Fiona J. Grandowski, AIA, IIDA, LEED AP

I am a 3rd generation native of Atlanta, however, I spent my summers and vacations building log homes with my father in Montana. Prior to working for John Wesley Hammer Construction I ran my own renovation company in Atlanta form 2002-2006.  My project experience ranges from single family residential to light commercial to heavy industrial. I have fixed water-damaged homes for many years and in most cases the objective is to expel water as quickly as possible. I am honored to be working on a project that savors the flow of water from the sky, through the home and back to the earth.

Jennifer Henry and a coalition of the nation’s leading progressive design professionals, builders, developers, and environmentalists are developing a national rating and certification system for neighborhood development - LEED for Neighborhood Development. Jennifer holds a Masters of Urban Planning from New York University and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  She worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council on legislation for New Jersey that would establish a tax credit for smart growth developments, and has also worked with the Trust for Public Land and Madison Metro Bus Transit.  She has been with the U.S. Green Building Council since 2003.

Matt Hoots, founder and president of the Hoots Group, Inc. began his journey towards a green design lifestyle and value system at an early age. His parents taught him the principles behind energy efficient design, recycling, and energy conservation. As he continued his education at GA Tech and became more interested in residential construction, he started to develop an appreciation for advanced building science. As a leader in green design and construction, the tagline, “Design Green, Build Green, Live Green,” summarizes how The Hoots Group approaches each project allowing their clients to live in an energy efficient, healthy, sustainable house.

Prior to establishing Solar Energy Marketing Mr. Hosken enjoyed a long and successful 25+ year career with one of Japan’s largest industrial and electronic equipment manufactures.  His tenure included the positions of Regional Manager, General Manager, Vice President and finally CEO and President of USA and Canadian subsidiaries.  This progressive advancement provided the opportunity to experience a very wide variety of situations and responsibilities.  Mr. Hosken resigned from his corporate position in 2006 in order to pursue new challenges and opportunities in the solar energy industry. Solar Energy Marketing Inc. was established in 2006 to promote turnkey solar thermal systems throughout the Southeast.

Bruce Hunn has served as ASHRAE’s director of technology since 1997.

He directs staff support of ASHRAE’s $ 3 million per year  research program, 90-plus Technical Committees and its 120-plus standards as well as technical services, special projects, such as the Advanced Energy Design Guide series, and code interaction.

Prior to joining ASHRAE, Hunn served as head of the Building Energy Systems Program, Center for Energy Studies, the University of Texas at Austin. There, he directed research programs addressing energy use in buildings, including developing and applying building energy analysis computer programs in the analysis of heating/cooling systems for reduced peak demand and fossil fuel use in buildings. He also developed a building energy standard for the state of Texas and headed a five-year study on energy use patterns in Texas state facilities.

Gregory R. Jeffers, P.E., LEED AP, is a senior project engineer in the Engineering Solutions department at McKenney’s, Inc., an Atlanta based mechanical contractor. Since first working on the initial Sustainable Design Initiatives for the U.S. Navy, continuing with the SPIRIT program and the USGBC. He has been involved with several Design/Build projects for LEED. Experience includes Design/Builder  for  the Southface Eco Office, the only LEED Certified Butterfly House in the World, the first large scale commercial rainwater harvest system for interior use by the City of Atlanta. Consultant to Georgia Tech, DOE 2007 Solar Decathlon (Placed 6th in the world).

Joe Kuonen is Program Manager for Arkansas Residential and Commercial/Industrial programs for CLEAResult Consulting.  He is cofounder and Chief Training Officer for Emerald Environments, Inc.  Joe is a licensed HVAC contractor and was cofounder of a home performance contracting company, where he regularly sold over $1 million annually in home performance packages.  For ten years, Joe hosted a live radio call-in show on Home Performance.  He was director and host of the ACI webcast training series, “Duct Camp.”

Deborah J. La Franchi - President & CEO, Strategic Development Solutions

Ms. La Franchi, as the founder and CEO of SDS, develops innovative market-driven approaches to economic development. SDS has built and capitalized more than $2 billion of Double and Triple Bottom Line private-equity funds with its affiliated partner Economic Innovation International, Inc. These funds seek: (1) market rates of return, (2) positive community/social impacts, and (3) environmental sustainability. Further, the two firms jointly manage the $75 million National New Markets Fund, LLC, an allocation of federal tax credits for real estate projects in low-income communities. Ms. La Franchi is also a co-author of the Double Bottom Line Handbook funded by the Ford Foundation. During the past four years, SDS’ Nonprofit Capacity Building Division has secured $15 million in grants for nonprofit clients serving high-poverty communities. Strategic Development Investments, an SDS subsidiary, manages two TBL public equity stock portfolios (Large Cap Domestic Fund and International Fund) that seek to outperform their respective benchmarks while meeting social and environmental criteria.

