The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

David Rodriguez, LEED AP BD+C has a philosophy that provides, in principle, buildable, practical projects with a sense of aesthetics and belonging. David grew up in Panama spending a lot of summers in Europe. He received his Bachelor's degree in Architecture and his Master's degree from the University of Notre Dame. He returned to Panama and eventually started Rodriguez and Toledo Architecture and Design in 2007. "Sustainable architecture focuses on the commitment to minimize the environmental impact of the projects we design and develop on the environment for present and future generations. This commitment is applied at the urban level following the principles of design and development of communities according to the Charter of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) and architectural level respect the success of the traditional architecture of each region and implement practices and materials that reduce the impact environmental project according to the parameters established by the LEED certification of the USGBC." - David Rodriguez Sustainability Minded David was not really aware of sustainability when he was growing up. While he studied at the University of Notre Dame, he became aware of varying levels of sustainability through the curriculum that was taught. David became sustainability minded during his studies later in life. "If this awareness, this efficiency of how things are grown, how you have an alive city, etc. There was varying reign as part of the culture of the curriculum in terms of trying to leave a better world that when you started with." - David Rodriguez Mentors David mentions two mentors. Michael who was a dean of the school of architecture at the University of Notre Dame. Michael was David's thesis professor and he was really good about showing you what you do transcends beyond just the immediate. He also emphasized trying to leave a legacy for the world. David's other mentor was an urbanist and was a really good friend for over 20 years and first boss after college, Victor Dover. He works with CNU and urban design and urban planning. "My parents have always had really good values in terms of having a notion of what's around me and the world. And even my first few summer jobs that I had really good bosses that gave me really good examples of good work ethics and tried to leave a good legacy." - David Rodriguez Proudest Achievement One of David's proudest achievements was working in a hope six project, which was a social housing project in Tacoma, Washington. The project won numerous awards both in sustainability and smart living. "I was the lead designer for that project when I was working in Washington DC and this is right before I left for Panama. So I really felt proud that I ended up my 11 year stay in the US with something that left a legacy here." - David Rodriguez Palmer Green Building Council Founder When David first founded the Palmer Green Building Council they had around 4 LEED AP and had just come from the US with some experience. Others had just received their certification. The only project that had been completed was the US Embassy by US staff and professional. "And what we find incredible is that nine years later we have a green building council that has about 130 members, both enterprises and people. We have over 35 certified projects, some even high profile in terms of mags, laboratories, the general facilities. And you have a movement where we have been able to certify over a hundred people in terms of LEED green associates." - David Rodriguez Book Recommendations Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman The Original Green: Unlocking the Mystery of True Sustainability by Stephen A. Mouzon Tune into this podcast to listen to the rest of David Rodriguez's amazing journey in this podcast hosted by Charlie. Connect with David Rodriguez: Website Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Announcement: GBMS is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2019 GBES

Jason Twill has a career spanning over 20 years in urban development. Jason has been at the forefront of built environment transformation. His career experience includes delivery of sustainable mixed-income housing projects throughout New York City, delivery of Vulcan Inc.'s South Lake Union Innovation District in Seattle, Washington, and serving as Head of Sustainability and Innovation for Lendlease in Australia. In 2016, Jason was appointed as an Innovation Fellow and Senior Lecturer within the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology Sydney and leads research into regenerative urbanism, housing affordability, and property economics. Jason was designated a LEED Fellow by the United States Green Building Council in 2014, and he was named a Next City Global Urban Vanguard in both 2015 and 2017. Jason is also an appointed Champion and advisor to Nightingale Housing in Australia. Love for NYC Jason was born just outside of Philadelphia and grew up on the east coast. He then moved to Columbia, Maryland, before he moved again to a suburb outside of New York City, during high school. Where Jason grew up shaped his passion for the built environment and his desire to transform it. "My father worked in New York, and I think I grew up hating the suburbs and the monoculture status to it of car dominant environments. I think experiencing New York City as a young adolescent and teenager really introduced me to tolerance, diversity, language, ethnicity and all these different things and I just fell in love with the city." - Jason Twill September 11, 2001 Jason fell in love with architecture and construction. He was working in New York