Reese Baker |
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Title: | Founder |
Employer: | The Raincatcher Inc. |
Bio: | Reese Baker, owner and founder of The RainCatcher Inc., is a certified permaculture designer who has been involved with green building, organic farming, water harvesting, erosion control, ecological restoration and permaculture in the Santa Fe area for over 16 years. He holds a B.S. in Biology/Botany from The University of New Mexico and is currently involved in independent research and a graduate program with UNM in biology.
Reese served on the Board of Directors for the Santa Fe Watershed Association and the City of Santa Fe Water Conservation Committee. He has taught many classes on water harvesting, permaculture, and erosion control at Ecoversity, Plants of the Southwest, Santa Fe Preparatory School, Quivira Coalition, Earthworks Institute, Arboretum Tome, Permaculture Institute and Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe Botanical Gardens, Santa Fe Master Gardeners, and the Association for Professional Landscape Designers. |
Doug Bennett |
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Title: | Conservation Manager |
Employer: | Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) |
Bio: | Doug Bennett has more than 28 years’ professional experience relating to water management. As the Conservation Manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas, he oversees one of the most comprehensive water conservation programs in the United States.
Since 2008, he has served as Program Chair for the WaterSmart Innovations Conference, the world’s largest professional event dedicated to urban water efficiency. He served for five years as a water efficiency technical advisor to the U.S. Green Building Council. Bennett holds a bachelor of arts in agriculture and a master of arts in business and personnel management from New Mexico State University. |
Laureen Blissard |
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Title: | Technical Director | |
Employer: | Green Builder® Coalition | |
Bio: | Ms. Blissard is a licensed architect that has built a successful 25-year+ practice in the design & construction of buildings, homes, and interiors. As a RESnet Energy Rater & LEED AP, many of her projects have focused on multi-family certifications and water conservation. Additionally, Laureen serves in the capacity of Technical Director for the Green Builder® Coalition. In her role as the Technical Director, she provides technical advice and specifications in the construction of green homes & buildings. Much of her work emphasizes the efficiency of the thermal envelope and water conservation strategies coupled with tools that measure effectiveness. |
Claudia Borchert |
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Title: | Sustainability Manager |
Employer: | Santa Fe County |
Bio: | Claudia Borchert was recently named Santa Fe County’s Sustainability Manager. In that capacity, she is working with the County’s administration and our community to “green” the place we call home in areas of recycling/solid waste, energy efficiency & renewable energy, transportation, and water resources. For the three previous years, Ms. Borchert was the director of the County’s water and wastewater utility, a 10,000-customer operation. As a water manager and planner for the City of Santa Fe for over 10 years, she worked on policies like the Living River Ordinance, the Long Range Water Supply Plan, and shortage-sharing agreements.
Ms. Borchert received her MS degree from UNM’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in 2002, and a bachelor’s degree in geology from Amherst College in 1990. |
Christine Chavez |
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Title: | Water Conservation Manager |
Employer: | City of Santa Fe |
Bio: | Christine Y. Chavez has a background in water rights administration and energy & water conservation program management in the state of New Mexico. Christine is the Water Conservation Manager for the City of Santa Fe and is a certified Energy Auditor with the Building Performance Institute, Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor with the Irrigation Association, Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper through EPA WaterSense and is working on completion of her WERS Verifier certification through the Green Builder® Coalition.
She is a graduate of New Mexico State University (B.S. in Environmental Science and M.S. in Biology). |
Mike Collignon |
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Title: | Executive Director & Co-Founder | |
Employer: | Green Builder® Coalition | |
Bio: | Mike Collignon is the Executive Director of the Green Builder® Coalition, an organization he co-founded in 2010. He engages in national and state-level advocacy and publishes a monthly member publication and a regular column in Green Builder® Magazine. Mike is the Chair of the WERS Development Group and the Co-Chair of the Next Generation Water Summit. He has presented at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, EEBA, RESNET, Better Buildings: Better Business (Wisconsin), Home Performance Coalition’s Annual Conference, WaterCon, Green Building Focus, StormCon, AWWA’s ACE 2016 and the Sustainable Disaster Recovery Conference. Mike has also delivered testimony at the IECC and IgCC final action hearings. Finally, he has served as the moderator or host for Green Builder® Media’s Impact Series webinars from 2012–present. |
Faren Dancer |
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Title: | President | |
Employer: | Sundancer Creations Custom Builders | |
Bio: | Faren Dancer has spent over 40 years actively promoting and participating in sustainability issues, including green building, energy efficiency, water efficiency, renewable energy, recycling, and local organic food production, as well as promoting the consciousness required to insure our sustainable future.
