Our Team
ACR’s expertise is unmatched by our peers. Our team of professionals has over 250 years of collective experience in environmental and carbon markets working in offset project development, climate policy, offset methodology development, offset project verification and registry operations. We understand the complex technical, market and regulatory issues involved in developing offset projects and work with carbon asset owners to navigate the project registration and verification process through to issuance of carbon credits.
As a wholly-owned nonprofit subsidiary of Winrock International, ACR is governed by the Board of the Environmental Resources Trust (ERT).
American Carbon Registry (ACR) Team:
Mary Grady, President and CEO of ERT and ACR Executive Director has been active in environmental markets for over 30 years including 15 years at ACR. In her current role, she manages operations and ACR's respected team of technical and policy experts in the California regulated market, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) market and the voluntary carbon market. She leads the implementation of strategies to ensure ACR’s approval in new compliance carbon markets and actively represents Winrock as a UNFCCC observer organization. Upon joining ACR, Mary developed and implemented a business plan and a communications and outreach strategy that rebranded ACR and built its reputation as the premium U.S. GHG program. She has overseen the development and updates to the ACR Standard, the development of three generations of ACR’s registry platform and led ACR’s strategy for approval as a California Offset Project Registry in 2012 and to supply credits to ICAO's CORSIA in 2020. Prior to ACR, Mary worked for 16 years in the renewable energy industry. As Development Operations Leader of Clipper Windpower, she managed the project development team and 10,000 MW project portfolio, valued at over $1 billion. Mary lived in Brazil for five years including as Director of Winrock's Brazil office and as Director of Kyocera Solar’s pioneering rural electrification program. She began her renewable energy career at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Mary has an international MBA and speaks Portuguese and Spanish. She serves on the Council of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).
Jessica Bede, ACR Managing Director, began working in GHG accounting and carbon projects in 2011 and joined ACR in 2019. In her current position, she is responsible for providing leadership and coordination of ACR's technical and strategic work to mobilize emission reductions, ensure the integrity of carbon credits, and promote market innovation. This includes advising staff and partners on methodology and program development, project review and credit issuance, registry infrastructure, and market opportunities. Her previous work has involved a variety of climate financing mechanisms and multiple project types giving Jessica a wide range of knowledge across the transportation, energy, building, natural resources, and waste sectors. Prior to ACR, Jessica worked at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) where she first contributed to compliance offset protocol development and credit issuance under the State’s Cap-and-Trade program before working on the use of auction proceeds for California Climate Investments to further the State’s climate goals and benefit disadvantaged communities. Prior to CARB, she worked on the technical design of Carbon Tanzania’s first REDD project, which included establishing and strengthening the land rights of indigenous populations and delivering payments for ecosystem services to communities for development and livelihood needs. Jessica holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Master’s degree in International Development from Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
Kurt Krapfl, Forestry Director, provides expertise and support to clients working in both the California compliance and voluntary forest carbon markets. He is responsible for overseeing forestry project listing, registration, verification and offset issuance, providing technical support to forest project stakeholders as well as managing the development and approval of new forest and land use methodologies. Prior to joining ACR, Kurt worked at Mississippi State and Southern Illinois Universities conducting research related to forest carbon dynamics, silviculture, alternative cropping systems, soil biogeochemistry and the effects of disturbance upon forested ecosystems. His work has been disseminated in numerous peer-reviewed journals. He has worked for government entities, including the U.S. Forest Service and the National Parks Service, as well as private entities in forested and agroecosystems ranging from intensively managed forests of the Southern Coastal Plain and the Central Hardwoods to old-growth forests of the Great Smoky Mountains and montane ecosystems of the Intermountain West. Kurt received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Forestry from Southern Illinois University. He also holds a PhD in Forest Management from Mississippi State University.
