The Cascadia Region Green Building Council is one of three original chapters of the U.S. Green Building Council. Incorporated in Oregon in December 1999, the chapter covers Oregon, Washington,  and British Columbia, but also includes members from as far away as Idaho and Montana. Cascadia continues to serve its members by helping the U.S. Green Building Council meet its goals in the Pacific Northwest. We strive to become the first and last word on green building by forging alliances with organizations that have a stake in the future of this region.

The chapter is named for the Cascadia bioregion, which covers land that drains to the Pacific Ocean through the greatest temperate rain forests on the planet. Members of the Cascadia council are leading the way in creating a roadmap for sustainable building, one that the rest of the nation can use as well. Two key developments have already occurred:

• The city of Seattle adopted a sustainable building policy and became the first city in the nation to adopt LEED™, the U.S. Green Building Council's green building rating system, as the municipal design standard and performance measurement tool.
• The city of Portland also adopted a green building policy and funded a Green Building Initiative, which is designed to expand market demand and provide technical services and resources for the building industry.

Respecting the work that has already been done in the Northwest, Cascadia's Board of Directors set these goals for 2006/2007:

• Nurture strategic partnerships
• Provide engaging educational opportunities and programs
• Provide a systems context for green buildings within sustainable communities

CASCADIA CHAPTER BRANCHES
To overcome potential challenges associated with serving such a broad region, Cascadia Chapter Branches have been established to provide networking and continuing education opportunities for members and industry professionals in their immediate marketplace. Regularly scheduled meetings within each Branch will provide access to green building research and emerging issues that are pertinent to our region and locale. Currently, Branches are active in Portland, Eugene, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma/Olympia , Thompson Okanagan, Victoria, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

MEET THE CASCADIA STAFF

Brandon Smith, LEED AP,  COO, Portland OR
After joining the organization in February of 2004, Brandon helped organize the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo and build Cascadia’s organizational capacity. He is currently responsible for managing the organization’s programming, fundraising and strategic partnerships and is leading Cascadia’s Financial Sector and “Gap Analysis” initiatives. Prior to joining Cascadia, Brandon worked as an Export Consultant on projects in Spain and China.  He graduated from the University of Florida with a Master’s Degree in International Business.

Gina Franzosa, LEED AP, OR Director, Portland OR
Gina joined Cascadia in December of 2005 and is working to expand Cascadia’s presence around the state of Oregon. She came from Otak, Inc, a multi-disciplinary firm of architects, engineers, planners, and surveyors where she was a water resources engineer and founding member of Otak’s Sustainability Committee. Her work included stormwater management, water quality treatment, fish passage design, and low-impact methods in Oregon and Washington. Gina strived to bring concepts of sustainability and ecological engineering to all her work, which led such innovative projects as a proposal utilizing constructed wetlands to treat wastewater from a campground in a remote Oregon forest. She also is an active member of the Oregon Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Gina graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering.

Marni Kahn, LEED AP, LEED Canada AP, WA Director, Seattle WA
In conjunction with Cascadia’s partners, Marni specializes in providing sustainable design and construction educational training curriculum to design and construction professionals, public agencies, community organizations and the general public.  Marni is a firm believer that people, not technology, make great places.  She brings over five years of experience in architecture, project management, and green building consulting on a diverse range of green building projects.  Her past experience includes managing Paladino & Company’s technical consulting team to the U.S. Green Building Council and the Canada Green Building Council.  Marni conducted LEED Application reviews on over 20 LEED projects and has project consulting experience on six LEED rated projects and 16 registered projects.

Jessica Woolliams LEED AP, BC Director, Vancouver, BC
Jessica Woolliams has been working to mainstream sustainable buildings through advancing critical policy, programs and training for almost a decade. Jessica comes to Cascadia from Light House Sustainable Building Centre, where she was the Director of Programs, and where she still retains a role as a Director and is on the Board. This work included helping to develop, implement and manage a green building resource centre on Granville Island, open to the public and industry, which involved understanding the Green Building market inventory, the creation of case studies, the development of a technical curriculum, and a wide variety of education and outreach to the public and building industry. Jessica brings extensive green building consulting experience in both the public and non-profit realms. In her previous role as Sustainable Building Advisor with the GVRD Sustainable Building Program she provided technical assistance to the Greater Vancouver building industry on environmentally responsible practices.  

Meagan Myers, Executive Assistant to the CEO, Seattle WA
Meagan has been busy working for Cascadia since December 2006.  Before Cascadia she worked for the Washington State House of Representatives and most recently for the Maryhill Museum of Art.  Her past experience involves public policy research and writing, as well as over five years in the administrative field.  Meagan graduated from Eastern Washington University with a B.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in History and obtained a Professional Certificate in Legal Studies from the University of Washington.