From the early 1990s to the present, Faren has continued to evolve his sustainable building practices, application of renewable energy and environmental educational outreach through his building models, articles, TV and radio shows, public appearances, classes and seminars. He is Past Chair of the Santa Fe Green Building Council, former co-chair of LEED for Homes New Mexico, Past President of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association and former member of the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission. Faren’s award winning, leading edge, residential building models include net-zero energy, net-zero water and zero carbon, along with the highest green building certifications of LEED for Homes “Platinum” and Build Green New Mexico “Emerald.” Mr. Dancer co-authored the Santa Fe Building Codes and has spearheaded New Mexico State legislation for Home Owner Association regulation regarding solar and water rights. He also emerged as a national force for energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, speaking on Capitol Hill and the National Press Club representing the grassroots of the sustainability movement. His testimony at National Code hearings, along with his net-zero building models, brought a 2009 nomination for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Jeffrey A. Johnson Award for Excellence in Building Energy Codes and Performance. His upcoming book, “The Emerald Home… Our Cultural Shift to Sustainable Values,” will be released through Schiffer Publishing in 2018. |
Mary Ann Dickinson |
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Title: | President & CEO | ||
Employer: | Alliance for Water Efficiency | ||
Bio: | Mary Ann Dickinson is the President and CEO of the Alliance for Water Efficiency, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the efficient & sustainable use of water in the United States and Canada.
Prior to joining the Alliance in July of 2007, Mary Ann was Executive Director of the California Urban Water Conservation Council, a non-profit organization composed of urban water supply agencies, environmental groups, and other entities managing statewide water conservation in California and implementing the nation’s first set of Best Management Practices. Mary Ann has over 40 years of experience, having worked at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. A graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in environmental planning, Mary Ann has authored numerous publications on water conservation, land use planning, and natural resources management, and has co-produced two films which have aired on public television and community cable stations. Mary Ann is currently Chair of the Efficient Urban Water Management Specialist Group for the International Water Association, past Chair of the American Water Works Association National Water Conservation Division, past President of the California Irrigation Institute, past President of the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District, and currently serves as a Board member of the Green Building Initiative, Texas Water Foundation, and River Network. Mary Ann has presented numerous papers on water conservation internationally and all across the United States and Canada. |
Bob Drew |
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Title: | Founder |
Employer: | EcoVie Environmental, LLC |
Bio: | Bob Drew is the founder of ECOVIE Environmental LLC, which is a water management company focusing on greywater recycling and rainwater collection systems. Bob formerly worked in process industries for 23 years in a variety of R&D, engineering, and operations positions. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering (University of Wisconsin) and an MBA (UCLA). |
David Dunlap |
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Title: | Director of Operations | |
Employer: | Baywa r.e. Solar Systems LLC | |
Bio: | David Dunlap is a member of the development group for the Water Efficiency Rating Score (WERS)® with the Green Builder® Coalition, and helped with the programming of the original WERS tool, as well as co-teaching the first WERS Verifier training class in the country. David is currently serving on the Board of Trustees for the Santa Fe Area Green Building Council.
David’s primary role is the Director of Operations for Baywa r.e. Solar Systems, LLC, a distributor of Solar PV equipment and supplies to the Americas. Serving the local and regional installers of both residential and commercial PV systems, he supports all of the day to day operational and supply chain logistics for distribution, bringing globally manufactured equipment to the North American market. Before joining BayWa r.e., David wore the various hats of Senior Project Manager, Estimator, and Assistant Designer for a multiple award winning custom design/build firm in Santa Fe NM. He is also a trained HERS rater and green verifier. David is passionate about green building and renewable energy and has been a strong advocate for PV, solar thermal, water conservation and using green building practices in all the homes he built over 16 years. He also worked for the West Region Energy team at Honeywell Building Solutions, selling energy and water efficiency upgrade projects in the public sector. |
Bill Eckman |
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Title: | Trainer |
Employer: | Santa Fe Community College |
Bio: | Bill started in residential and light commercial construction in 2001. From there, Bill has transitioned to existing construction to focus on energy efficiency in residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. Through this journey, Bill has filled many roles in weatherization, training, and utility programs. Currently, Bill is the primary trainer at The EnergySmart Academy at Santa Fe Community College, as well as the Energy Advisor to the PNM Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program. Whether in the classroom, or in the field, Bill constantly uses a holistic viewpoint to help make our built environment safer, more comfortable, energy efficient, and sustainable for future generations. |
Sandra Ely |
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Title: | Aamodt Project Manager |
Employer: | Santa Fe County Utilities |
Bio: | Sandra is the Aamodt Settlement Project Manager for Santa Fe County. In this position, she helps manage the implementation of the Aamodt Settlement Agreement. Previous to her current position, Sandra worked for the New Mexico Environment Department for 20 years in various capacities including Environment and Energy Policy Coordinator and Air Quality Bureau Chief.
