Presenter Bios

The following are confirmed presenters for the 2015 Excellence in Building Conference & EXPO:

Mathew Anderson
Director of Operations, Building Performance Institute

Mathew is the Director of Operations for BPI, the professional standards setting and credentialing organization for the weatherization and home performance contracting industries.   Matt is responsible for the development, maintenance and operations of BPI’s national certification program, as well as the development of a growing network of BPI test centers and proctors that deliver BPI certification exams. Matt's background is in residential, commercial, and industrial construction. He has provided home performance analysis on numerous residential projects.  

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Chrissi Antonopoulos
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Chrissi Antonopoulos, an energy research scientist at PNNL, focuses on analysis of green building technology diffusion in the commercial building sector, valuation of energy efficient residential homes, and website development for energy efficient programs. Chrissi has lead research tasks focusing on code development for renewable energy technologies, and market forecasting of green building in the commercial sector. Chrissi has a B.S. in Business Administration and a Master's of Urban Studies with a focus on energy technologies and sustainable development, from Portland State University.

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Lois Arena, PE
Senior Mechanical Engineer, Steven Winter Associates, Inc.

Lois Arena, a Senior Mechanical Engineer employed at Steven Winter Associates, Inc possesses over 20 years' experience in the building science field and has extensive experience with new and existing buildings Lois holds both US and international Passive House consultant certifications and is currently consulting on over a half dozen Passive House projects. She has co-authored and presented training programs about energy efficient building practices to professionals in all sectors of the building industry and is regularly invited to present at national conferences and private firms on topics ranging from moisture control in buildings to road blocks to PH adoption. She received her M.S. in engineering from the University of Colorado’s Building Science Program and holds Passive House, BPI and RESNET certifications.

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Steven Baczek
Steven Baczek Architect

Steven Baczek Architect is a nationally recognized architect, designing and developing custom residential structures for over 20 years. His work is routinely found in numerous local and national media outlets. He has designed hundreds of projects across the spectrum of energy performance, comfort, and durability, to include many of the nation’s top energy conscious homes. Notable projects include a handful of Passive Homes to include the Nation’s first Certified Passive House Retrofit under Enerfit, numerous Zero Energy Homes and Retrofits, and many Deep Energy Retrofits. His commitment simply equates aesthetics and durability with performance. In addition to his design work, he routinely provides detail and content for use in Publications, Books, Webinars, and associated educational formats, most notable being the author of over 1,000 details for Green Building Advisor. He can also be found at various conferences around the country, talking and sharing his knowledge on the bridge of architecture and sound building science.

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Michael Baechler
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Michael Baechler is a senior program manager in the Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings Division at PNNL. Having been at PNNL since 1984, he manages PNNL’s support to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America Program and Commercial Building Partnerships. Michael works with DOE, national laboratories, and leading building scientists to conduct research and to capture program findings in effective tools to assist the building industry and manages the Building America Solution Center (BASC.energy.gov). He was a panel co-leader at the 2012 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings and co-chaired that conference in 2008.  He is on the Board of Directors of the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance.

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Brad Begin
Alpen High Performance Products

Brad Begin is the CEO of Alpen High Performance Products, a Colorado-based manufacturer high performance windows and glass products. Begin has been involved in the high performance building products manufacturing and distribution business since 2006, specializing in products primarily focused on high performance building envelope solutions. Between 1994 and 2006, Begin was the President of Metalwest, a national flat rolled metal processing and distribution company also headquartered in Colorado.

Brad holds a BA in History and Political Science from Texas Christian University and a JD from the University of Texas.

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David Bell
TopBuild Home Services

As Vice President of Building Science for TopBuild Home Services, David Bell is charged with the ongoing management of the Environments For Living® program, a leading home building certification program for homebuilders interested in constructing comfortable, energy efficient homes. Bell’s responsibilities include management of the financial performance and strategic marketing plan, increasing awareness of, and participation in, the Environments for Living program in addition to their performance testing services.

Bell has more than three decades of history in the energy and construction industries. His extensive background prior to joining TopBuild Home Services includes experience in a variety of roles for TopBuild Contractor Services and the Environments for Living program, most recently as the Director of Building Science with oversight responsibilities for the sales of the program. Bell helped grow the Environments for Living Program to include more than 200,000 homes, involving many of the top 10 national builders. The program is recognized nationally as the leading building performance program in the country.

Before joining TopBuild Contractor Services, Bell spent more than 20 years with Pennsylvania Power & Light with responsibilities ranging from product development and marketing to key account management, and an additional 5 years with EIC corporation as the VP – National Builder Program working with Certainteed Corp. in the delivery of the Certified Plus Home Program.. During the course of his career at PP&L he developed and implemented a variety of residential marketing programs for the new construction market and helped introduce a variety of new services and products for the company.

Bell is a graduate of Kings College where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.

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Laura Blau AIA
Principal, BluPath Design

Laura is principal of BluPath, an award-winning Philadelphia architecture and Passive House Consulting firm. She worked at MGA Partners on the award winning Byrne Federal Courthouse lobby and has taught at local Universities. Her MArch is from University of Pennsylvania. She co-authored Frazier Forman Peters- Westport’s Legacy in Stone.

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Lauren Blissard
Technical Director, Green Builder® Coalition

Ms. Blissard holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in architecture from the University of Illinois. She is a licensed architect in Illinois & Wisconsin, as well as having received approval for reciprocal licensure in every state except California via NCARB certification (Certificate #62455). Other accreditations & certifications include RESNET Energy Rater, LEED AP BD+C, LEED AP HOMES & Green Rater, USGBC LEED® Faculty™, City of Chicago Self-Certification Architect, City of Chicago Registered Energy Professional (REP) and an IECC 2012 Residential Energy Inspector & Plans Examiner.

Lauren now serves in the capacity of Technical Director for the Green Builder® Coalition. In that role, Lauren provides technical advice and specifications in the construction of green homes and buildings with an emphasis on the efficiency of the thermal envelope. She has authored articles for Green Builder® Magazine and provided programming and design expertise on the Water Efficiency Rating Score (WERS).

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Rod Buchalter
Vice President of Sales and Market Development, RenewABILITY Energy Inc.

Rod Buchalter is the Vice President of Sales and Market Development for Renewability Energy Inc. He is also the 1st Vice President and former President of the Brantford Home Builders' Association in Canada. Rod spent 20 years with Union Gas, a large natural gas utility in Southwestern Ontario, in various Account Management roles working with builders, retailers and HVACS promoting Drain Water Heat Recovery ( DWHR). Currently he develops residential and commercial DWHR programs in partnership with utilities and large production builders like KB Home. Rod graduated from the Business program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1989 with a major in Marketing.

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Susan Buchan
Executive Director, Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA)


Karla Butterfield
Steven Winter Associates, Inc.

Karla is a Senior Sustainability Specialist at SWA, working with residential buildings. Her expertise is in sustainable consulting services, program certification support and implementation of high performance and sustainable building technologies. With architects, developers, builders, and homeowners, she develops specific sustainability strategies for both new construction and renovations. Ms. Butterfield is an integral part of the initial strategic planning sessions and workshops with stakeholders based on program criteria; she verifies LEED for Homes, Passive House, Energy Star, and National Green Building Standard programs.

