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Practicing design professionals and green building experts teaching in the Sustainable Design program
Grant Austin
Grant W. Austin, MAI, MMRS, M.S., MRICS is the Founder and President of the Institute of Green Professionals (IGP), an education and credentialing membership organization for sustainability professionals and academics in the areas of architecture, engineering, land-use planning, landscape architecture, real property valuation (residential and commercial), accounting, and law. He is an adjunct professor of real estate at both
Mara Baum
Mara Baum, AIA, LEED AP, is a designer and researcher at Anshen+Allen Architects in San Francisco. She received her Master of Architecture and Master of City Planning from University of California Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in architecture from Washington University, and has been a LEED Accredited Professional for 7 years. Her professional interests include holistic approaches to net zero energy and water use, human health and well being, and urban and regional planning and design. Much of her current work in hospital design focuses on the intersection between ecological considerations and the creation of a healthy and healing built environment. Mara's diverse professional experience includes work in green building consulting, a building science research, higher education, architecture and urban design. She was the US Green Building Council's 2006 Ginsberg Sustainability Fellow and is currently a liaison to the national USGBC Research Committee. Mara also teaches LEED and sustainability classes within Anshen+Allen and in the Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture Programs at California College of the Arts.
John Boehs
John H. Boehs Jr. is a mechanical engineer with more than 10 years of professional experience in the design of energy conscious buildings. Most recently, John was employed as a senior mechanical engineer with the Boston office of Arup and responsible for HVAC design, building physics, annual energy modeling and LEED credit documentation. Representative projects include: the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science Complex, the University of Virginia Studio Art Building (Ruffin Hall), the Portland Art Museum (North Wing) and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. John was exposed to architectural issues relative to sustainability while employed at Coldham and Hartman Architects. John obtained mechanical engineering degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (MSME) and Lehigh University (BSME). John is licensed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as both a Mechanical Engineer and a Construction Supervisor and is a LEED Accredited Professional.
Susannah Brouwer
Susannah Brouwer began her career in marketing at non-profit and community outreach organizations. Her area of specialization was the identification of business-appropriate strategies for minimal resource use and maximum yield. She then moved on to work with professional services firms and corporations on product-specific marketing tactics. Susannah became involved in sustainable design when she participated in the opening of Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI)'s east coast distribution center in
Dan Cote
Dan Cote has extensive experience in building technologies, energy efficiency, and, sustainable residential construction. Dan currently works on the Applied Building Science team with Conservation Services Group, delivering training, writing curriculum and preparing presentations related to sustainable and energy efficient construction. Dan has worked directly with builders and contractors in facilitating the adoption of ENERGY STAR New Homes and EPA’s, Home Performance with ENERGY STAR in several Northeast and Pacific Northwest states. Dan also facilitated the start up of the Earth Advantage green certification program in New England. Dan’s own home has appeared on the City of Portland’s, Green Tour of Homes and Discovery Channels green renovation program “Renovation Nation”.
Elena Douvlou-Beggiora
Elena is a registered Architect both in the UK and Greece. She has a special research interest in sustainable design and urban regeneration, building monitoring, simulation and post-occupancy evaluation and has presented her research on the subject and lectured in various institutions in UK, as well as in Greece, Dubai, Tunisia, Estonia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Brazil. Within her area of expertise she has published articles and has presented papers in international conferences. Her interest in the environment led her to complete a Masters in Advanced Architectural Studies at the University of Sheffield focusing on passive cooling techniques and later, as a scholar of the State Scholarships Foundation of Greece, to complete a PhD in the area of climatic responsive design and occupant comfort. Elena joined the University of Portsmouth from October 2003 until August 2008 as a Senior Lecturer. She taught studio design to both undergraduate and diploma students including projects such as the Eco-House Live Project and co-ordinated units on the subject of Sustainable Development. She also acted as the director of the MSc Sustainable Architecture and Environment course and has supervised more than 20 MSc projects. While at Portsmouth, she successfully completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in UK, and is a Fellow of the British Higher Education Academy. She is currently an independent environmental consultant. As an architect and environmentalist she is able to draw on her understanding of sustainable approaches to design from different cultures with a view to establishing a best practice dependent upon climatic conditions.
