Leadership

Joe Tiernay

Executive Director

Mr. Tiernay brings over two decades of professional non-profit association management experience, most recently serving the Ontario Good Roads Association (OGRA), where he held the position of Executive Director for 15 years. Founded in 1894, the non-profit OGRA was formed to represent the interests of Ontario municipalities advocating on their behalf for sustainable transportation amid the growing need for improved safety and community access. The OGRA currently serves over 650 corporate, municipal, institutional, and First Nations members to support the collective interests of municipal transportation and public works departments.

Mr. Tiernay previously served for 20 years in the municipal sector holding progressively more senior positions with the Town of Alliston, City of Woodstock, Town of Ajax, and finally as the Chief Administrative Officer for the County of Peterborough. In 2000 Mr. Tiernay left municipal government to assume the position of Executive Director of the non-profit International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC), a 10,000 member international association based in Southern California. In 2012, and in recognition of his advocacy work and 30 plus years of service to his community, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II, Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada, an honor bestowed to those with significant contributions to Canada in the previous 60 years. Mr. Tiernay holds a 3-year diploma in Business Administration from Humber College.

Gregoire James

Commercial Director


As Commercial Director, Gregoire provides the IAWMA with market intelligence by supporting its advocacy and standards development programs. Gregoire founded the IAWMA after completing U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Research Board (TRB) funded research in the recovery and recycling of single-use items in the aviation industry. The research titled Recovering International Recyclables from In-Flight Service (2020) and published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, pointed to the need for a multi-stakeholder approach to solving the systemic gaps in handling waste in the aviation industry. Before his role at the IAWMA, Gregoire served as the Founder and President of GeneraCycle, Inc., a privately held company providing program development for waste recovery efforts.

Jonathan Cocker

Regulatory Affairs Director


As Regulatory Affairs Director, Jonathan Cocker focuses on international environmental markets, with an expertise in waste and resource recovery sectors. Jonathan joins the IAWMA as a Partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, where he provides advice and representation to multinational companies on a variety of environmental and product compliance matters, including extended producer responsibilities, dangerous goods transportation, GHS, regulated wastes, consumer product and food safety.

Prior to BLG, Mr. Cocker was the head of Baker McKenzie’s Environmental Practice Group in Canada and was an active member of the firm's Global Consumer Goods & Retail and Energy, Mining and Infrastructure groups. Mr. Cocker is a founding member of the IAWMA and plays an integral part in building its standards and regulatory affairs programs. He is both a sought-after speaker and writer on environmental issues authoring numerous publications on circular economic topics. Mr. Cocker currently holds the post as the first Sustainability Officer of the International Bar Association.

Advisory Board

Paul Frith

Mr. Frith brings an extensive background in sustainable energy, infrastructure development, stakeholder engagement, and government relations. Alongside his wealth of experience in dealing with multiple levels of government on policy initiatives and program development, Mr. Frith has also worked closely with the former Minister of Environment and Climate Change in shaping the delivery of carbon mitigation programs.

Mr. Frith has 20 years of business development experience in stationary power, lighting, and renewables industries. Paul is the Co-Chair of a globally based monthly sustainability network and is active with the Canada Green Building Council, where he Chaired the Toronto and GTA Chapter’s annual Drive for Change Golf Tournament for 5 years, and the proud recipient of its 2020 National Award for Volunteer Leadership. 

Captain Edward M. Davidson, FRAeS


As a senior airline and aerospace executive, Captain Davidson has over 35 years of air transport flight operations, flight safety, and line flying experience. He has held several key senior executive leadership roles in operational and strategic management, including domestic US and international aerospace companies, and has held the role of Director, Global Safety International Air Transport Association (IATA). Additional positions held include Senior Vice President, Flight Operations (Fleet) Emirates Airlines (2006-2010), Vice President and Deputy, Aviation Management Services and Senior Vice President and Lead, Aerospace Practice Tetra Tech (2010-2012), Vice President, Flight Operations Porter Airlines (2012-2014), Chief Operating Officer Island Air (2014-2015), President and Chief Operating Officer National Airlines (2015-2016).

Currently, Captain Davidson serves as COO and Managing Partner of Aerospace Analytics, a leading aviation advisory firm providing air transport stakeholders with expertise in improving operational performance, management effectiveness, and profitability. In addition to a storied and successful career in commercial aviation, Captain Davidson is a Retired Commander of the United States Navy and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Captain Davidson holds the FRAeS, the highest grade of membership available. Captain Davidson is an Adjunct Lecturer, Cornell University ILR School in Labor Arbitration and Management/International Business Management Program and served as Adjunct Lecturer, Emirates Aviation University and a member of the American Arbitration Association and the US National Mediation Board. 

Liza Milagro, MSM-PM


Liza was previously the Resilience & Sustainability Manager for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the world's largest airport. She brings over 20 years of experience in airport sustainability, resiliency, innovation, management, and most importantly, her passion for waste and sustainability. Liza is widely known in the industry for having launched Green Acres ATL Energy Park. A first of its kind multi-million dollar full-stream materials recycling facility intended to take a cradle-to-cradle approach of materials generated by passengers, concessionaires, vendors, and employees on the ATL campus.

Liza is a 100 Environmental Leader Honoree and won Project of the Year – Environmental Leader Magazine for 2015 & 2019. A large part of the IAWMA's success comes from Liza having lobbied the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) to fund the first global study on cabin waste. Her work has been featured in Airport Magazine and Skift Magazine, the largest travel industry intelligence platform. Liza holds a Bachelor of Arts from Dillard University and a Master's in Sustainable Program Management from Boston University.

Joseph Chiodo, PhD


Dr. Chiodo is the inventor of Active Disassembly (AD) and the technology associated with Active Disassembly using Smart Materials (ADSM). His work first started in recycling-related design solutions in the late 1980s. His inventions are instrumental in pre-treating and designing materials before they are combined to ensure end-of-life disassembly in their entirety — a seminal component on which the circular economy is currently based. Dr. Chiodo focused his research on thermally triggered disassembly using shape-memory materials. His thesis investigated Design for Disassembly, providing an incentive for new automated approaches that continue to be widely used today in various applications.

His work has been featured in numerous publications, including The Journal of Sustainable Product Design. His Techniques for Rapid, Non-Destructive Disassembly has been featured by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a circular economy think tank, and is also continuously used to develop advanced sustainable production approaches for environmental impact manufacturing. Many of Dr. Chiodo's applications are currently being utilized for returning used products to their original performance specification, a major component of bringing value to an emerging circular economy.

Associates

Mark Orchard


As Copywriter and Editor, Mark will aid the IAWMA’s message of advocacy, collection strategies, and standards by producing quality content, engaging stakeholders on multiple platforms, and further enhancing the IAWMA’s role as aviation’s most trusted circular economy source. Mark graduated from York University with a BA in Mass Communications and English and received his Editing Certificate from George Brown College.

Joyce Chang 


As Industrial Design Associate, Joyce works directly with the leadership team in supporting research, ideation, design, and data analysis to advance IAWMA’s evidence-based circular economy knowledge platform. Joyce holds a BDes in Industrial and Product Design from OCAD University in Toronto, with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation. Joyce also brings with her a wealth of expertise in systems and visual storytelling, which aids the IAWMA’s mission of developing strategic supply and collection chains in global aviation.