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Steve Byers
EnergyLogic Inc.

Steve Byers is the CEO of EnergyLogic, Inc, a leading provider of home energy efficiency products and services in Colorado and throughout the United States. Steve has his Bachelor’s degree in Asian history from the Air Force Academy and an MPA from Georgia State University. He is a RESNET certified Trainer and Quality Assurance Designee. Hiking, gardening, movies, reading and great beer are a few of his favorite things.

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Craig Christensen
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Craig Christensen, senior engineer, joined NREL in 1979. He leads the energy analysis efforts for the Building America Program and supports solar buildings research efforts at NREL that includes BEopt development, analysis for new and existing residential buildings, and modeling accuracy. Craig has also led many projects related to residential and commercial buildings, active solar systems, passive solar design, energy conservation, and computer modeling of buildings, systems, and components. He originated the concept of the unglazed transpired solar collector at NREL and participated in research that led to an R&D 100 Award and Popular Science "Best of What's New" Award in 1994. Prior to joining NREL, Craig worked as a solar consultant, individually and at a small mechanical engineering firm. He also worked for three years for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a scientist and officer on oceanographic ships. He has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Brigham Young University. 

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Greg Cobb
iEngineer, LLC

Greg Cobb is the President & CEO of iEngineer, LLC. Headquartered in Phoenix, iEngineer provides HVAC design & engineering throughout the U.S. With a focus on energy efficiency, iEngineer has designed thousands of HVAC systems for Energy Star, Environments for Living and other above-code homes using Manual J, S & D design techniques. Through Greg’s leadership, iEngineer has developed the capability to rapidly provide custom HVAC designs based upon the unique options and solar orientation of each home for production builders. He has also helped develop intelligent fresh air ventilation and energy storage solutions that time shift load to off-peak hours and better manage indoor humidity. These innovations help deliver improved comfort, indoor air quality and energy efficiency for home owners; lower installation and warranty costs for contractors & builders; as well as a flatter load curve for utilities.

Greg is also the CFO for US PEACH, LLC and leads the company’s acquisition team. US PEACH (Plumbing, Electrical, Air Conditioning & Heating) is a leading provider of innovative systems and services that deliver comfort, indoor air & water quality and intelligent efficiency for residential & commercial customers. The company creates value by acquiring established local brands, applying experienced management talent and implementing proven processes. Initially focused on companies in the Southwest, US PEACH intends to expand nationally. Current operations are located in Arizona, Nevada and California, under the brands Goettl Air Conditioning, The Sunny Plumber, Sonoran Air Conditioning, Honeybee AC, Walton’s Heating and Air Conditioning and The Honest Plumber Heating & Air.

Greg has been a speaker at EEBA, RESNET and EPA conferences on a variety of HVAC and energy efficiency topics. He is a board member and president-elect of the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance and a member of the Advanced Energy HVAC Advisory Board. Greg has spent nearly 20 years in entrepreneurial finance as a CEO/CFO, board member, investor and advisor for public and private high-growth companies. He has a JD from the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law and an MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, as well as a B.S. in computer engineering from Iowa State University.

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Mike Collignon
Executive Director, Green Builder Coalition

Mike engages in national and state-level advocacy, co-produces quarterly research reports, and publishes a bi-monthly e-newsletter, a monthly member publication and a monthly feature in Green Builder® Magazine. He has presented at RESNET, the Pacific Coast Builders Conference and the Sustainable Disaster Recovery Conference. Mike has also delivered testimony at the IECC and IgCC final action hearings.

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Gord Cooke
Construction Instruction

As a trainer, author and industry consultant, Gord has been an effective and passionate educator and advocate for better building practices, improved indoor air quality and energy efficiency during the past two decades across North America. Gord brings to his training, his technical and mechanical background, the logic and integrity of a professional engineer and the passion of one committed to helping the residential construction industry build and sell better homes. Based on his homebuyer market research, Gord has pioneered a new training program designed to assist builders in marketing and selling their high performing, energy efficient homes by communicating their value to their customers. Gord's building science training curricula covers the gamut from creating and delivering basic and advanced building science principles through managing indoor air quality and HVAC system design, to an intensive technical sales and marketing workshop.

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Glenn Cottrell
IBACOS, Inc.


Eric Doub
FutureFit Solutions/Ecofutures Building

Eric called his 1980s Stanford degree “Sustainable U.S. Resource and Security Policies”, and in 2005 with “Solar Harvest”, the USA’s first publicly verified all-electric custom home in a cold climate to produce as much energy as it uses, proved zero net energy is possible and, being cost-neutral on a monthly basis, affordable.

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Laura Dwyer
Dupont Building Innovations

Ms. Dwyer manages the DuPont™ Building Knowledge Center, a national network of experts who shape insights, tools and resources to help members of the building industry navigate the changing future. Central to her role is harnessing the knowledge and skills of DuPont Building Innovations professionals to deliver enhanced value to customers by sharing best practices in building science and application knowledge.

Ms. Dwyer was named manager of the DuPont™ Building Knowledge Center in 2011 after two years as the North American Residential Marketing Manager for DuPont's Building Envelope and Surfaces businesses. From 2002 to 2006, she helped create the DuPont™ StormRoom with Kevlar® business and served as the Residential Channel Manager for DuPont™ Weatherization Systems. During this time, Ms. Dwyer became a voting member of NAHB's Energy Subcommittee, a member of the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance Board of Directors, and an active participant in Green Builder Media's Emerald Circle. She is also a member of the IECC – Commercial Energy Code Committee for the upcoming 2012/2013 Code Development Cycle.

Ms. Dwyer joined DuPont as a process engineer for the Automotive Finishes plant, during which time she was the Color Technology Product Manager, Marketing Communications Manager and then New Business Development Manager for the OEM/Fleet Finishes business. She joined the DuPont™ Tyvek® Construction business in 1999 as Western Regional Manager and National Retail Center Manager until 2001 when she moved to the DuPont™ Corian® and DuPont™ Zodiaq® business as Regional Remodel Sales Manager.

Ms. Dwyer earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and her Masters in Business Administration from the University of Delaware.

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Steve Easley
Steve Easley & Associates Inc.

Steve Easley is an internationally recognized building science consultant specializing in energy efficiency, net zero energy, and solving building science related problems as well as educating building industry professionals and their trade partners.  His work focuses on increasing quality of construction, sustainability, performance, and reducing costly mistakes that lead to construction defects and call-backs. Steve’s mission is helping industry professionals design, build & remodel structures that are durable, energy efficient, healthy and comfortable to live and work in.

He has more than 30 years of industry experience, performing thousands of job site quality surveys and presenting building science seminars around the world with an annual audience of 8-10,000 industry professionals. Steve’s nationally known for his practical, cost effective approaches for helping the building industry design and build homes that are energy efficient, have fewer call backs and are comfortable and healthy to live in. His presentations are packed with real world examples of what works and what doesn't.

Steve is Principal of Steve Easley and Associates in California, and has authored numerous articles for industry publications. He works with the DOE on the Building America Retro Fit Alliance Team, as well as the 2012 and 2015 Green Building Code Consensus Committee. Steve sits on the Board of the Electric and Gas Industries Association (EGIA). Steve is also a tenured Professor of Building Science and Contracting at Purdue University, and received the Distinguished College of Technology Alumni Award in 2011.