Angie Morgan, WA Assistant Director, Seattle WA
Angie comes to Cascadia from the field of cancer prevention research.  Her area of expertise was exercise promotion as a means to prevent cancer.  She will transfer this expertise to the area of green building as a means to further prevent degradation of the Cascadia Bioregion.  She commutes to work on her bicycle and when she has to drive, she burns B100 biodiesel in her Golf TDI.  Angie is very passionate about the environment and sustainable living.

Bob Potter, LEED AP, Administrative Assistant, Portland OR

Bob joined Cascadia in January 2007.  Originally from the East Coast, Bob graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004 with a B.A. in Philosophy and Environmental Studies, and relocated to Portland shortly thereafter.  A few stints in AmeriCorps brought Bob to The Rebuilding Center, a non-profit community reuse center where he was involved in project management and volunteer coordination.  Bob is excited to join Cascadia and is looking forward to working with great people for a great cause.

MEET THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Paul Anseeuw
Stantec
Seattle, Washington

Paul Anseeuw has over 23 years experience in the consulting and construction industry. Paul joined Keen Engineering Co. Ltd. in 1986 as part of the senior management team at the Victoria regional office and has been Vice-President for the past 10 years. He is currently VP and international manager for Keen in Seattle. Paul's diverse experience in mechanical design includes commercial, residential, health care, and educational markets. His extensive international project portfolio enabled him to establish Keen's International Group in 2000. This group is currently headquartered in Seattle, Washington with projects throughout the US and Asia.

Johanna Brickman
Associate Partner, Director of Sustainability, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership
Portland, Oregon

Johanna Brickman is responsible for the development and implementation of ZGF's firmwide sustainable design team effort. Since joining ZGF in 2000, Johanna's role has been researching and facilitating the design of efficient and healthy buildings through the innovative use of materials, technology, and design techniques. She is an in-house sustainable design resource to project teams in all ZGF offices, leading EcoCharrettes, coordinating LEED documentation efforts, and leading in-house sustainable design project reviews. She facilitates an ongoing inter-office dialogue about innovative responses to the challenges of building sustainably. Johanna's project work has included institutional, civic, commercial office, health care, laboratory, transit, and large scale residential projects. She has co-authored research papers including a study of Daylighting for Patient Rooms in Northwest Hospitals, funded by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. She was instrumental in the founding of the Sustainable Products Purchasers Coalition, on whose board she also serves.

Clark Brockman, Secretary
Associate and Studio Leader, SERA Architects
Portland, Oregon

Clark has over 18 years of architectural experience that spans across an array of project sizes & types, including complex renovations, schools, affordable housing, churches, aquatic centers and LEED buildings. Technically oriented and an excellent communicator, he particularly enjoys facilitating and participating in group processes whether they are related to projects or policy. He is involved with many of SERA's LEED projects as an in-house coordinator and he works within (and outside of) SERA's office to promote sustainability, believing the Cascadia region must continue to provide leadership in this area. He speaks regularly at Natural Step workshops on "Sustainability within the workplace", summarizing SERA's processes and continued progress in this area. Clark is currently a member of the Oregon Natural Step's Advisory Board and is also a Steering Committee member of the Portland Chapter AIA's Committee on the Environment (COTE). He has a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Colorado, and is a registered Architect in the states of Colorado and Washington.

Rod Butler
President, Zeck Butler Architects, P.S.
Spokane, Washington

Rod is an architect and has been President of Zeck Butler Architects, P.S. for 21 years.  Rod is a graduate of the University of Idaho with 28 years of experience in multi-family housing, military, governmental, and commercial design.  Rod is a LEEDTM Accredited Professional and has led his firm's effort towards sustainable design and conducts programming and eco-charrettes for clients and presents educational programs in Spokane about green building and LEEDTM.  Rod has served as Chair of the Inland Chapter of Cascadia GBC, the Resource Efficient Building and Remodeling Council, the Spokane Housing Authority and the Spokane Regional Plan Center, and serves on the High Performance Building Advisory Committee for the State of Washington.  His firm was awarded a "Friend of Housing" award in 2005 by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission for over 20 years of dedication to excellence in the design of affordable housing.

Teresa Coady
Partner, Bunting Coady Architects
Vancouver, British Columbia

Managing and founding Partner of Bunting Coady Architects, Teresa Coady is a past Vice-President of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and is associated with many professional affiliations including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and American Institute of Architects. As an innovator in sustainable and energy efficient design, Teresa ensures responsible environmental design for all of the firm's projects. She acted as an advisor to the British Columbia Energy Code and the National Energy Code, as a lead facilitator for the BC Hydro, Design Smart Energy Efficiency Program and the BC Buildings Corporation Green Initiative. Teresa has also shown exceptional vision and leadership. Her work has been recognized by local and national awards. Teresa was honored in 1999 as the YWCA Woman of Distinction -- Entrepreneur and innovator of the Year. She was recently named to SB05 (Sustainable Buildings 05) 'Team Canada,' a select group of individuals charged with showcasing Canadian industry achievements at the Green Building Challenge in Tokyo, and to promote the "Greening" of the construction industry in Canada.

