Your vote counts - elections now open for 2012-2013 Chapter Leadership
Voting is now open for the election of the U.S. Green Building Council Central Texas-Balcones (USGBC CT-B) Chapter's 2012-2013 Board of Directors. Help us choose your local Chapter Leadership. If you are a Chapter Member, please take a few minutes to review the candidates below before going to cast your ballot. The election will close on Sunday, October 23, 2011 at midnight.
The Chapter depends on its volunteer leadership for achievement of its mission. We are seeking people who are leaders in the community, recognize the value of sustainable building and land development practices, are willing to participate in fund development activities, and who have other qualifications necessary to assure a sustainable future for the Chapter.
The Chapter Board comprises 15 voting members plus two non-voting alternates, all of whom serve two-year terms. Due to terms ending, there are eight (8) Board seats and one (1) alternate position available for 2012-2013. This year there are 16 candidates for your consideration (see overviews below; click on their names for pdfs of their full applications). You may vote for up to eight candidates in total. Every vote counts equally.
Manager of Preconstruction and Reconstruction for the Austin-based Kiewit Building Group. Nick would like to serve on the Board so that he can educate members and non-members on sustainable practices and green building construction. He belongs to several local construction industry organizations where he can promote our Chapter and express our vision to the subcontracting community. In addition to Kiewit being an annual Chapter sponsor, Nick is involved with the 2011 Green School Symposium and LEED for the Future panel discussions in December. His firm also contributes to fundraisers like the upcoming golf tournament and he actively participates in the Chapter programs such as Lunch-n-Learns and other educational events.
Project Manager, Austin Energy Green Building. For more than twenty years, Liana has been involved in green building research, design and consulting, having worked on the advancement of local codes, policies and initiatives, and having been an educator for sustainability. She has been involved with USGBC since 1998, has served on many different USGBC committees and has actively participated in the development of the LEED rating systems. A LEED faculty since 2006, Liana is a USGBC LEED Course Reviewer and provides extensive education outreach. She hopes to share with the Chapter Board her knowledge and expertise; her extensive experience with the LEED rating systems and the development process; and her insight into the challenges that need to be overcome in order to achieve market transformation. She will be honored to have the opportunity to serve on the Chapter’s Board, alongside this extraordinary group of building professionals.
Executive Services Supervisor, San Antonio River Authority (SARA).
For the past ten years, Karen has held leadership and/or facilitation roles on a number of boards, alliances, and non-profits, and she is eager to bring her leadership and consensus-building skills to the Chapter's Board. For the past two years, she has been a strong and active advocate for sustainable land development practices, having linked private sector resources with sustainability-focused non-profit start-up needs. Karen has made numerous presentations promoting sustainable land development practices to government employees, universities, engineers and developers, chambers of commerce, community groups, and others with influence. In addition, Karen is leading the San Antonio River Authority’s internal sustainability efforts. She has applied for the Chapter Board because of her experiences, her belief that sustainable land use practices will yield the future’s greatest storm and surface water quality benefits, and her wish to serve the South Central Texas river basins through the Chapter. Since joining the Chapter in June, Karen has secured a $1,000 sponsorship from SARA for the Chapter's Urban Water Crisis lecture, coordinated SARA General Manager Suzanne Scott's participation as a panelist, and is organizing SARA’s support for the Chapter's San Antonio Green Mixer in November.
, LEED AP
(currently Board of Directors Vice Chair)
Program Consultant for ClearResult Energy Group in Austin. Effie has had four year's experience on the Chapter Board and feels that her understanding of how the Chapter operates and the importance of its purpose, will be invaluable as the Chapter moves forward. She has the same passion for the organization's mission today as she had when she first ran for the Board. She believes that she can offer the Chapter what it needs right now - hardworking, dedicated, and knowledgeable volunteers. In addition to her service on the Board's Executive Committee for the past four years, she also served on the hiring committee for the Chapter’s first Executive Director and directed the Development Committee activities, as well as serving on a number of Chapter task forces. She has also served on the Board of Directors for Austin non-profit Design~Build~Live, and co-founded another Austin non-profit, 1house at a time.
, LEED AP, AIA
(currently Chair Advocacy)
Director of Sustainable Design at Marmon Mok Architecture in San Antonio.
