The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

Lois Vitt Sale, a practicing architect for more than 25 years, has a career that goes well beyond the domain of project design. She has been a national leader in the application of green technologies and sustainable planning to the public and private sectors. She is a public policy advisor to elected officials and has participated in the development of policies to lessen the negative impacts of the built environment on the health of people and on our natural resources. Her specialty is found in the intersection between applied technology and the development of policy provisions for City, State, and Federal entities. Internationally, Lois is a Sustainable Designer for Kuwait Gulf Oil Corporation in Kuwait. In addition, Lois applies these technologies and practices to leading edge sustainable designs and consulting to design teams and clients to maximize the environmental potential for projects. Besides her work as a practicing architect, Lois is an adjunct faculty at Northwestern University where she teaches sustainable construction, LEED Fellow, and LEED Faculty with the U.S. Green Building Council. Lois’ career has been both driven and distinguished by environmentally sound building practices. Her portfolio consists of more than 70 LEED projects including prominent projects such as the LEED Platinum Hidden Oaks Nature Center and the Bachelor Enlisted Quarters at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center – one of the first LEED certified buildings in the country. Show Highlights From Renaissance woman to LEED Fellow, Lois shares key tips and advice for green projects.  Questions to consider to gear up for green building and deliver true sustainable building attributes. Find “fertile soil” professionally and personally. The hallmark of Wight & Company, a regional powerhouse. Positive partnerships between the design team, the construction team, and the real estate team. Evolution of energy efficiency goals for LEED projects. Necessary feedback loop to see a building through to occupancy. Everything the industry needs to do for the next ten years. The first project in the state of Illinois, that is verified as a net zero building.    “We set practice paradigms. We provide education, always looking at the horizon saying, ‘Is our practice on point? Are we focused in the right direction?’ Every day of my career is a new day. What we do is evolve, learn, and grow. I am proud of the fact that I have a sense of creativity and curiosity that has been able to find "fertile soil" [in green buildings].” -Lois Vitt Sale     Lois Vitt Sale’s Show Resource and Information   Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES

Show Highlights Our host, Charlie Cichetti, reflects on the GBM Podcast history Transitions in LEED and WELL from 2018-2021 for Green and healthy buildings. Green Building Education Services (GBES.com) for career access and improvement. Existing Buildings and “Is this a green portfolio or not?” Why are we in a recession resistant industry? List of career advice and pro tips notes from 4 years of podcasts.  Listener Connection Podcast Challenge, favor request, and appreciation. “We can all agree that sustainability is here to stay. The green building programs we get to use are tools that help us all have the right conversation. Talk in the same language.”    - Charlie Cichetti       Charlie Cichetti’s Show Resource and Information   Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES

Patty Lloyd  is a driven and Goal Oriented person with a strong work ethic. Focused on healthy, high performing projects and pushing the construction industry forward. Patricia Lloyd is a project coordinator and sustainability advocate with more than 18 years of experience in the construction industry, along with 15+ years of experience coordinating sustainable projects. As a construction professional fluent in sustainability, she provides direction to owners, colleagues, and subcontractors in planning, coordinating, and executing LEED project criteria. She regularly creates LEED scorecards and sustainability plans for Leopardo’s projects seeking LEED certification and excels at exceeding sustainability goals set during the planning phase of a project. As co-chair of Leopardo’s Total Quality management Sustainability Committee, Patricia works to continually improve sustainability practices and education within the company and on their projects. She is active in the green building community locally, and nationally. She recently ended a 5 year term on the Board of Directors of Illinois Green Alliance, a U.S. Green Building Council Chapter in which she served as an officer in the following roles: Governance Chair, Secretary, Vice Chair, Board Chair, Ex-Officio Chair. She currently serves on the steering committee of Building Green's Sustainable Construction Leaders, is on the Illinois Green Alliance Standing Programs Committee, and is the Chicago Ambassador for the International Living Future Institute.   Show Highlights USGBC Technical Advisory Groups (TAG) are really influential within LEED to guide future iterations and exceptions of LEED.  The trifecta of renewable energies. ESG is a launch pad and a motivator for firms to engage in meaningful work.  Seeing the positive environmental impacts of green buildings. Good options on building healthy buildings you should read up on.  Finding the “sustainability sweet spot” for your company. ESG in AEC is taking the world by storm. Why do existing buildings have a huge piece to play in the future? “Don't be afraid to fail. There are so many doors that opened for me because I was willing to throw my hat in the ring, several of which I didn't even think I was remotely qualified for, but clearly at the end of the day, I was. Don't be afraid to fail, throw your hat in the ring, see what's out there.” -Patty Lloyd     Patty Lloyd’s Show Resource and Information   Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES

