4:00 PM - 7:00 PM CST
View Current Attendees
Location: World Trade Center, 120 South Central, Suite 200 (2nd Floor), Clayton, MO 63105
Registration ends on 9/17/2026
This event is open to Forum members and guests.
Ticket Information
Members: Free
Guests $20.00
Program Description
This program will focus on pressing issues related to the current state of environmental justice and safety, with consideration of St. Louis, women, families, and the broader community.
For example, did you know that St Louis has considerable manufacturing and has a major superfund site, has many old buildings and housing which pose environmental hazards? How will our region explore and navigate new opportunities ensuring that all environmental decisions are made with public health, equity, transparency and meaningful community engagement at the forefront?
Join us to learn from expert guest panelists who will share pertinent information on a variety of pressing issues from their professional, industry and nonprofit organization perspectives, along with additional insights on how individuals can advocate for their rights to achieve fair and more balanced outcomes (short-term and long-term).
The program will include breakout sessions, providing attendees with the opportunity to further explore the information presented, engage in meaningful dialogue, and develop key questions to inform the panel discussion and convening.
The Issues Exploration committee is committed to curating experiences to deep dive into Human Rights topics over the next two years. We will be guided by the principles in the mission statement below:
Human rights are the fundamental freedoms and protections that belong to every individual, and for women, these rights must include equitable access to healthcare, housing, safety, economic opportunity, and reproductive autonomy.
Our work recognizes that feminism, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and intersectionality are essential lenses through which we examine human rights issues.
We are committed to fostering civil discourse around the regional challenges women face, while honoring the diverse experiences that shape their lives. Through inclusive education and dialogue, we aim to advance understanding and action toward a more just and equitable society for all women.
Program Timeline
Arrival & Refreshments: 4:00-4:30 pm
Program: 4:30-6:30pm
Closing & Networking: 6:30-7:00 pm
Panelists
Fiona Woody
Director of Sustainability and ESG
MLC (formerly Missouri Lime Company)
Fiona Woody Joined MLC as the Director of Sustainability and ESG in 2022. In this role, she is leading the company’s sustainability strategy. This includes helping to accelerate, integrate and strategically communicate initiatives within the company and to customers, vendors, communities, and the lime industry. Prior to joining MLC Fiona spent 20 years in the agriculture industry working in strategy and planning, regulatory and government affairs and sustainable development. Fiona is passionate about helping women thrive and serves on the board of directors for the Haven of Grace, which provides a safe, nurturing home, educational programs and long-term support for women who are pregnant and homeless.
Gwen Mizel
SVP, Chief Sustainability Officer & President of the Charitable Foundation
Ameren
Gwen Mizell is Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Ameren, where she leads enterprise-wide sustainability strategy and community impact initiatives. She brings extensive energy-sector experience from Westinghouse Electric, Siemens, ABB, Calpine, KEMA Consulting, and as former President and CEO of GSM Development. Mizell holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, with executive training from Harvard and Georgetown. She serves on the Gibraltar Industries board and multiple civic and industry committees. Recognized as a Savoy Magazine Most Influential Black Executive, she lives in St. Louis with her husband and two daughters.
Natalie Johnson
Executive Director
Great Rivers Environmental Law Center
Natalie Johnson is the Executive Director of Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, Missouri's nonprofit public interest environmental law organization. Inspired by her own childhood experiences in nature, she has spent more than 15 years connecting communities with their environment and advancing conservation across Missouri and Indiana. Her career has taken her from teaching children and families about the outdoors, to protecting the Great Lakes and the Indiana Dunes, and ultimately back home to the St. Louis region, where she now connects communities with the legal resources, partnerships, and advocacy needed to protect Missouri's clean air, clean water, and public lands.
Natalie holds bachelor's degrees in Biology and Secondary Education from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and a master's degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Throughout her career, she has worked alongside students, volunteers, scientists, community leaders, and conservation organizations, building partnerships that turn a shared love of the outdoors into meaningful conservation action.
Outside of work, Natalie can usually be found paddling Missouri's rivers, leading Cub Scouts on an outdoor adventure, tending to her flock of backyard chickens, or judging poultry for 4-H. She believes conservation isn't just a profession—it's a way of life—and that people protect what they love. Whether working alongside communities to protect their environment or introducing a child to fishing, she is passionate about helping others build meaningful connections with the natural world.