Sandra holds a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley, a B.S. in Nursing from Creighton University and a M.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon. |
Denise Fort |
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Title: | Professor of Law |
Employer: | University of New Mexico School of Law |
Bio: | Denise D. Fort is an environmental consultant and Emerita Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law. She resigned her position as a Professor of Law and Director of the School’s Utton Center to focus on climate change and environmental advocacy, as a citizen (Chair of the Energy Committee for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club; convener of activists, issue advocacy) and a lawyer. She chaired the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission, by appointment of President Clinton, which prepared a seminal report on western water policy. Fort also served as Director of New Mexico’s Environmental Improvement Division, as an attorney with New Mexico PIRG and Southwest Research and Information Center, and as Executive Director of Citizens for a Better Environment (CA). She was a member of the National Research Council’s Water, Science, and Technology Board and participated in NRC reports. Her research and publications address environmental law, water policy, river restoration, and climate policy. Other positions include experience in public finance as the Secretary of Finance and Administration for New Mexico and as an assistant Attorney General in the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. |
Mayor Javier Gonzales |
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Title: | Mayor |
Employer: | City of Santa Fe |
Bio: | Javier Gonzales is a past County Commissioner, State Democratic Chair, and university regent. An advocate for pro-immigrant cities, he’s fighting to expand Early Childhood Education and has launched innovative programs in public health, climate change, poverty and inclusivity. Mayor Gonzales is proud to lead the top New Mexico city in Film and Startup Employment. |
Kyle Harwood |
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Title: | Partner |
Employer: | Egolf + Ferlic + Harwood, LLC |
Bio: | Kyle S. Harwood is an attorney and water resources professional who, prior to becoming of counsel to Egolf + Ferlic + Harwood, LLC, was owner of Harwood Consulting, PC which provided legal and interdisciplinary water resource consulting services through New Mexico.
Kyle has advised clients and litigated on their behalf on land & water law regulation and policy issues throughout New Mexico. He also drafts regulations and policy for clients. He has authored numerous articles on water resource issues and lectured on land use & water law. Kyle represents public, private, nonprofit and governmental clients, in water and natural resource issues, including special master assignments and expert witness services. Kyle received recognition as a New Mexico State Bar Board Certified Specialist in Natural Resource Law – Water Law in 2013. Kyle was certified as an instructor for the New Mexico Real Estate Commission in 2012 and has taught classes in water law to hundreds of real estate professionals. Kyle is a former board member and chair of the New Mexico State Bar Natural Resources, Environment and Energy Law (NREEL) Section. |
Tom Hicks |
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Title: | Partner | |
Employer: | Hicks Law | |
Bio: | Hicks Law is comprised of Tom Hicks and Aaron Baker, California water law, real property, and conservation attorneys who represent a variety of public interest organizations, landowners, and others on select public policy, transactional, administrative, regulatory, and litigation matters.
Tom is a recognized California and western regional expert in the public interest water law niche of voluntary water right transactions and instream transfers. His client work also includes prominent pro bono public interest advocacy related to the 2014 California Water Bond (Prop One), including written comments and testimony at public hearings before the state agencies and projects that enhance stream flow. He specially represents Trout Unlimited’s Western Water Project on the federal tax deductibility of gifts of appropriative water rights. Before law school, Tom was an energy and water policy analyst at the Natural Heritage Institute and the founder and Executive Director of the Headwaters Institute. He has interned at the San Francisco Office of the City Attorney, California State Water Resources Control Board, and American Rivers. Tom founded and chaired the inaugural California Water Law Symposium sponsored by leading northern California law schools and is a Board member. He is the author of the Water Education Foundation Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of California water rights law available to non-lawyers. Tom is a former Rio Grande and Taos Box whitewater raft guide, kayaker, and Colorado Outward Bound School instructor. He holds a JD from the University of San Francisco School of Law and a BA from the University of Vermont. |
Regina Hirsch |
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Title: | Founder |
Employer: | Sierra Watershed Progressive |
Bio: | Regina Hirsch has 18 years of experience monitoring and implementing watershed-based Best Management Practices solutions and assessing effectiveness cumulative of non-point source pollution treatments. After catching the watershed monitoring bug at the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board and the Morro Bay National Estuary Program, she founded Sierra Watershed Progressive, a consulting/contracting firm which focuses on sharpening tools for LID Best Management Practices aimed at rehydrating watersheds and enhancing instream flows throughout California. Since 2009, Sierra Watershed Progressive has designed, installed and monitored projects which increase resiliency and onsite sustainable water budgets through water conservation and reuse within critical wildland-urban interfaces. She has facilitated and implemented multiple training and outreach platforms with multiple organizations including Central Coast Salmon Enhancement, California Onsite Water Association, UC Masters Gardeners, California Conservation Corp, Tuolumne River Trust, local Resource Conservation Districts, as well as multiple public and private schools throughout Central California.
In addition, Regina is an executive board member of the California Water Reuse Policy Council. Regina Hirsch’s goal is to focus on integrated, collaborative appropriate decision making when it comes to water, energy, plants, soils and most of all, community. |
Kathy Holian |
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Title: | Commissioner |
Employer: | Santa Fe County |
Bio: | After Kathy retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory as a computational physicist, she was elected to public office as a Santa Fe County Commissioner.