Prior to creating SDS, Ms. La Franchi served as the first President and CEO of Genesis LA. In this capacity, she was the lead in successfully securing more than $4 million in corporate sponsorship donations and assisting in the creation of more than $450 million of investor funding for five private-sector equity investment funds and a New Market Tax Credit allocation. These investment vehicles all specifically target Los Angeles' low-income communities.

From 1997–2000, Ms. La Franchi served as Assistant Deputy Mayor for Economic Development under Mayor Richard Riordan where spearheaded many of the City’s economic development policy initiatives including tax reform, business incentives, business attraction policies and development reform. Before her appointment as Assistant Deputy Mayor, Ms. La Franchi served as a Business Development Representative on Los Angeles's Business Team where she assisted with all aspects of business attraction and retention, including site selection, financing, the development process, tax incentives and general assistance.

Mr. Ledwith is Vice President of Development for Liberty Property Trust, a leading commercial real estate investment trust that conducts business both nationally as well as in the United Kingdom.  He has spent the last five years developing and planning Green / LEED buildings for Liberty.  Mr. Ledwith’s 20 plus years of construction management and development background have had a positive influence in the company’s goal for developing Green.  Mr. Ledwith is currently a member of the USGBC’s Treasure Coast / Palm Beach County Branch. 

Prior to his current role as Vice President of Development for the Southeast region of Liberty, Mr. Ledwith worked in the Northeast sector and completed the first LEED certified building for the company which achieved a Gold Certification.  Currently, he is overseeing all new development for the Southeast region including seven LEED projects approved for construction and three more in various planning stages.

Mr. Ledwith has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Construction Management from Spring Garden College.  The first 15 years of his career was spent working for a Philadelphia based Construction Management Company which enabled him the opportunity to see a diverse array of construction projects from high rise office buildings to hospitals.

Mr. Ledwith currently resides in Boca Raton, FL with his wife and two sons.

Ms. Terri M. Lee began her career as the Director of the Bureau of Housing within the Department of Planning and Community Development in November 2004. In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of the Bureau, she also is responsible for playing a key role in the initiative to create 10-thousand new, affordable, workforce housing units in Atlanta by 2009.

Under her leadership, the Bureau of Housing will expand its existing functions to become a major stakeholder in the development of affordable housing policy for the City of Atlanta. The Bureau of Housing is also managing eight (8) major housing programs including the Multi-family Housing Program, the Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Program, and the Down Payment Assistance Program, in addition to economic development activities totaling $25,000,000.
Prior to making a career move to Atlanta, Ms. Lee was the Deputy Director of the Office of Housing and Community Development for the City of Jackson in Mississippi. While in this role, Ms. Lee was responsible for oversight of several federally funded programs such as, the Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnerships Program, managing a project budget of approximately $15,000,000. Additionally, she was responsible for the development of community development policy which included the creation of an employer assisted housing program for the local school district, revamping the City's land bank authority ordinance, and establishing a tax abatement program for multifamily development. Prior to that, Ms. Lee was responsible for the developing the State of Mississippi's five year plan for housing and community development and designing the program requirements for the State's housing initiatives totaling over $20,000,000.

Ms. Lee has received her designation as a Certified Community Developmemt from the University of Central Arkansas. Ms. Lee also earned her Masters of Public Policy and Administration from Jackson State University and a Bachelors Degree in Public Administration from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana, which is her home state.
 

Tommy is the head of Sustainable Initiatives for Melaver, Inc.  His career has spanned the private, academic, and non-profit sectors from the west coast to the east, where he presently oversees the scope of Melaver Inc.’s sustainable vision. He develops sustainable property management practices for properties within the company’s portfolio, as well as facilitating management of new and existing properties according to the LEED1 green building rating system.