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Ann Edminster
Design AVEnues LLC.

Ann Edminster is a leading international expert on green homes, assisting professionals in developing their capacity to create better projects. Her 2009 book, Energy Free: Homes for a Small Planet is a comprehensive guide for designers and builders seeking to create zero net energy homes. She chairs the Green Building Task Force for the US, Canada, and Mexico's Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and was a principal developer of LEED for Homes. She serves on the Board of the Net Zero Energy Coalition, chaired the Coalition's inaugural Net Zero Leadership Summit in October 2013, and is the director of the second Net Zero Leadership Summit. She has developed curricula for design and construction of zero net energy homes, and is a frequent speaker and teacher on this topic and others at conferences, universities, non-profits and utilities. In 2013 she was named Affordable Comfort Inc.'s first Woman of the Year. 

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Randy Erwin
M Street Homes

Randy Erwin joined the M-TriGen team in 2015 after collaborating with them as a builder to construct numerous homes utilizing their tri-generation technology. 

Prior to M-TriGen, Randy had 35 years of homebuilding experience including 20 years building high performance homes in Texas and Oklahoma.  He was the recipient of a 2014 DOE ZERH Innovative Housing Award.

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Marla Esser
Creator and Designer, HomeNav

Marla, The Green Home Coach, works with home builders, architects and homeowners to differentiate their homes with the value and benefits of green or high performance. She is the creator and designer of HomeNav® - an owners’ manual for green and greener homes. NAHB Master CGP and LEED AP.

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Bill Fay
Alliance to Save Energy/Energy Efficient Codes Coalition


Becky Fedak
Brendle Group

Becky is the water and climate practice area lead at Brendle Group, providing technical and management leadership for a number of projects, including water footprinting; greenhouse gas inventories; climate and sustainability planning; on-site energy, water, and waste assessments; and thought leadership in Brendle Group’s Net Zero Water initiative. She also has extensive experience as a water resources engineer and is well versed in water operations modeling and large scale water resources planning and design.

Additionally, Becky has a comprehensive set of business skills, including project management, triple bottom line analysis, and business plan development. With an undergraduate degree in civil and environmental engineering, Becky continued her education with a Master of Science degree in Business Administration focusing on global, social, and sustainable enterprise.

While completing her graduate work, she founded Running Water International, a social enterprise in Kenya, Africa that addresses the water resource challenges of the developing world.

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Greg Fisher
Denver Water


Brian Fuentes
Fuentes Design

Brian Fuentes, AIA, CPHC is a registered architect in the State of Colorado, a member of the AIA and a Certified Passive House Consultant with the Passive House Institute (PHI) in Germany as well as the Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS). The work of fuentesdesign has been featured in Architect Magazine, Architectural Record Magazine, 5280 Magazine, Modern in Denver Magazine, and the book Prefabulous and Sustainable, by Sheri Koones.

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Dean Gamble
ENERGY STAR

Dean received his degree in Architectural Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 2001. He is currently the technical manager for EPA’s ENERGY STAR Certified Homes program, for which he has helped support, define, and implement the technical guidelines for over a decade. With over 1.5 million homes certified to date, the ENERGY STAR Homes program is the nation’s largest voluntary residential market transformation program, delivering to consumers cost-effective energy-efficient homes while improving their durability, comfort, and quality.

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Todd Gamboa
Building Trust LLC

Todd Gamboa, President of Building Trust LLC, has been promoting energy efficient building for over 25 years. He has held Executive Management positions in private and public homebuilding companies, and is considered a champion and expert in selling and building “high performance” homes.

As a consultant and public speaker, he has trained thousands of builders, designers, architects, contractors, code officials, sales teams, and REALTORS all over the country. He has worked with industry organizations including Built Green Colorado, Greenprint Denver, Colorado Energy Office, Energy Efficiency Businesses Coalition (Exec. Director), EPA, ENERGY STAR, DOE, CAHB, NAHB,  Boulder Green Building Guild, USGBC, International Code Council, RESNET, Colorado Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors, Habitat For Humanity, and many utility providers across the country. Mr. Gamboa is also an inductee into the Built Green Hall of Fame.

In Colorado, Mr. Gamboa has launched and managed programs for Xcel Energy and the Colorado Energy Office, and consulted the Dept. of Defense – US Army on energy projects. In his limited free time, Mr. Gamboa enjoys coaching high school football, and is the proud father of four.

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Sean Gaydos
Senior Vice President of Sales, USAI Lighting

With over 20 years of lighting experience and a degree in Illumination Engineering from the University of Colorado, Mr. Gaydos has strived to blend the technical and practical aspects of lighting together.

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Alea German
Davis Energy Group

Alea German is a Senior Engineer with Davis Energy Group. Focusing on technology assessment and whole building energy use optimization for zero net energy homes, she performs analysis and evaluation of energy efficient technologies and products in buildings using a combination of energy modeling and data monitoring.

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Alex Glenn
Advanced Energy

Alex Glenn designs, develops and conducst high-quality training programs for the construction industry. He delivers building science and energy efficiency seminars at industry conferences. He is passionate about professional education techniques and assisting people with strategies for success.  Alex is proud to be part of the Applied Building Science team that helps the building industry by providing training, consultation, research, and program development to improve buildings across the nation.

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Scott Grefsheim
Aprilaire

As a Senior Product Engineer for Aprilaire, Scott Grefsheim brings over 21 years of experience in the residential HVAC industry. Most recently as Product Engineer for Ventilation Products, Scott has presented numerous training sessions within the trade, and is able to present technical information in an understandable, usable format.

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Charlie Haack
Senior Associate, ICF International

Charlie Haack is a consultant with ICF International, where he works on residential energy efficiency policy development, energy code development , and utility energy efficiency program implementation. Charlie has provided technical programmatic support for the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR Certified Homes program since 2010. Prior to joining ICF International, Charlie served as ASHRAE’s public policy intern in Washington, DC. Charlie is a BPI certified Building Analyst and LEED accredited professional.

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Gavin Hastings
Energy Consultant, Tierra Resource Associates

Gavin Hastings is a Director at Tierra Resource Consultants and has extensive experience in the design and implementation of utility-scale residential energy efficiency programming. Gavin specialized in residential energy management and supports a wide range of efforts to advance the residential retrofit markets. Over the past 5 years, Gavin has lead innovative efforts and award winning utility programs for Arizona Public Service in the existing home and new construction market segments. As a part of his efforts, Gavin has championed the advancement of BPI 2100 and BPI 2200 Standards (known as HPXML) to streamline the collection and data in the energy efficiency industries.

Gavin is an acting member of the Building Performance Institute’s Board of Directors, focused on meeting the changing needs of both the for-profit and low-income retrofit markets. As a committed actor in the residential retrofit space, he works with utilities, government, trade associations, manufactures, and contractors give him unique insights into the needs of the current and future markets. His current activities are focused on piloting next generation residential energy management strategies, including battery technologies, designed to address the needs of a changing energy market.