Ralph DiNola
Senior Design Consultant, PGE Green Building Services
Portland, Oregon

Ralph Dinola serves as a green building consultant and project manager on numerous LEED™ registered projects. He has extensive experience with the LEED documentation process and the costs associated with green building. He also assists in conceptual design for green building strategies, green product specifications, and project feasibility studies, as well as plan and specification analysis for projects seeking LEED certification. Ralph specializes in green building workshops, the facilitation of eco-charrettes, as well as delivering the LEED Advanced Training Workshop as a LEED Advanced Faculty member. Ralph has over 10 years of experience as a designer and historic preservation specialist. He was project manager for LEED documentation for the Ecotrust Natural Capital Center, the first LEED Gold certified historic renovation in the U.S. He was also instrumental in developing LEED documentation for Viridian Place, the first LEED certified building in the Pacific NW. While working as a historic preservation specialist with the National Park Service (NPS), Ralph helped to preserve and restore more than 50 architecturally significant structures. While at Roger Williams University, Ralph was also honored with the Historic Preservation Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

Peter Dobrovolny
Sustainability Building Coordinator, City of Seattle
Seattle, Washington

Peter Dobrovolny is the Sustainable Building Coordinator at Seattle City Light.   Peter’s role is to work with the staff of the Energy Management Services Department of City Light and with other City departments to fulfill the mission of the City’s Sustainable Building Policy and other City of Seattle initiatives to accelerate green building in the private sector of Seattle.  Among many other projects, Peter administers the City of Seattle’s LEED™ Incentive and Built Green™ Incentive Programs whichprovide up-front, soft-cost assistance to projects whose design and development teams commit to having their project comply with LEED™ or BuiltGreen™ registration and certification. Prior to his City of Seattle employment, Peter attended the University of Washington, receiving a Masters of Urban Planning degree.  Peter has over twenty years experience as a solar architect, practicing in Basalt, Colorado.  He is the recipient of a number of local and national awards for energy efficient design projects.  Peter has participated in the American Solar Energy Society, as well as in numerous local community planning and energy issues. In addition to a Master of Urban Planning, Peter holds a Bachelor of Architecture and is a member of the American Planning Association.  He is a registered architect in Colorado.

Rob Fallow
Project Manager, Fortis Construction
Portland, Oregon

Rob Fallow is a LEED-accredited building professional who has worked in construction for 12 years. Currently a Project Manager for Fortis Construction, Inc., Rob has managed construction projects that range from small office tenant improvements to a multimillion-dollar college campus project, the Lewis & Clark Residence Halls project, which is expected to achieve LEED Silver Certification. Rob has spoken about green construction and LEED projects on many occasions, including to the ASPE (American Society of Professional Estimators), at the ASC College Conference, at the City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development ReThink series, and at the OHSU LEED Conference. Rob holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Santa Clara University.

Mark Frankel
Technical Director, New Buildings Institute
White Salmon, Washington

Mark Frankel has been consulting on sustainable design and energy efficiency for 15 years, encompassing a broad range of technical topics, including building and site design, energy use, occupant health, daylighting, high performance mechanical systems, stormwater management, efficient irrigation strategies, and others. This work has included extensive evaluation of comparative life cycle costs for a range of public and private development models. Mark has consulted on hundreds of capital projects, ranging in scale from single and multi-family residential projects to large commercial office buildings all over the country. Prior to joining NBI, Mark worked as a Senior Consultant on sustainable design at Paladino and Co. in Seattle, and as a Consultant on energy efficiency at Ecotope Inc, in Seattle. At NBI, Mark is responsible for the development of technical publications, training material, and program development to support the incorporation of energy efficiency strategies in new commercial construction. NBI works with utilities, government agencies, and other organizations all over the country to research and promote energy efficiency strategies in buildings.

Debra Guenther, Chair
Principal, MITHUN
Seattle, Washington

Deb Guenther is a landscape architect and senior associate with Mithun. She brings an interest in creating sustainable and visually engaging places to her projects.  These have included Nordheim Court, LEED™ certified student housing for the University of Washington; Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyoming; South Lake Union Sustainable Resource Guide for the Urban Environmental Institute; System-Wide Urban Design and Landscape Study and West Seattle station designs for the Seattle Monorail Project; and the parks and infrastructure strategies for Seattle's IMPLEMENT, a sustainable program tool.  Prior to joining Mithun, Deb worked with HOK/DC on the headquarters for the National Wildlife Federation (a 2001 AIA COTE Top Ten Green award winner), the Nature Conservancy (one of the original LEED™ pilot projects) and the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that achieved the GSA sustainable benchmarks.