Water has always been one of the most important issues in the County. When the Buckman Direct Diversion (BDD) water treatment plant was completed, the County Water Utility was created and began to serve customers in the unincorporated areas of the County near the City of Santa Fe. Kathy served on the BDD Board for two years (2012 – 2013) as co-chair and chair of the Board. Kathy was also involved with setting policies and developing funding for extending the County water system into the more rural areas of the County where there are problems with water quality and/or quantity. She also was a co-chair of the Steering Committee that was formed in 2015 to update the Jemez y Sangre Regional Water Plan — a state-directed effort through the Interstate Stream Commission. Kathy currently serves on the boards for three different non-profits: the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, the Forest Stewards Guild, and the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute. All three organizations are concerned about water supply in our area in various ways. On the home front, Kathy and her husband live on Glorieta Mesa, where their entire water supply is from captured rainwater. Off the roof of the house, they collect water that goes into 10,000 gallons of storage in underground cisterns, sufficient for their own domestic use. In addition, they collect 900 gallons of water into two tanks near the horse barn and garage for their two horses, garden, and expanding orchard. |
Peter Ives |
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Title: | Councilor | ||
Employer: | City of Santa Fe | ||
Bio: | Peter N. Ives is a graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of the State of New Mexico and Navajo Nation bars.
Peter also serves as a City of Santa Fe Councilor from District 2 and was selected by Major Javier Gonzales to serve as his initial Mayor Pro Tem. Having successfully sought re-election, Peter now serves on the Public Works Committee; he chairs the Water Conservation Committee, is a member of the Finance Committee, is an Alternate Director of the Coalition of LANL Communities, a member of the Santa Fe Health Care and Hospital Study Group. He also serves as Parliamentarian for the City Council. Peter looks to Santa Fe’s Sustainable Future as a guiding principle, acknowledges the deep ties between its diverse cultures and respects and honors the historical richness that defines the City. Peter sees Santa Fe as a community that lives intentionally, in which real efforts are made to respect each other and the community. Peter has practiced law in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 33 years and for the last 18 of those as Senior Counsel at The Trust for Public Land. Working in TPL’s Santa Fe Office, Peter works primarily in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona, as well as work for TPL’s Geographic Information Systems division. During his tenure with TPL, Peter has worked on and facilitated the closing of hundreds of conservation transactions. The work has involved extensive work with private land owners to accomplish their financial and conservation goals, private, federal, state and local agencies and funding and work with conservation buyers, dealing with fee and less than fee (conservation easements) interests. |
Richard Jennings |
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Title: | Designer & Project Manager |
Employer: | Earthwrights Designs and Water Management Associates, Inc. |
Bio: | Richard Jennings is a principle of Earthwrights Designs and Water Management Associates, Inc. He has been working in the field of water reclamation since 1997. The company’s specialties are planning, design, construction, and maintenance of water and soil systems. They combine water conservation, active and passive water harvesting, effluent recycling, and landscape ecology. He has given talks in the U.S. and abroad. He taught for 10 years, and worked with many organizations. In the past, he has worked as a community organizer for garden co-ops, sound system designer, vegetarian chef, electrician, food manufacturer, and landscape designer. He has received patents in the USA, EU, and Hong Kong for his inventions. His current focus is community water and food security. The method is carbon capture in living soils, efficient use of water resources, and communicating with all our relations to make deals on an eco-systemic level. |
Art Jensen |
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Title: | CEO (retired) |
Employer: | Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency |
Bio: | Art Jensen’s 40+ years of experience in water resource management included the formation and leadership of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), a public water agency in California. As BAWSCA’s CEO, Art worked with a 26-member Board of Directors and with the managers and staff of the 26 member agencies that purchase water from San Francisco and which comprise BAWSCA and serve over 1.7 million residents and businesses.
As BAWSCA’s CEO, Art: · Pursued six pieces of state legislation that were approved by the legislature and signed by the governor · Ensured San Francisco adopted and implemented a $4.6 billion program to rebuild the San Francisco Regional Water System · Initiated and negotiated a 25-year water supply agreement with San Francisco with, and on behalf of the 26 cities, water districts and investor-owned water companies that serve people outside San Francisco · Issued $313 million in revenue bonds to prepay debt owed to San Francisco, saving water customers $62 million · Oversaw regional water conservation programs including rebate, efficient and native landscaping, and educational programs Art served for six years as the deputy and acting general manager of the San Francisco Water Department. Prior to working for San Francisco, Art worked with a consulting firm on the San Francisco water system and other water and wastewater systems. Art taught hydrology and hydraulics courses at Stanford and the UC Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Science at the California Institute of Technology. |
Aaron Kauffman |
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Title: | Founder |
Employer: | Southwest Urban Hydrology |
Bio: | Originally from Santa Fe, Aaron Kauffman has over 15 years’ experience analyzing and implementing simple and pragmatic solutions to watershed degradation. Aaron has a broad background in land management, including reforestation projects in the Dominican Republic, monitoring and evaluation of pre- and post-fire erosion rates in oak savanna environments near the US-Mexico border, and stream restoration throughout the southwestern US. He founded Southwest Urban Hydrology LLC in 2012. Aaron has also developed and taught community workshops and courses, including a Watershed Management class as part of the Sustainable Technologies program at the Santa Fe Community College. More recently, he has dedicated himself to addressing urban watershed issues, such as stormwater pollutants, urban heat island effect, and channel degradation from flooding.
