Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Alex Steffen - leading green futurist

Writer Alex Steffen, one of the world’s leading green futurists and a pioneering thinker on global sustainability, is that rare speaker who can explain his ideas to the rest of us in accessible, fun and inspiring ways. Steffen offers a unique blend of practical thinking and visionary insight with his remarkable talent for helping audiences understand the role of world-changing ideas and trends in their own lives and work.

From 2003-2010, Steffen led the pioneering website Worldchanging.com. Under his guidance, the solutions-based magazine became the second-largest sustainability site on the planet.

Steffen's first Worldchanging book was an international best-seller. His Worldchanging 2.0, focusing on cities and urban issues, garnered further critical acclaim.

Steffen has been named to numerous lists of leading innovators and has served as an adviser to more than 100 NGOs and businesses, exploring "bright green" strategies to help them thrive in a complex and turbulent future. His forward-thinking approach opens a new world of sustainable possibilities to all who listen.

Eric Corey Freed – organic architect

Eric Corey Freed, LEED AP, Hon. FIGP practises architecture in California, New Mexico and Arizona) and is a recognized pioneer in organic architecture. Following his vision of innovative green design, he promotes both an organic and ecological approach to design.

He worked for several years in Philadelphia and New York City under acclaimed architect Beverly Willis. In 1996, Eric accepted a position in Santa Fe, New Mexico with a former apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. There, he had direct contact with the most ancient and the newest of environmental building materials. Eric moved to San Francisco in 1997 to start his own practice and join the heart of the environmental movement.

Eric co-developed the sustainable design programs at the Academy of Art University and University of California Berkeley Extension. He was the founding Chair of Architecture for The San Francisco Design Museum and one of the founders of ecoTECTURE: The Online Journal of Ecological Design.

He regularly contributes to dozens of publications, lectures, offers dozens of presentations throughout the year, serves on many boards and has written four books, including "Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies," "Sustainable School Architecture" and "Green$ense for the Home."

 

Breakout Speakers

Reducing GHG building emissions – a roadmap for action

Joanne Perdue, Director of Sustainability
University of Calgary

Joanne Perdue is the founding director of the University of Calgary's Office of Sustainability and, among other duties, a strategic advisor to senior administration on sustainability and organizational change and a mentor to the Sustainability Stewardship Working Group encompassing 14 operational areas. Joanne has presented at national and North American conferences on the University’s sustainability initiatives.
An architect, Joanne has devoted more than 20 years to green buildings and sustainable community design.

Jim Sawers, Director of Campus Engineering
University of Calgary

Jim has been the University’s technical representative overseeing almost $1 billion in new construction. Before joining the University, Jim practised mechanical consulting engineering for over 30 years with Reid Crowther & Partners and Keen Engineering. Throughout his career Jim has contributed to the energy efficiency and sustainability of buildings through innovation in the design of mechanical systems.

Murray Sloan, Senior Manager of Energy and Utilities
University of Calgary

A professional engineer, Murray is responsible for energy procurement, energy management systems and three related operational units. Murray was instrumental in planning and designing the University’s co-generation plant supporting heating and electrical demand on the main campus. He has also been a key contributor to multiple existing building energy performance initiatives and led the implementation of the University’s new energy management system.

 

LEED innovations for school design builders

Neville Doyle, Design Manager for the project
Graham Group Ltd.

Neville has more than 12 years’ experience as both an architect and contractor in the Canadian design and construction industry. Neville provides direction to, and oversight of, the design process and its integration with construction objectives.

Michelle Orizzonte, Project Coordinator
Graham Group Ltd.

Michelle has played in integral role on LEED projects with Graham over the past six years.  She has obtained extensive experience working on projects in an array of delivery methods and, more recently, was an integral member of the design-build team on the LEED Silver targeted ASAP II project. 

Lindsey Teare, LEED Specialist
Graham Group Ltd.

Lindsey is a LEED Accredited Professional with nearly a decade of progressive experience developing, managing and maintaining environmental sustainability programs for land and facility planning, design, development, construction, operations and maintenance. She is responsible for achieving LEED Silver on the 10 schools involved in the case study. Lindsey is a Director of the Alberta Chapter – CaGBC.