Randell Leach, Treasurer
Vice President, Shorebank Pacific
Portland, Oregon

Randell Leach is the Director of Business Banking at ShoreBank Pacific, the nation's leading environmental and community development bank. He heads the bank's efforts to invest in people, businesses, and real estate in the Pacific Northwest to create strong companies, vibrant communities, and a healthy environment. To effect the bank's strategy, Randell seeks to invest its resources where he can
1) help raise awareness of social and environmental responsibility, and
2) help people and businesses actively engage in sustainable practices.
Randell has created the bank's lending practice for the sustainable use of real estate, and works with other members of the financial community (from other bankers to investors to appraisers) to further embrace environmental opportunities within their economic models. He has 12 years financial expertise and was the founder of a financial software company. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Portland-based non-profit, Friends of Trees, whose mission is to inspire community stewardship of our urban forest by bringing people in the Portland-Vancouver area together to plant, care for, and learn about city trees. Randell has a business degree from the University of San Diego.

Brenda Martens
Recollective
Vancouver, British Columbia

Brenda is a LEED Accredited Professional who has worked in the building industry for 15 years. She is responsible for developing CEI's Green Building Practices program, and actively involved in a number of non profit or volunteer organizations, including the Canada Green Building Council's Technical Advisory Group (TAG), the Vancouver Branch Advocacy and Education Committee, the Development Issues Committee of NAIOP, and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources (MEMPR) Integrated Strategy Steering Committee, among others. Her most important role in all of these activities is raising awareness of sustainable building practices and building capacity within the industry.

Dale Mikkelsen
Simon Fraser University
Vancouver, British Columbia

Dale Mikkelsen is the Manager of Planning and Sustainability for the UniverCity Project at Simon Fraser University –  a community being developed around “Four Cornerstones of Sustainability”, including Environment, Equity, Education, and Economy.  Dale was formerly the lead project planner for the 2010 Athlete’s Village for the City of Vancouver, and acted as the City’s Green Building Planner.  Dale has a graduate degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of British Columbia.  He is a board member for the Cascadia Chapter of the Canadian and US Green Building Council, and sits on the British Columbia Green Building Round Table.  Dale is a father of 2 wonderful little kids, and tries to live an active and sustainable lifestyle as a model for his children.

Freda Pagani,
Director of sustainability, University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia

Freda Pagani is the Director of Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. She is responsible for assisting the university community in implementing a Sustainable Development Policy which calls for the university to demonstrate the means to a sustainable community on the campus. In her previous role as Associate Director, Campus Planning and Development, she was responsible for more than half a billion dollars worth of new projects. During that time she initiated the concept of the C. K. Choi Building for the Institute of Asian Research as a demonstration green building. This building has received numerous awards and is visited regularly by delegations from around the world. Freda is a registered architect and has recently completed a Ph. D. at the University of British Columbia. Her research topic was using creativity in the project design process for more sustainable buildings. She believes that sustainability is a value and that each of us must take responsibility for contributing to the goal of creating equitable, cohesive and just communities while minimizing our impact on the natural environment.

Kathy Wardle, Vice Chair
Associate & Director of Research, Busby Perkins+Will, MES, BA, LEED® AP
Vancouver, British Columbia

As Associate and Director of Research of Busby Perkins+Will, Kathy directs the firm's national Sustainable Design Initiative. Through her 4 years at Busby Perkins+Will she has amassed considerable experience with the LEED rating system, high performance green buildings and the Integrated Design Process, managing certification for a number of the firm's buildings including the successful LEED Gold White Rock Operations Center, and overseeing product research and feasibility studies for the firm. She has a strong commitment to sustainable design and construction and has a detailed knowledge on sustainable product procurement. Kathy is active in the local green building community and often disburses her green knowledge through courses and lectures to diverse groups and through her involvement on project integrated design teams.

Dennis J. Wilde
Senior Project Manager, Gerding / Edlen Development
Portland, Oregon

Dennis has been active in construction and real estate development since 1980. Before joining GED as a senior project manager, Dennis was the vice president of a large regional construction company. He has guided GED's efforts introducing environmentally responsible efforts in all of their projects over the last 8 years. The firm has succeeded in demonstrating that building and managing projects with an environmental ethic is good business. In addition to his construction background, Dennis has more than twenty years of experience in urban planning and design. His education includes master's degrees in both Architecture and City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. Dennis is also active as a board member of The Oregon Natural Step Network and Caldera. He and his wife Jean, live in Portland, they have two grown children, Kirsten and Patrick.