for an architecture firm and was planning to go to school at Columbia. In 2001, Jason was working for Mass and Duffy in the World Trade Center during the attacks and barely escaped. He postponed going to graduate school due to the aftermath of 9-11. Shifting from Architecture to Real Estate Jason began to gravitate towards real estate development. He wanted to be a change agent around sustainability, social responsibility, and development in cities. Jason was pushing people to get affordable housing. "I remember a lot of us getting made fun of. There was a cluster of us that we're incubating the urban green, the green building chapter of New York City, and just kind of fighting to have a voice to educate the building industry, the architects, and the engineers." - Jason Twill Urban Apostles Founder Jason is founder and Director of Urban Apostles, a start-up real estate development and consulting services business specialising in regenerative development and deliberative housing models for cities. Urban Apostles' work focuses on the intersection of the sharing economy and the art of city making. He is a co-founder of both the International Living Future Institute and Green Sports Alliance as well as an originator of the Economics of Change project. In 2017, Jason founded and launched the City Makers' Guild, an education, advocacy and research group promoting more equitable and inclusive cities. Book Recommendations The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape by James Howard Kunstler Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture by Bruce Pascoe Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann The Well Tempered City by Jonathan Rose Garrison Institute Tune into this podcast to listen to the rest of Jason Twill's amazing journey in this podcast hosted by Charlie. Connect with Jason Twill: Linkedin Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Announcement: GBMS is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2019 GBES

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/gbespodcast/Green_Home_Design_Thought_Leader_-_Melissa_Rappaport_Schifman.mp3" ] Melissa Rappaport Schifman is an experienced sustainability and finance professional with a demonstrated history of creative problem-solving, thorough analysis, and bottom-line financial results. Skilled in Sustainability Tools and Metrics (including LEED, GRI, and ISSP), Renewable Energy, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Finance, Energy and Environmental Policy, Writing and Editing. Environmental Policy Melissa grew up in Minneapolis and then went to Georgetown University in Washington D.C. where she majored in Government and spent time on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant, handling energy and environmental issues. Melissa earned her Masters in Public Policy and her MBA from the University of Chicago and spent several years in finance in the airline industry before she pivoted to the world of green building. "I was living in Phoenix, and there were just some really obvious things that were a problem there. First, there was the sun that was just omnipresent, and I couldn't understand why there wasn't more solar power. Then, there was a lack of water. You would see people watering their lawns in the middle of the day, and the water was just evaporating. What really hit me, when I lived there, were these air quality alerts that warned you about high air pollution days that it was really unhealthy to go outside. I hike a lot, and that was my form of exercise; so, to not be able to go outside just seemed ridiculous. We as humans were creating that pollution that made it unhealthy. None of that made sense to me; so, those were the seeds that got me thinking that we need to be more sustainable." – Melissa Rappaport Schifman Shifting from Policy to Green Buildings Melissa shares that shifting from policy to buildings and green buildings was the combination of becoming a mother and wanting to make sure we have a healthier world for our future and her children. She had also left the toxic corporate environment and didn't want to go back to the "corporate ladder". Additionally in 2006/2007 Melissa and her husband had the opportunity to build a new home, and the LEED for homes rating system had just come out. Melissa wanted to make her home as sustainable as it could be. After she led the LEED certification of her own home, Melissa became a LEED accredited professional and spent the next eight years working as a sustainability consultant, primarily LEED certifying commercial buildings under the LEED EBOM rating system. "I believe the LEED rating system is the most powerful and impactful rating system because it measures ongoing performance. We even used LEED for a basis of one client's Corporate Sustainability Report." - Melissa Rappaport Schifman Building a Sustainable Home and Melissa's Book "I'm most proud of my book: Building a Sustainable Home: Practical Green Design choices for Your Health, Wealth, and Soul" – Mellissa Rappaport Schifman During the process of getting her new home LEED certified, Melissa started a blog and wrote about all the different LEED credits, the associated costs, and her thoughts on whether it was a good credit worth pursuing. She posted one blog a day Monday thru Thursday. This turned out to be the seedlings of her new book. She felt like she needed to write her book because all the other guidebooks and resources she had been exposed to seemed to be missing things. "I took everything that LEED has to say, and I reorganized it into something that is relatable and comprehensible, and hopefully not overwhelming. I tried to really bottom line it for people." – Melissa Rappaport Schifman Link to