American Society of Landscape Architects USGBC National Task Force on Social Equity LEED Accredited Professional

LUCIA ATHENS, ASLA, LEED AP CITY OF SEATTLE, GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM MANAGER Recognized in 2004 by the Sustainable Industries Journal as one of the 25 most influential people in Green Building in the Northwest, Lucia Athens is a licensed Landscape Architect with over fifteen years of involvement in the sustainable design field. During that time, she helped the cities of Austin and Seattle develop their own unique sustainable building programs. Lucia currently manages City Green Building, located at the City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development. Under her leadership, the City developed the nation’s first green building policy adopting LEED, which guides the city’s major capital improvement projects. Currently, these include 38 projects targeted at Silver LEED, 10 of which are already certified. Previously Lucia was Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Georgia. She has worked on sustainable design projects with various NGO’s, including the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, Rocky Mountain Institute, and US Global Green. Ms. Athens holds an undergraduate Landscape Architecture degree from Texas A&M University and a graduate Architecture degree from the University of Texas at Austin. During the development of LEED Version 2 (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design sustainable design rating tool), Lucia chaired the Technical Committee on Site and Water Issues. She previously served on the US Green Building Council (USGBC) Board of Directors.

I have provided green building leadership throughout my career. Important leadership roles include: In 2007, providing a vision and leading a team of talented individuals at City of Seattle to draft, adopt, and implement the first LEED based policy of its kind, guiding all of our major CIP. Many other jursidictions followed suit over time. Continuing my leadership role at the City of Seattle over the past 10 years, during which time the program and staffing has grown, green code development has been undertaken, and green building has become an expected part of the way that the City does business. Setting the bar higher for LEED with my Dec. 2007 article in the Green Building Journal critiquing LEED for not including social sustainability more consciously. This, in part, catalyzed a national task force I now serve on, and recommendations to the USGBC National Board, regarding new credit language for social sustainability issues. Leadership to both the University of Texas at Austin and University of Georgia, as both a student and a teacher, respetively, to elevate sustainability issues in the curriculum, to provide green building education, and to conduct research on green building.

My involvement with USGBC has been more at the national than the local level. I have served on the National Education Committee, chaired the LEED 2.0 Site Tag, and served on the national Board. I currently serve on a National Task force regarding LEED. Over 20 years ago, I was co-founder of the Green Building Coalition of Austin, a group similar to our NW Ecobuilding Guild. The group continues today. I have served in various elected and volunteer capacities to the American Society of Landscape Architects, as the Austin Chapter Chair, and more recently, participant in the initial visioning workshop for the Sustainable Site tool initiative, in conjuntion with the National Wildflower Research Center.

The following are what I consider to be my unique qualifications: My breadth and depth of background in green building, in both the public and private sectors My ability to inspire and build teams My ability to listen and hear many sides of a problem, to come to the best solution My respect for others in the field My experience with policy development, standards, tools, and ethical issues

I am interested in serving on the Cascadia region Board in order to: Make a better connection with my local building community Ensure that best practices are being shared across the region Utilize the perspective of government in helping to strengthen the industry Become a part of the inspiring vision set forth by Cascadia's CEO Utilize my 20 years of experience in the green building field to advance adoption of sustainable strategies, implement cost effective solutions, and decrease the climate footprint of development