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Amanda Hatherly
Director, New Mexico Energy$mart Academy, Principal Investigator, NSF SimBuilding

Amanda Hatherly is the Director of the New Mexico Energy$mart Academy at Santa Fe Community College and the Principle Investigator on a National Science Foundation grant developing serious games related to building science and helped develop the WERS tool. She also teaches courses in energy efficiency, environmental health and healthy homes.

Amanda is on the board of the Santa Fe Area Homebuilders’ Association and Energy Out West. She is also on the Santa Fe Mayor’s Climate Action Task Force Sub-Committee on Energy Efficiency, the National Center for Healthy Housing Curriculum Committee and the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission. She oversaw the successful Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) accreditation of all four home energy professional programs at Santa Fe Community College.

She has a graduate degree in Educational Technology, specializing in adult online course design.

Amanda is regularly invited to speak about energy efficiency, green building and healthy homes issues around the country including RESNET and ACI conferences and the MIT Women in Clean Energy Symposium.
 

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Darrell Hensley
KB Home


CR Herro
Meritage Homes

C.R. Herro is Vice President of Environmental Affairs for Meritage Homes, a large-volume national home builder. CR leads their Energy and Innovation Program, which combines design, energy efficiency, water management, sustainability, and new technologies to establish a new standard in home building that provides better comfort and healthier air as well as less cost to own and operate.  In the last three years, Meritage has received numerous awards, including the EnergyValue Housing Award, Best Green Building Program Award, NAHB Builder of the Year and the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year–Sustained Excellence Award, recognizing ongoing industry leadership.

C.R. earned a Bachelors of Science at Arizona State University in Physical and Life Science, a Masters in Environmental Science from Governors State, and a Doctorate in Environmental Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. CR serves as President of the Board of Directors for the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance, the RESNET Standards Development Committee, the Board of Directors for the Green Chamber of Commerce, the Technical Committee for the Leading Builders of America, and the Ibacos Best Practice Research Alliance. 

CR is a dynamic public speaker, who is convinced building higher-performance homes can win market share and improve profit performance. He has appeared before numerous groups nationally as an advocate to advance the industry, encourage rational regulations and bring associated stakeholders together toward adopting credible improvements to the function, performance, and long term value of new homes.

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Aaron Holden
iEngineer, LLC

With a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and EIT certification, Aaron has lead the Engineering/Design team at iEngineer, LLC for the past 6 years producing high quality residential HVAC designs for national production & custom home builders which are efficient and compliant with both code and above code energy program requirements.

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Scott Horowitz
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Scott Horowitz, senior engineer, joined NREL in 2007 and leads the Residential Building Group’s analysis area, which includes work on building energy modeling, optimization, accuracy, and technology pathways. He is also the lead developer of BEopt, a residential building energy optimization tool used to provide support for the Building America program’s teams and energy-efficiency goals. Prior to joining NREL full time, Scott spent four years at NREL as a University of Colorado graduate student exploring enhancements to building optimization in terms of robustness and efficiency, and he was a member of the 1st place University of Colorado Solar Decathlon team. He has a master’s in civil engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Rutgers University. 

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Nick Hurst
ICF International

Nick Hurst supports the EPA's Indoor airPLUS Program with partner engagement and technical support. Nick is a BPI Building Analyst and holds a Master of Science in Technology concentrating in Building Science. As a former home builder, remodeler, and educator, he coordinates a team of consulting contractors that assist industry professionals in building and verifying Indoor airPLUS homes.

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Tiffani Irwin
Habitat for Humanity

Tiffani Irwin found herself on a Habitat job site 25 years ago, and has been engaged with the mission ever since.  She has over 20 years of hands-on experience in home construction, and served as a general contractor with Habitat affiliates for over 14 years.  As an early member of the “Green Team,” HFHI’s earliest focus on sustainable and energy efficient construction, Tiffani was an early adopter of sustainable building practices.  Since 1990, Tiffani has worked on homes with dozens of affiliates, domestically and internationally, and overseen construction of over 100 Habitat homes that were certified to a sustainable program. She has been with HFHI since 2009, as the Manager of Partners in Sustainable Building.  In her current role, Tiffani manages the efforts around best practices for sustainable new construction and work on existing homes.  

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Marcus Jablonka
Cosella-Dorken

Marcus Jablonka is Vice President of Research & Development and Production for Cosella-Dörken Products, Inc. A specialist in plastics technology, Marcus holds a degree as Mechanical Engineer from the University of Paderborn, as well as a graduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Bochum, Germany. He joined Cosella-Dörken in 1999, where his responsibilities include applied Building Science and advanced building products and technologies. Prior to that, he held positions with Borealis in Norway and BASF in Germany. Marcus has over 15 years of expertise in foundation waterproofing and drainage systems and above grade barrier products for moisture management and airtight construction, and has authored numerous papers on applied research related to building products. Marcus is a voting member of the ABAA Technical committee and the ASTM E06 Committee on Performance of Buildings. He is also a member of the National Institute of Building Sciences and the Building Enclosure Technology and Environmental Council. He currently serves as President of the Building Envelope Moisture Management Institute.

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James Jackson
ICF International


Roderick Jackson
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Roderick Jackson is the group leader from the Building Envelope Systems Research team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After earning his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech, Jackson returned to Mississippi and started his own construction company with his father in 2003. He completed his master’s degree while running the business, but decided to leave the company in 2005 to pursue his doctoral degree and a growing interest in energy technology and policy. That interest led him to ORNL in 2009, where he began doing research and development in the Buildings Technology Research Integration Center.

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Ron Jones
Green Builder

Ron Jones is co-founder and president of Green Builder® Media LLC, the leading media company in North America focused on sustainable living and responsible growth. For more than three decades, his national award-winning company has specialized in sustainable projects on challenging sites through environmentally responsive design, specification and construction. Mr. Jones is the only person ever to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of both the National Association of Home Builders and the U.S. Green Building Council. He served as founding chairman of the NAHB Green Building Subcommittee and was an original member of the LEED Homes steering committee for USGBC. He has served as a speaker and consultant to a variety of organizations including the American Solar Energy Society, National Recycling Association, Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, International Housing Conference of the Americas, Fannie Mae Partnership Foundation, National Arbor Day Foundation, and many others in the private and public sectors. 

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Steve Kawell
Durango Solar Homes, LLC.

For over thirty years Steve has worked in the custom home building industry through-out Colorado and New Mexico. In 1981 he constructed his first solar home and has been intrigued with high performance buildings ever since. Today Steve owns & operates Durango Solar Homes, LLC, a design / build company specializing in highly efficient solar homes. Over the years Steve was fortunate to have studied with many of the pioneers of modern passive solar building, gentlemen such as Dr. Doug Balcomb, Mark W. Chalom, Joe Tibbets, Bill Yanda and Quentin Wilson who were generous with their time and knowledge and have greatly influenced his building vision. Steve has designed and built dozens of homes utilizing many different insulation configurations and passive solar techniques; Cellulose & foams, sunspaces, direct gain, thermal mass variations, shading designs and ventilation schemes. At the 2012 World Renewable Energy Forum, held in Denver, Colorado, Steve presented and published a paper titled, COST EFFECTIVE PASSIVE SOLAR FOR NEW HOME CONSTRUCTION, documenting a highly efficient solar home project that his team had just completed. Presently Steve's focus has been on finding the most cost effective building program to achieve Net Zero Energy or near Net Zero Energy homes. From his many decades long building career, Steve has observed the evolution of energy efficient building and its effect on the construction industry. Steve looks forward to creating more vibrant inspiring living spaces using the latest cutting edge building techniques.