David Foley
David Foley has worked in the fields of energy efficiency environmental building since 1980, as a designer, builder, teacher and researcher. Since 1994, he has been a partner in Holland and Foley Architecture, LLC, a small firm engaged in environmental building design and consulting. Prior to 1994, David has worked for the Maine State Energy Office, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Fisher-Friedman Architects of San Francisco, William R. Sepe Architect and Planner of Camden, Maine, John Scholz Architects of Camden, Maine, and Tanglewood Camp and Learning Center of Lincolnville, Maine. David has a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Professional Studies in Resource Economics from the University of Maine, and a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) in Community Design from Dartmouth College. In 1996, he was one of six U.S. recipients of a German Marshall Fund Environmental Fellowship, to research "green" buildings in Europe. His design for an affordable environmental house was awarded "Best Life-Cycle Cost" by the Maine State Housing Authority in 2006. David lives with his wife Judy Berk in Northport, Maine, in a home he designed and built. He is an avid gardener, sea-kayaker and cross-country skier.
Richard Graves
Richard Graves focuses his professional life on the relationship of humanity and nature through architecture.He is an architect with the Minneapolis office of Perkins+Will working on sustainable projects around the world. As a volunteer with the US Green Building Council, Richard founded the Maine Chapter and is currently the National Board Secretary.As a principal with WBRC A/E in Maine from 2000-2008 he served as the environmental consultant for the University of Maine’s first LEED building, designed a LEED Gold certified building for the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, and integrated facility and sustainability plans for higher education institutions.
Thomas RC Hartman
Thomas RC Hartman, AIA is a partner at Coldham & Hartman Architects in Amherst, MA. The firm provides professional design services for residential, commercial and institutional clients committed to creating green buildings and communities throughout the Northeast. The firms completed work includes the Student Housing and the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME, the Moomaw residence in Williamstown, MA, the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, NH, the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store in Ghent, NY, and Rocky Hill Cohousing in Northampton, MA among other notable green and high performance buildings. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association for two terms and has been Treasurer. Additionally for NESEA, he has been Chair, Co-Chair, and organized and presented at numerous Building Energy Conferences. He is currently the Treasurer and President-Elect of the Western MA Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Tom graduated with a Professional Bachelor Degree from the School of Architecture of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and an Associate in Architectural Engineering Technology from Wentworth Institute in Boston. After graduation from USC in 1995, he was awarded the USC Architectural Guild Traveling Fellowship and studied and visited intentional communities in Scandinavia, Holland and Great Britain. Prior to joining as a future partner at C&H in 1999, he worked at DiMella Shaffer Associates in Boston, DMJM Keating in Los Angeles, and various consulting positions including construction documentation analysis and 3d computer model representation for a Thelen Marrin Johnson & Bridges on a public transit litigation case. He is a Registered Architect in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Connecticut and holds an NCARB Certificate.
John Hersey
John Hersey is a transportation planner for the Central Transportation Planning Staff, the technical and policy-analysis support to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization and other members of the region’s transportation community. He received a Bachelor of Arts in sustainable urban planning and a Master of Regional Planning both from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. As a student, his work earned the 2006 Student Planning Award from the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association. He has worked at the municipal and state level on a variety of planning-related issues, including economic development, civic engagement, community branding and placemaking, urban safety, homelessness, environmental preservation, and multi-modal transportation policy. A lifelong resident of the North Shore, John enjoys community engagement, working and playing outside, ruminating about planning concepts, and his friends.