Sarah Gudeman  strives to learn and do more, to go above and beyond expectations, develop innovative project-specific solutions, and think outside the box. Her interest and passion for nature and the environment began in early childhood, providing a logical bridge to the specialties of sustainable design, energy efficiency, health and wellness. She is highly motivated to improve the indoor environments in which we work, learn, play and live - bringing the ideals of the green building movement into close correlation with practical, cost-effective solutions to achieve the highest levels of client, owner, and occupant satisfaction with specific focus on strategies to improve health and wellness for people. She enjoys engineering at its core: solving problems with creativity, calculations, research and imagination. These opportunities present themselves daily in both new and existing buildings. These are the same reasons I enjoy the work I do - no two buildings are alike. Each new project provides unique opportunities for all those involved from concept through design, construction and commissioning, indoor environmental performance testing, to ongoing measurement & verification. Each day brings a new challenge. Show Highlights Sarah discusses designing for both extremes in a 5a climate zone.  The urgency of designing buildings for scientists in the world. The push for Passive House projects. Wellness focused ratings, certifications, and performance programs.  Understand ongoing performance of buildings at different levels of air quality. lifecycle cost interest. energy and paybacks. Complication and areas of need with ongoing operations/facilities management. Future-proofing buildings and spaces beyond the physicality of them.  Climate scenarios and designing requires resiliency.    “Focusing on getting answers to questions or finding the people that have answers that you can learn from and getting those mentors in place is so important.  Find opportunities to never stop learning. If there's ever a day that I'm not learning something new, that would be a failure.” - Sarah Gudeman       Sarah Gudeman’s Show Resource and Information   Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES

Jessye Vitier has always been passionate about nature and the environment. Growing up in an urban farm really made her appreciate Earth and what it has to offer.  As a humanitarian, she truly wants to help save the planet that offers us so many things such as the food we eat, the air we breathe, and so much more. Educating people on sustainability, reducing carbon footprint, and conservation are her main interests. While working at Sustainable Investment Group (SIG) as a rising star, she has truly stirred up a passion for making buildings better for not only the environment but for the occupants in it as well.   Show Highlights Sustainable systems to create a symbiotic relationship with nature. Fitwel and healthy building projects, operations & maintenance, and amenities around some of Jessye’s projects.  Increasing SITES project opportunities. Great tips on how to stay motivated in college and as a young professional.   How to connect your passion to resources when getting started in green buildings.   Questions to consider when shaping your career path.  “It's really important to have the foundation of the passion of not giving up and going out and doing the work, finding people that are like-minded and finding internships or volunteering, literally anything you can get your hands on to really see if that is something that you truly desire and want to do.”  -Jessye Vitier     Jessye Vitier’s Show Resource and Information Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community!   If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES

Tim Montague is a solar PV and battery storage executive, podcast host, speaker, trainer and consultant. Renewable energy and green building leader with a passion for the energy transition. He helps developers and business owners build projects that return a handsome ROI. Rooftop, ground mount, carport, and utility-scale solar is coming to Illinois. Continental Energy Solution is the largest commercial & industrial solar installer & EPC in IL with over 100 projects and 60 MW installed. They are known for quality & innovation on every job since 1912. Portfolio includes: 3.5 MW Magid Glove in Romeoville IL & 2.9 MW IKEA Joliet IL. -Commercial-industrial and utility scale solar development/construction. -Energy and incentive modeling for system owners. -Podcast host: Solar Podcast | Clean Power Hour CESnrg.com/podcast. -Solar design, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC).   Show Highlights A massive growth and economic opportunity for solar. Understanding our very brittle economy and society. Think in terms of thousands of years. The built environment’s responsibility and contribution to the natural ecosystem. The turning point and crossroads to  lean into to make the transition to a sustainable future. The economics behind solar as the fastest growing source of new energy on the grid globally. The importance of having solar storage and microgrids. All things solar, benefits, organizations, and programs. The growing news around green hydrogen.  “We need to make the economy serve humanity as much as humanity serves the economy.”  -Tim Montague     Tim Montague’s Show Resource and Information   Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES

Blake Jackson is a licensed architect (RI) with over 18 years of industry experience in various roles, having obtained a B-Arch from Kennesaw State University (2005) and an M-Arch in Sustainable Environmental Design from the AA Graduate School in London (2008). He is an Associate and the US Northeast Sustainability Design Leader with Stantec, a global built environment practice, working out of Boston, MA. His focus is on the nexus between sustainability, well-being and resiliency, serving as a company-wide resource, particularly with projects seeking third-party certifications. He’s active within the northeast regional design community, including being a past board member of A Better City, as former co-chair of the BSA COTE, as a former BSA VP of Advocacy, and as an adjunct faculty at both the Boston Architectural College and Mount Ida College (now UMass Dartmouth). In 2015 He was honored as one of BD+C Magazine's "40 Under 40" Class. Show Highlights Leapfrog US sustainability academic options and experience.  Unique approach to becoming an architectural entrepreneur. Stantec - sustainable design leader. Create “Yes” opportunities to open doors.  Adaptive Reuse Projects break from traditional and typical. Components every architect student should be exposed to. Green bonds for LEED certification to push multi-family building.  The trends of operational carbon and embodied carbon and materials. The challenge for healthy buildings and the rating systems that support them.   Blake’s (suggested) PhD project to close loopholes that threaten green building.  “Saying 'yes' to opportunities opens up doors for things that you couldn't possibly anticipate. I think that habit of saying 'yes' to opportunities, whether I know why they presented themselves or not, has been a bit of a superpower.” -Blake Jackson     Blake Jackson’s Show Resource and Information   Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community!   If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES

Aaron Rask Codden is a highly motivated, sustainability-focused architect, interior designer, and associate instructor in Salt Lake City. In addition, he is also an experienced graphic designer and highly skilled in brand development + management and standard templates. Show Highlights Be an advocate for the client and a steward for the environment.  New architects will be champions for mental health and WELL. The 3 category rating systems impacting build in the Utah region.  Educational Tips for Gen Z and Millenials entering and maneuvering green buildings.  Cast a huge net and make informed  decisions when searching for a job or making a career change. Bring different ideas and concepts to certain building types. “I think we'll see more of a shift towards the WELL AP and maybe even some other movements. Ideas that relate more to impact on mental health and how we can really cater to that new generation and the individuals.” -Aaron Rask Codden Aaron Rask Codden’s Show Resource and Information     Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community!   If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES

Grant Peters certainly fits the bill. The Partner and Manager of Green Building Services at Fluent Group Consulting Engineers has provided valuable technical guidance serving for a decade on the CaGBC Sites and Water Technical Advisory Group (TAG) including a four-year term as Chair of the TAG and representing the TAG on the LEED Canada Steering Committee. Grant was also among a group of 25 individuals from around the world to be named a LEED Fellow – and the only Canadian on this year’s list. LEED Fellows are nominated by their peers and must have made at least 10 years’ worth of exceptional impact on LEED and hold an active LEED AP with specialty credentials, among other requirements. Show Highlights The importance of how to balance 3 different new construction rating systems for the client and project.  Moves Canada made to fit their market, climate and energy needs to create relevant energy standards and construction practices. Fluent stays at the leading edge of the green building curve.  Canada’s push with energy, carbon performance and healthy building  on municipal facilities and other builds to meet the time. Developing projects with purpose and not just point chasing. Drive the sustainable needle forward with policies in your local area.   Get involved with your community as a “municipal decision maker” to drive the sustainability world.  Create a mutual respect with design engineers and the architects. The need to prioritize the envelope. “Being focused more on the energy side, we're going to have to strike that balance between providing an abundance of fresh air and really heavy filtration that increases fan power and all these things that could have harmed the energy performance in the interest of health. Some of the green building aspects become a bit so conflicting in that way.”  -Grant Peters Grant Peters’ Show Resource and Information Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the ! Copyright © 2021 GBES

Stephen Brown is at IWBI and supports the WELL building standard.  He has an opportunity to share unique strategies to improve health and wellbeing at scale. WELL helps provide 100% participation in a passive delivery system of preventative health & wellbeing intentions through real estate. In his free time he enjoys hiking with my family, watching my daughter perform on stage and traveling internationally. He is always seeking ways to incorporate wellness into his daily life while connecting like-minded people and ideas through LinkedIn. Show Highlights Why the WELL Portfolio Program is a perfect fit for everything? Tying what happened in the marketplace with the world of WELL. ESG requirements that will spread globally. Resources to convince your clients and stakeholders this is the right path. Snapshot of the ecosystem of the reporting world. COVID’s impact to the WELL growth spike and future of green building.  10 new concepts to prepare for the switch to version 2. The top two ESG strategies right now. Complimenting and not competing with other green certifications to minimize workload.  Policies and protocols to use as stepping stones for long, short term or A LA Carte portions of the WELL portfolio.   Understanding how to bridge  LEED to WELL.   “In today's world, investing in the health of your people has never been more critical. The pandemic accelerated the world's understanding of what we always knew to be true, that it's not just an imperative for organizations to prioritize health, but it's a risk not to do something.”    Show Resource and Information Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES