Michelle Cohen to Lead Indiana Recycling Coalition as New Executive Director

After 11 years, Janet Fox Neltner steps down

August 30, 2000

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Recycling Coalition (IRC) announces today that Michelle Cohen has accepted the position of the Executive Director for the eleven-year-old organization. The Executive Director is the only staff member and serves as the leader for all IRC activities, in conjunction with a working board of directors and IRC's 165 active members.

Michelle brings many assets to the IRC, including a strong educational background in environmental management, a history of working with local government recycling programs, and her participation in IRC-sponsored activities for nearly four years. Michelle has most recently served as the solid waste district director for Brown County, where she led the effort to design, build and operate a full-scale recycling center. Prior to that, she worked at Monroe County Solid Waste District, the City of Bloomington Environmental Commission, and the Kosciusko Health Department. She has also served as a leader on many state-wide household hazardous waste management issues.

"Michelle brings the kind of knowledge of the issues, enthusiasm and coalition building that the IRC needs in its leadership," said IRC President Stephanie Biehn. "I look forward to moving source reduction and recycling activities ahead in Indiana with Michelle at the helm."

"I am very excited about this opportunity to take my energy for recycling to a state-wide level and serve all of Indiana," said Cohen, the new director. "I look forward to working closely with not only local and state government, but also the private sector and the citizen groups that the IRC serves. It takes all of us working cooperatively to make the IRC the strong coalition that it is today."

Janet Fox Neltner leaves the executive director position after 11 years with the organization. She began as one of the founding members of the organization, and was part-time administrative coordinator until 1988, when the IRC Board voted to make her their first Executive Director. Neltner now leads the State of Indiana's environmental initiatives as the new Greening the Government Director for the Indiana Department of Administration.

The Indiana Recycling Coalition is an Indiana 501c3 nonprofit corporation representing concerned citizens, state and local government officials, business, industry and environmental groups since December 1989. The mission of the IRC is to support source reduction, reuse, composting and recycling activities in Indiana. To encourage integrated recycling, the Coalition supports buying recycled-content products and the collection and remanufacturing of recyclable materials. The goal of this support is to conserve our natural resources, decrease reliance on final disposal, and to encourage environmental responsibility.