Bill Holland
Bill Holland is an architect and builder in Newton, Massachusetts. Following his graduation from MIT’s Master of Architecture program he created a design/build firm and completed a range of residential projects that explored various aspects of sustainable design and environmental awareness. In subsequent years Bill acquired experience in retail and commercial projects ranging from a few thousand to several hundred thousand square feet. As a LEED Accredited Professional and Senior Associate at Margulies Perruzzi Architects, Bill completed major renovation and commercial interior projects and has developed an expertise with LEED for Existing Buildings. He is the founding vice-chairman and current member of the Leadership Council and Education Committee of the USGBC Massachusetts affiliate for which he has co-created a special LEED practices workshop for subcontractors. He has also created a very successful panel presentation on LEED for Existing Buildings for the Building Owners and Managers Association. He has been a speaker at RealShare Boston 2008 and Net Lease 2009 conferences and has had articles published in Sustainable Facility, Banker and Tradesman, and other publications.
Michelle Lambert
Michelle Lambert is an architect and a planner, and has many years of experience with sustainable design and the LEED Rating System in both practice and teaching. She received her Masters in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy from Tufts University and her Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University. She currently works for ADD Inc, an architecture and design firm in Boston, where she chairs their internal Environmental Task Force. Michelle has been a LEED Accredited Professional since 2002 and taught one of the first university classes offered on the subject of LEED at Carnegie Mellon. Her professional experience includes work in architecture, urban planning, green building consulting and building science research. Michelle has worked on numerous LEED projects ranging from corporate offices to residential buildings to educational facilities. Working with the Green Roundtable, she acted as a consultant to the City of Boston Mayor’s Green Building Task Force and contributed to the development and publication of the City of Boston’s Green Building Guidelines.
Will Lewis
Will developed a passion for lighting design and its ability to shape the perception of architecture while earning his degree in Architectural Engineering at Penn State University. He has designed both natural and artificial lighting environments for a wide range of project types including hospitality, residential, retail, corporate interiors, museums, civic, and streetscapes. His work has been recognized with multiple IIDA Awards of Merit. Will serves as the regional coordinator for the IALD, and is currently teaching Architectural Daylighting Design at the Boston Architectural College as well as Interior Lighting Design at Endicott College and Mass Art.
Anne Nicklin
Anne Nicklin is a sustainability consultant with Davis Langdon where she has been actively involved in the life cycle analysis team. In the past year her work has included the accounting of all greenhouse gas emissions associated with the material construction and continued operations (energy and water) of Dodger Stadium as part of California’s new EIR requirements. In addition she serves as the Vice President of the Building Materials Reuse Association, and chairs the Climate Change Advocacy group for the northern California Chapter of the USGBC. Anne is a LEED Accredited Professional and has earned a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as an MArchI from Pratt Institute. She is currently teaching Energy and Air Quality at the Boston Architectural College
Peter Nobile
Peter Nobile is an architect with extensive green design experience. His work includes projects ranging from office towers in China to small residential additions. He is in private practice in Cambridge.Peter has extensive experience as a designer and team leader. In addition to his ability to convey complex ideas using words and drawings, he is skilled at communicating across disciplines and boundaries. Peter’s design work is marked by sensitivity to historic context and resource efficiency, and for appropriate, timeless solutions. Peter’s commitment to sustainable design led him to be one of the first LEED-NC and one of the first two LEED-Homes accredited professionals in Massachusetts; he is also currently involved in the development of sustainable design guidelines for a number of clients. Peter works in his community and church as a tireless advocate for sustainable design.