Maris Densmore, Director of Industrial Solutions, is responsible for overseeing the investigation, analysis, and implementation of new strategic opportunities to harness the power of markets for high impact emission reduction and removals actions in the energy and industrial sectors including geologic storage of carbon, methane emission abatement, and long-term storage of carbon via other industrial processes. Prior to joining ACR, Maris spent almost 20 years in the environmental and oil and gas sectors and was responsible for developing technical and policy solutions to key industry issues. She specializes in building strategies for challenging technical issues within complicated political and policy environments such as climate change and carbon mitigation, water use and protection, sustainability, and community engagement. Most recently, she has lead development, implementation, and advocacy for geologic sequestration permitting and incentives as the Manager of Carbon Capture Solutions at California Resources Corporation (CRC). Maris also served as the technical advisor for policy and political issues for CRC. Prior to her work in California, Maris worked on environmental issues in Shell’s Appalachia assets including groundwater protection, water recycling, environmental reporting and data management, and auditing. Maris spent her early career developing and executing groundwater and natural gas drilling programs across the country. Throughout her career, Maris has been active in community outreach, education, and engagement. Maris is a licensed geologist and has extensive field experience in both environmental and oil and gas operations including drilling; groundwater protection; mapping; and health, safety, and the environment training and assessment. Maris has a bachelor’s degree in earth science from UC Santa Cruz and a master’s in geology from UC Davis.
Brad Kahn, Communications Director, brings 25 years of communications experience related to climate change and forests. He is responsible for institutional and programmatic communications for ACR and sister enterprise Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), including strategy, message development, and media relations. As carbon markets develop rapidly, Brad views communications as a way to promote understanding across interest groups and to translate complex standards into actionable information for decision makers. Prior to joining ACR, Brad worked as a consultant to nonprofit organizations and foundations. For 13 years he served as communications director for the Forest Stewardship Council US, engaging with companies, NGOs, forest managers and civil society to advance responsible forest management. He also served as communications lead for the Bullitt Foundation, owner and developer of the Bullitt Center, which is commonly known as the greenest commercial building in the world. Other clients included the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, International Living Future Institute, and Forest Carbon, a project developer based in Singapore. Brad has a Master's degree in Watershed Systems & Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Brown University. He serves on the board of directors of Seattle Parks Foundation.
Breffni Lynch, Director of Registry Operations, manages the Registry Operations team and oversees all aspects of day-to-day operations. He is responsible for meeting operational KPIs and performance expectations of all internal and external stakeholders. Breffni is responsible for the development and improvement of the ACR Registry platform and plays a key role in identifying and implementing digital transformation needs of the platform and associated processes. Breffni is coming to us with 12 years of experience in carbon markets, with the EU ETS where he liaised with member states in the development and linkage of their registry systems. He also has 10 years of IT experience before transitioning into climate work.
Mollie Ruth, Senior Officer, Registry Operations, contributes to all aspects of registry services management, including client services relations, infrastructure maintenance, and strategic development of registry platform improvements. Prior to joining ACR, Mollie worked as an environmental engineering consultant with a broad range of industrial and corporate clients. She has experience in GHG accounting and reporting, database management, client support, training, project management, compliance with legal and voluntary environmental standards. Mollie has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University.
Andrew Taylor, Senior Technical Manager, Forestry, provides technical forestry expertise to facilitate carbon offset projects in the California compliance and voluntary markets. He oversees the review of forestry and other land based offset project listing, verification, and registration, and coordinates new offset methodology approval. Andrew comes to ACR with a background in forest mensuration, forest inventory management, forestry technology deployment, and silviculture. He served as a Resource Information Forester for Hancock Forest Management, where he managed a national forest inventory program and implemented a new plantation assessment program to monitor and analyze stocking and seedling survival of recent plantings. He collected field forestry data for the US Forest Service in Colorado and Washington state, including several years working for the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. Andrew earned a Master of Forestry (MF) degree in Sustainable Forest Management at Oregon State University, which concentrated on Silviculture, Fire and Forest Health. His research focused on silviculture for old-growth structure, particularly vertical canopy continuity, in the Oregon coast range, as well as the physiological impacts of partial harvest regimes and their influence on forest carbon dynamics. He has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) with a dual major in Music and German from the University of Vermont.
