Green Economy Industry Cluster Resources

For more than 30 years, Alex Wilson has been the most trusted voice on energy efficiency and environmentally responsible design and construction. He founded BuildingGreen in 1985 and launched Environmental Building News (EBN) in 1992 as the first North American publication focused on green building. He built the reputation, resources, and staff that today makes BuildingGreen, the leading information company on green building, publishing not only EBN, but also the GreenSpec Directory, BuildingGreen.com, and LEEDuser, as well as providing consulting for a variety of companies for whom sustainable design is a core value.

Alex is executive editor of EBN and GreenSpec, and his weekly Energy Solutions and Cool Product of the Week blogs are widely read.

Alex’s expertise in energy efficiency comes from hands-on engagement in the industry, including serving as executive director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association for five years in the early 1980s and running a hands-on workshop program on the construction of solar greenhouses in New Mexico in the late 1970s. Books that he has authored or co-authored include Your Green Home, the Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings (American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, 9th edition 2007), and the Rocky Mountain Institute’s comprehensive textbook, Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate ( John Wiley & Sons, 1998), along with hundreds of articles for such publications as the Journal of Light Construction, Architectural Record, Landscape Architecture, the Journal of Industrial Ecology, Construction Specifier, Natural Home, Solar Today, and Popular Science. Outside the building field, Alex has coauthored a series of four books on quiet-water paddling for the Appalachian Mountain Club.

Alex also leads BuildingGreen’s involvement with Boston Architectural College’s Sustainable Design Institute, which is the nation’s most comprehensive online curriculum in sustainable design. He served on the board of directors of the U.S. Green Building Council for five years and was a founding member of the USGBC Research Committee. Alex is currently a trustee of The Nature Conservancy–Vermont Chapter, an appropriate role for someone who has written guidebooks on quiet-water paddling throughout the Northeast.

In 2008 Alex received the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership Award for Education, and in 2010 he became the second recipient of the prestigious Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainable Housing.

In 2012 Alex founded the Resilient Design Institute, also based in Brattleboro. RDI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing practical strategies for making buildings and communities more resilient in the face of storms, floods, heat waves, droughts, power outages, and interruptions in heating or motor fuel.

Systems and Technology Sector:
Michael Knapp, CEO/Partner Green River Software
CEO, Partner

With professional roots in academic research and teaching, Michael founded Green River in 2000, and has grown the company into an internationally renowned team of software architects and programmers. As CEO, Michael provides entrepreneurial leadership, and coordinates engagements with clients that include Starbucks Coffee Company, the National Education Association, the US Green Business Council, numerous colleges and Universities, and many others. Michael’s company operates on the cutting-edge of custom web-based application development. They are known for their excellence in systems analysis, statistical analysis, data visualization, and user experience design.

Prior to founding Green River in 2000, Michael served as faculty at Marlboro College Graduate School. He earned a Ph.D. from Yale University, with a concentration in environmental health, and a Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He holds a BA in Biology from Wesleyan University.

Michael is passionate about social justice. He believes software can play a pivotal role in solving pressing social problems through enhanced transparency, efficiency, and informed decision making. Michael focuses Green River’s mission on promoting learning opportunities for all, public health for those in need, and progress toward a sustainable society. His skills span a variety of fields, as he is currently working in school improvement, health equity, green building, and ethical supply chain management.

Michael lives with his family in the rural village of Green River, Vermont – southwest of Brattleboro. He spends his free time working on the ecological management of 48 acres of meadows adjacent to the Green River, minimizing human impacts on the surrounding forests and wetlands.

Green Building/LEED Certification Sector:

Nadav Malin, BuildingGreen President/CEO

Nadav Malin is the building industry’s acknowledged go-to resource when you need thoughtful perspective on the materials and design solutions that define sustainable building practice. A long-serving former member of the national LEED Faculty, he is an experienced trainer and facilitator, convening the network of architecture firm Sustainable Design Leaders and teaching diverse groups about LEED and green building. He is a sought-after workshop facilitator and consultant to USGBC, AIA, large corporations, government agencies, and architecture firms.

As president and CEO of BuildingGreen, he oversees the company’s industry-leading information and community-building websites BuildingGreen.com and LEEDuser. He also served as executive editor of GreenSource magazine throughout its highly decorated seven-year run.

When the LEED rating system was just starting out, Nadav was tapped to lead its new Materials and Resources Technical Advisory Group, which he chaired throughout LEED’s formative years. Nadav also led the team that created the U.S. Department of Energy’s High Performance Buildings Database, and continues to oversee BuildingGreen’s responsibility for ensuring the quality of case studies and collecting meaningful data on actual building performance. When he is not facilitating a rich conversation among design professionals, he can often be found chasing a hockey puck or a soccer ball, depending on the season.

Finance Sector:

Dan Yates, President, Brattleboro Savings & Loan

“As a banking professional with over thirty-five years’ experience in community banking, I have the privilege of leading a group of dedicated employees who understand that everything we do, for everyone we meet and help is what sets us apart from the big banks. Southeastern Vermont is an incredible collection of communities that seems almost as if it is one, maybe not so big, community, and my role is to see that we continue a greater than 100-year tradition of providing the best financial services to our customers that can be found here. My office is in the lobby, and when I say my door is always open and you’re welcome to stop in…I mean it!”