Michelle "Mickey" Croyle
Chair of the Environmental Quality and Climate Committee
League of Women Voters
Michelle “Mickey” Croyle is an experienced environmental health and safety professional with over 40 years in the field. She holds a BA in Biology from Keuka College in NY state and a MS in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Iowa and a Medical Technology certificate from University of Iowa. She retired from Washington University, Environmental Health and Safety Department as a Health Physicist in 2017. She had a long career in academe ( including Washington University, the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Iowa) holding roles in radiation safety- safe medical and scientific use of radioactive materials including compliance with regulatory practices and safety of hazardous materials in laboratory use and research. She also conducted thyroid cancer research. Mickey is highly published in her scientific field of radiation safety, thyroid cancer research and in molecular and cellular biology . She also holds numerous certificates in laboratory training, radiation safety and in the safe use of hazardous materials in a laboratory and research setting. Mickey is passionate about environmental health and safety and social justice and has lent her time as a volunteer on numerous environmental committees in the communities where she has lived. She has also been a volunteer at the League of Women Voters for almost 40 years in two different states, 20 years in Ohio and almost 20 years in Missouri.
Currently, Mickey serves as LWV Metro STL Environmental Quality and Climate Chair, LWV MO off Board Environment Chair, LWV Interleague Organization Upper Mississippi River Region board member , action committee member, and data center subgroup leader and member of the LWV US Climate Interest Group Steering Committee. She is also a long-time member of Grace United Methodist Church’s Mission and Social Justice Committees.
Dawn Chapman
Co-Founder
Just Moms STL
Dawn Chapman, working in tandem with Karen Nickel, runs non-profit organization “Just Moms STL.” Just Moms is an advocacy group formed with the goal of raising awareness and community engagement regarding the nearby West Lake Landfill Superfund site. Living mere miles from the landfill, Dawn became engaged in this effort in 2013 after contacting the MO Dept of Natural Resources regarding pungent odors. That call would end up leading Dawn on an unlikely journey from housewife and mother of three to becoming an advocate, a repository of knowledge and history about this site, and even a mentor to people dealing with the impact of other Superfund sites on their own communities across the country. Dawn has collaborated with and advised local, state and federal agencies, media organizations, and both locally affected community members as well as passionate environmental advocates worldwide. She has presented to groups as widely varied as high school and college classes, church and municipal groups, the MO State Legislature, all the way up to appearing before the United Nations Human Rights and Environmental Justice division. She was also invited to present to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Ultimately, Dawn and Karen’s persistence and determination through Just Moms STL paid off. In 2018 the EPA decided upon a new Record of Decision for the West Lake Landfill site, declaring plans to remove a majority of the radioactive material and ensure the safety of the surrounding community. Although one of their most important goals had been achieved, this didn’t signify the end of Dawn and Karen’s work with Just Moms STL. They continue to work with EPA on finalizing the plan to clean up the West Lake Landfill site, as well as mentoring people at other Superfund and environmentally sensitive sites.
Karen Nickel
Co-Founder
Just Moms STL
Karen Nickel is a Co-founder of Just Moms STL, Chair of the West Lake Landfill Community Advisory Group, Member at Large of the North County Community Advisory Group
. Just Moms STL was created in March 2014 to educate our
community about radioactive materials that were left in and around
the St. Louis areas for decades. These materials created
widespread contamination via a mainstream creek, landfills, soils
and air all over the St. Louis Missouri area.
Karen, alongside the other co-founder Dawn Chapman, have spent
hours educating not only their own community, but communities nationwide. Their work has
brought forth many awards including the Richard Pryor Citizen Activist Award, the North County,
Inc Community Development Award, and A Whistle Blowers award. Karen and Dawn have also
been presented a Missouri House of Representatives Resolution plaque, and a Commemorative
National Day of Atomic Workers Pin.
After years of working with local, state and federal agencies, Karen has recognized the need for
improved communications between communities and government agencies. Learning you live
just a mere mile and a half from a toxic Superfund site is very scary, especially one that is on fire.
Just Moms STL is looking to improve on how that is communicated, not only from an agency
standpoint, but the citizens within the community as well.
Karen, unknowingly, for years, was exposed to radioactive materials as a child from living in a
contaminated area in St. Louis. She has six children, and six grandchildren. She looks forward to
the day that the West Lake Landfill and the other sites in her community are
remediated, and proven to be a safer environment for her family and future generations.
As co-founders of Just Moms STL, Karen Nickel and Dawn Chapman have become nationally recognized environmental health advocates. Their work has helped transform federal policy, including playing a leading role in the successful expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which brought Missouri into the program and made compensation available to thousands of individuals and families affected by radioactive waste exposure.
Registration closes one week prior to the event. Refunds will be issued to your prepay balance or original payment method if requested before registration closes. After the registration deadline, attendance numbers are finalized with the venue and/or caterers, and refunds will no longer be available. Please note that registration may be extended under certain circumstances; however, the stated deadline will remain the final date for refund eligibility. For additional information, please contact admin@stlforum.org.