A Powerful Conversation on Environmental Justice and Rural America's Future
Join two leading advocates for environmental justice and equity—Michael Regan, 16th Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Catherine Coleman Flowers, renowned environmental activist and founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice—for an inspiring and crucial conversation on the challenges and opportunities facing rural America.
With their shared commitment to addressing systemic environmental inequalities, Regan and Flowers will discuss the intersection of climate change, public health, and economic justice in underserved communities. Flowers’ groundbreaking work on wastewater infrastructure in rural America and Regan’s leadership at the EPA bring invaluable insights into how government, communities, and organizations can collaborate to create lasting change.
This conversation is an essential dialogue for those interested in environmental policy, rural development, and the fight for a more equitable future. Regan and Flowers' deep expertise will provide listeners with a vision for how we can build more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive communities across the nation.
Book Michael Regan and Catherine Coleman Flowers for your next event to ignite your audience in conversation around environmental justice and rural resilience.
As the 16th Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Michael S. Regan has broad expertise in Environmental Policy. While head of the EPA, Regan played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. environmental policies, including addressing pressing issues such as climate change, air and water quality, toxic chemical regulations, and environmental justice.
As EPA Administrator, Regan was the Chief Executive Officer of a federal regulatory agency with more than 16 thousand employees and an annual operating budget north of 10 billion dollars. With an additional historic funding boost from the United States Congress beyond the annual budget, Regan designed and led an investment strategy of more than 100 billion dollars in the health, equity, and resilience of American communities, while providing the private sector with regulatory certainty to ensure job growth, global economic competitiveness, and investor confidence.
Throughout his career, Regan has been guided by a belief in forming consensus, fostering an open dialogue rooted in respect for science and the law, and an understanding that environmental protection and economic prosperity go hand in hand. In his live engagements, Regan explains how these systems work together, often in surprising ways.
Internationally recognized environmental activist, author, and MacArthur “genius” grant recipient Catherine Coleman Flowers has dedicated her life’s work to advocating for environmental justice. Founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ), Flowers has spent her career promoting equal access to clean water, air, sanitation, and soil to reduce health and economic disparities in marginalized, rural communities. Her leadership and fervor in fighting for solutions to these issues led her to one of her most notable appointments yet — Vice Chair of the Biden Administration’s inaugural White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Flowers is the author of the acclaimed and award-winning book Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret, in which she shares her inspiring story of advocacy, from childhood to environmental justice champion. Whether addressing equal access to water, the effects of climate change on different communities, or the effect of history on today's inequities, Flowers' lens of leadership in environmental justice and climate change engages and inspires attendees with tangible solutions and ways to take action.
Flowers serves as Rural Development Manager for Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), is a Board Member for the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Climate Reality Project and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Flowers is also Co-Chair of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Commission on Accelerating Climate Action and Practitioner in Residence at Duke University. She has written powerful pieces for the New York Review of Books, The Guardian, The New York Times, and Frontline Magazine, and has been profiled by 60 Minutes. Thought-provoking and informative, Flowers’ talks have left lasting impressions at the American Institute of Architects, the Triple Bottom Line Americas Conference, the Bloomberg Green Festival, the Global Philanthropy Forum, Georgetown University, Wheaton University, and more.
Michael S. Regan was nominated by the 46th President of the United States, confirmed by the United States Senate on March 10, 2021, and sworn in as the 16th Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on March 11, 2021.
The son of public servants - his mother, a nurse for nearly 30 years, and his father, a retired Colonel with the North Carolina National Guard, Vietnam veteran, and former agricultural extension agent - Regan went on to follow in his parents' footsteps to pursue a career in public service.
Regan has been recognized by leading domestic and global organizations / governments for his outstanding contributions to environmental protection, while spurring economic growth across numerous industry sectors. His commitment to excellence has been acknowledged through several awards including Time Magazine TIME100 Next, Time Magazine TIME100 Health, the HBCU Honors Distinguished Public Service Award, Boys and Girls Club of America Alumni Hall of Fame, Keystone Policy Center Leadership Award, and the NNPA National Legacy Award.
Regan has traveled across the country and around the world meeting face-to-face with communities hardest hit by environmental pollution and threats to public health. In his first year as Administrator, Regan established EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the first national program office in the agency’s history dedicated to solving environmental challenges in economically distressed and frontline communities.
As EPA Administrator, Regan was the Chief Executive Officer of a federal regulatory agency with more than 16 thousand employees and an annual operating budget north of 10 billion dollars. With an additional historic funding boost from the United States Congress beyond the annual budget, Regan designed and led an investment strategy of more than 100 billion dollars in the health, equity, and resilience of American communities, while providing the private sector with regulatory certainty to ensure job growth, global economic competitiveness, and investor confidence.
Prior to his nomination as EPA Administrator, Regan served as the 17th Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ).
As Secretary, he spearheaded the development and implementation of North Carolina's seminal plan to address climate change and transition the state to a clean energy economy. Under Regan’s leadership, he secured the largest coal ash clean-up-legal settlement in United States history. He led complex negotiations regarding the clean-up of the Cape Fear River, a body of water contaminated for decades by the toxic chemicals per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In addition, Regan established North Carolina's first-of-its-kind Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board to better align social inequities, environmental protection, and community empowerment.
Prior to NCDEQ, Regan served as the Associate Vice President of U.S. Climate and Energy and Southeast Regional Director at the Environmental Defense Fund. He successfully managed complex negotiations with energy companies, corporate business leaders, environmental and industry associations and elected officials across the nation.
Regan is a graduate of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, making him the first EPA Administrator to have graduated from a Historically Black University. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from The George Washington University and received an honorary doctorate from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in 2021.
He and his wife Melvina are proud parents of their son Matthew and dog Zeus.
Catherine Coleman Flowers is an internationally recognized environmental activist, MacArthur “genius” grant recipient, and author. She has dedicated her life’s work to advocating for environmental justice, primarily equal access to clean water and functional sanitation for communities across the United States.
Founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ), Flowers has spent her career promoting equal access to clean water, air, sanitation and soil to reduce health and economic disparities in marginalized, rural communities.
Flowers sits on the Board of Directors for the Climate Reality Project, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and RMI, as well as serving as a Practitioner in Residence position at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. In 2021, her leadership and fervor in fighting for solutions to these issues led her to one of her most notable appointments yet — Vice Chair of the Biden Administration’s inaugural White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. In 2023, she was recognized as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the world, is a TIME Earth Award winner, and was featured on Forbes’ 50 Over 50 list.
As the author of Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret, Flowers shares her inspiring story of advocacy, from childhood to environmental justice champion. In the book, she discusses sanitation and its correlation with systemic class, racial, and geographic prejudice that affects people across the United States. She and her work have been profiled by CBS’s 60 Minutes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, PBS Newshour, and more.
Learn more at www.catherinecolemanflowers.com.
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