Steve Olshevski, Chair

Steve has over 10 years of experience advocating for action to address climate change and environmental sustainability. He moved to Bethlehem’s west side in 2022 and immediately started contributing to sustainability causes in the Lehigh Valley. He retired in 2020 after a successful career in IT management. His business experience gave him a strong background in systems management, budgeting, project management and leadership. Steve developed his gardening hobby while in elementary school and can be seen regularly at the Sand Island tennis courts in the summer. He currently chairs the Waste Reduction Committee and the Heritage Tree Committee for the EAC.

Ben Felzer, Vice Chair

Benjamin Felzer is a climate and biogeochemical modeler who studies terrestrial ecosystems. He received his B.A. in physics and astronomy from Swarthmore College in 1987, his M.S. in geology from the University of Colorado – Boulder in 1991, his Ph.D. in geology from Brown University in 1995, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. Following his postdoctoral research, he worked as a Project Scientist for the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, spent the next year as an assistant project manager for the hydrological component of NOAA’s Office of Global Programs (OGP), and in 2001 became a research associate at the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. He spent the spring of 2008 as a Visiting Professor of Geology at Oberlin College, and started his current position as an Assistant Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lehigh in August, 2008, becoming an Associate Professor in 2015, and has most recently become a member of Lehigh’s Center for Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience. His recent work involves modeling the carbon and ecosystem effects of human and natural disturbances, such as land use and land cover change, in the context of climate warming, rising CO 2 levels, and air pollution – and his GDSTEM model is now part of the estimate of the global carbon budget and part of the TRENDY and ILAMB intermodel comparison and validation projects. He also works with a postdoctoral fellow on natural hazards related to Tropical Cyclones in the Atlantic. Finally, he has been working with undergraduate students on part of the Lehigh Valley Breathes project to study the effect of meteorology and traffic on air quality (PM2.5) in the Bethlehem area using a network of Purple Air sensors.

Ben Guthrie, Secretary

Ben is a lifelong resident of the Lehigh Valley, and has lived in Bethlehem since 2009. He graduated from Bucknell University with a degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering, and later earned a Master’s Degree in Transportation Engineering from Villanova University.  In addition to the EAC, Ben is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (former president of the Lehigh Valley Section), the Association of Pedestrian & Bicycle Professionals, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and Pennsylvania’s Pedalcycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. He lives in West Bethlehem with his wife Sheena and two young daughters. In his free time Ben enjoys playing rec league volleyball, cooking, and playing board games

Vibhor Kumar, Council Member

Vibhor works as a sustainability and energy consultant at WSP USA in their Bethlehem office. He moved to Bethlehem at the start of 2020 and lives in Downtown Bethlehem. In his current role, he supports a wide variety of clients with GHG inventories, sustainability reporting, goal setting, techno-economic analysis, renewable energy, and sustainable buildings. Prior to this role, Vibhor also did an internship at the U.S. Green Building Council where he worked on the development of the LEED v4.1 rating system. He has an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and a graduate degree in Energy Science, Technology, and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. He is passionate about all things sustainability and has been an active proponent of sustainability and clean energy during his time in school. He has multiple accreditations including LEED AP, TRUE Advisor, EcoDistricts AP, and Fitwel Ambassador.

Mandy Tolino, Council Member

Mandy Tolino is the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Allentown, overseeing a broad spectrum of services, including cultural and special events, recreation programming, park maintenance, sustainability initiatives, urban forestry and a municipal golf course. Beyond her professional role, she serves on the board of the Bangor Area Educational Foundation, and is a founding member of the Allentown Parknership, the first parks conservancy in Allentown.

Mandy is a Lehigh Valley native from Bangor, currently residing in West Bethlehem with her husband and 3 children. She received a B.S. from the University of Delaware in Plant Science and an M.A. from the University of Delaware in Urban Affairs and Public Policy, is an ISA certified arborist and Certified Parks and Recreation Professional (CPRP) through the National Parks and Recreation Association. As a native plant advocate, Mandy spends too much time in her garden. In her free time, she and her family spend most of their time outdoors on the local trails or at youth soccer games.

Katie Trembler, Council Member

Katie has been a resident of Bethlehem since 2010. She earned a B.A. in psychology from Penn State University. She is passionate about environmental sustainability and is continuously working on ways to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, including composting, being a conscious consumer, eliminating single use plastics, repurposing, and landscaping with native plants. Katie and her husband, Mark, have two young children and two collies who all enjoy spending as much time outdoors as possible. In her free time, she coaches her daughters' soccer teams, gardens, crochets, and reads. She was elected to the EAC in February of 2022 and maintains the council's social media and heads the Waste Reduction Committee.

Councilwoman Colleen Laird, City Council Liason