Aaron completed his undergraduate degree in Ecological Studies at Seattle University and a received a Master of Science in Watershed Hydrology and Management from the University of Arizona. |
Jeremiah Kidd |
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Title: | Director |
Employer: | San Isidro Permaculture Inc. |
Bio: | Jeremiah Kidd’s work is directed by Permaculture Principles, a whole system science based approach to design. He is a certified Permaculture Designer and is an accredited and certified Rainwater Catchment Professional through ARCSA (American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association). He has taught and consulted as the founder of San Isidro Permaculture (SIP) and a partner of Permaculture Design International on hundreds of projects in the USA, Africa, Central America, the Caribbean and Asia.
Established in 2000, SIP is a design and installation company focused on water catchment, grey water systems, native and edible plant landscapes, erosion control, and land restoration. Prior to establishing SIP, Jeremiah was a partner at Living Structures, Inc., a permaculture-based design/installation green building firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico. |
Cynthia Koehler |
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Title: | Executive Director & Co-Founder |
Employer: | WaterNow Alliance |
Bio: | Cynthia is an environmental attorney and water policy expert with 20 years of experience working on federal and state water issues and legislation. She was previously the Environmental Defense Fund’s Legislative Director for California water issues, and the Legal Director for Save San Francisco Bay. She is currently serving her 4th term as a Board Member of the Marin Municipal Water District. She is also on the Water Education Foundation Board and the Sierra Nevada Research Institute Directors’ Council. |
Justin Lyon |
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Title: | Senior Associate Civil & Environmental Engineer |
Employer: | Biohabitats |
Bio: | Mr. Lyon’s broad background encompasses a wide range of engineering, design and environmental work in a variety of geographic regions. His educational background includes a degree in civil engineering from Bucknell University, a graduate certificate in Environmental Planning and Management from Johns Hopkins University, and a Masters in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins.
He began his career working in Santa Barbara, CA where he gained valuable experience in site civil engineering, land development, surveying and environmental planning. The first at this firm to obtain both Professional Licensure and LEED accreditation, Mr. Lyon designed water, sewer, storm drain, grading and drainage, erosion control and tentative map plans in addition to environmental permitting and impact assessments. To focus on more progressive and sustainable projects, specifically in an international setting, Mr. Lyon established his own consulting firm in Nicaragua, where he specialized in environmentally conscious projects such as off-grid housing, sustainable site development, recycled material retaining walls, eco-lodges, decommissioned shipping container hostels, and organic farm site management. Now an Associate Civil and Environmental Engineer with Biohabitats, Mr. Lyon has worked on integrated water strategies and site civil projects at both a master plan level through detailed construction documents, which serve as leading examples of both engineering and environmental stewardship. These projects often involve wastewater reuse, greywater recycling, rainwater harvesting, and other methods of efficiently, and often naturally, collecting, treating and reusing our most precious resource. His project experience ranges from small affordable housing complexes to Embassies and technology campuses in Silicon Valley. |
Michelle Maddaus
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Title: | President |
Employer: | Maddaus Water Management |
Bio: | Michelle Maddaus, P.E., is a registered civil engineer in California with 18 years of experience, a wide variety of which is in the water resources field. Michelle has been Project Manager for dozens of water conservation plans since 2003. Some of the California plans completed in the past few years include East Bay Municipal Utility District, Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD), Sonoma County Water Agency (9 individual water agencies), City of Oceanside, City of Santa Barbara, and Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) representing 26 water agencies.
Michelle has been working with urban water management plans since 2000, including the City of Sacramento (2000), Calistoga (2005), Suisun-Solano Water Authority (2005, 2010, 2016), South Tahoe Public Utilities (2010), Liberty Utilities (2016), Mid-Peninsula Water District (2016), City of Sonoma (2016) and the technical demand analysis portion of the UWMPs for over 57 agencies, like Marin Municipal Water District, North Marin County Water District, City of Santa Rosa, City of Petaluma, City of Rohnert Park, Town of Windsor, City of Sonoma, Valley of the Moon, City of Cotati. She also produced a Water Conservation and Implementation Plan for San Luis Obispo County’s Los Osos Service Area. Michelle is comfortable designing both indoor and outdoor conservation programs with current technology. She has conducted over 300 CII audits and has directly witnessed equipment and program needs of the water customers, including the survey for facilities in California, Washington, and Hawaii. Her water audit experience includes facilities in Sonoma County, City of Burlingame, University of California Santa Cruz, Stanford Linear Accelerator, and Stanford University Campus. Michelle is also an excellent trainer who has done in-person trainings for over 200 people on the DSS Model and for over 400 people regarding how to conduct a CII water efficiency survey. Michelle is affiliated with the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and is a past chair of the Climate Change Committee, which she helped launch in 2008 and now has over 100 members nationwide. In March 2012, Michelle won the OASIS award from AWWA for her leadership for the Climate Change committee. In 2013, she co-authored Preparing Urban Water Efficiency Plans – A Best Practice Guide published by the International Water Association. She led the Maddaus Water Management team in updating AWWA’s Manual of Water Supply Practices, M52, Water Conservation Programs – A Planning Manual in 2014-2016. The manual is due to be published in late 2017. Michelle has a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and an M.B.A. from UC Davis. |
Ed Mazria |
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Title: | Founder & CEO | ||
Employer: | Architecture 2030 | ||
Bio: | Edward Mazria is an internationally recognized architect, author, researcher, and educator. Over the past decade, his seminal research into the sustainability, resilience, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions of the built environment has redefined the role of architecture, planning, design, and building, in reshaping our world. He is the founder of Architecture 2030, a think tank developing real-world solutions for 21st century problems, and host of the AIA+2030 Professional Education Series and 2030 Districts movement in North American cities.
