Sustainable Business Leadership Forum
LEEDing the Way: Leadership in Energy, Environmental and Business Design
Featured Speakers:
George Denise—Cushman & Wakefield for Adobe Systems Incorporated
Elie Rothschild—Sustainable Energy Partners
Melanie Lapointe—Swinerton Builders
Moderator: Dan Geiger—U.S. Green Building Council of Northern California
Business leaders from every sector of the building industry will discuss how they are working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. The panel will focus on practical solutions that can transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, and that support business objectives and achieve a high return on investment.
Thursday, October 16
5:30–8pm
Location:
San Francisco office
Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Admission is $25.
George Denise
George Denise is General Manager of facilities for Cushman & Wakefield, providing management services for Adobe's North American properties. Adobe's three headquarters buildings in San Jose, and their two buildings in San Francisco have all been certified as green buildings through the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Adobe's West Tower was the first building certified at the platinum level in the permanent LEED for Existing Buildings program. Adobe is the only organization to have four properties certified at the platinum level.
Mr. Denise is the incoming president for the Building Owner's and Manager's Association (BOMA) Silicon Valley Chapter and the Co-Chairman of BOMA's Energy and Sustainability Committee. He is a member of BOMA International's Energy Efficiency Program or "BEEP" Task Force, a member of BOMA International's Green Lease Task Force, Western Regional Chairman for Cushman & Wakefield's National Energy Committee, and a member of the USGBC's LEED-EB Core Committee.
Mr. Denise has been a property manager for 30 years, working for Cushman & Wakefield for the past two decades. He is a Certified Facility Manager (CFM) through the International Facility Management Association, a Certified Property Manager (CPM) through the Institute of Real Estate Management, and a Facility Management Administrator (FMA) and Real Property Administrator (RPA) through the Building Owners and Managers Association.
Elie Rothschild
Elie Rothschild is the CEO and founder of Sustainable Energy Partners (SEP), the leading clean energy firm for commercial buildings. SEP guides owners, developers and managers in improving the financial and environmental performance for their portfolio of properties. SEP designs sustainable systems, clean energy, carbon reduction and LEED solutions that maximize financing, streamline the green building process and enhance profitability.
SEP has pioneered new markets for the Solar PV industry and Elie is a leader in the renewable energy and sustainable building industries. He is a licensed solar contractor, certified energy inspector and trained performance contractor and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin business school. He is also a founding partner of Sustainable Spaces Inc., the residential energy efficiency company. Elie has led large-scale sustainable building projects for Westfield, SAP, Chronicle Books and Mission Plaza.
Melanie Lapointe
Melanie Lapointe is Assistant Project Manager at Swinerton Builders. She is responsible for compiling contract change orders, soliciting material and subcontractor quotes, preparing and reviewing progress estimates and purchase orders, field supervision, preparing job and weekly schedules, estimating man-hour rates, assembling bid packages, prepare purchase orders, submittals, RFIs and cost estimating. In addition, Melanie supervises project engineers through understanding of plans and specifications.
Melanie has nine years of experience, including six with Swinerton Builders. Her project experience includes affordable housing, student housing, hotels, and schools. She has a B. Eng., Civil Engineering from McGill University (Canada) and is a LEED Accredited Professional and member of USGBC (Northern California Chapter).
Dan Geiger (Moderator)
Dan Geiger is the Executive Director of U.S. Green Building Council of Northern California. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a mission-driven trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated. USGBC has more than 15,000 member organizations from every sector of the building industry and a community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation. To achieve this it has developed a variety of programs and services, and works closely with key industry and research organizations and federal, state and local government agencies.
The USGBC is best known for the development of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system and Greenbuild, a green building conference that promotes the green building industry, including environmentally responsible materials, sustainable architecture techniques and public policy.
The U.S. Green Building Council - Northern California Chapter is a diverse group of individuals in a region active in and receptive to progressive sustainable building goals. The Chapter has about 1,000 members, with branches in Monterey Bay, Sacramento and Silicon Valley, and is headquartered in San Francisco.
Dan has more than 25 years of executive and consulting experience including: the Executive Director of Groundspring.org; Co-Founder and CEO of OpNet, a nationally recognized program that prepared low-income people for the digital economy; and Vice-President positions with YouthNoise, Inc. and Act Now Productions. As Principal of Geiger Consulting, Dan specialized in business and strategic planning, fund raising, nonprofit technology and internet strategy, and organizational development. He was also Director of Development of the Vanguard Public Foundation, and Marketing Manager and Account Executive for Wang Laboratories, Inc. Mr. Geiger holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
