GE Chief Sustainability Officer Roger Martella to Deliver Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law

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The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is proud to announce that Roger Martella will deliver the annual Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law. Mr. Martella is the Chief Sustainability Officer for GE, an American multinational conglomerate and the U.S.’s largest industrial company. His talk will take place virtually on February 8, 2022 and focus on corporate social responsibility and the role of corporations in solving climate change and sustainability.

“Haub Law is home to the #1 ranked environmental law program in the nation. We are consistently proud to host scholars, attorneys, and experts from around the world to speak to our community about current environmental challenges and solutions. Roger Martella is an expert in corporate sustainability. Here at Haub Law, we recently launched our Sustainable Business Hub and we now look forward to welcoming Roger in the new year to speak about the importance of sustainability in the corporate arena,” said Jason Czarnezki, Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law and Associate Dean of Environmental Law Programs and Strategic Initiatives.

Roger Martella joined GE in 2017 as Director and General Counsel, Environmental Health and Safety and was thereafter promoted to his current role of Chief Sustainability Officer. Prior to GE, Mr. Martella co-led Sidley Austin LLP's global environmental law and climate change practices. He also served as General Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, and the Principal Counsel for Complex Litigation for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Natural Resources Section.

Currently, Mr. Martella is on the board of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), the Environmental Law Institute, and several environmental NGOs and energy think tanks. He has co-authored and edited four books on the intersections of ESG, climate change law, international environmental law, and human rights, including co-editing the recently published Corporate Social Responsibility—Sustainable Business: Environmental, Social and Governance Frameworks for the 21st Century (Wolters Kluwer 2020). He is a graduate of Cornell University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. Roger also holds a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School. He teaches a first-of-its-kind class on International Environmental Law and Justice at Howard University Law School.

“Each year, our annual Kerlin lecture features a renowned expert in their respective field of environmental law. At Haub Law, with the launch of our Sustainable Business Hub, we recognize the urgency of fostering sustainable business practices. This year, we are honored to have the privilege of hosting Roger Martella to speak about corporate sustainability and the importance of corporate social responsibility,” remarked Horace Anderson, Dean of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law established the Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law to expand its programs of research, education, professional and scholarly activity and publications in environmental law, a field for which the law school has received national and international recognition. The Kerlin endowment funds a named professorship on Environmental Law at Haub Law. Professor Nicholas A. Robinson, founder of the Haub School's environmental programs, was named the first Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor in 1999 and Professor Jason J. Czarnezki was designated as the second Kerlin Distinguished Professor in 2013. The last Kerlin lecture was given by Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.