Real Estate Sector:

Bill Murray, Berkley & Veller Greenwood Country Realtors

Bill has been a full-time realtor with Berkley & Veller Greenwood Country since 1981. Licensed in both Vermont and New Hampshire, Bill has consistently been one of the top brokers at the firm as well as in the Southern Vermont Board of Realtors. He has served his realtor board as a director and as a chairman of the multiple listings, ethics and legal forms committees. He has received his Certified Residential Broker Manager (CRB) and E-Pro credentials and completed courses in 1031 Tax-deferred Exchanges, contract law, energy efficiency and Conservation Easements. In 2004, Bill’s colleagues recognized his accomplishments and contributions and named him Realtor of the Year. Over the years Bill and his wife, Alison Macrae, have restored and sold two of their own homes, purchased land and overseen the construction of their current home. Bill also owns and manages timberland and rental property. Along the way he has developed knowledge of green design and building techniques, energy efficiency, historic preservation and sustainable land use. Bill’s collaboration with the Vermont Land Trust and participation on the Windham Regional Commission are natural extensions of his interests. His long time membership and service on the Brattleboro Food Coop Board of Directors is also a significant part of his commitment to a strong, sustainable, local economy.

“In 1976, right out of college, I had the incredible good fortune to move to Vermont. I quickly made the conscious decision to spend my life here. My greatest satisfaction has been in playing an active role to help preserve Vermont’s working landscape, strengthen the local economy and participate in supporting our interesting and varied community. I love where I live and what I do. I’m a really lucky guy.”

Sustainability Sector:

Dr. Cary Gaunt, Director of Campus Sustainability, Keene State College and MBA in Sustainability Faculty at Marlboro College Graduate & Professional Studies

Dr. Gaunt brings more than 30 years of experience working in sustainability science, planning and policy analysis. She also teaches sustainability at the higher education level, and for community groups. Most recently, Dr. Gaunt served as a senior fellow for Second Nature, a national nonprofit organization that works to integrate sustainability into college campuses. During her work with the Boston Green Ribbon Commission and Second Nature, Dr. Gaunt studied sustainability approaches of many leading higher education institutions, such as Harvard, MIT and Boston University, and her research explores leadership development and sustainability. She plans to build on the great number of sustainability efforts in place at Keene State, to continue to cultivate the college as an innovator and community partner around sustainability.

Dr. Gaunt received a PhD in Environmental Studies from Antioch University, an M.A. in Physical Geography from the University of Maryland, and a B.A. in Art History with a concentration in Environmental Studies from Williams College in Massachusetts. Dr. Gaunt has a particular interest in the life journeys, qualities, and practices of successful sustainability leaders who really walk their green talk. Through her extensive consulting career, she came to understand firsthand the potentials and limitations of conventional responses to environmental degradation and unsustainable conditions. Many of these stemmed from a lack of effective leadership at personal and organizational levels. She left her management role at SAIC in early 2000 and switched to a consulting status so she could pursue her Ph.D. and focus on the leadership and human behavior dimensions of sustainability.

Architectural/Design Sector:
Robert Stevens, Stevens & Associates

Robert Stevens is a professional engineer with over 25 years of experience leading teams in a variety of projects and disciplines. He is the founder and president of Stevens & Associates, PC, an Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Civil and Structural engineering firm in Brattleboro Vermont. In addition to the design of projects his experience includes planning, urban design, public bond campaigns and project finance & development. Bob is an accredited professional in both Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) and Congress for New Urbanism (CNU). He’s well versed in sustainable design, traditional design and historic preservation. He has presented at numerous conferences including Traditional Building, Vermont Development Conference and Historic preservation conferences. His work and community support has been recognized with numerous awards including the Vermont Downtown Volunteer of the Year and the Southern Vermont Leadership Award for Economic Excellence.

Green Building/Home Construction Sector:
Andrew Dey, COO Unity Homes

Andrew Dey brings a wealth of high performance building experience to the Green Economy Cluster initiative. After graduating from Harvard in the mid-eighties, Andrew worked as a general contractor in Boston. In 1994 he joined Bensonwood, a company known for building high quality, energy efficient timber frame homes. For thirteen years he provided leadership to the project management department and, as a company steward, to Bensonwood as a whole. Andrew then spent eight years as an independent construction consultant, working primarily as an owner’s representative on commercial projects. After living for a year in Germany during which he researched and wrote about that country’s Energiewende, or Energy Transition, Andrew returned to join Unity Homes, an off-shoot of Bensonwood. Unity’s mission, to lower the cost of high-performance homes, keeps Andrew inspired and challenged. When he is not wrangling day-to-day operations at Unity, Andrew might be found working on his own house to make it more energy efficient, or trying to keep up with his wife on skis or a bike.

Janice Warren, One Report

Janice serves as President of OneReport, Inc., a leading provider of corporate responsibility information management, reporting and publishing services. OneReport enables companies to identify and efficiently address the evolving environmental, social, and governance metrics that matter to investors and other stakeholders. OneReport’s online software platform integrates the quantitative and qualitative metrics sought by leading corporate responsibility research and ratings organizations and sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), and the UN Global Compact.

Janice has developed systems to support the collection and dissemination of corporate responsibility, strategic, and financial information, including the engagement and management of colleagues in the reporting and publishing process. She previously worked in the specialty materials and shoe industries, as well as in nonprofit and governmental organizations, working in communications and public relations, investor relations, business and product development, marketing, and program management. Her work with the Maine Office of Energy Resources and Coastal Enterprises, Inc., focused on renewable energy and energy efficiency.

She holds a B.A. in government and legal studies from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University, and studied at the Institute for American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, France. She has served on numerous local boards and committees, including the Brattleboro Music Center and Neighborhood Schoolhouse, as well as the board for the Boston Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute.

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