With more than 20 years in the design and operations of high performance buildings, sustainability strategy and implementation, and management, Edgar believes he possesses the passion, experience, and leadership skills to contribute positively towards the success of the Chapter. He has a demonstrated track record of leadership, activism, education, and advocacy, for both the Chapter and allied organizations, including two years as the Chapter’s Advocacy Chair. An award winning sustainability advocate, Edgar has relevant relationships with policy makers, stakeholders, and key participants involved in governance, industry, and environmental policy in both Austin and San Antonio, which can be leveraged to promote the Chapter’s mission. He believes that the chapter’s diversity makes it uniquely qualified to be a vital resource to our communities, policy makers and businesses, on all issues related to green buildings and sustainable communities in South and Central Texas. If elected, he will dedicate himself to strengthening the Chapter’s core competencies and outreach efforts to cement its role as a credible and relevant authority and advocate on sustainable development. Based on his years of experience as a Chapter volunteer, he will also seek to improve communications within the organization, enhance volunteer participation, expand our base, and promote transparency.
Central Texas Market Manager, Floor Covering, Milliken Design, Inc. Scott would like to join the Chapter Board because he believes passionately in the mission and values of USGBC and feels he can make a positive contribution to the successful growth and sustainability of the Chapter. He served as sponsorship, programs, membership and special events chair for the Florida Suncoast Chapter of IFMA (International Facility Management Association), the first Florida IFMA Chapter, then went on to serve as both vice president and then president for two consecutive years. Scott was on the organizing committee for the first USGBC Chapter in Florida, creating the Founding Member Company drive and raising $20K to charter the Chapter. He continued to grow the chapter serving as the first Membership Chair. He was asked to take the presidency in 2008 but was not able to do so as he relocated to Texas, where he now resides in New Braunfels. Scott believes that one of the most important functions of Board members is fundraising, whether through direct sponsorships, helping to secure funding, recruiting members or otherwise opening doors to corporate, governmental or charitable sources. He feels that his knowledge of business development in his professional life and his in-depth non-profit Board experience makes him an ideal candidate for the Chapter Board.
Candice House (currently Chapter's Advisory Council Member responsible for advising on communications)
President of and partner in ThinkStreet, an Austin-based advertising, design and communications firm. Candice is also a partner and shareholder in House+Earth, a retail store specializing in eco-friendly and sustainable building and design products for the home. She has hands-on experience in managing people as well as the day-to-day operations of a fast-paced business. A veteran marketing and communications professional with over thirty years of experience in marketing, branding, advertising, public relations and event management, she is a passionate advocate for healthy and sustainable building practices and believes she will bring an important skill-set to the Board. While USGBC’s Central Texas chapter fulfills the mission of educating and advocating for sustainable building practices, she intends to educate and advocate on behalf of the Chapter’s brand—letting others know of the important work the Chapter does and the value it brings to our community.
(currently Board Secretary)
Special Projects Manager, City of San Antonio's Department of Environmental Policy. Liza’s objective as a continued tenure on the Board is to increase the Chapter’s visibility and revenue stream. She believes that her experience as a current Chapter Board member, Executive Committee member and Education Committee liaison, as well as her role as Director of a local nonprofit will be of value to the Chapter. In addition, her current positioning at the City of San Antonio allows her to meld her job responsibility with her Chapter leadership role in advancing high performance building in San Antonio. She will foster the Chapter’s primary objectives to increase sponsorship activity, enhance services to better serve the Chapter’s membership and the community at large to advance the adoption of sustainable building within the public and private sector.
CEO, Myers Verde Company in Austin. For more than 25 years, Mike has been at the forefront of green building and sustainability having helped to initiate, guide, train, or develop sustainability initiatives in municipalities, businesses, and utilities throughout the United States. He feels that he is at a point in his life where the skills he has gained both professionally and as a volunteer can be used to assist the Central Texas-Balcones Chapter in continuing to advocate for the importance of sustainable communities. As a Chapter Board member he would support and promote efforts to work in partnership with local communities, utilities, businesses and other organizations to address future growth, supporting innovative solutions to foster local green building initiatives. Active as a volunteer throughout his professional career he has supported numerous sustainability and green building initiatives and organizations such as Build San Antonio Green. An early supporter of the Chapter, this past year he participated in the Chapter's USGBC Texas State Advocacy Day at the Capitol. He was a founding member of the Chesapeake Bay Sustainability non-profit and also served on the Advisory Board for the first GreenHome in Washington D.C.