Melissa's book on Amazon Influences The biggest influence early in Melissa's career was reading Paul Hawkin's book the Ecology of Commerce. He really took all the issues that that were being created in terms of pollution and waste and showed how businesses are contributing to it. She loved Paul Hawkin's positive attitude about how businesses can be an agent of change and that businesses can get on board to become more sustainable. Book Recommendations Building a Sustainable Home, Practical Green Design Choices for your Health, Wealth and Soul by Melissa Rappaport Schifman Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken The Ecology of Commerce Revised Edition: A Declaration of Sustainability by Paul Hawken The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body By Les Fehmi and Jim Robbins Tune into this podcast to listen to the rest of Melissa Rappaport Schifman's amazing journey in this podcast hosted by Charlie. Connect with Melissa Rappaport Schifman: Linkedin Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Announcement: Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it's new membership community. Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2019 GBES

Steve Guttmann is a Principal and the Director of Quality Assurance at Guttmann & Blaevoet (G&B). With more than two decades of leadership in integrated building design, energy conservation, and sustainable and healthy building design, he has been a Principal since 1991. G&B is a mid-sized consulting engineering firm in California that has received national and regional ASHRAE awards for innovation in sustainable design. The firm's Sacramento office was named Sacramento Sustainable Business of the Year in 2007, and again in 2012. Engineer and Environmental Studies Steve is a native San Franciscan. He is a 1983 graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a B.S. with Honors in Mechanical Engineering; and a B.A. with Honors in Environmental Studies. As a 4th generation engineer, Steve didn't start done this avenue in college but discovered it was in his blood and after 6 years embarked on this journey with the family business. "I graduated with a double engineering and environmental studies and had an idea that I wanted to combine the 2 but wasn't sure how to do that. I decided I didn't want to go to work for my dad right out of college so I figured I better find out what I could do and what I could offer this industry." - Steve Guttmann Areas of Expertise Steve has extensive experience in the energy analysis, design and construction of complex projects, including higher education facilities, libraries, hospitals and medical centers, laboratories, museums and aquariums, and performing arts/media facilities. Steve serves on national committees that developed guidelines and best practices for sustainability in our nation's healthcare facilities. "I quickly realized when I joined my dad that the old style engineering was dying and we need to rethink how we approached delivering our products and services." - Steve Guttmann Mentors Some of Steve's contemporaries who he met early on and he is still close with were his inspiration. Amory Lovins was a large presence in his mind. David Brauer was a big influence that challenged how engineers did things. These people really pushed market transformation and gave Steve a headstart to be an early adopter of LEED. "Most of my mentors were outside of the engineering field." - Steve Guttmann Book Recommendations Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People Books by Ta-Nehisi Coates Eight Years My President Tune into this podcast to listen to the rest of Steve Guttmann's amazing journey in this podcast hosted by Charlie. Connect with Steve Guttmann: Linkedin Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Announcement: Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it's new membership community. Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2019 GBES

Tim Trefzer is a Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at the Georgia World Congress Center. With his team, he creates and establishes the CSR strategy not only for the GWCC but also for, the Centennial Olympic Park, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center. "Green building has definitely leveraged sustainability. It has affected all aspects of organizations aside from the building environment." - Tim Trefzer Green Super Bowl This podcast is featuring a new format at GBMS Headquarters in Atlanta, GA. Today is a Town Hall and Tim is going to take us through how the Super Bowl is going to be a very sustainable event even though we can't see that while watching on television. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the first platinum LEED professional sports stadiums in North America. It is one of the greenest sports facilities in the world. Being green brings business to Atlanta and provides more efficient events. "I like to think that we are one of the greenest places in the world for events, conventions, and sports. It's definitely a complex campus with a lot of LEED event space." - Tim Trefzer Waste Waste helps get LEED points and Atlanta is growing in this area. Convention Industry standpoint they are one of the leaders. They compost their food waste which is a big part of their waste stream and they donate food and materials when they can and have great relationships with the non-profits. "We have a lot of construction demolition type material so we work closely with our contractors to separate that material to make sure it is recycled." - Tim Trefzer Construction Projects Renovation of Centennial Olympic Park and have a giant sculpture of the Olympic rings-a new selfie spot has just been finished. An underground cistern has been added to help with water and the water features recycling. In addition, it has been made more pedestrian friendly. A new hotel, 1,000 rooms, will begin construction in Q4 and will be a LEED Gold facility. Q & A Tune into this podcast in it's new Town Hall format to listen to the Q & A session hosted by Charlie and Tim. Connect with Tim Trefzer: Georgia World Congress Center Linkedin Email Mercedes-Benz Stadium & Sustainability Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Announcement: Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it's new membership community. Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2019 GBES

