I have acquired many affiliations throughout my career, both professionally and personally. As founder and CEO of The Schuster Group, Inc, a local green real estate investment and development company, I have formed affiliations with Built Green™, the U.S. Green Building Council, the Master Builder’s Association, BOMA Seattle & King County, and the International Council of Shopping Centers, among many others. Personally, I am on the board of and affiliated with Mazon, an international hunger relief organization and the Anti-Defamation League, a leading civil rights organization. These are my most prominent affiliations. My philosophy behind professional and personal affiliations is that you don’t just join to join. I believe that every affiliation should be carefully considered to weigh the benefits of that affiliation and whether or not the organization I am affiliating with is aligned with me and my company’s principals and ethics.

As a fifth generation Washingtonian, I have always been an environmental advocate of our region. When I founded The Schuster Group in 1989 I began to incorporate my green principals into my office and the properties that we managed. Every time a new acquisition was made and the building underwent a remodel we would consider as a company how we could make the property more environmentally friendly. Many of the green changes that were made back then are minor in comparison to the green movement that has now begun in the development industry, but they were the beginning of my company’s involvement in sustainable building practices. We became involved in the Built Green™ program and in the USGBC’s LEED® certification process in 2005 and most recently we became the first company to develop a Silver LEED® certified and Built Green™ (pending) high-rise condominium project in Seattle, Mosler Lofts.

My company became the first to develop a Built Green™ and Silver LEED® certified (pending) high-rise condominium project in Seattle. This was a major milestone for Seattle and has led to several additional green condominium projects in the area. As part of the Mosler Lofts project we spent an extensive amount of time, energy, and resources to educate our buyers, sales and marketing staff, and contractors on the practices and importance of green building. In fact, we held a buyer event soon after the release of An Inconvenient Truth in which we showed the movie to our buyers and discussed the green aspects of our project and why it was so important to be building green during our current climate crisis. We followed up that event by sending out a copy of the film and a note encouraging each of our buyers and strategic partners to watch the video and then share it with their friends. Public awareness has always been a priority for my company. Mosler Lofts proved to be a catalyst for creating that public awareness. It gave us the opportunity to teach the public about what we were doing and why it was important. We were able to educate buyers on why it is so critical for them to buy green in an effort to encourage the development industry to develop green. We have now set the standard in our company that all of the properties we develop should include green building techniques. Our office headquarters in lower Queen Anne is applying for dual Existing Building and Commercial Interior LEED® certification (Gold and Silver respectively). In addition, we have recently finished a green standard retail center in Normandy Park. We are also in the process of planning a future Gold LEED® and Built Green™ certified project on Whidbey Island. In addition to our development projects our portfolio adheres to the highest standards of green maintenance and operation practices. On a personal level, I set an example by driving a hybrid vehicle to work every day. I have also made it a priority amongst my company that each of our strategic partners and vendors share our vision of environmentally friendly practices. By setting the standard with everyone we work with we increase our influence and strengthen our network of environmentally friendly companies. This is my contribution to green building. I strive to lead by example in my personal and professional life and create awareness for the cause.

All of my previous experience has been with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Built Green™ Program. I have unfortunately not had the pleasure of working closely with the local USGBC chapter of Cascadia. My company is heavily involved with the USGBC through the LEED® program. Many of our properties are seeking LEED® certification and several of my employees have become LEED® Accredited Professionals. We very much support the mission of the USGBC and the practices of LEED®. Built Green™ is a local green building certification that can be earned in the Pacific Northwest and my company has developed several projects that are applying for this green building honor. I was recently offered the privilege of speaking at the Built Green Conference in Seattle and will be speaking on the new generation of multi-family green building.

I would bring a unique blend of Board experience, active green building experience, and a CEO skill set that has led to a successful multi-million dollar company. I not only believe in the mission of the USGBC and their local chapters, but I am actively involved in the programs offered by this organization. I have a broad knowledge of our local industry and its local developers, and keen sense of what this area wants from green builders. My involvement would bring in a network of new individuals and company’s with like-minded principles and goals.

I have walked the walk of green building, but I would now like to be more involved in talking the talk. I am passionate about the core values and principles that Cascadia holds and feel that I would bring a sense of renewed energy and fresh ideas to the group that could help Cascadia expand its current reaches and impact.