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Gary Klein
Gary Klein & Associates

Gary Klein, President of Gary Klein & Associates has been intimately involved in energy efficiency and renewable energy since 1974. One fifth of his career was spent in the Kingdom of Lesotho, the rest in the United States. Mr. Klein has a passion for hot water: getting into it, getting out of it and efficiently delivering it to meet customer's needs. After serving 19 years with the California Energy Commission, he has provided consulting on sustainability since 2008, with an emphasis on the water-energy-carbon connection. Mr. Klein received a BA from Cornell University in 1975 with an Independent Major in Technology and Society with an emphasis on energy conservation and renewable energy.

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Ted Konechne
Tempo Mechanical

Ted Konechne is the Vice President- General Manager for Tempo Mechanical RNC division in Dallas, TX. Tempo Mechanical was founded in 1989 to concentrate on whole house building science, energy, environmental, comfort and indoor air quality. As Vice President, Ted is responsible for over twenty three hundred new construction homes and one hundred and fifty builder accounts, support, as well as developing and maintaining Tempo Mechanical’s ENERGY STAR® ACCA Qualified Installation Contractor program. This endeavor tripled the client base within two years and has established Tempo Mechanical as the HVAC Contractor of choice in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market. His group has delivered ENERGY STAR® Qualified installations for over 8,000 homes in the last 4 years with nearly 17,000 systems covering 25 million square feet of residential space. 

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Paul Kriescher
Lightly Treading

Paul Kriescher is a Principal of Lightly Treading Energy & Design – a Colorado based company –formed in 1997- that works to better the energy efficiency, safety, environmental impact and comfort of homes & small commercial buildings. Mr. Kriescher has served on the board of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society and as an adjunct Professor at Colorado State University’s Institute for the Built Environment; he also is a founding member of the Energy Efficiency Business Coalition. He currently serves on EEBC’s Policy and Utility committees. Mr. Kriescher holds a Masters of Science degree in Energy Analysis & Policy from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

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Jim Larsen
Director, Technology Marketing, Cardinal Glass Industries

Jim Larsen is a mechanical engineer by training with 28 years of experience in the research and development of residential glass products. Today, Jim's principle job responsibility is supporting the recognition of efficient windows through building energy codes. He also provides product support through website development (www.cardinalcorp.com), product brochures, customer training, and building energy research.

Jim has been involved with the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) since its inception, is chair of the NFRC Solar Heat Gain and Comfort committees, and is an NFRC board member. Mr. Larsen also sits on the board of directors of the Energy and Environmental Building Association (EEBA) and is a past board member of the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA). He has been a member of the state energy code committees in Florida and Minnesota, and has testified on behalf of efficient windows for numerous state and national code activities.

Jim is a frequent presenter at energy efficiency conferences such as EEBA, Affordable Comfort, BETEC, DOE Envelope Conference, etc.

Under Jim's direction, Cardinal Glass has maintained multiple test houses across the country to evaluate the energy impacts of new glass technologies. These fully instrumented real world test houses have also been utilized by Building America research partners. The integration of the latest glass technologies with improvements to the performance of other building components is demonstrating the efficiencies possible not only in today’s homes, but providing validation on the synergies of building practices needed towards the goal reducing house energy consumption of 50% and more.

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Jamie Lyons
Newport Partners LLC

Jamie Lyons is a mechanical and environmental engineer with two decades of experience in high performance buildings and energy efficient technologies. As Technical Director for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home program, he maintains the program specs, trains and assists builders, raters, and architects, and coordinates with efficiency programs.

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Lenka Martin
Covington Homes

Lenka started her real estate career as a designer and remodeler, assisting buyers, sellers as well as investors seeking to improve their home design, appeal, function, and property values. Over time she realized that she can bring a greater level of expertise to real estate transaction and be a resource to people looking to build a new home. She became a Realtor and Eco-Broker, broadening her knowledge in the field of energy efficiency and green home building. When opportunity presented itself, she joined Covington Homes as their Real Estate Broker and Sales Manager, helping homebuyers realizing their dreams and assisting Covington Homes team in creating great communities. Lenka is actively involved in the construction and real estate industry. She is a member of Sales and Marketing Council at Colorado Springs HBA and various other real estate associations and groups.

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Anthony Maschmedt
Dwell Development

Anthony Maschmedt is a lifelong Seattleite. He has been building homes in the Seattle area for the last 12 years. Anthony has been trailblazing with his work in energy efficient, green home building since Dwell Development’s inception and currently is co-chair of the Built Green Executive Committee. He continues to push the envelope in the sustainable community with innovative construction methods that have influenced and positively affected city building practices.

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Jeff McGovern
Village Hoomes

Jeff McGovern started his career in 1996 with Pulte Homes in Denver, CO as an Assistant Superintendent. In 11 years with Pulte, he moved up from Assistant Superintendent to Superintendent to Project Manager to VP President of Customer Service and finally, Vice President of Construction. In 2007, Jeff joined Lennar Homes in Denver as the Director of Construction and eventually, Director of Operations. In 2015, Jeff joined Village Homes as the Director of Operations. He has had extensive experience in new home construction and the operations side of the homebuilding business.

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Joe Medosch
Energy & Environmental Consulting, LLC

Joe is a "Comfort Consultant" trainer, providing solutions on home performance applications to industry professionals, and works with Retrotec, Inc. as a marketing and training consultant. Joe is a BPI Certified Building Analyst and Envelope Professional, and an ICC-Commercial & Residential Energy Inspector/Plans Examiner and Residential Building Inspector. 

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Jim Meyers
SWEEP

Jim Meyers is Senior Associate of the buildings efficiency program for SWEEP. Jim is responsible for leading building efficiency across many market sectors from utilities through local government adoption of building energy codes. Jim is a former Rater and has provided building efficiency trainings across the building sector since 2002. Jim actively participates in International Code Council committees. Jim is a LEED Green Association and CGP.

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Ryan Newth
Tremco Barrier Solutions

Ryan Newth is currently employed as the Western Regional Manager for Tremco Barrier Solutions, the leader in waterproofing for new residential construction. Mr. Newth is responsible for all sales efforts in the Western United States.

Mr. Newth began his professional career with Koch Industries in 1997, serving as a sales and business development representative within Koch’s Agriculture division. After stints with a technology consulting firm and a software start-up, Mr. Newth rejoined Koch Industries as the Territory Manager for Koch Waterproofing Solutions (later acquired by RPM, becoming Tremco Barrier Solutions). As Territory Manager, Mr. Newth was responsible growing new market segments in California, Arizona and Nevada. As the Western Regional Manager, Mr. Newth helped lead a product launch involving a liquid applied weather resistive and air barrier product for residential construction. Mr. Newth has continually developed his knowledge base relative to building science, achieving RESNET and BPI certifications.

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Jacinthe Nichols
Project Leader, Dettson Industries

Jacinthe Nichols graduated from the University of Sherbrooke in Biotechnological engineering class of 2012; Jacinthe Nichols explored the pharmaceutical industry before joining Dettson Industries in January 2014. She is now proud to be the Project Leader heading the gas application developments on the dynamic R & D team at Dettson Industries. 

