on natural resource, forest planning and environmental analyses issues throughout Africa and Asia over the past 19 years.
Joe has a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Managment with a Forest Management emphasis from California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo. He was a community forestry Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal from 1991-1993.
Judy Kurtzman - Senior Instructor
For over 15 years Judy Kurtzman has worked for Utah State University, in the Quinney College of Natural Resources. Her primary responsibilities have included teaching courses on environmental law and policy and ecosystem management. She has also served as a student advisor and program administrator for two University programs:
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Certificate Program – a 12-credit stand alone graduate-level certificate program offered to working professionals in federal, state, tribal and county government agencies, private consultants, and students in graduate degree programs across the country.
The Master’s of Natural Resources (MNR) in Ecosystem Management – a 33 credit master’s degree program designed for natural resource professionals returning to school to advance their careers.
Judy graduated from Utah State University with a Master’s degree in Forest Resources and Environmental Law, along with a Graduate Certificate in Natural Resource and Environmental Policy. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota with a dual major in Sociology and Anthropology.
Her teaching experience has include teaching courses on the Utah State University campus both on NEPA for undergraduate and graduate level students, and an Introduction to Environmental Law and Policy course for graduate students. For the last 10 years she has also taught courses that apply to Utah State University’s NEPA Certificate Program for the Shipley Group as a private consultant. Currently she is working full time teaching for Shipley Group, Inc. Courses taught include: Applying the NEPA Process and Writing Effective NEPA Documents, Clear Writing for NEPA Specialists, Technical Writing, Cumulative Impact Analysis and Documentation, Climate Change Analysis and Documentation, Cultural and Natural Resource Management, ESA and Section 7 Overview, Managing NEPA Projects and Teams, and Reviewing NEPA Documents.
Ron Lamb - Instructor
Ron is an independent consultant specializing in training and NEPA program management, compliance, and policy. Before retiring he was the NEPA program manager for the U.S. Marine Corps. He advised action proponents on NEPA and related environmental planning requirements and strategies. At his retirement was awarded the Superior Civilian Service Award—the highest honorary award the Commandant of the Marine Corps may bestow on a civilian employee—recognizing his exceptionally high-value contributions leading the USMC NEPA program and mission-critical EAs and EISs.
In 2016-2017 Ron was detailed to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) where he served as the Deputy Associate Director for NEPA to support administration transition and NEPA guidance and procedures. In 2014 was detailed to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Environment (DASN-E) to serve as Acting Director for Environmental Planning and Terrestrial Ecology.
Ron is co-chair of the of the National Association of Environmental Professionals NEPA Working Group. He was a member of an NAEP team that prepared experience-based Best Practice Principles for Environmental Assessments for a CEQ NEPA Pilot Project. The guidance was published by Environmental Law Reporter.
Ron was a Vice President at HDR|e2M where he oversaw the NEPA business line. As a consultant he managed 14 EISs and dozens of EAs for the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, Air Force, Bureau of Land Management, General Services Administration, National Park Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and NASA.
Ron holds an M.S. in Environmental Science from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. in Political Science/International Economics from the University of Nebraska. He is a Certified Environmental Professional (CEP) in Environmental Planning and earned his Certificate in NEPA from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.
Michael Smith - Senior Instructor
Dr. Michael D. Smith is a nationally-recognized leader in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) and associated environmental law compliance with over 20 years of experience in project and program management, technical analysis, policy development, and training/education for a wide range of public and private sector clients.
He has managed and provided compliance review for environmental impact studies for some of the nation's largest, most complex, and highly controversial projects, including major transportation infrastructure projects, energy siting and development actions, regulatory approval of genetically engineered plants, commercial space transportation operations, and approval of new fuel economy standards for all vehicles operated in the U.S.
In addition to providing NEPA training, for the Shipley Group, he serves as a faculty member at the NEPA Certificate Program at the Department of Environment and Society, Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University and with the University of California Extension Program. He is a past recipient of a Science & Technology Policy Fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters Office of Water and Office of Federal Activities in Washington, DC. From 1998 to 2007, he was an Associate Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Sciences at Humboldt State University, where he taught courses and conducted research in environmental impact assessment, environmental planning, land use planning, and community development.
He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resources Sociology from Utah State University, a M.A. in Geography from the University of Wyoming, and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
He has published extensively on environmental assessment and policy in numerous peer-reviewed journals, and served as an Associate Editor of the professional journal Society and Natural Resources.
Rhey Solomon - Senior Instructor
Rhey Solomon retired from the Forest Service in 2003 after 32 years of government service and is now an independent environmental consultant. Rhey served as the Deputy Director of Ecosystem Management in the Washington Office before retirement. He was responsible for the oversight of the agency’s NEPA policy, training, and support. In his Forest Service career, Rhey worked at the District and Forest levels in Arizona, New Mexico and California. He has worked as a hydrologist, Forest Planner, Regional Hydrologist, Regional NEPA coordinator, and a number of different jobs prior to moving to the Washington Office. He also spent one year working as the Natural Resource Staff Assistant for a Congressman. Prior to retirement, Rhey spent his last 10 month on detail to the Council on Environmental Quality leading a team charged with modernizing the CEQ Regulations and other CEQ guidance on NEPA. He teaches environmental policy, environmental analysis, and decision-making theory at Johns-Hopkins University and is the 2002 recipient of the President’s award from the National Association of Environmental Professionals. In addition to his work with Shipley Group, Rhey runs his own consulting business providing services for environmental analysis, teambuilding, and facilitation.