Announcement Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it's new membership community. Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. John Harrison is the store development services manager for the innovation & sustainability support group at Starbucks Coffee Company. He is a licensed architect and LEED Fellow with over 25 years of diverse experience in private practice, and as an owner/owner's representative. As a part of the company's high performance building team, he co-authored the Starbucks LEED for Retail Volume Build Program and leads the execution team responsible for sustainable strategies and LEED certifications. To date, the program has certified 1,615 CI and NC projects in 20 countries/US territories across the globe including stores in Europe, the UK, North America, South America and Asia. In addition to leading the programs global development, he has worked with directly with teams in China, the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Singapore and Thailand to certify Starbucks stores. Before joining Starbucks, John spent 13 years at Mithun, Inc. in Seattle working with a variety of retail, commercial and institutional clients including: REI, Seattle Coffee Company, Precor, Mirival and the IslandWood Environmental Learning Center. John Harrison- Love for Drawing Led to Architecture John grew up in a small town in southeast Idaho in a farming community. John was the first person in his family to graduate from a university. Finding that he loved to draw, he went to the University of Idaho to become an architect. John moved to Seattle in the spring of 1990 and has been there ever since. He has been with Starbucks for the past 11 years. "I looked at my dad's hands when I was about 10 or 11 years old and decided that I would be going to college." - John Harrison Sustainability Minded John's sustainability mindedness began in Environmental Control System and Design classes in school. His professor, Bruce Haglund, an offspring of a movement in the late 70's early 80's where it was about integrating both active and passive systems to heat, cool, provide daylight. This was not a time when sustainability was a keyword in architecture. "So it's something that has been implanted in my since I was 19-20 years old so ever since then it has been about integrating architecture and engineering systems to some degree." - John Harrison Mentors Burt Gregory, CEO at one time of Mithun and is still there as a partner. John first worked with him on the REI flagship store in Seattle which was a groundbreaking project in sustainability. Burt also taught John how to get projects done and that the architect doesn't have to be passive but an active member of projects. Rob Deering, another mentor was a huge influence by being a hard worker with high expectations for quality. At Starbucks, Tony Gail is the mentor who pulled him into the current sustainability. "When I came here to Starbucks, Tony Gail who was the corporate architect became another mentor was the one who pulled me into the program we built at Starbucks, the sustainability program." - John Harrison Achievements John is a LEED Fellow which is a culminates years of work and he highly recommends that you take advantage of this. REI built a flagship just outside of central Tokyo, Japan. While it wasn't that successful financially for the company, the building itself was. One of the best integrated both active and passive sustainable projects that John has ever done. At the same time he was working on a project on island with the Environmental Learning Center on Brambridge Island and it ended up being on of the first 5 LEED Gold projects in the world. Listen to the podcast to hear more achievements. "At the time we really didn't know what LEED was about it was just one of these things emerging and it was on the cutting edge but we decided to try it and it ended up being a groundbreaking experience for us." – John Harrison Pro-Tips/Routines/Rituals John is really relationship driven and gets a lot out of peer connection. He loves doing presentations, podcasts to share and to learn from others. John also believes that everyday that you need to try and learn something. "A job is a job, but a career is a highly orchestrated and random things at the same time where you need to take in information; it may not mean anything for 6 months or 6 years but it eventually turns into something that you can utilize to make progress. " - John Harrison To hear more about John's journey with sustainability, download and listen to the episode! Book Suggestions: The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Epitaph for a Peach by David M. Masumoto Learn more about John Harrison: Linkedin Starbucks celebrates 1,000 LEED-certified stores Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Announcement: Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it's new membership community. Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2019 GBES

