Joseph Tell
Principal, Executive Committee Chair
Areas of Expertise: EHS management systems design, development, and implementation; sustainability program strategy and development; EHS information management systems design, development, and implementation; management team training; cross-functional team development, facilitation, and training; EHS management system auditing; multi-media environmental compliance
Education/Certifications: B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University
Joe is a Principal, Executive Committee Chair, and founding member of KTL. In this role, he generally oversees KTL’s operations and works across the company to ensure the success of KTL’s client engagements. He manages several strategic KTL clients and is responsible for KTL’s business development initiatives.
In his professional career, Joe has amassed over 25 years of experience providing strategic management systems, subject matter expertise, and technology solutions to help diverse organizations solve their compliance management and sustainability challenges. His areas of expertise include:
- EHS management systems assessment, design, development, and implementation
- Multi-media EHS compliance assessments and support
- Sustainability strategy and program development
- Food safety compliance and certification program development
- Cross-functional team development, facilitation, and training
- Information management systems design, development, and implementation
In addition to his many commercial/industrial clients, Joe has extensive experience working with the federal government. He is intimately familiar with federal sustainability and EHS programs and has provided extensive support to various federal agencies throughout his career, including Department of the Interior (DOI); National Institutes of Health (NIH); U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army, Army National Guard, Army Reserve; U.S. Air Force; and U.S. Navy. Some of Joe’s government contract highlights include the following:
- Managing the project team performing HHERAs of pesticides for the U.S. Forest Service.
- Leading the KTL project team providing environmental compliance support and technical assistance to the USAID Bureau for Global Health (GH) on a variety of projects across the globe according to 22 CFR 216, USAID Automated Directives System (ADS) 204, and ADS 201 requirements.
- Developing and implementing a compliance program audit and compliance audit software tool for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under a five-year contract.
- Providing environmental management system (EMS) and sustainability program support, including environmental compliance program management support and compliance auditing services to DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).
Prior to joining KTL, Joe founded Tellevate LLC in 2011 as an EHS risk management consulting firm focused on providing EHS and sustainability program development, information management support, auditing and assessment services, and compliance support for commercial and government clients. Joe was a Partner with a technology-focused management consulting firm, where he provided strategic EHS information management consulting and project planning services for clients in a wide range of industry and government sectors. He also served as an engineer for an environmental services company, where he executed projects related to EHS compliance, environmental management systems, auditing, engineering design, and property due diligence.
Joe is a member of the Director’s Council of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. He has been a frequent speaker and trainer for hundreds of organizations, industry trade associations, and conferences. He is often asked to talk about strategies for developing and implementing EHS and food safety management systems that focus on risk minimization, leadership commitment, and cross-functional stakeholder engagement. He is particularly interested in how to make connections between the private sector, government agencies, and NGO community to promote collaborative solutions to global environmental and health issues