 

Demystifying green building certification

Matt Grace

Matt is a chartered environmentalist and a professional engineer with over 18 years’ experience in sustainable building design and assessment. His career started in England and included four years at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) researching energy efficiency in buildings, integrated renewable energy systems and the technical development of the BRE Environmental Assessment Method. Matt immigrated to Calgary in 2007. He has experience with many building sectors and is a LEED Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction, Interior Design and Construction and Neighbourhood Developments.

 

Lessons learned – net-zero precast concrete home

Wayne Kassian, Structural Engineer
Kassian Dyck & Associates

Wayne offers over 26 years of structural design experience. He is a member of several concrete-related professional organizations including the Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, the CSA's A23.3 Technical Committee for Reinforced Concrete Design in Canada and the American Precast/ Prestressed Concrete Institute’s Technical Activities Council. Wayne is a professional engineer and has designed a wide range of projects.  He is also very experienced with 3D modeling technology and BIM.

Ignacio Cariaga, LEED Green Associate
Lafarge

Ignacio is a solution development engineer with over 15 years’ experience in developing and marketing innovative and sustainable building solutions. He is also a professional engineer and a member of Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE). Ignacio is keenly aware of the shift towards sustainable development and appreciates the need for design team collaboration to attain this goal.

 

Making the case for green to tenants

Graham Hasall, Project Manager
Halsall Associates

Graham, LEED AP O+M, possesses a keen interest in high performance design and construction. He has over five years’ experience in restoration projects and energy assessments, and has been involved in over 15 million square feet of new and existing building LEED projects, municipal sustainability planning and solar energy system design and construction. Graham’s portfolio includes multi-unit residential, educational, laboratories and renovations to several existing commercial office buildings.

Adrien Deveau, Principal
Halsall Associates

Adrien has been providing consulting services to building managers, developers and designers for over a decade. He has been instrumental in managing and building Hasall Associates's Green Building team. As a project principal for well over 100 green building projects, Adrien's experience includes both new and existing buildings across many sectors. He was a member of the Hasall Associates team that developed the CaGBC LEED-EB rating system. Adrien frequently gives presentations on green building at industry events.

 

Designing multi-family toward net-zero

Brian Scott, Principal Partner
The Communitas Group Ltd.

Brian has a 30-year history with the concept creation, development, financing, education and marketing of housing cooperatives. His involvement has included: development of a framework of the construction of energy-efficient housing and design of appropriate financial models; development of organizational structures for co-operatives; marketing programs; and coordination of research and development programs related to building design, sustainability and environmental quality design.

Dean Turgeon, President and Founder
Vital Engineering

Dean brings 22 years’ expertise in mechanical system design and project management in residential, commercial, institutional and industrial projects. Through his leadership, Vital has been selected as the lead system designers for dozens of innovative commercial and residential projects. In 2010 he was recognized as Technologist of the Year by the Alberta Society of Engineering Technologists and the Canadian Council of Technologists for his work in renewable and alternative energy technology. 

Jennifer Hancock, Director, Sustainable Construction
Chandos Construction Ltd.

Since she joined Chandos more than four years ago, Jen has been instrumental in taking the company to higher levels of excellence in sustainability. Jen is Chandos’ LEED® specialist, mentoring other staff in sustainable initiatives. Jen has worked on numerous LEED® and other sustainable projects and helped to start a Green Team within Chandos. She helped start up a company-wide waste diversion initiative on all Chandos’ construction sites. Last fall, she co-taught the Green Building Strategies course at NAIT.  

 

LRT – catalyst for neighbourhood renewal

Michael Woodland, Partner
GEC Architecture

Michael, formerly a principal with Stantec Architecture, has more than 17 years’ experience in the design and construction industry in Canada and has been involved in numerous international projects. He has extensive experience with Integrated Project Delivery methods and sustainable design for buildings and urban design projects. Michael recently presented at the Alberta Infrastructure Partners Conference as a panelist discussing BIM and its outcomes. He has been a sessional instructor for the University of Alberta and has held several positions for industry-related organizations.

