Walton becomes Emerald partner and more Chattanooga-area career moves

Walton becomes Emerald partner

Michael Walton, the executive director of Green Spaces for over nine years, is stepping down as CEO of the nonprofit environmental group to build a presence in Chattanooga for Emerald Operating Partners, a global energy transition advisory firm.

Walton is a new partner with Emerald, where he will continue to support Green Spaces as a strategic advisor. In his new job, Walton will lead Emerald’s clean energy and environmental, social and governance advisory services supporting corporate clients, private equity firms and investment funds. Emerald, as part of Energy Transition Finance, helps connect clean energy projects to debt and equity finance and improve their business plans to meet lender requirements.

Under Walton’s leadership at Green Spaces, the staff grew from a single employee in January 2014 to 29 employees in 2023 with the launch of the education and outreach program Empower Chattanooga, as well as Green Light, Chattanooga’s Green Business Certification program, and Green Leader, the sustainability professional certificate offered through Chattanooga State Community College. Walton also coordinated the Low-Impact Development Design Competition, Green Sparks Design Competition and NextGen Homes Design Competition. He also managed the design, development and construction of the NextGen Homes, Chattanooga’s first net zero energy development.

While Walton was executive director, Green Spaces received the Tennessee Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award in 2016 and 2020, the Footprint Foundation’s Footprint Award in 2018 and the Chamber of Commerce’s first-ever Community Collaborator Award in 2019.

“The board is thankful for Michael’s leadership and guidance for Green Spaces,” former Green Spaces Chairman Ken Jones said in a statement. “Under his leadership, Green Spaces has helped guide our community to adapt sustainable practices and in preparing our workforce for clean jobs. We will continue to build on the foundation that has been laid.”

Phillips joins LBMC as tax manager

Travis Phillips has joined the accounting and business consulting firm of LBMC in Chattanooga as a tax manager.

Phillips has spent the bulk of his career working with businesses assisting with various tax, accounting and consulting needs. He holds a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of West Florida and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Phillips is a member of the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants, American Society of Certified Public Accountants and Chattanooga Tax Practitioners. He is a licensed CPA in Tennessee.

Goonetilleke heads outreach, operations at language school

Julie Goonetilleke has been appointed operations and outreach coordinator for the Chattanooga School of Language. Goonetilleke is a Chattanooga native who has spent her life immersed in different cultures and languages.

As a first-generation Asian American, there were always three different languages spoken in her household: Japanese, English and Sinhalese.

While receiving her Bachelor of Arts in international studies and Spanish from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, she received a Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship, which she used to study abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. The experience deepened her love of Spanish and studying languages, which led her to the Chattanooga School of Language, where she hopes to help others experience the joys of language learning.

Chattanooga cleanup project wins a 2023 Smart 50 award

Chattanooga was one of five U.S. cities to earn a 2023 Smart 50 Award for developing infrastructure to provide neighborhood-level air quality data and increase public understanding of its effects.

Each year, the Smart 50 Awards, in partnership with Smart Cities Connect and Smart Cities Connect Foundation, recognize city projects, honoring the most influential community work. The Smart Community Air Quality Monitoring Collaborative included Chattanooga; Cleveland, Ohio; Kansas City, Mo.; Salt Lake City and the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts.

Since late 2020, representatives from the five communities —  funded by a $125,000 pilot investment from US Ignite and the National Science Foundation — have worked collaboratively to address health disparities that arise in neighborhoods that experience higher rates of poor air quality.

“US Ignite works with communities around the country to ensure that emerging technologies can help solve the most pressing civic challenges and to improve the quality of life for our neighbors everywhere,” Glenn Ricart, founder and chief technology officer of US Ignite, said in a statement. “It’s exciting to see not only this important work around air quality within communities recognized at Smart Cities Connect, but also the ongoing collaborations among them.”

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