Margie McNally
Margie McNally is an interior designer and environmental consultant specializing in sustainable design. Her approach to interior design is a relationship between sustainability, resource efficiency, good indoor environmental quality and health. Margie has an associate’s degree in interior design and is licensed with NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification) in the state of Massachusetts for the practice of interior design. She also is a USGBC (United States Green Building Council) LEED Accredited Professional (Leadership in Energy and Environmental design) as well as an ALA Lighting Associate (American Lighting Association). She has more than15 years of experience in the field. Margie worked as The Environmental Program Coordinator for the American Lung Association in a team effort with southeastern Massachusetts schools to address indoor air quality issues. For several years Margie was the Lighting Program Coordinator for Massachusetts Energy Star Homes where she also administered the LEED for Homes pilot program. She has conducted many workshops on green building including a BSA sponsored LEED for Homes training for architects and workshops at area colleges and technical high schools. Margie has written and published several articles on green design including a recent feature in Antiques and Fine Arts Magazine. In an effort to assist her clients in the selection of more healthful and resourceful materials and furnishings for their homes and offices, Margie works as a consultant as well as a workshop presenter. Materials selection, specification review and energy efficient lighting design are services she offers. Indoor air quality, healthier alternatives in building materials and design methods are subjects that her workshops explore.
Elizabeth Meek
Elizabeth Meek, IIDA, LEED AP is a Principal at Sasaki Associates, where she leads teams of architects and interior designers in commercial tenant fit-up projects. With more than 20 years in the design industry, Elizabeth offers extensive experience in the programming and design of office environments as well as the management of interior design projects, and she leads Sasaki's relationships with several key long-term clients. Prior to joining Sasaki Elizabeth was the Manager of Interior Design at The Architects Collaborative. As part of Sasaki's commercial marketing group, Elizabeth develops and implements strategic and tactical marketing plans for her market segment. She leads a group of senior designers in networking and developing leads as well as preparing proposals and interviews for new projects. Elizabeth has a BA in Art History from Kenyon College and an MBA from Boston University.
Ashley Muse
Ashley Muse has experience in creating high performance, sustainable buildings. Through her work with Rocky Mountain Institute’s Built Environment Team, she provides recommendations and integrated design strategies for a range of project types including institutional and educational buildings, large mixed-used developments, and campus master plans. She has expertise within the subjects of energy and water use, resource efficiency, daylight analysis, material selection, and indoor environmental quality. Ashley has held leadership roles in RMI’s LEED certification team and the US Green Building Council’s Emerging Green Builders Committee and Colorado Chapter.
Brad Nies
Brad is director of Elements, a division of BNIM Architects that focuses on sustainable design consulting. He is a registered architect in the state of Missouri with 13 years of experience and a LEED® Accredited Professional. Brad has worked on several LEED Certified projects including two that achieved Platinum Certification. Brad was the sustainable design consultant for the USGBC LEED Platinum Certified Heifer International Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, which won a 2007 AIA COTE Top Ten Green Project Award and a National AIA 2008 Institute Honor Award. Volunteering as part of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Climate Protection Partnership Brad is co-leading 151 firms through inventory and action plan development. In 2002 Brad led the team that created Implement: The City of Seattle’s Sustainable Building Tool. Brad is co-author of “Green BIM Successful Sustainable Design with Building Information Modeling”.
James O’Connell
James C. O’Connell is a Community Planner at the Boston Office of the National Park Service. He has worked in planning positions in Cape Cod and Springfield, MA.. He has written four books and many articles on planning and New England history. His books include Becoming Cape Cod: Creating a Seaside Resort. He serves as chair of the Massachusetts Zoning Reform Working Group, which has developed the Community Planning Act. He has written the report “Ahead or Behind the Curve?: Compact Mixed-Use Development in Suburban Boston” (2004) for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Beth Paulson
Beth Paulson is a landscape designer who promotes the use of Ecology and Plant Community Models in her work with private clients and design firms, most recently at Walter Cudnohufsky Associates. She has studied Environmental Design and Landscape Architecture at the University of Massachusetts. She currently works as an Energy Specialist for the Center for Ecological Technology, where she is an EnergyStar Homes and a LEED for Homes Rater and landscape consultant.
Troy Peters
Troy Peters is an Assistant Professor in the Architecture Department at California Polytechnic State University. He has a Masters of Architecture from the University of Oregon. Before teaching at Cal Poly, Troy taught Environmental Controls at Ball State University. Professionally Troy is NCARB-certified, LEED-accredited and a registered architect in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin. He is the founder of ArchiPhysics, a website for distributing software and other tools for building simulation and investigation. The author of several software programs for passive solar calculations and daylighting, his academic research and software designs have focused on various aspects of thermal transfer and passive solar design. Currently Troy is working on SolarShoeBox, a simple design tool built on EnergyPlus.
