About the Authors

Bob Ackley is the owner of Gas Safety, Inc. He has 40 years of industry experience in all aspects of Department of Transportation (DOT) operator qualification regarding natural gas leak detection and natural gas leak classification. Bob implemented DOT Operator Qualification mandated programs for natural gas utility contractors and specializes in leak detection procedures and protocols, conducting research, and providing consulting services to a wide range of clients.

Molly Fairchild identified causal analysis as key to understanding risks in the current gas distribution system and performed the resulting work. She has experience as a Peace Corps Nutrition Project Coordinator in Thailand, as a research associate at Dianon Systems developing case studies on chronic lyme disease, as a researcher for ADABI a women’s domestic violence program on the Navajo Reservation, and as the Sustainability Coordinator for the town of Wellesley developing the town-wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions inventory. Her Master of Science degree in International Nutrition is from Cornell. 

Sarah Griffith has over ten years experience communicating with utilities and twenty years experience working for and volunteering with environmental organizations. She was among the first groups trained by Al Gore and scientists such as Richard Alley in climate science as part of Climate Reality Project. Her master’s degree in visual studies was awarded by MIT.

Regina LaRocque, MD, MPH is a physician-scientist with expertise in public health. She is on staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital Division of Infectious Diseases and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is on the board of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, and she was elected to the Natural Resources Commission in Wellesley, Massachusetts in 2017. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. She received her MD from Duke university and her MPH from Harvard School of Public Health.

Nathan Phillips, Ph.D., is an ecologist and professor in the department of Earth and Environment at Boston University, where he directs the Earth House Living Learning Community. In 2013 Nathan led the first study of its kind that mapped 3,356 natural gas leaks in the City of Boston. After the Merrimack Valley Gas Disaster, Nathan organized a crowd-funded relief effort of the Gas Leak Allies that donated over 700 electric induction cooktops to needing households. He was awarded his PhD by Duke University.