Mazria issued the 2030 Challenge and introduced the 2030 Palette, a revolutionary new platform that puts the principles behind low-carbon/zero carbon and resilient built environments at the fingertips of architects, planners, and designers worldwide. In 2014, he presented the Roadmap to Zero Emissions at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change calling for zero emissions in the built environment by 2050, and drafted the 2050 Imperative, endorsed by professional organizations representing over 1.3 million architects in 124 countries worldwide. |
Melissa McDonald |
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Title: | River & Watershed Coordinator | |
Employer: | City of Santa Fe | |
Bio: | Melissa McDonald is the City of Santa Fe’s River and Watershed Coordinator. In addition to managing a variety of watershed projects, Melissa works closely with multiple city departments, state and federal agencies, non-profit partners, and neighborhood groups on issues that affect our river.
In July 2016, Melissa submitted a report to the City Council and the Mayor titled, “An Infiltration Model for Enhanced Stormwater Management.” Upon the governing body’s approval of that report, she began the process of updating the City’s 20-year-old Stormwater Management Plan. By October, the City was chosen to be one of only five cities in the nation to work with the EPA on a new web-based tool designed to assist communities as they update their stormwater management plans. She holds a degree with honors in Landscape Architecture from Virginia Tech and is a licensed Landscape Architect who spent much of her career in the private sector with Santa Fe Permaculture and PermaDesign. In 2003, Melissa worked with the New Mexico legislature and numerous state officials to pass New Mexico’s groundbreaking greywater-recycling law. For over a decade, she also served as the vice chair of the City of Santa Fe’s Water Conservation Committee, and she is currently the staff liaison for the Santa Fe River Commission. |
Katherine Mortimer |
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Title: | Sustainable Land Use Supervisor |
Employer: | City of Santa Fe |
Bio: | Katherine Mortimer is the Sustainable Land Use Supervisor for the City of Santa Fe, where she prepared and implemented the City’s landmark Green Building Code, which she updated in 2016 to include performance measures for water conservation similar to requirements for energy performance measures included in the original code. Katherine coordinates work on water conservation with cities across the southwest through her work with the Western Adaptation Alliance, a network of communities working together to address the unique challenges of climate change on the arid intermountain southwest. Katherine has 30 years of experience in environmental planning and design, mostly in the San Francisco Bay area.
She has a bachelor of architecture from the California College of the Arts, with honors, and a Masters in Landscape Architecture – Environmental Planning from the University of California at Berkeley. |
Charlee Myers |
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Title: | Owner |
Employer: | Mountain & Mesa Construction |
Bio: | Charlee Myers has been a licensed General Contractor in the State of New Mexico since 1991 and has specialized in the sales and installation of rainwater harvesting systems throughout New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona for the past 23 years.
Charlee is a graduate of Columbia University and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) for the past four years. He is also an ARCSA Accredited Rainwater Professional and is co-author of the Rainwater Harvesting Manual, which is used in training professionals across the United States and Canada. |
Kelley Nace |
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Title: | Sales Manager |
Employer: | The Firebird |
Bio: | Kelley Nace holds two national Irrigation Association certifications: Irrigation Designer and Landscape Irrigation Auditor. He also holds a New Mexico irrigation contractor’s license, MS6. Kelley has been working with drip irrigation for over 30 years and is the sales manager of The Firebird, a locally owned irrigation supply house. He has previously presented at the New Mexico Master Gardner’s Conference and has taught numerous in-house classes. |
Tracy Neal |
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Title: | Consultant |
Employer: | Self |
Bio: | Having worked in Albuquerque nurseries since 1974, Tracy Neal moved to Santa Fe in 1986 to manage the nursery at Santa Fe Greenhouses. While there, he introduced many new and under-utilized plants to the Santa Fe market. From 1995 to 2011, he worked as the horticulturist and co-designer at two landscape design/build firms that he founded with partners. Since October of 2011, Tracy has dedicated himself to garden consultation and teaching, offering classes through the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, the Santa Fe Community College, and the Santa Fe Master Gardeners.