Program Officer with the U.S. Department of Commerce – EDA. With over 20 years of project development and management experience Rick believes he can bring a fairly extensive knowledge base on both Federal and non-Federal funding resources that might be available to the Chapter, along with an understanding of how they work and the ability to make things happen. He has a solid background in Federal grants with a variety of agencies, including his current employer and the Departments of Defense, Energy, the EPA, NTIA and NOAA. Although he has not done much for the local USGBC chapter, he has served on several other non-profit Boards, including Mobile Loaves and Fishes, Blanco County Economic Development Corporation, Blanco Chamber of Commerce, the Uvalde Sustainable Resource Center and a brief stint with the Texas Green Network. A strong advocate for LEED and sustainable buildings practices, Rick has had extensive experience of developing LEED certified buildings and has successfully made the case in terms of ROI and social responsibility. From his experience, he believes that if there is a common thread that makes or breaks any organization it is constant and effective communication. Volunteerism is the lifeblood of these types of organizations, and that resources must be engaged and involved with a sense of ownership and belonging to be effective.
Project Manager, EEA Consulting Engineers in Austin. As a Mechanical Engineer and Commissioning Agent, Morgan has been heavily involved in the Green Building/Sustainable Design industry for the last several years and has realized that these projects are his passion. He enjoys working with project teams whose focused goal is to build better, smarter, more efficient buildings, and takes pride in the positive impact they have on the community. He believes that his experience with building mechanical systems and building energy modeling will prove valuable to the Chapter's leadership. Morgan has participated in several networking and educational sessions put on by the Chapter, and served as moderator for a credit-by-credit review of the LEED NC Energy and Atmosphere credits. He is a regular at the annual Greenbuild conference and will be attending again this year. He has also volunteered for organizations such as Habitat For Humanity, the Austin Baptist Chapel Soup Kitchen, Hill Country Community Ministries (food pantry), and served in a leadership position on his church council for four years.
Associate Principal, Arup Engineering Texas. Mike is excited about educating the public on the practical and financial benefits of green building. As a member of the Board of Directors he will work enthusiastically to ensure that our Chapter plays a prominent role in public outreach regarding the positive realities of green building. Much of Mike’s professional work is centered on identifying the financial and life-cycle benefits of green building construction and facility retrofits. He would like to use these lessons and skills to help promote green thinking in Central and South Texas.
Although new to the Central Texas area, Mike was formerly active with the USGBC Chapter in Southern California and was also vice-president of the SoCal Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers. His first involvement with the Chapter was as moderator at the Taking the LEED For the Future symposium held in December last year. His firm, Arup, has been closely tied to the USGBC for many years, where many of his co-workers have experience serving on their local Chapter Boards, enabling him to tap into their past experiences.
CEO of Business & Community Lenders of Texas. Rosa has lead, managed and grown non-profit organizations for 30 years, including serving as volunteer and officer for local, state and national member organizations. This year alone she raised more than $6 million in capital for commercial lending and piloted the first TEXAS GREEN FUND for Commercial Energy Retrofits. As CEO of her firm, she has grown the non-profit from a regional to a statewide service provider. Her budget has grown from $190 thousand to $1.4 Million. Our non-profit’s net worth now exceeds $14 million. She has 10 years of non-profit utility experience and is personally and professionally committed to residential and commercial energy conservation. Rosa believes that her strong non-profit business focused management and leadership skills will help the Chapter to grow in resources, membership and accomplishments. She supports the Chapter’s regional scope and has attended programs in Austin and San Antonio. Rosa can commit the time for Board, committee and member meetings regardless of the location. She has a proven track record in leading innovation and advocating for non-profit organizations to help them achieve their mission and gain funding.
(current Board Member and South Central Regional Committee associate representative)
An assistant professor with the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University, John has research interests in sustainable design and construction techniques, transportation planning, risk management and insurance, pre-project planning, and the use of alternative project delivery and procurement methods. As an academic and researcher addressing the fundamental and applied needs of the green building industry, John believes that he has the knowledge, skills, and ability to deliver-on and advocate for the critical and core competencies of USGBC’s strategic goals. Among other roles, John has served as a Team Leader, Research to Practice Program, for USGBC National Green Schools Higher Education Initiative, 2011. He is also involved with a host of efforts to advance the understanding of green building, sustainability, and the environmental impacts of construction at the local, state, national, and international levels. In addition to incorporating green building and sustainability concepts into undergraduate and graduate level engineering courses, he is currently developing curriculum enhancements for: Sustainability and Climate Change Applications to Construction Engineering and Management, and Building Information Modeling for Sustainable Design. Having served as a Board of Directors member for two consecutive terms he has an understanding of the Board's purpose, goal and objectives, and functionality.
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The Vision and Mission of the Central Texas - Balcones Chapter Vision: Buildings and communities will regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life. Mission: Accelerate the transformation toward sustainable building and land development practices in Central and South Texas through innovation, education, advocacy and partnerships.