Annual Pac-12 Team Green event to feature tours, career fair and opening night reception on Wednesday, June 15 and daylong program of keynote speakers and breakout sessions on Thursday, June 16

Tickets available for in-person attendance at Pac-12.com/sustainability

SALT LAKE CITY – The 2022 Pac-12 Sustainability Conference returns Pac-12 Team Green’s annual event to in-person from June 15-16 at the University of Utah. This year’s event will feature a high-level symposium focused on an elevated approach to driving sustainability action within collegiate athletics departments, designing new collective initiatives, and sharing best practices to transform college sports into a platform for social impact and environmental progress. Full program details for the event are available below, while more information, including special rates for university student, faculty & staff as well as single and group rates, are available at Pac-12.com/sustainability.

New this year, a career fair focused on sustainability in athletics will lead off the two-day event on Wednesday, June 15, providing a unique opportunity to showcase jobs and career paths focused on environmental sustainability and athletics. Following the career fair on Wednesday, several tour options will be available for attendees to choose from, including a Salt Palace Convention Center Sustainable Showcase Walking Tour, Ken Garff Red Zone at Rice-Eccles Stadium Tour, Utah Olympic Park Tour and a Huntsman Basketball Facility Sustainability Tour, presented by Populous. The event’s first day caps off with an opening night reception highlighted by a keynote welcome from University of Utah President Taylor Randall, as well as a Ute Tribe blessing & performance.

The 2022 Pac-12 Sustainability Conference will represent the sixth annual in the event’s history, the fourth in-person and first since 2019 at the University of Washington. The event was held virtually in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Themes covered at the 2022 Pac-12 Sustainability Conference

For the full daylong event on Thursday, June 16, several themes and topics will be discussed, including:

• Sustainability: Good for the Game, Good for the Planet, Good for the Bottom Line – Moderated by Dave Newport, director of environmental center at the University of Colorado Boulder and featuring Carolina Acosta, VP of partnership development at the Pac-12 and Spencer Christiansen, Senior VP at Learfield.  
• How Can Universities Prepare for an Electric Future? – In this session, FLO and University of Montreal will share how to build a right-sized solution that fits university needs, diving into the challenges universities will face to make an EV experience reliable, accessible, and equitable while remaining economically viable. 
• Pac-12 Conference Athletic Directors Share Team Green Wins – Presented by Elkay and moderated by University of Utah Chief Sustainability Officer Kerry Case, this plenary will feature Colorado AD Rick George and Utah AD Mark Harlan for a discussion on various Pac-12 Team Green wins to date.  

Breakout Sessions – 2022 Pac-12 Sustainability Conference

The 2022 event will again feature a number of breakout session opportunities throughout the day on Thursday, June 16, covering such topics as:

• Creating a Culture of Sustainability in Sports – In this interactive best practices presentation, representatives from each department and organization will discuss tools and tips to engage their internal university communities on sustainability practices.
• An Environmental Impact Analysis of a Home Football Game – Featuring a discussion between University of Utah Sports and Sustainability Ambassador Abby Ghent and University of Colorado Boulder Zero Waste Program Manager Angie Gilbert, this breakout will present environmental impact reports of Utah and Colorado home football games.   
• Health Care Models to Sustain Systemic Programs and Campus Mental Wellness – This interactive case study will explain how Maya McClendon (ASU Volleyball '17) and Mikaela Brewer (Stanford Basketball '20) built a comprehensive annual reporting system for assessing stigma, sport counselor roles, student-athlete social environments, athletics healthcare administrators, collaborative and integrative care, interdisciplinary team planning, and the availability, familiarity, and understanding of student-athlete-specific mental health resources and education. 
• Finding a Path to Clean, Cost-Effective Operations with Renewable Energy – This session will aim to help the audience tackle challenges of reducing energy consumption by beginning with a review of the benefits of going renewable and procuring carbon offsets, as well as opportunity to engage your fans around your sustainability story, and then continuing with highlights from three Pac 12 schools with success stories to share. This session will also provide tips for how schools and teams can ensure their voluntary procurements are having maximum carbon reduction impacts.