Elena Primikiri
Elena Primikiri is a lecturer at the University of Patras since 2003, in Greece. She is also working as an energy consultant at Piraeus Bank Group in Greece since 2006. She got her diploma of Architect Engineer from the department of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1998. She received her Master in Design Studies from the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University in 1999. She also obtained a Master of Science in 2001 and a Phd in 2004 from the College of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of Michigan, with a specialization area environmental technology. She has many publications in the subject area of environmental design. She worked as an architect at the Architectural office of Zoidis and partners. She was also a research consultant at the Center for Design Informatics of Graduate School of Design at Harvard University during as well as the University of Michigan.
George Psaledakis
After a career in construction, which culminated in a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Boston Architectural Center, George Psaledakis has been practicing architecture and construction for over 30 years. Currently a practicing California Architect, George performed as a Project Engineer for Turner Construction on transportation facilities and historic renovation to a science building on UC Berkeley Campus then moved to NBBJ as a Project Manager for on-site Construction Administration on multiple biotechnology laboratory facilities within Northern California. Recent projects have included multi-family housing and public school structures. During those tenures spanning over 14 years, he has developed a focus on construction administration. George believes that the key to any successful project is clear, concise and expedient communication. We all have a common goal once a construction project starts; get it built as quickly and efficiently as possible with the least amount of difficulties so we can move on to the next project.
Tristan Roberts
Tristan Roberts is Managing Editor at BuildingGreen, Inc., publishers of Environmental Building News (EBN) and the GreenSpec product directory. At EBN, the leading source for green building news and information, Roberts has applied his experience in residential construction and renovations while exploring key topics in green building such as historic preservation, green product selection, designing buildings for hygiene, nanotechnology in building materials, and third-party green product certifications. Roberts has recently spoken at Yale University, the Southface Energy Institute, the State University of New York, and the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont, and his writing has appeared in Landscape Architecture, Energy Design Update, and GreenSource magazines. Roberts holds a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Design from the Boston Architectural College and is a LEED Accredited Professional.
Suzanne Sowinski
Suzanne Sowinski is the director of sustainable strategies for Sowinski Sullivan Architects. Named by NJ Biz as one of New Jersey’s “Top 50 Women in Business” this year, her designs have been recognized in various national and international publications, including, The NY Times, Landscape Architecture, and Architectural Record. Currently, Ms. Sowinski has the following notable projects underway through her firm. A zero energy footprint rail station in the Meadowlands; research on sustainable strategies for the Harmon Shop Facilities, which include a $300 million LEED Silver building within a larger, multi billion dollar complex, a green parking garage study and LEED strategies for stations for the MTA/Metro North Railroad; Currently there are over $800 million worth of buildings that are being designed to meet LEED certification or better status under her responsibility within the firm. Additionally, she recently received a grant from the BAC to write a new class on the history of sustainable building. Certifications and Accreditations: USGBC – LEED AP, US Department of Energy’s Energy Code 2007 Certification of Compliance, Licensed Architect – NJ, NY, CT, VA, ME, VT, PA and NCARB Accredited Professional.
Richard Sullivan
Richard Sullivan has over 20 years of technical and design experience has been built on designing and building architecture in the public realm. He has designed and/or managed the design for over 4 miles of New York City’s new waterfront parks from Roosevelt Island to Brooklyn, Long Island City and Manhattan. He has designed improvements to over seven dozen rail properties over the past two decades, most recently for the new $65 million Yankee Stadium Station in the Bronx. Long a proponent of green building and the effective reuse of urban infrastructure, he has also received local and regional awards for his historic preservation and building rehabilitation projects. With his wife Suzanne Sowinski and their firm of 25 people, he provides creative architectural services to a broad spectrum of public clients throughout the northeast as well as private entities such as the Four Seasons and Intercontinental Hotel companies. Certifications and Accreditations: USGBC – LEED AP, Registered Architect – NJ, NY, CT, FL, MT, ME, DC, NCARB Accredited Professional.