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Victor Olgyay
Rocky Mountain Institute

A principal architect directing RMI’s buildings practice, Victor is leading an initiative to encourage widespread adoption of comprehensive building energy retrofits resulting in energy savings of at least 50 percent. Victor has a wide range of experiences in architectural design and planning, with specializations in bioclimatic building and daylighting design.

SELECTED RMI PROJECTS

- RetroFit: the Commercial Building RetroFit Initiative––Victor is leading an initiative to encourage widespread adoption of comprehensive building energy retrofits resulting in energy savings of at least 50%. The initiative includes research, tool development and architectural consulting.
- National Museum of African American History and Culture––Located on the National Mall in Washington DC, Victor is managing sustainable design and daylighting consulting for this new 300,000 square-foot Smithsonian Institution museum.
- Ford Auto Dealership Retrofits––As part of the RetroFit initiative, Victor oversaw the audit, analysis and redesign of three pilot dealerships to save an average of 60% of their energy with a five-year pay back. RMI is current focused on rapidly expanding the energy savings over a large percentage of the dealership portfolio.
- International Monetary Fund HQ1 Retrofit––As part of the RetroFit initiative, Victor is currently overseeing the sustainable design planning for this 1.9 million square for building in Washington, D.C. to reduce its energy use by 65 percent to 35kBtu /sqft.
- Hilton Foundation Headquarters Building––Victor is overseeing sustainable consulting and daylighting design for a new 20,000-square-foot, carbon-neutral office building in Los Angeles, California.
- Chicago Botanic Gardens Plant Science Conservation Center Laboratory Building––This new LEED gold high-performance laboratory features a green roof, and uses pond water for cooling condenser water. RMI assisted with integrated design, providing workshops, mechanical design advice and daylighting design. In 2010, the Science Center won the Laboratory of the Year Award from R&D Magazine.
- High Performance Building: High Performance by Integrative Design Video––Victor led the production of this RMI video showcasing the process of integrated design using green building case studies.

BACKGROUND

Using integrated environmental design consulting activities, Victor aims to help transform the built environment into a sustainable built ecology. A registered architect, he has contributed to the design of hundreds of successful green building projects throughout the world that span diverse climates and building types. He has worked independently and with several private and state firms producing architectural design, programming, post-occupancy evaluations and design guidelines.

Prior to RMI, Victor was an associate professor and director of research at the UH School of Architecture from 1993 to 2000 and has overseen numerous energy, environmental and lighting research projects under contract to various state and federal agencies. He was appointed chairman of the AIA Honolulu Energy and Environment Committee 1995–2000, and in 1998 he was named a Dana Fellow of the Joslyn Castle Institute for Sustainable Communities. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the American Solar Energy Association, and a member of the National Academy of Environmental Design Research Committee.

His current research has focused on ecological restoration and on ecosystem services as criteria for green building assessment. This work was published by Elsevier and has been widely presented, including at the American Solar Energy Association and the Towards Net-Zero conference. Recently Victor’s research has expanded into building tool application, especially for demonstrating the reduction of carbon, water, and ecological footprints.
 

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Scott Palmer, LEED AP BD+C
Market Development Manager, Salt River Materials Group

Scott Palmer joined Salt River Materials Group/Phoenix Cement Co. in 2004 as Market Development Manager. Prior to joining SRMG, he served as Concrete Sales Manager for Vulcan Materials Co. and RMC Industries in the Phoenix market from 1999-2004.

Mr. Palmer currently serves as a Board Director for Portland Cement Association and Chairman of the Sustainable Development Committee.

Mr. Palmer served as a Steering Committee Member for the Concrete Home Building Council and the Materials Selection Sub-Committee from 2005-2009 and was appointed the Board of Trustees for the Building Systems Council of the National Association of Homebuilders. Palmer is also a Founding Board Member of the Green Builder Coalition.

In his current role, Palmer is responsible for new market development activities and for the last decade has engaged in the market transformation of the residential above-grade wall market, creating awareness and educating homebuilders about the innovative advancements in above-grade concrete wall systems and alternative building envelope designs.

Since 2009, Scott successfully designed and built (2) demonstration homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity that ultimately led to the acceptance of an insulated concrete panel system with national homebuilders. The most recent project was completed in May 2015 in Sedona, Arizona.

Mr. Palmer attended Northern Arizona University is currently registered as a LEED Accredited Professional with the U.S. Green Building Council.
 

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Dana Perry
Research Investigator, DuPont Building Innovations

Dana began working for DuPont™ in 1977 as a Mechanical Designer in Engineering Group providing design expertise for mechanical system upgrades to various DuPont Plants. His role then transitioned into product development with a focus on new fiber technology for international applications. In 1985 Dana joined Technical Research and Development where he had the opportunity to provide product support to the building industry in a variety of capacities including design, project management, testing, product and code approvals, architectural integration, and installations. Dana now works as a Research Investigator with emphasis on product development, testing, and field support for DuPont™ Tyvek® Weatherization Systems products for Residential construction. Dana is the technical leader for customer inquiries and conducts building science training for the entire national DuPont™ Tyvek® Specialist network. Dana also conducts field forensics investigations, air and water barrier experimental design and testing, and development of new product installation details for durable wall design.

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G.J. Pierman
Spirae LLC

G.J. began working at Spirae in August 2014 as a consultant in support of specific business development and sales activities. In January 2015 he was offered and accepted a full-time position as Director of Special Projects at Spirae. In this capacity he is involved in business development and sales activities regarding specific market segment initiatives including: municipal utilities, electric cooperatives, renewable energy system developers, independent power producers and international market and partnership development.

Prior to Spirae, G.J. has been providing business and project development consulting services for domestic and international companies with a focus in the area of renewable energy and a specialization in solar PV. Mr. Pierman served as Director of Business Development for Wirsol Solar AG for two and a half years in Germany and 2 years as President of Wirsol Solar US based subsidiaries based in Fort Collins.

G.J. served as the COO and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Titan World Class Safe Site, a start-up company which offered ultra-secure data storage and disaster recovery planning and COO of Titan Power, an energy production company formed to support the Grant County PUD during the Enron era.

In his early career he was intimately involved in the creation of two joint ventures together with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Westinghouse Electric, respectively, involving the manufacture and sales of wireless security systems for the US market.

G.J. graduated with a BA, cum laude, in French and Economics from Vanderbilt University 1984. He has a broad based international business management and sales and marketing experience with a focus on technology based start-ups.

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Sam Rashkin
U.S. Department of Energy

Sam Rashkin has managed ENERGY STAR for Homes since its start in 1996. Under his leadership, ENERGY STAR for Homes has grown exponentially to more than 4,500 builder partners and over a half a million labeled homes. He is also introducing a new EPA Indoor Air Quality label for the housing industry linked to ENERGY STAR Qualified Homes.

Sam received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University; completed Masters of Urban Planning studies at New York University; and is a registered architect in California and New York.

During his 20 plus years as a licensed architect, he specialized in energy efficient design and completed over 100 residential projects.