Tour Options & Receptions to include:

On Wednesday, June 15, attendees of the 2022 Pac-12 Sustainability Conference will have a choice to take part in a number of tours, as part of a half-day program also featuring a newly-introduced career fair to the lineup as well as an opening night reception.

• Career Fair – Taking place on Wednesday, June 15, this unique career fair will showcase jobs and career paths focused on environmental sustainability and athletics. Pac-12 member campus athletic teams and their corporate partners provide a unique opportunity to prioritize environmental sustainability with their extensive reach, large fan bases and widely recognized student athletes/alumni.
• Salt Palace Convention Center Sustainable Showcase Walking Tour – Led by McKell Nelson, sustainable events coordinator and green team committee chairperson for the Salt Palace Convention Center.
• Ken Garff Red Zone at Rice-Eccles Stadium Tour – Led by Alan Hansing, executive director of event and facility management for Utah Athletics.
• Utah Olympic Park Tour – Led by Connie Nelson, executive director for the Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation.
• Huntsman Basketball Facility Sustainability Tour presented by Populous – Led by Alan Hansing, executive director of event and facility management for Utah Athletics.
• Opening Night Reception – Taking place at the University of Utah, College of Law Rooftop, this reception will feature a welcome keynote from University of Utah President Taylor Randall as well as a Ute Tribe blessing and performance.
• Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge Awards Ceremony – On Thursday, June 16, as part of the daylong program, the Pac-12 will present awards to the latest round of winners in the Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge.
• Networking Reception – Following closing remarks on Thursday, June 16, the event wraps with a networking reception for attendees.

Presenters & Speakers to include:

• Taylor Randall, President, University of Utah
• Rick George, Director of Athletics, University of Colorado Boulder
• Mark Harlan, Director of Athletics, University of Utah
• Caroline Acosta, Vice President of Partnership Development, Pac-12
• Chris Benson, Associate Director, Sustainability and Energy, University of Utah
• Mikaela Brewer, Head of Research + Content, Timeout Software, Inc.
• Kerry Case, Chief Sustainability Officer, University of Utah
• Mick Dalrymple, Chief Sustainability Officer, University of Southern California
• Kelsey Gaude, Program Manager, Facilities Management, Zero Waste, Arizona State University
• Thierry Gras-Chouteau, Climate Change Advisor, Sustainability, University of Montreal
• Moira Zbella, Scope 3 Emissions Program Manager, Stanford University 
• Jose Hollanda, Marketing Director, FLO
• Maya McClendon, CEO + Founder, Timeout Software, Inc.
• Dave Newport, Director, Environmental Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder 
• Miguel Rueda, Senior Associate AD, CU Boulder, Chair of Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health & Well-Being Initiative 
• Graham Rossini, Senior Associate Athletic Director, Arizona State University
• Kera Thompson, Event & TV Host
• Sarah Wilhelmi, Senior Director, Collegiate Partnerships, US Olympic & Paralympic Committee
• Cheryl Wong, Assistant Commissioner, Sport Management and Championships, Pac-12
• Chip Wood, Director, Strategic Partnerships 
• Andy Wright, Director of Sustainability, PepsiCo Beverages North America 

The 2022 Pac-12 Sustainability Conference will take place June 15-16 at the University of Utah. Registration is open online at Pac-12.com/sustainability. Special rates are available for university students, faculty & staff along with single and group rates.

The Pac-12 Conference is dedicated to developing the next generation of leaders by championing excellence in academics, athletics, and the well-being of our student-athletes. Built on a firm foundation of academic excellence and superior athletic performance, the Pac-12 continues to renew its undisputed claim as the “Conference of Champions,” leading the nation with 544 NCAA team titles overall, over 200 more than the next closest conference. The Pac-12 also wholly owns and operates Pac-12 Networks, the Conference's sports media company that produces and distributes 850 live sporting events each season, making it one of the top live-sports producers in the country. Pac-12 Networks also offers extensive digital content via Pac-12.com, the Pac-12 Now app, Pac-12 official athletics websites and Pac-12 Insider. The Pac-12 Conference is comprised of 12 leading U.S. universities, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington and Washington State University. More information on the Pac-12 is available at Pac-12.com.