Amelia Thrall
Amelia Thrall works towards closing the gap between architecture and building science as both an educator and a designer. She has helped facilitate workshops on building performance measurement and green thinking in Seoul, Chicago, Denver and Bainbridge Island, Washington. As president of the University of Oregon's student chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, she organized activities exploring the role of integrated design in fosteriing green innovation. A member of the BSA Architects/Engineers Network, Amelia has contributed to the design and construction of diverse projects, including a research laboratory. Recently, she designed and built an anidolic light shelf as an object of furniture. Before entering the field of architecture, Amelia worked on the production of edcuational television for children. Amelia has a Masters of Architecture from the University of Oregon.
Stephen Tucker
Stephen Tucker is a registered architect in Boston. Throughout his career he has designed, specified, and managed the construction of buildings large and small. After graduation from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1970, Steve worked for several prominent Boston design firms and in 1975 won the first EOCD design competition in Massachusetts for housing for the elderly which was sponsored by the Boston Housing Authority. Several of his early private residential projects won design awards and have been published. In the late 1970’s, following his natural inclination to technical matters, he began a decade-long independent practice as a construction specifier. In the early 1980’s he joined with two friends to form Dean Tucker Shaw, Inc. which grew to a fifty-person architectural firm specializing in buildings for medicine and biotechnology as well as providing design services in the areas of corporate interiors and building preservation. He served as the firm’s Technical Principal. Since the mid-90’s he has devoted his energies to working with younger designers to improve their level of technical expertise and as a reviewer of building detailing within an overall quality assurance program under his direction. Most recently this has involved him in designing building envelopes incorporating high-performance air barriers and new approaches to exterior wall and window construction and sealing.
Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster’s focus has long been on the translation of complex ideas into understandable forms. His career in visual communication began in documentary film, producing, writing and editing. When the technology subjects he focused on grew stale, he moved to the more complex world of commercial production, managing dynamic projects with large teams and even larger budgets. He began teaching at that time, writing and instructing on-line classes in digital production.
He moved with his family to Western Mass to begin work in architecture, based on the conviction that “green design” would provide the only rational way forward into an uncertain energy future. He has studied energy efficient and passive solar design, renewable energy systems, and building science fundamentals, with an eye on “deep energy retrofits”. He is currently a project manager at Coldham&Hartman Architects, working on residential renovations and small-scale commercial projects.
Alex Wilson
Alex Wilson is president of BuildingGreen, LLC, the Brattleboro, Vermont-based publisher of Environmental Building News (EBN), GreenSpec Directory, and BuildingGreen Suite, an integrated online resource on green building. Alex has been the executive editor of EBN since the newsletter’s founding in 1992, and he is co-editor of GreenSpec, which is available in print and as part of the BuildingGreen Suite. He wrote Your Green Home (New Society Publishers, 2006) and is coauthor with Rocky Mountain Institute staff of Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate (John Wiley & Sons, 1998), and coauthor of ACEEE’s Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings (9th edition, 2007). He has also written hundreds of articles on energy conservation, building technology, and the environment for such magazines as Fine Homebuilding, Architectural Record, Landscape Architecture, The Journal of Light Construction, The Construction Specifier, and Popular Science. He served on the board of the U.S. Green Building Council from 2000 through 2005, and currently serves as a trustee of The Nature Conservancy – Vermont Chapter. When he’s not researching and writing about green building topics, he might be found exploring New England’s lakes and ponds—he has written a series of four books on quiet-water paddling for the Appalachian Mountain Club. Alex lives with his wife and two daughters in Dummerston, Vermont, just outside Brattleboro.