Warren Reed, Technical Manager, Forestry, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon offset projects in the California compliance and voluntary markets. He is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification and the development and approval of new quantification methodologies. Before joining the ACR team Warren worked at The Pennsylvania State University researching forest ecology and carbon dynamics in the central Appalachian Mountains from an interdisciplinary perspective investigating the influence that bedrock geology exerts on forest carbon storage and uptake. His work utilized data from forests at multiple scales, from annual resolution tree-ring data to larger scale forest inventories. He has worked extensively across California and Oregon researching wildland fuels treatments with the United States Geological Survey and U. S. Forest Service and has also worked in coastal forests of South Africa researching carbon storage. His research has been published in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals. Warren earned his Master of Science degree in Forestry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Bachelor of Science in Physical/Environmental Geography from The Pennsylvania State University. He is currently a PhD candidate in Ecology at The Pennsylvania State University.
Gabriel Burns, Technical Manager, Forestry, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon offset projects in the California compliance and voluntary markets. He is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification and the development and approval of new quantification methodologies. Prior to joining the ACR team, Gabriel worked for over a decade in both the public and private sectors as a forest climate and carbon specialist. Most recently, Gabriel worked for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources – Division of Forestry, where he helped build a DoF climate change program, oversaw timber harvest sales operations, and managed a multi-stakeholder effort to model changes in forest carbon stocks based on a multitude of counterfactual scenarios inputted into the carbon budget model of the Canadian Forest Service (CBM-CFS3). Ahead of joining the DNR, Gabriel worked as a technical consultant for UNIQUE Forestry and Land-Use, based in Freiburg Germany, as part of an MRV task team within the climate division. During his time with UNIQUE, Gabriel helped develop a forestry NAMA in India, implement and monitor an IFM project in China, and author and field-test a water impact and assessment methodology used to quantify the water benefits from sustainable agriculture and land management interventions in Kenya and surrounding African countries. Gabriel Holds a Bachelor of Forestry and Natural Resource Management from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s in Silviculture from the University of Freiburg, Germany.
Meg Dudley, Technical Manager, Forestry, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon offset projects in the California compliance and voluntary markets. She is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification and the development and approval of new quantification methodologies. Prior to joining ACR, Dr. Dudley was an assistant professor of biology at Adams State University, where she instructed a wide variety of subjects. As a graduate student and post-doctoral research assistant, she examined how climate and damage agents affect the health of western forests. She brings a wide-range of expertise also having worked for various federal land management agencies as a Geographic Information Specialist (GIS) and park ranger. Dr. Dudley holds a Bachelors of Science in Natural Resources from the University of Minnesota. She received her Masters of Science and PhD in Forest Pathology from Colorado State University.
Umesh Chaudhari, Technical Manager, Forestry, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon offset projects in the California compliance and voluntary markets. He is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification and development, and approval of new quantification methodologies. Prior to joining ACR, Dr. Chaudhari was an Assistant Professor of Forestry at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), where he taught quantitative methods in forest resources, forest measurement and mapping, forest finance, timber management, and advanced silviculture. He has also served as an Assistant Professor of Forestry at Andrew College, where he developed an accredited two-year Forestry Program. His MS research studied the impacts of forest management on carbon sequestration and the impact of carbon markets on landowner decision-making. His Ph.D. research explored the economics of non-traditional timber commodities (i.e., carbon and bioenergy) and traditional timber commodities from planted loblolly pines. Dr. Chaudhari holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the Institute of Forestry of Tribhuvan University in Nepal. He received his MS in Forest Resources from the University of Arkansas at Monticello and his Ph.D. in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia
Megesh Tiwari, Senior Technical Manager, Industrial Program, provides technical expertise on offset project review and verification oversight for ACR projects. He also contributes to the development and approval of innovative ACR GHG emissions reduction quantification methodologies and verification strategies for carbon markets. Megesh has 18 years of experience in climate change, clean energy, clean transportation and international development and has managed projects in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He worked for Winrock’s clean energy group for 12 years from 2003 to 2014. Under an Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded project, he worked as a technical expert to introduce Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Nepal. This included conducting a national study to identify a pipeline of potential CDM projects, conducting a number of feasibility studies and preparing project idea notes (PIN) and project design documents (PDD) for clean energy, clean transportation, solid waste management, bioenergy, and industrial heating and cooling projects. He was also part of the team that conducted extensive capacity building on CDM for project proponents, government agencies, financial organizations, educational institutions, media and public. Megesh led development of Winrock’s innovative computer-based tool that allowed small and medium animal farms to estimate carbon offsets resulting from use of electricity generated from biogas produced from animal manure. The tool also estimated the financial viability improvements resulting from sale of carbon offsets. Megesh has conducted over 10 workshops and trained and distributed the tool to over 100 farms in Brazil, India, Pakistan and Nepal. Megesh received a Master’s degree in Sustainability from Harvard University. This degree further enhanced his expertise in GHG accounting and reporting, environmental and social life-cycle assessment, and corporate sustainability business plan and strategy development. He also has Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering.
Maria-Cristina Silva, Technical Manager, Industrial Program, leads the verification and issuance for projects that generate carbon credits for the California market in the livestock and Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) destruction sectors, and supports verification of other industrial related projects in the independent market. Since joining ACR, she has been involved in a diversity of projects that range from creating a tool to certify climate friendly rice grown in the US, to developing methodologies that reduce methane emissions from animal and human waste, as well as from orphan oil and gas wells. MC transitioned to climate change science work after working with international volunteer organizations and community development projects. She has worked with the Peace Corps, Global Citizen Year, IDEX Fellows and Tandana Foundation, where she shared with and learned from some of the most disadvantaged populations in their day-to-day struggles from the impacts of a changing climate. MC received her Professional Sciences Master’s Degree on Greenhouse Gas Accounting from de Department of Ecosystems Science and Sustainability at Colorado State University, and a M.A. in Sustainable Development and Peace & Conflict Studies from the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica. Her studies include supporting a scientific mission to the Huascaran National Park in Peru to study the impact of climate change in Tropical Glaciers, participating in Rocky Mountain Sustainability Science Network (RMSSN) at the Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks empowering citizen scientists to join the fight against climate change, and interning with Ecuador’s Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano in in its work with the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) to assist countries in developing policies that eradicate poverty while fighting climate change.
Brent Fitzgerald, Technical Manager, Industrial Program provides technical industrial expertise on offset project review and verification oversight in both the California regulatory and voluntary carbon markets. He also contributes to the development and approval of innovative ACR GHG emissions reduction quantification methodologies and verification strategies for carbon markets. Prior to joining ACR, Brent has 10 years of experience in GHG reporting, sustainability, and multi-media environmental permitting and compliance with an emphasis in state and federal air quality regulations. While with Pinnacle Renewable Energy, he served as Environmental Manager for two Title V SBP-certified wood-pellet manufacturing facilities in Alabama, where he completed monitoring and reporting requirements, built upon data management systems, and developed permitting and compliance strategies alongside optimal plant performance. At Trinity Consultants, he served as Senior Environmental Consultant for industrial clients in the oil & gas, chemical, and power sectors across the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, where he worked with plant personnel and corporate management to complete complex construction and modification permitting projects, regulatory agency enforcement resolution, and professional training. He also researched and authored reports on systemic sustainability in higher education and on supplementing a landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) system with anaerobic digester (AD) biogas from organic waste. Mr. Fitzgerald received a bachelor’s degree in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Duke University.