Announcement Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it's new membership community. Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. Dan Carney & Brett Taysom, both of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta join Charlie Cichetti live at the Fed. Dan Carney grew up outside Boston and moved around quite a bit as a child. Dan went to the Ohio State University and earned a Master's of Architecture. He joined the Fed after the big recession and for the last 9 years has worked on sustainability for the bank. Brett Taysom is from Roswell, GA but went to school in the Carolinas. His undergraduate studies were at Furman University where he started to get into the sustainability arena. Brett then went to school in Charleston in an environmental studies and started focusing on sustainability. Dan & Brett- Introduction to Sustainability Brett grew up loving science and enjoyed the environment and became more focused on sustainability in grad school. Dan heard about the term LEED for the first time during grad school in his second year during a Mechanical Systems class. This peaked Dan's interest but wasn't a strong connection at that time with architecture. When he started working, the buildings included sustainability and he took his first LEED exam. Mentors Brett recognizes his professors at Furman University as the ones who got him started. They encouraged him to go to grad school. He also credits his father who was in the real estate industry who recognized changing trends and shared those with Brett. "If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have gone to grad school and found sustainability and wouldn't have found this path." - Brett Taysom Dan credits his parents as a big influence. A big part of his childhood upbringing included not being wasteful, conserving energy, and not wasting water. "I think about those aspects of my childhood and I think that planted some seeds that later on shaped who I was; a sustainability professional." - Dan Carney Real Estate and LEED Dan and his team developed a sustainability plan and strategy when he first joined the FED. That was 10 years ago, but was the first time that they had developed a strategy and thought about all the environmental impacts. Planning their strategy and setting goals was something they pursued vigorously for the next 5-6 years. "Brett came on board and was really able to apply a lot more attention to our sustainability program, work with the green team and really refine and enhance our communication with bank employees and how we engage with bank employees so we were able to take our reporting and data to the next level." – Dan Carney Pro-Tips/Routines/Rituals "Have coffee every morning." - Brett Taysom "Exercise daily, stay up to date in the sustainability world." - Dan Carney To hear more about Dan and Brett's journey and their thoughts on Sustainability download and listen to the episode! Book Suggestions: Brett Taysom's Suggestion: The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II Dan Carney's Suggestion: The Desert and the Sea by Michael Scott Moore Learn more about Dan and Brett: Dan Carney LinkedIn Brett Taysom Linkedin Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Announcement: Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it's new membership community. Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2018 GBES

GBES helps you pass any LEED or WELL exam and then keep up your continuing education. We've done that for a long time (over 10 years). We've built on that experience. Now, within our community, you can get your LEED project questions answered, grow your network, get additional coaching, and so much more! It's time for you to be a part of our community. Learn about the different levels at www.gbes.com/join Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Join our Community Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2019 GBES

John Zinner, LEED Fellow, is Principal of Zinner Consultants,having founded the firm in 1990. He brings clients a broad sustainability and environmental perspective as well as experience in policy development, project and program planning, and project management. John has developed and managed groundbreaking sustainable development and environmental mitigation programs for, among others, Playa Vista, Whole Foods, Boeing Corporation and the City of Rancho Cucamonga. His leadership has been recognized through numerous awards, he has lectured nationwide before professional, university and public audiences, and he has been interviewed on Good Morning America. In acknowledgment of John's contributions to the field of green building and sustainability, he was recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council as a Fellow in 2012. John Zinner - Sustainability Opportunities John was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He started his career in policy and program side. John was involved in solar energy in grad school and has leveraged his experiences to future jobs. 1978 was John's first sustainability project. Prior to founding ZC, John founded and managed the Los Angeles office of an environmental consulting firm, and served as both Energy Coordinator and Planning Advisor for the City of Los Angeles Office of the Mayor. He holds an MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Southern California, and a BA in Political Science from The Colorado College. "I was asked to lead a charge to write a residential sustainability guideline for over 5,000 residential units in 1978 and LEED was in pilot." – John Zinner 1970 Challenges Early challenges in the 1970's centered around education. On the Playa Vista project, workshops were held but everyone wanted to know what they really had to do and that is how guidelines