Advancing the Circular Textile Economy for People, Planet & Prosperity
Welcome and Introduction
Katrina Orsini, The GW Museum & Textile Museum
Donna M. Attanasio, The GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future
Featured Speakers
Steven C. Preston, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International
Catherine Meloy, President and CEO of Goodwill of Greater Washington and the Goodwill Excel Center Adult Charter High School
Panel Discussion: Featured Speakers and Students
Juliana Carvalho, GW Office of Sustainability (Moderator)
Students: Aditi Chandrasekar, Emily Meltzer, Niharika Sen
Reception
Speakers
Steven C. Preston
- President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International
Steven C. Preston is the president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. He leads a network of 153 local Goodwill® organizations in the U.S. and Canada which provide education, job training and support services to nearly 2 million people annually.
Preston has served in numerous operational and financial leadership positions in both the public and private sectors. He headed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Small Business Administration (SBA); led successful turnarounds as the CEO of two private corporations, Oakleaf Global Holdings and Livingston International; and served as the CFO of two Fortune 500 companies, Waste Management and ServiceMaster.
Preston graduated with the highest distinction from Northwestern University and holds an MBA from The University of Chicago. Preston currently serves on the Wheaton College Board of Trustees and serves on the Leadership 18 Executive Committee. Preston also serves on the board of the National Retail Federation (NRF) and is chair of the NRF Foundation.
Catherine Meloy
- President and CEO of Goodwill of Greater Washington (Goodwill) and the Goodwill Excel Center Adult Charter High School.
Catherine Meloy serves as President and CEO of Goodwill of Greater Washington (Goodwill) and the Goodwill Excel Center Adult Charter High School. Before joining Goodwill in 2003, Catherine had a successful management career in the broadcast radio industry.
Over the past 22 years, Goodwill has grown to over 1100 associates, 22 brick & mortar retail stores, an eCommerce operation, nine government janitorial and grounds maintenance contracts, and a sustainability and recycling center. In further serving and expanding the mission of Goodwill, the first adult charter high school to award diplomas to DC residents – The Goodwill Excel Center – opened in August 2016, with the second campus opening in August 2022. In 2025 the Excel Center will have successfully graduated more than 700 students. Goodwill is also preparing to develop a first of its kind affordable housing complex in Arlington, VA. In the summer of 2025, Goodwill’s flagship store in Arlington, VA will be torn down, and a new store and donation center built in its place with five stories of affordable housing units rising above it, providing homes for 128 low-income families.
Catherine’s involvement in the greater Washington business community includes sitting on the Boards of Directors of the Greater Washington Board of Trade; Federal City Council; MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Center (Board Chair); and a national board, Source America, that serves and expands the employment of people with disabilities through the Ability One program. She was honored to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Richmond, VA.
Catherine is a recipient of the Greater Washington Board of Trade’s “Leader of the Years Award”; was honored by Washingtonian Magazine as “Washingtonian of the Year”; inducted into the American Marketing Association-DC Chapter Hall of Fame and highlighted as a Most Admired CEO by Smart CEO Magazine for her successful organizational turnaround of Goodwill of Greater Washington.
Speakers and Student Panelists
Donna Attanasio
- Managing Director of the George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future
Donna Attanasio is the Managing Director of The George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future. Ms. Attanasio supervises the day-to-day operations of the Alliance, including its Academic Sustainability Programs and the GW Sustainability Research Institute, and supports its work in convening, communicating, and fundraising.
Ms. Attanasio is a lawyer by profession. Her practice, writing, and teaching focus on the electric sector. Her current scholarly interests are microgrids, hydrogen, advanced nuclear technologies, and the intersection of regulation with emerging electric technologies. From 2013-2023, she was a member of the GW Law School staff where she expanded the energy law program and was appointed the Law School’s first Assistant Dean for Energy Law. Immediately prior to joining GW, she was a partner at the law firm White & Case LLP, capping over two decades in private law practice. She served as President of the Energy Bar Association, an international organization of energy lawyers (2008-2009), and has served in many other positions in the EBA and its affiliated organizations, including its Charitable Foundation. She is a member of the advisory board for Smith College’s Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability (CEEDS). In her free time, she enjoys gardening, reading, and travel.
Juliana Carvalho
- Engagement Associate at the Office of Sustainability
Juliana Carvalho is the Engagement Associate at the Office of Sustainability. She works with GW students, staff, and faculty to shape culture around sustainability and oversees The Loop, GW's Free Clothing Exchange, and the Eco-Reps and Green Office Network programs. Juliana earned a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Her research focused on environmental communication and community-led wildlife conservation. Prior to her time at George Washington University, she served as the Stanback Fellow at Defenders of Wildlife, researching solutions to promote coexistence between humans and wildlife. Juliana holds a B.S. in Biology and Evolutionary Anthropology from Duke University.
Aditi Chandrasekar
- George Washington University Undergraduate Student Studying Economics and Sustainability
Aditi Chandrasekar is an undergraduate student at the George Washington University studying Economics and Sustainability. For the past year she has been working as a Research Assistant for Professor John Forrer at the Institute for Corporate Responsibility at GW working on a research project studying Circular Business Models. She is the creator and host for the podcast “Circular Logic” in which she discusses circular business models with experts in the sustainability space. Along side her work with the ICR, Aditi is active member of the GW community participating as an analyst for the DC Green Bank project for Compass Impact Consulting and an active member of the GW chapter of the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law fraternity.
Emily Meltzer
- George Washington University Undergraduate Student BA-MA Studying Environmental Studies, Environment and Sustainability Policy
Emily Meltzer (she/her) is a junior BA-MA student studying Environmental Studies, Environment and Sustainability Policy, and Political Science at George Washington University. In her role as the Community Engagement Intern within the Eco-Reps program at the GW Office of Sustainability, she works with a team of sustainability-minded peers to develop and implement programming, infrastructure, and educational experiences for students looking to make environmentally-conscious decisions in their university community. She also holds the responsibility of the VP of Advocacy of the GW Responsible Fashion Collective, which aims to promote textile circularity and responsible consumption.
Katrina Orsini
- Programs Associate at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum
Katrina Orsini has worked as a museum programs associate since 2021 with a special focus on academic engagement and student programming for the George Washington University and wider academic community. She teaches the course SUST 2005: Responsible Fashion and supervises the Responsible Fashion Collective student organization. Previously, Orsini was a Smithsonian Fellow at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in the Textile Department and has taught at the New York School of Interior Design and Parsons School of Design at The New School.
Niharika Sen
- George Washington University Undergraduate Student in Environmental Studies, Public Health and Marketing
Niharika Sen (she/her) is a junior pursuing a BA in Environmental Studies, Public Health and Marketing at The George Washington University. As the President of the Responsible Fashion Collective, a student organization dedicated to promoting mindfulness with textile consumption, she leads diverse opportunities for community members to ameliorate their habits in educational and socially engaging ways. She also works for the GW Office of Sustainability as a Textile Reuse Intern, developing meaningful textile circularity initiatives on campus alongside running the Loop, GW’s free second-hand clothing exchange program.