Tommy has been involved with 15 certified LEED projects. Additional projects in the pipeline have a market value nearing a quarter billion dollars. Some of the finalized projects include the first building in the southeast to be LEED certified and on the National Register of Historic places, Abercorn Common - the first all-retail LEED shopping center in the nation, the first LEED McDonald’s restaurant, and Sustainable Fellwood, one of the largest green affordable housing developments in the nation, and part of the LEED for Neighborhood Developments pilot program. 

Tommy is the founder and chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council, Savannah Chapter. This non-profit group is dedicated to improving the quality of the built environment in the southeast coastal region. He develops programming for sustainable design issues within the area, and facilitates education, outreach and information sharing among the green building community. He also works to educate local officials on pertinent issues in green building, sustainability and recycling.

As a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Platteville Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Tommy went on to earn his Masters in Science  (MS) degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Charleston, with concentrations on sustainable development, environmental policy, and municipal greenhouse gas emissions.   He currently serves on the board of directors for the Georgia Conservation of Voters and the Live Oak Public Libraries.

Tommy is a frequent speaker on green building throughout the country, and co-authored the book Local Action: The New Paradigm in Climate Change Policy published in November 2007. He currently resides in Savannah, Georgia.

Doug Lowe is president of Artisan Construction, Inc located in Charlottesville, VA. Doug’s firm specializes in green building projects (commercial buildings and custom homes) in the Central Virginia area. Doug is passionate about promoting green building practices. Doug’s firm built one of the first EarthCraft homes in Virginia and also the first LEED certified home in the Mid-Atlantic region. Doug has won numerous awards for his efforts including a “Go-Green” Award, and a “Walk the Walk” award from the Charlottesville Waldorf Foundation. His firm was recognized in the 2007 Inc. 5000 for “America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies”.

John McFarland is the Director of Engineered Systems at WorkingBuildings, a total building commissioning, LEED consulting and energy modeling firm. WorkingBuildings focuses on high performance buildings, including laboratories, institutional facilities, and high-performance office buildings. John has experience designing, constructing and commissioning building systems for laboratories, hospitals, data centers, natatoriums, libraries, and office buildings. John is a Professional Engineer in the States of Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico and California. He is a Certified Commissioning Provider through the Building Commissioning Association and a LEED™ Accredited Professional. He is a member of the ASHRAE Standard 62.1 committee responsible for the standard on indoor air quality.

Mr. McMillan has a varied background in civil and environmental engineering, acting as both project engineer and project manager. In 1990 Mr. McMillan founded AEC, Inc. a civil engineering, landscape architecture and land planning firm that has grown from a sole proprietorship to an organization employing over twenty five people.  As a civil engineer, Mr. McMillan handles site design which encompasses all elements of a construction project outside the building, including storm drainage, site layout, roadways and water/sewer, etc.  Mr. McMillan has been involved with over twenty sustainable design projects ranging in complexity from single sites to community planning/engineering.  Mr. McMillan is a registered professional engineer in eleven states and continues to be involved with emerging technical issues, as well as community and professional outreach

Peter Michelson - Renewal Construction

Belinda is president of 2M Design Consultants, Inc. in Atlanta Georgia.  She is a 1979 honor graduate from Texas A&M University with a BS in industrial design and technology; and Interior Design.  In 1981 Belinda went on to study architecture at El Centro College in Dallas, Texas and completed her studies in 1983.  With almost 29 years of experience in interior design, architecture, construction and as a LEED accredited professional gives her great insight into sustainable building practices.    She is a professional well known for tackling projects with comprehensive work scopes and overlapping time frames, and completing them on time and within budget.  In 1985 Belinda was listed as a Notable Woman of Texas and since that time has received other distinguishing honors.  Belinda became one of the first 100 U.S. Green Building Council LEED ™ Accredited professionals in the nation.

Belinda’s LEED™ speaking and training engagements have included the Cleveland Ohio Green Building Coalition on High Performance Schools, the Oberlin College Environmental Studies Program (chaired  by Dr. David Orr, a leading environmentalist for the Whitehouse), Southface Energy Institute, The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2001 Rebuild America Regional Peer Forum and The Green Town Hall Meeting sponsored by DOE, Koroseal Wallcovering, AIA, ASID and IIDA held in November 2002, (featuring the Chairman and founder of Gensler, Art Gensler FAIA.  DVD’s of this program are available now).  Belinda has conducted several LEED charrettes and considers herself a “green entrepreneur.

Belinda completed the construction of two new “green” Libraries and One “green” public health facility for Fulton County Government.  East Atlanta Library won LEED™ Silver.