were developed. "Playa Vista is a project that I am still involved in and have a lot of support." – John Zinner Mentors John recognizes Dave Peterson a grad school professor was a mentor that stood out. He was involved in the solar energy lab and was the one who got it started. We were all excited about getting involved at the ground floor as something new. LEED Movement One of the first LEED projects for John was the first Platinum Museum. There were a enough developers doing LEED core and shell that it spiked the interest for others to join in for market purposes. "It was an interesting voyage. Some developers were eyeing it, not quite sure what to do with it. A lot of the early push came out of the local government." – John Zinner Pro-Tips/Routines/Rituals "Having a good staff, focusing on where my skills are best and letting my staff do the technical side of LEED including documentation and I am more focused on client relations and strategic opportunities. I think knowing who you are, knowing what you are good at and knowing what you're not good at and surrounding yourself with or joining a team with the skills to fill the holes." – John Zinner To hear more about John's journey and his thoughts on LEED, Solar Energy, Sustainability and Carbon download and listen to the episode! Book Suggestions: The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World by Charles C. Mann Learn more about John Zinner: LinkedIn Playa Vista Sustainability Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Announcement: Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it's new membership community. Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2018 GBES

Brendan Owen oversees technical development and integration of rating systems at USGBC. In this role Brendan collaborates with teams developing LEED, PEER and other rating systems and led the team that established the overarching system goals for LEED v4. He is currently working to integrate this thinking into the other programs USGBC collaborates with. Brendan is a member of the integration committee working to align Standard 189.1, the IgCC and LEED. He is a board member of the New Buildings Institute and is deputy director of the center for cycling technology at USGBC. Additionally, Brendan is a board member of the foundation USGBC that is partnering to build the William Jefferson Clinton Children's Center in Port au Prince, Haiti. Brendan is a proud Boilermaker, a licensed Professional Engineer and was honored as a LEED Fellow in 2012. Brendan Owen - Spark of Interest Brendan was born in Alabama and his father was in the Coast Guard. He bounced around from mostly Great Lakes and Gulf Coast states throughout his childhood. Brendan ended up at Purdue University largely because of the strength of the engineering program. He had little affiliation to the Purdue prior to ending up there. Brendan never considered sustainability a conscious choice, but part of his dad's job in the coast guard was environmental protection under sort of a marine safety heading and a lot of times his dad would end up doing response activities to oil spills or any other type of a disaster at sea. It was easy for Brendan to sort of understand the environmental ramifications of that type of activity and the responses that were necessary. "I think if there's one, there's one moment Exxon Valdez was the thing that sparked my interest in the idea of being a part of the solutions that could be created from an environmental perspective. I just wanted to engage in a problem solving way." – Brendan Owen Mentors The person who had the most profound effect on the trajectory of Brendan's career at USGBC is Malcolm Lewis. Malcolm was the chair of the technical and scientific committee. When Brendan started at USGBC this was the place that they stuck all of the issues that were too hard to deal with. There was a group of brilliant people that would get together and bang around on the pieces of the technical aspects of the rating system development or generally USGBC policy that were impossible to solve. Malcolm is the right person to lead that group. "Malcolm also work with the steering steering committee and just was a brilliant thinker; sort of introduced the idea of a pragmatic approach to systems engineering that I think has been something that I've tried to carry throughout the time that I've been involved in the technical development of any other rating systems that USGBC and GBCI are working on." – Brendan Owen Current Projects Brendan has been spending a lot of time on carbon in all of its forms. They are looking at the embodied carbon of materials and looking at the embodied carbon and water. In addition, they are looking at the embodied carbon of energy and transportation. They are trying to make sure that they are positioning the rating system to provide incentive for and reward project teams that are taking steps to reduce the carbon footprint of the projects that are being rated. "I'm understanding that the metrics that we care about is something that is so cross cutting and ubiquitous in terms of how you look at issues in terms of building sighting and what you're going to make the building out of in terms of how the building's gonna be oriented on the site as it affects the energy use of the building." – Brendan Owen Advice "Tell all of us people who have been doing it for the last 15 years to get out of the way." – Brendan Owen To hear more about Brendan's journey, download and listen to the episode! Book Suggestions: The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World by Charles C. Mann Learn more about Brendan Owen: LinkedIn Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast! Copyright © 2018 GBES