Jeff Schurek, Senior Landscape Architect
ISL Engineering and Land Services

Jeff offers more than 15 years’ experience in the design and construction industry. His experience ranges from large-scale integrated design projects to a variety of work at a provincial and national parks scale. Integration into a design team is key for Jeff's role as a landscape architect and urban designer.
Jeff's work has been recognized by the Consulting Engineers of Alberta for Edmonton's Griesbach redevelopment and residential infill project.

 

Permitting for solar and wind power

John Rilett, Director, Residential Market Development
ENMAX Corporation

John’s responsibilities with ENMAX include the development and commercialization of distributed generation products including solar, residential-scale wind and micro-combined heat and power. He is also responsible for developing carbon offset protocols for micro-generation projects and takes an active role in related policy development. Before joining ENMAX in early 2011, John was Vice-President of Climate Change Central.

 

Moving hospitals toward net-zero energy

Paul Marmion, Buildings Engineering Senior Principal
Stantec (Vancouver)

Paul was awarded the prestigious LEED Fellow designation by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) in October 2011 for his instrumental work in shaping the green building landscape in Canada. He serves as a leader of Stantec Vancouver’s healthcare research and innovation group. He was involved in the writing the National Energy Code of Canada and the ASHRAE Advanced IAQ Guide and is a past director of the CaGBC.

Ray Pradinuk, Architectural Principal
Stantec (Vancouver)

Stantec’s Ray Pradinuk, leader of research and innovation for the health-care group, has been studying the effects of daylighting in hospitals for the past 15 years.

 

Making energy benchmarking more effective

Kirk Johnson, Manager, GREEN UP Program
Canada Green Building Council

Kirk has over 20 years’ experience working in energy management and sustainability. He has designed and/or delivered sustainability programs valued over $200 million for municipal, provincial and national public agencies. Kirk brings to the GREEN UP Program his skills and experience in sustainable program development - integrating technology advances, developing delivery platforms and crafting innovative business models to address changing market needs. He has presented at numerous industry conferences.

 

Efficient + sustainable design strategies

Jeff Rabinovitch, Principal, Sustainable Design Advisor
Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd.

Jeff started his career with Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. (RJC) in Vancouver and joined the Edmonton office in 1998 as a structural project engineer. He is a LEED Accredited Professional. Sustainable building issues and solutions are the focus of Jeff’s work. With over 18 years’ experience, Jeff has worked on the structural design and renovation of a number of significant institutional and commercial projects across Alberta. He is a registered professional engineer in Alberta and British Columbia, and a director of the Alberta Chapter of the American Concrete Institute.

Melissa Kindratsky, Design Engineer, Sustainable Design Advisor
Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd.

While completing her Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree at the University of Calgary, Melissa participated in an international exchange at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh where she was part of a specialized program focusing on the integration of structural engineering and architecture.  At RJC, Melissa has taken a leadership role to enhance sustainable design education for all of RJC’s project engineers and technologists. Melissa is a registered structural design engineer with APEGGA.

 

LEEDing the charge for sustainable neighbourhoods

Robin Levesque, Manager of Land and Properties
City of Medicine Hat

Robin has 20 years’ experience in the private and public sectors related to leadership in sustainable development. He currently leads a team of multidisciplinary professionals that manages a land portfolio worth $100 million. Robin facilitates workshops across Canada and the U.S. for associations, government and the private sector. His credentials include a Master of Arts in Leadership and professional membership in the Project Management Institute and the Real Estate Institute of British Columbia.

 

Lean thinking for green building

Murray Guy, President & CEO
Integrated Designs Inc.

Murray is the founder of IDI, which specializes in breaking down barriers to achieve cost-effective, high-performance building projects and optimizing performance through commissioning. His company has developed the expertise to achieve LEED Gold levels at no additional cost and is currently pioneering the implementation of a lean Integrated Project Delivery process. Murray places high priority on personal adventure and family time and enjoys a variety of outdoor pursuits with his family. He is an experienced and entertaining presenter.