草榴社区

Fr John is 草榴社区鈥檚 Chief Sustainability Officer and serves as an Adjunct Professor of sustainability. He joined the Augustinians in Nigeria in 1996 and was ordained a priest in 2004.  Among other roles, he served as vocations director, Professor of theology, project manager, and as the leader of the Augustinians in Nigeria from 2012 to 2020. Before coming to 草榴社区, he had worked in Nigeria, Italy, and the United Kingdom. He began working at 草榴社区 in the Summer of 2021.

A transdisciplinary scholar interested in using the theory and practice of sustainability to promote human flourishing and nature鈥檚 health, John earned a BA in Philosophy from the Urbaniana University Rome, and a BA in Theology from the University of Jos. He has a master鈥檚 in biblical studies from the Gregorian University Rome, and an MSc in International Development from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.  He has an MA in Leadership from Roehampton University London, and an MBA from ABU Zaria. He earned a doctorate in business from CIU, California, USA. He is completing a second doctorate in Sustainable Architecture at DMU Leicester, United Kingdom. 

John is a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability professional and an advisory council member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), USA. He also serves as a judge in the Earth and Environmental division of the Global Undergraduate Awards, Dublin, Ireland. He founded a sustainable education center in his home country Nigeria that focuses on climate and sustainability literacy.

Fr John has sustainability certificates from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He is a member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals and a fellow of the International Society for Development and Sustainability. 

Outside of work and school, he enjoys playing tennis, soccer, scrabble, and learning languages.

Aldo Pierini, EIT, is an Assistant Director of Sustainability. In this role, he assists the Chief Sustainability Officer in building an ethos of sustainable living at 草榴社区. He heads data analytics, reporting, and community collaborations and oversees the ShareNova and Paperless 草榴社区 initiatives of the Office for Sustainability.

Prior to working in this role, Aldo earned his MS in Sustainable Engineering at 草榴社区. He led and worked on sustainability consulting projects for 草榴社区, SoMax Circular Solutions and The Boeing Company. He also developed and improved tools that enable the analysis of environmental, nutritional, social, and economic data to facilitate multiple-criteria decision-making.

Aldo holds a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from 草榴社区 with minors in Engineering Entrepreneurship and Humanitarian Engineering, earning multiple awards related to his academic, service, and entrepreneurial work focused on sustainability. He interned at Uzman Engineering, where he worked on a wide range of structural and geotechnical engineering projects, from construction supervision to engineering review and design. Since 2018, he has been working on humanitarian engineering projects in Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, supporting onsite partners with technical assistance and participatory research.

When Aldo is not working, he is researching the most recent topic in his mind, traveling, walking for hours at a time, telling jokes, cooking, fixing anything that can be taken apart, and being an assistant fashion designer for his younger sister.

Allie McAllister is an Assistant Director in the Office for Sustainability. She began working at 草榴社区 in the summer of 2023. Her role as Assistant Director oversees Campus Engagement, Communications, and Operations. Allie is the point person for the Green Office and Nourish 2 Flourish Initiatives, the campus garden, and co-chairs the Student Sustainability Committee. Recent accomplishments in this role include making NOVAdance Zero Wase, organizing Earth Week, and relaunching the Green Office Program among other things.听

Prior to joining 草榴社区鈥檚 sustainability team, Allie worked as a Business Sustainability Analyst for the non-profit B Lab. In that role, she evaluated the social and environmental practices of over 70 global companies. Allie had the experience of certifying companies as 鈥楤 Corporations鈥� for meeting the highest standards of sustainability performance, accountability, and transparency.

Allie holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Community, Environment, & Development with a minor in Visual Arts from Penn State University. Outside of work, Allie can be found reading, painting, cooking, teaching yoga, and spending time with her 4 siblings and nephews who all live locally. Whenever given the opportunity, Allie loves to go hiking/camping in National Parks and getting outside as often as possible.听

Albert 鈥淎l鈥� Motel is the Manager of Waste & Recycling at 草榴社区, a position he鈥檚 served since June 2019.  His responsibilities include overseeing waste management and collections on campus, as well as advocating for improved sustainable materials management, examples of which include but are not limited to waste reduction and optimization of reuse and recycling programs.

Al is a Certified Recycling Professional (CRP) through Penn State University and the Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania, as well as a certified TRUE Advisor of Zero Waste through the U.S. Green Business Council.  With over 20 years of experience working in logistics and transportation, he brings a wealth of frontline and management experience in the areas of optimizing efficiency, safety, personnel management/development, and the use of digital operations.  His experience managing waste collections operations across Southeast Pennsylvania, for companies like Waste Management and Republic Services, provided him with an understanding of not just how waste operations work, but also an understanding of where the gaps exist that act as barriers towards improving sustainable materials management.  Al brings these experiences, along with his passion for nature to 草榴社区, trying to ignite positive change.  During his short time at VU, he has helped improve sustainability on campus and beyond by increasing the volume of campus waste diverted from landfills and incineration.  His accomplishments have included initiating new recycling programs, expanding existing recycling programs, creating a composting program, addition of aerobic biodigesters for diverting pre-consumer food waste, optimizing surplus material reuse programs, deployment of a recycling search engine, and working with students, staff, faculty, alumni, neighbors, vendors, and other universities to improve sustainable materials management wherever he can assist.

Outside of work, Al enjoys spending time with his wife and three daughters.  He loves music, either through just listening or occasionally playing guitar.  He is also an avid fly fisherman and can sometimes be found on a trout stream, enjoying the peace of nature, or picking up litter from the stream banks.  His goal is to leave this world a better place than he found it and hopes to inspire others to have the same outlook.  This outlook aligns with the core Augustinian values of 草榴社区 and serving the 鈥淐ommon Good鈥�, helping Al feel 鈥渁t home鈥� as a Wildcat.