Deeohn Ferris is President of Sustainable Community Development Group, a not-for-profit research and policy innovator dedicated to advancing sustainability through equitable development, environmental justice and smart growth. She is a lawyer and a recognized provider of public policy expertise and technical assistance that tackles community inclusion and entrenched issues of poverty, economic development, environmental quality and health. Ms. Ferris is the pioneer who launched the Environmental Justice Project for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where she led the groundbreaking nationwide campaign that initiated the first Congressional hearings, creation of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the federal Interagency Workgroup, and the federal call-to-action Presidential Executive Order 12898. While Executive Director of the Washington Office on Environmental Justice, she gained extraordinary experience working with multicultural communities in countries on 5 continents. Her public service includes numerous governmental committees and nonprofit boards. In recognition of her commitment to sustainable community building, in 2013, she was the first recipient of the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals' Environmental Justice Award. Her law degree is from Georgetown University.