He has served on the national Steering Committees for USGB's LEED for Homes, NAHB's Green Builder Guidelines, and US EPA's Water Sense label. Sam has prepared hundreds of articles, technical papers, reports, and seminars; and contributed to numerous books covering a wide variety of energy topics.

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Bill Rectanus
New Town Builders

Bill Rectanus is currently the Vice President of Homebuilding Operations for New Town Builders.  His responsibilities include the management and oversight of the construction, purchasing, customer service and architecture departments. In addition to his daily responsibilities Bill is also responsible for the implementation of New Town Builders’ “High Performance Building Initiative”, its advancement, and research and development of new systems and technologies. Bill has been in the residential construction industry for over 15 years and has supervised the production of large apartment complexes to semi-custom homes. Bill began his building career in the apartment industry with Camden Property Trust before he moved into building single family homes with a local Denver builder.  He has worked for New Town Builders for 6 years starting as a Project Manager and moved up to Area Construction Manager and Manager of Building Systems before assuming his current leadership role.  Bill has been very active in Denver home building industry serving on the Board of Directors for the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver and as Chairman of the Flatirons Building Council. In addition Bill has been a session speaker at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, the NAHB Green Building Conference, the EEBA Excellence in Building Conference and the ACI National Home Performance Conference.

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Claudette Hanks Reichel, Ed. D.
Professor and Extension Housing Specialist, LaHouse Resource Center

Claudette Hanks Reichel is Professor, Extension Housing Specialist and Director of LaHouse Resource Center at Louisiana State University, a showcase of high-performance housing solutions for the southern climate and natural hazards. She has developed numerous outreach programs and has received 11 national and state awards for program excellence and impact.

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James Rinne, PhD
Owens Corning

As a Senior Engineer at Owens Corning, James has spent the last 5 years researching and developing new building material products.  His focus is to deliver solutions that meet the performance expectation of builders and homeowners, while also satisfying the needs of contractors who install them.  Prior to joining Owens Corning, James earned a BS in Physics from Illinois Wesleyan University, and a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Illinois.

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Peter Rusin
Colorado Energy Office

Peter Rusin is the senior residential program manager for the Colorado Energy Office. He works on programs and policies to increase the energy efficiency of residential buildings in Colorado and to reduce the barriers to valuing energy efficiency in the home buying process.

Prior to working at the CEO, Peter worked as a housing rehab specialist and oversaw Denver’s Healthy Home / Healthy Kids program. He received a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Colorado in 2008.

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Robby Schwartz
EnergyLogic Inc.

Robby is a co-founder of EnergyLogic, Inc, a leading provider of home energy efficiency products and services in Colorado and throughout the United States. Robby is passionate about fostering a sustainable built environment that can blend seamlessly with our modern lifestyles and meet our expectations of comfort, durability, safety, efficiency, and environmental soundness for the homes that we live and invest in.

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Suzanne Shelton
President and CEO, Shelton Group

Suzanne Shelton is CEO of Shelton Group, the nation’s leading marketing communications firm entirely focused in the sustainability and energy efficiency sectors. The company polls Americans on an ongoing basis to understand their drivers and obstacles to adopting more sustainable or energy efficient products and behaviors and uses those insights to help some of the nation’s leading brands define and leverage their sustainability and energy efficiency stories to gain a market advantage. Shelton’s clients include Georgia Pacific, Grainger, Kohler, Johnson & Johnson, Steelcase, Ameren, BASF and Consumers Energy.

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Tadashi Shiga
Evergreen Certified LLC

Tadashi Shiga, owner and creator of Evergreen Certified LLC, possesses the knowledge, experience, and determination to help his clients achieve their sustainable building project goals. Born and raised in Seattle, WA, and a child of two successful developers, Tadashi has been in the building business since 1991. Because of his long-term commitment to the industry, he understands how to examine a project from every angle in order to strategize for its successful completion.

Tadashi goes beyond mere green building consultation and works to build systems that create lasting change. With an interest in continual development, Tadashi stays current on all new green building techniques and strategies through regular training and certification. He possesses several advanced sustainable building credentials and affiliations, including a Master Builders Association’s Green Hammer Award (2013). Tadashi works with 150 builders and is currently working on over 600 projects. Tadashi was also the first PHIUS+ verifier in Washington State and verified the first PHIUS+ home in Seattle.

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Julie Sieving
Brendle Group

As a valued Senior Engineer with Brendle Group, Julie puts her 18 years of experience to work for clients ranging from local governments and utilities to schools, ski areas, and leading edge companies. Julie leads Brendle Group’s Energy Services practice area which includes services related to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Julie has served a senior technical role in many of Brendle Group’s net zero community-scale efforts for net zero energy and energy planning. Julie is known for her direct community involvement and facilitation experience, helping clients navigate complex issues while focusing on strategy feasibility and implementation. Julie has demonstrated success through her leadership in developing demand side management (DSM) programs. Her energy expertise is informed by hands-on experience facilitating integrated green design, along with conducting over 100 on-site facility assessments and building commissioning projects.

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Barry Stephens
Business Development and Technology Director, Zehnder America, Inc.

Barry is presently the Business Development & Technology Director at Zehnder America, Inc. Barry has been working with energy efficient design architects, builders and contractors since 2010, when Zehnder launched the ComfoSystems division in North America. He has worked with NZE, Passive House, Next Step Homes, LEED and Pretty Good Houses across North America. Barry was trained in Heat Recovery Ventilation technology at Zehnder’s facilities in Switzerland, Holland, Germany and Italy. 

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Mark Taylor
Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Mark Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois. He was the architectural faculty lead for Illinois’ submissions in the 2009 and 2011 Solar Decathlon Competitions. Since completion, the houses have been monitored for performance and used as tools for teaching in his seminar class called Innovative Solar Homes: Past, Present and Future.

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Donn Thompson AIA, CGP, LEED AP BD+C
Director, Market Development, Portland Cement Association

Donn C. Thompson, AIA, CGP, LEEP AP BD+C, is Director of Market Development for the Portland Cement Association (PCA) with responsibility for coordinating promotion strategies for various targeted markets for concrete products and systems.

He participates in the planning of PCA promotion activities to expand the use of cement-based products in the buildings, paving, and transportation structures markets.  Donn conducts presentations nationwide on various aspects of building more sustainably with concrete as well as advocating for more resilient homes and communities. 

Thompson currently serves on the board of the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance.  He served as a member of the Consensus Committee for the 2012 Update of the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) National Green Building Standard, was former president of the NAHB Concrete Home Building Council and as a member of the board of the Insulating Concrete Forms Association, the industry trade association for the major ICF manufacturers in North America. 

Donn is a licensed architect in Illinois, and a member of the American Institute of Architects.  He is a US Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional and an NAHB Certified Green Professional.  Donn has a BS and M.Arch from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

He has been active in the concrete industry for over 17 years with extensive field experience with concrete systems, having served as an on-site contractor trainer for numerous residential and commercial projects.

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John Tooley
Advanced Energy

John is one of the most exciting, humorous, and enlightening presenters in the nation. John started building houses in 1979 and by 1982 had begun to diagnosis and retrofit homes across the nation. He has been the principle designer of some of the largest building programs in the nation. John has a refreshing approach to the old adage “do it right the first time.” He presents a real life, blue-collar approach to building science. John consults and trains thousands of contractors from every trade each year. His messages are filled with solutions for today’s issues, a must hear.

