Jessica Bede, ACR Managing Director, began working in GHG accounting and carbon projects in 2011 and joined ACR in 2019. In her current position, she is responsible for providing leadership and coordination of ACR’s technical and strategic work to mobilize emission reductions, ensure the integrity of carbon credits, and promote market innovation. This includes advising staff and partners on methodology and program development, project review and credit issuance, registry infrastructure, and market opportunities.

Her previous work has involved a variety of climate financing mechanisms and multiple project types giving Jessica a wide range of knowledge across the transportation, energy, building, natural resources, and waste sectors. Prior to ACR, Jessica worked at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) where she first contributed to compliance offset protocol development and credit issuance under the State’s Cap-and-Trade program before working on the use of auction proceeds for California Climate Investments to further the State’s climate goals and benefit disadvantaged communities. Prior to CARB, she worked on the technical design of Carbon Tanzania’s first REDD project, which included establishing and strengthening the land rights of indigenous populations and delivering payments for ecosystem services to communities for development and livelihood needs. Jessica holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Master’s degree in International Development from Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Gabriel Burns, Senior Technical Manager, Forestry, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon offset projects in the California compliance and voluntary markets. He is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification and the development and approval of new quantification methodologies.

Prior to joining the ACR team, Gabriel worked for over a decade in both the public and private sectors as a forest climate and carbon specialist. Most recently, Gabriel worked for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources – Division of Forestry, where he helped build a DoF climate change program, oversaw timber harvest sales operations, and managed a multi-stakeholder effort to model changes in forest carbon stocks based on a multitude of counterfactual scenarios inputted into the carbon budget model of the Canadian Forest Service (CBM-CFS3). Ahead of joining the DNR, Gabriel worked as a technical consultant for UNIQUE Forestry and Land-Use, based in Freiburg Germany, as part of an MRV task team within the climate division. During his time with UNIQUE, Gabriel helped develop a forestry NAMA in India, implement and monitor an IFM project in China, and author and field-test a water impact and assessment methodology used to quantify the water benefits from sustainable agriculture and land management interventions in Kenya and surrounding African countries. Gabriel Holds a Bachelor of Forestry and Natural Resource Management from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s in Silviculture from the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Umesh Chaudhari, Technical Manager, Forestry, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon credit projects in the voluntary and California compliance markets. He is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification and the development and approval of new quantification methodologies.

Prior to joining ACR, Dr. Chaudhari was an Assistant Professor of Forestry at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), where he taught quantitative methods in forest resources, forest measurement and mapping, forest finance, timber management, and advanced silviculture. He has also served as an Assistant Professor of Forestry at Andrew College, where he developed an accredited two-year Forestry Program. His MS research studied the impacts of forest management on carbon sequestration and the impact of carbon markets on landowner decision-making. His Ph.D. research explored the economics of non-traditional timber commodities (i.e., carbon and bioenergy) and traditional timber commodities from planted loblolly pines. Dr. Chaudhari holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the Institute of Forestry of Tribhuvan University in Nepal. He received his MS in Forest Resources from the University of Arkansas at Monticello and his Ph.D. in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia.

Mary Jane Coombs, Director of ACR Industrial Programs, leads a team focused on carbon credit projects that reduce that reduce greenhouse gas emissions through carbon capture and storage (CCS), landfill and mine methane destruction, livestock anaerobic digesters, use of lower-emitting refrigerants, ozone-depleting substance destruction, and plugging of orphaned oil and gas wells. She oversees the exploration of initiatives in these sectors and coordination with experts and stakeholders to bring rigorous methodologies to market. Mary Jane joined ACR in 2024.

Mary Jane worked for over 15 years at the California Air Resources Board (CARB), where she oversaw implementation of methane emissions reduction programs for landfills and livestock, as well as electricity-related greenhouse gas emissions reduction programs. Prior to that, she managed allowance allocation, emissions leakage protection, and electricity policy for California’s Cap-and-Trade Program (also at CARB). She has advised jurisdictions around the world on cap-and-trade program design. Before CARB, Mary Jane was a project manager for the West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, which characterized geological and terrestrial sequestration opportunities in the western United States. She also worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, editing and co-authoring papers on mineral resources.

