City of Atlanta | 7
ability was initially developed in 2008 un-
der the leadership of former Mayor Shirley
Franklin where the City’s first director of
sustainability did a tremendous job identi-
fying opportunities to deploy sustainability
best practices in government operations with
very limited resources. At the time, Quarles
says much of the emphasis was focused on
achieving energy efficiency and improve-
ments throughout government operations,
initiatives supported through grants funded
by the U.S. Department of Energy. While
those activities accommodated much in the
way of improvement in energy policy and
the expansion of efficiency practices, the cur-
rent administration has broadened its focus
to include rigorous reduction measures for
materials management, carbon-emissions re-
duction, and for improvements in water con-
servation and quality.
In its current iteration, the relatively
young team of six brings a wealth of back-
ground and technical expertise to the table.
Kelsey Baack worked as a National Net-
work of Environmental Management Stud-
ies (NNEMS) fellow for the U.S. EPA and
brings her analytic experience from the Bos-
ton City Council to Atlanta. Aaron Bastian’s