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Alex Trachtenberg, MPP
Project Manager, Sustainable Communities and Policy, Southface Energy Institute

Alex provides project management and deliverables support for the Community Sustainability Services and Policy Teams. He performs research, data collection, analysis and report composition. Alex is managing the Impact of Green Affordable Housing research project. He received his B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder and M.P.P. from Georgia State University.

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David Treleven
Building Science Consultant, Advanced Energy

David Treleven consults with clients on building science issues, trains contractors on construction best practices, and conducts applied building science research aiming to ensure health, safety, comfort, durability, energy efficiency and environmental responsibility in buildings.  In addition, he has been a key person in maintaining and implementing Advanced Energy’s Affordable Housing Programs.

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Brad Turner
Director of Education and Training, Southface Institute

Brad Turner is the Director of Education and Technical Assistance at Southface Energy Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Brad manages the SWEET Center, a U.S. DOE WAP Training Center. Brad’s team provides technical assistance, classroom and field training to Home Performance Contractors and Weatherization Professionals working across Georgia and other states.

Brad currently serves on the Building Performance Institute’s (BPI) Standards Technical Committee. He is a BPI Proctor and holds 10 BPI Certifications, including all four of the Home Energy Professional Certifications. Brad also manages the BPI and Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® programs at Southface. He holds a Georgia Real Estate license as well as a Georgia Residential Contractor’s license, and he owned and operated his own residential construction company prior to his employment at Southface.

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Iain Walker
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Iain Walker is a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). He has more than 20 years of experience as a building scientist and consultant, conducting research on energy use, ventilation, moisture, performance simulation, and commissioning/diagnostic issues in residential buildings. His current work focuses on retrofits, Zero/Low Energy Homes and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in residential buildings through field and laboratory evaluations, modeling and simulation activities, and standards setting. He is executive editor and member of the board of Home Energy magazine. He is the task group leader for the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards committees on building and duct system air leakage and sealant longevity. For the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) he serves on National Standards committees for indoor air quality, weather, moisture design, and equipment air leakage. He also serves on Building Performance Institute (BPI) and Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) Technical Committees, the Affordable Comfort (ACI) conference planning committee and provides leadership and technical input to many local, state, national and international bodies.

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Albert Wallace
President, Energy Environmental Corporation

Al is a member of the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE); an Associate Member of the American Institute of Architects; a Certified GeoExchange Designer (CGD) and Certified Energy Manager (CEM) by the Association of Energy Engineers; a Certified Trainer and Installer by the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA); and licensed and permitted by the Colorado Division of Water Resources for geoexchange systems. Mr. Wallace has earned the LEED for Homes Accredited Professional designation from the U.S. Green Building Council. He is past President of the Colorado Heat Pump Association, served as a HERS rater and Director of E*Star Colorado. Al is a voting member on the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) Uniform Solar Energy & Hydronics Code Technical Committee, the City of Centennial's Building Code Board of Review, and is on Uponor Corporation's North American Radiant Advisory Council. Mr. Wallace holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a Master's degree in Business Administration from Golden Gate University in California, and dual Master's degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture with Certificates in Design/Build and Historic Preservation from the University of Colorado at Denver. 

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Daran Wastchak
D.R. Wastchak, LLC

Daran Wastchak is the President of D.R. Wastchak, LLC, a firm based in Tempe, Arizona that specializes in residential energy efficiency and building science consulting.   He has been a key implementer of the EPA's ENERGY STAR for Homes program in the Phoenix market since 1996, also providing LEED for Homes, IECC and Low Income Housing Tax Credit services for single and multi-family projects.  Daran is a member of the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) Board of Directors and served ten years on the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) Board of Directors, including as Board Secretary and Vice President as well as Chairman of the Quality Assurance Committee.  He has been a regular speaker at the EEBA and RESNET annual conferences and guest speaker at USGBC GreenBuild, the NAHB International Builders Show, and ASHI Inspection World conferences.

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Theresa Weston, PhD
DuPont Building Innovations

Dr. Theresa Weston conducts building science research and product development for DuPont Building innovations. Theresa has developed and introduced to market many new products. She participates in industry research programs and in standards and codes development. Theresa has over 20 years of experience in materials and fiber development and is an inventor of four U. S. patents. Theresa has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Masters and Doctorate degrees in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Theresa is on the Board of Directors of the Building Environment and Thermal Envelope Council of the National Institute of Building Science, and has previously served on the EEBA Board of Directors.  Additionally she is actively involved with many professional organizations, including ASHRAE and ASTM, for both of which she has chaired technical and standard committees.

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Eric Wilson
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Eric Wilson is an engineer in the Residential Buildings Research group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). His recent activities include developing multifamily modeling capabilities for the BEopt building energy optimization software, developing analysis framework and data visualization for national residential building stock models, and leading updates of the Building America House Simulation Protocols.

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Justin Wilson
Construction Instruction

Justin Wilson is President of Building Performance Solutions, a Colorado based building science consulting firm. Justin specializes in advanced energy efficient building practices, high performance process integration and implementation, building durability analysis, mechanical systems design and integration, and job site inspections and trainings.

Justin develops educational curriculum and presents to developers, builders and industry professionals; these diverse audiences have included the US Green Building Council, Built Green Colorado, Big Builder, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and many others.

Justin is currently one of the developers of the EEBA Houses That Work curriculum.

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Jon Winkler
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Jon Winkler joined NREL in 2009. His research focuses on residential HVAC systems, residential dehumidification control, energy modeling tools, and low-load homes. Jon has led several research projects focused on performance testing of room air conditioners, mini-split heat pumps, residential dehumidifiers, and central, variable-speed heat pumps. Jon’s latest focus is on optimal comfort systems for low-load homes. Prior to working at NREL, Jon was a faculty research assistant in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Maryland where he co-led the development effort of simulation and optimization software used by HVAC manufacturers.

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Lance Wright
Lance Wright Consulting & Advocacy

Lance Wright graduated from Auburn University with a degree in the Forest Ecology Honor’s Program in 1976 and worked with the U. S. Forest Service in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska until 1983. He then went on to work for Democratic and environmental campaigns in Colorado through several election cycles, including three of his own runs for a seat in the State House of Representatives, before being elected to the Parker Town Council in 1996 and re-elected in 2000. In 1998, Lance built his first energy efficient house, and his low heating bills helped him convince fellow Council members to increase building code requirements for energy efficiency in the Town of Parker. In 2002 he was the Democratic candidate for Congress against Tom Tancredo in the heavily Republican Sixth District. Lance ran on an anti-terrorism, energy-independence platform that was called “aggressive” and “unrealistic” by the Rocky Mountain News in its endorsement in the race. He moved to Springfield, Missouri in 2004 for family reasons and became the first US EPA Energy Star building partner in southern Missouri. After building Energy Star rated homes in Missouri for two years, Lance returned to Colorado and established the energy efficiency design and consulting business, Green Energy Man, Inc. Lance was part of the charter group of Passive House Consultants trained by PHIUS in the fall of 2008. He and his wife live in Denver in their “Near Passive House”, which they are currently retrofitting to gain Passive House Certification.

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