Leah McKinley, Technical Officer, Industrial Program, provides technical expertise on offset project review and verification oversight for ACR projects, with a focus on projects related to Mine Methane Capture. Prior to joining ACR, Leah worked as an Air Quality Analyst for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, where she wrote State Implementation Plans to allow Wyoming to keep primacy over certain environmental regulations. During her time with the State of Wyoming, Leah focused on reducing Regional Haze—which degrades the visibility of the air—in Wyoming’s National Parks and Wilderness Areas through emissions reduction technologies and methods. Leah has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Master’s degree in Public Service and Administration from Texas A&M University.
Devaki Sakhamuru, Technical Officer, Industrial Program, provides technical expertise on offset project review and verification oversight for ACR projects on a variety of sectors with an emphasis on industrial projects (ozone depleting substances (ODS) destruction, low GWP refrigerants, fuel switching, mine methane and transportation). She is responsible for accurate and timely review of documents for listing, certification, and registration of California and ACR projects. Devaki is passionate about identifying new methods to lower CO2 emissions using a systems thinking approach. Before joining ACR, Devaki has served as executive chair and department representative for graduate women at MIT, researched at the MIT energy initiative, and served as operations director at the MIT energy night. She received a master’s degree in Engineering and Management in the System Design and Management program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology along with a Sustainability certificate from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her master’s thesis at MIT focused on strategic decarbonization of the Indian Cement Industry. She has an undergraduate degree in Architecture from Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University in India.
Imby Abath, Technical Officer, Industrial Program, provides technical expertise on offset project review and verification oversight for ACR projects, with a focus on industrial projects (ozone depleting substances (ODS) destruction, low GWP refrigerants, fuel switching, mine methane and transportation). Imby previously worked at the US Grains Council as the manager of innovation and sustainability, where she assisted with the development of the US Corn Sustainability Assurance Protocol. The protocol allows all US Corn Farmers to continue to have international market access. She holds a MS in Energy System from UC Davis where she conducted a feasibility study on the adoption of a biodiesel processor. She also received her BS from The Ohio State University, in Environment, Economy, Development, & Sustainability, specializing in international development.
Anna Hoy, Operations Manager, designs and maintains key internal processes to enhance quality and efficiency. She provides unit-wide support for procurement, finance, event planning, communications, and customer service. Anna brings over a decade of experience in non-profit and public service. She joined ACR after five years with the City of Greensboro (North Carolina) where she led evidence-based quality improvement for the City’s largest youth-serving program, advised youth-led leadership development programs, coordinated internship and volunteer opportunities, and facilitated the development and implementation of an annual marketing plan for 175 facilities and 2,300 programs. While with United Way of Greater Greensboro, she held progressively responsible roles including administrative support for two departments and four volunteer committees, digital communications specialist, and manager of advocacy and communications. Anna has played key leadership roles in community initiatives for school safety, civic leadership development, infant-maternal public health, and early childhood environmental education/local food access. She holds a Bachelor of Science with a dual major in Organizational Development and Child Studies from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s in Public Affairs from University of North Carolina Greensboro.
Gaby Larkin, Senior Administrative Associate, supports key internal processes and provides unit-wide support for procurement, finance, event planning, communications, and customer service. She has worked with government contractors and non-profit organizations in corporate accounting/finance, program support, logistics, office management, communications and human resources. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies with a minor in Business from George Mason University.
Lauren Nichols, ACR Senior Advisor, was an ACR staff member between 2008 and 2023 and now provides strategic advice and guidance to ACR. In her 15 years at ACR, Lauren directly contributed to all aspects of ACR’s organizational development through progressively advanced technical, operational and management positions. She played a critical role in building ACR’s brand and global reputation including growing our team and our suite of methodologies to scale our climate impact, securing a leading role in the California compliance market and in the ICAO CORSIA, and developing and implementing three generations of ACR’s registry platform. She is accredited by the California Air Resources board in Offset Project Registry Operations, verification and in all regulatory offset protocols (ODS, Mine Methane Capture, Forestry, Urban Forestry, Livestock and Rice). She holds a master’s degree in Environmental Management, with a concentration of Environmental Economics, from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Bates College.