Mary Jane has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology & Environmental Studies from Whitman College and a Master of Science degree in Marine Science (studies in paleoclimatology) from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Meg Dudley, Technical Manager, Forestry, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon offset projects in the California compliance and voluntary markets. She is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification and the development and approval of new quantification methodologies.

Prior to joining ACR, Dr. Dudley was an assistant professor of biology at Adams State University, where she instructed a wide variety of subjects. As a graduate student and post-doctoral research assistant, she examined how climate and damage agents affect the health of western forests. She brings a wide-range of expertise also having worked for various federal land management agencies as a Geographic Information Specialist (GIS) and park ranger. Dr. Dudley holds a Bachelors of Science in Natural Resources from the University of Minnesota. She received her Masters of Science and PhD in Forest Pathology from Colorado State University.

Brent Fitzgerald, Technical Manager, Industrial Programs, provides technical expertise on carbon credit project review and verification oversight of carbon capture and storage, mine methane capture and destruction, and orphaned oil and gas well plugging projects in the voluntary carbon market. He also contributes to the development and approval of innovative ACR GHG emissions reduction quantification methodologies and verification strategies for carbon markets. Brent joined ACR in 2021.

Prior to joining ACR, Brent worked for 10 years in GHG reporting, sustainability, and multi-media environmental permitting and compliance with an emphasis on state and federal air quality regulations. While with Pinnacle Renewable Energy, he served as Environmental Manager for two Title V SBP-certified wood-pellet manufacturing facilities in Alabama, where he completed monitoring and reporting requirements, built upon data management systems, and developed permitting and compliance strategies alongside optimal plant performance. At Trinity Consultants, he served as Senior Environmental Consultant for industrial clients in the oil & gas, chemical, and power sectors across the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, where he worked with plant personnel and corporate management to complete complex construction and modification permitting projects, regulatory agency enforcement resolution, and professional training. He also researched and authored reports on systemic sustainability in higher education and on supplementing a landfill gas-to-energy system with anaerobic digester biogas from organic waste.

Brent received a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University.

Gabriela Godoy, Administrative Officer, supports key internal processes and provides unit-wide support for various administrative tasks, including procurement, finance, travel, event planning, communications, and customer service. In addition, she supports ACR standardized internal processes related to Registry account onboarding, risk mitigation agreements, and the development of carbon offset methodologies.

She has worked with government contractors and non-profit organizations in corporate accounting/finance, program support, logistics, office management, communications, and human resources. Gabriela received a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies and a master’s degree in Global Affairs from George Mason University.

Mary Grady, President and CEO of ERT and ACR Executive Director, has been active in environmental markets for over 30 years, including 17 years at ACR. In her current role, she manages operations and ACR’s respected team of technical and policy experts in the California regulated market, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) market and the voluntary carbon market. She leads the implementation of strategies to ensure ACR’s approval in new compliance carbon markets and actively represents Winrock as a UNFCCC observer organization.

Upon joining ACR, Mary developed and implemented a business plan and a communications and outreach strategy that rebranded ACR and built its reputation as the premium U.S. GHG program. She has overseen the development and updates to the ACR Standard, the development of three generations of ACR’s registry platform and led ACR’s strategy for approval as a California Offset Project Registry in 2012 and to supply credits to ICAO’s CORSIA in 2020.

Prior to ACR, Mary worked for 16 years in the renewable energy industry. As Development Operations Leader of Clipper Windpower, she managed the project development team and 10,000 MW project portfolio, valued at over $1 billion. Mary lived in Brazil for five years including as Director of Winrock’s Brazil office and as Director of Kyocera Solar’s pioneering rural electrification program. She began her renewable energy career at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Mary has an international MBA and speaks Portuguese and Spanish. She serves on the Council of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the Governing Board of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).