In 2001, he created the Recommended Woody Plant List for the City of Santa Fe, which he has since updated to take into account the effects of climate change. In 2012, Tracy created a list of Recommended Fruit Trees for Santa Fe, and in 2015 he worked with other professional gardeners to create the lists of Low Water Use Plants for Santa Fe and Shade Tolerant Plants for Santa Fe. He has been a Certified Arborist since 2000 and is a member of the Municipal Tree Advisory Board for the City of Santa Fe. |
Steve Onstad
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Title: | Founder | |
Employer: | EverGreen Building Solutions, LLC | |
Bio: | Steve is the Founder of EverGreen Building Solutions, LLC, which provides green building services including building science consulting, Home Energy Rating System analysis, Santa Fe green code compliance, Sustainable Building Tax Credit application assistance and LEED compliance assistance. Steve is a RESNET HERS and Green Rater, LEED Green Rater, Passive House Institute PHIUS+Rater, National Green Building Standard Green Verifier, Water Efficiency Rating Score Rater, EPA WaterSense Inspector, Energy Star Partner and DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Partner. Steve has a Bachelor of Science in Business with a minor in Engineering, Magna cum Laude, from the University of Colorado and a Masters of Business Administration from New York University. |
Doug Pushard |
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Title: | Founder | |
Employer: | Harvest H2O | |
Bio: | Doug is a lifetime American Rainwater Catchment System Association (ARCSA) member, an Accredited Professional and an ex-Board member of ARCSA. He is a prolific writer and his articles have appeared in The New York Times, Water Efficiency Magazine, Home Power, Taos News and Water News, among others. He also has a regular monthly column in the Santa Fe New Mexican. He is co-author of two water studies that have been widely published: “Rainwater Harvesting Industry Market Size and Trends” and “First-Ever Long-Term Water Conservation Rebate Study”.
Doug is an EPA WaterSense Partner with Certification in Irrigation Auditing. He is an active member of the City of Santa Fe Water Conservation Committee. He is currently a member of the International Code Committee (ICC) working group that is drafting the ICC Rainwater Harvesting Building Codes. Doug is also a certified Permaculture Designer. Doug designs and consults on rainwater and water reuse systems locally and around the country. |
Kevin Reidy |
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Title: | State Water Conservation Specialist |
Employer: | Colorado Water Conservation Board |
Bio: | Kevin received his Bachelor of Science from Colorado State University in Recreation Resources Management and a M.S. degree in Forest Ecology & Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In between, he served in the Peace Corps in Honduras, Central America working in Pico Bonito National Park. During graduate school, he focused on social & cultural aspects of forest management and conducted his Master’s thesis research in Colorado, surveying landowners on their knowledge of and orientation to wildfire mitigation education & practices. Kevin worked for Aurora Water for 7 years as the Water Conservation Supervisor overseeing all aspects of the water conservation division.
Presently, he is the State Water Conservation Technical Specialist at the Colorado Water Conservation Board and has worked in this position since 2009. He provides technical & financial assistance to water providers across Colorado for water efficiency planning & implementation, works on long range statewide water supply & demand forecasting and develops statewide water conservation policy through research & projects. He was the lead author for the water conservation, water reuse and land use sections of Colorado’s Water Plan. |
Bill Roth |
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Title: | Owner |
Employer: | Modern Design + Construction Inc. |
Bio: | Bill Roth has been a licensed General Contractor since 1998. He specializes in small, energy efficient homes under 2,000 sq. ft. He also provides 3D CAD drafting and design services, with an emphasis on sustainable design practices. Roth has won numerous homebuilding awards, is a former President of the Santa Fe Area Homebuilders Association and is a Co-Founder of the WERS Development Group. His green building training includes a Tree and Natural Resource Preservation certificate (included Construction Site Damage Prevention), Home Innovation Research Labs Green Verifier, RESNET HERS Rater and Energy Star for Homes 3.0 Training. Finally, as a short film maker, his animated films have been shown in over 25 different film festivals around the United States. |
Rolston St. Hilaire |
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Title: | Professor and Dept. Head |
Employer: | New Mexico State University |
Bio: | Rolston St. Hilaire is a professor and department head in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University. He teaches courses in landscape horticulture and environmental stress physiology.
He holds a Ph.D. from Iowa State University. Dr. St. Hilaire’s research focuses on plant stress physiology, the development of tools that promote efficient water use in residential landscapes, and mapping and categorizing land cover in urban ecosystems. He is the author of the book “Landscape Plants for the Lower Rio Grande Valley” and has published over 126 papers in scientific journals and in the popular press. He has won awards for both his teaching and research and is the originator of the Mesa Glow™ bigtooth maple tree. |
Kim Shanahan |
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Title: | Executive Officer |
Employer: | Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association |
Bio: | Kim is the Executive Officer of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association, a position he has held since the end of 2008. Prior to that he was a residential builder of green, affordable housing subdivisions in Santa Fe, NM.
Kim helped the City of Santa Fe draft and adopt one of the country’s first comprehensive residential green construction codes, based on the 2008 National Green Building Standard. As an Executive Officer, he serves on the Executive Officers Council Board of Directors representing Region E, which encompasses most of the western United States. He also serves as the EOC Liaison to NAHB’s Construction Codes & Standards Committee. Finally, he is the Board Chair of the Green Builder® Coalition. |
Neal Shapiro |
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Title: | Watershed Management Program Coordinator |
Employer: | City of Santa Monica |
Bio: | Mr. Shapiro is the Senior Sustainability Analyst and Watershed Management Coordinator for the City of Santa Monica’s Office of Sustainability & the Environment, and an Envision™ Sustainability Professional, Certified Professional in Storm Water Quality (CPSWQ) and a Certified Stormwater Manager (CSM) and Inspector. He is a Member of the Water Efficiency & Sanitation Standard Technical Committee of the International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), on the Editorial Board of Watershed Science Bulletin, and a former Director and Secretary on the Board of Directors for ARCSA. He was recently appointed to the National Blue Ribbon Commission to Accelerate the Adoption of Urban Onsite Water Reuse. He oversees watershed management programs, all geared to reduce water pollution and use our precious, limited water resources in a sustainable manner (with a focus on rainwater/stormwater harvesting and use/reuse in association with post-construction structural Low Impact Development BMPs).
He worked previously with The Jacques Cousteau Society, researching global water issues for films, books, policies, and expeditions. Neal attended the University of Delaware, receiving a Master’s in Marine Policy, and the University of California at Santa Barbara, receiving a Bachelor’s in Aquatic Biology. |
Jonah Schein |
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Title: | Technical Coordinator for Homes & Buildings |
Employer: | EPA’s WaterSense Program |
Bio: | Jonah Schein is the Technical Coordinator for Homes & Buildings at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) WaterSense® Program. He has overseen the technical development and implementation of the WaterSense Homes specification and certification system since their inception. He is also responsible for efforts to expand the WaterSense program’s reach in the multi-family and commercial sectors through analytics, modeling, and benchmarking.
Prior to joining EPA in 2008, Mr. Schein served as the Director of Outreach for Earth Day Network (EDN) where he was responsible for a number of initiatives to promote water efficiency through green building strategies in the United States and Middle East. Mr. Schein holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from Indiana University as well as a Master of Science in Environmental Science from the Johns Hopkins University. |
Glenn Schiffbauer |
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Title: | Executive Director |
Employer: | Santa Fe Green Chamber of Commerce |
Bio: | Glenn Schiffbauer, Executive Director of the Santa Fe Chapter of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce, is a native New Mexican. He received his BBA from New Mexico State University and his MBA from the Robert O. Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico. After 16 years in management at renowned Rancho Encantado, he started two small businesses in Santa Fe. He also worked with his wife Kim as a consultant for businesses statewide in both marketing and public affairs. In 2005, he became a liaison and project manager for Robert Redford in New Mexico working on a variety of projects from film to governmental to green construction. In October 2012, he became Executive Director for the newly founded Santa Fe Chapter of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce.
Glenn serves on the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission, Mayor Gonzales’ Climate Action Task Force and the Santa Fe Green Lodging Initiative. |
Liz Stefanics |
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Title: | State Senator |
Employer: | State of New Mexico |
Bio: | In January 2017, Liz started her second round in the New Mexico Senate representing the 39th district. She first served as a state senator from 1993 to 1997, during which time she co-chaired the Health and Human Services Interim Committee. Subsequently, she was the deputy secretary of the New Mexico Human Services Department and was later appointed by then Governor Bill Richardson as the director of the New Mexico Health Policy Commission. Liz served as the 5th District Santa Fe County Commissioner from 2009 – 2016.
Liz graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky University, before earning a Masters in resource management at the University of Wisconsin and a Doctorate in administration and law from the University of Minnesota. In addition, she has done post-doctoral work at the University of New Mexico in public administration and health care. She spent more than ten years as the executive director of Open Hands, a charity serving the elderly, disabled and poor. Before that, she was executive director of New Mexico AIDS Services. |
Yvette Tovar |
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Title: | Executive Director |
Employer: | The New Mexico Water Collaborative |
Bio: | Yvette is the Founder and Executive Director of The New Mexico Water Collaborative, a nonprofit organization since 2010. The NMWC’s mission is focused on solutions to the water crisis in New Mexico through the implementation of water conservation and reclamation technologies, and through intercultural dialogue connecting issues of water scarcity and the cultural significance of water for our traditional communities deeply rooted in New Mexico.
Yvette came to an understanding about the water crisis facing our state through her work in the field of landscape architecture. In this field, she came to understand that there was a need to focus on solutions to our water challenges in New Mexico with a focus on green technologies, underserved communities, and education. |
Peter Wirth |
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Title: | State Senator | ||
Employer: | New Mexico State Senate | ||
Bio: | Senator Peter Wirth is the new Majority Floor Leader of the state Senate. He was first elected to the New Mexico Legislature in 2004, winning a five-way Democratic primary in House District 47. He has served in the New Mexico Senate since 2008, representing District 25, which includes a large portion of Santa Fe.
In addition to his leadership role in the Senate, Senator Wirth, serves on the Judiciary and Senate Conservation Committees. He is also a member of the interim Water and Natural Resources Committee and the Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Committee. During his twelve years in the Legislature, 53 of the bills Senator Wirth sponsored are now law. During the 2017 legislative session, 7 bills he carried passed both chambers. He also sponsored a joint resolution for the Courts, which will be on the 2018 ballot. Common Cause named Senator Wirth as the 2011 recipient of the “Jack Taylor Best in Government” award. When he is not working at the Legislature, Senator Wirth is a lawyer and mediator in Santa Fe. |