Green leadership recognized

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced the 2005 recipients of its Fourth Annual Leadership Awards. The awards are presented in six categories including Community, Education, LEED, Organizational Excellence, Research, and Advocacy. The Leadership Awards recognize outstanding individuals and organizations that signify vision, leadership and commitment to the evolution of green building design and construction. The recipients will be honored at USGBC’s Annual Greenbuild Conference & Expo on Thursday, November 10, 2005, at a ceremony to be held at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA.

Each Leadership Award category recognizes one organization and one individual. In the Community category, the Kresge Foundation, one of the largest foundations in the U.S., was recognized for its green building leadership and program initiatives including a national program which provides educational materials and funding for nonprofit organizations to plan and design green buildings.

Bob Berkebile of BNIM Architects was recognized in the Community category for his lifelong commitment to sustainability. For the past 30 years, Berkebile has been committed to restoring social, economic, and environmental vitality to communities through his role as founding Chairman of the American Institute of Architect’s Committee on the Environment (AIA-COTE) and his previous service on the USGBC Board of Directors.

In the Education category, the Croxton Collaborative founded by Randolph R. Croxton, was honored for its development of environmental/sustainable and human-centered architecture and design. Internationally recognized as an innovator, the firm has been instrumental in defining the criteria used to establish universally accepted goals and practices in the field of green architecture.

Traci Ryder of Alliance Architecture was also recognized in the Education category. Ryder is the Chair and a founding member of USGBC’s Emerging Green Builders, whose mission is to integrate students and young professionals into the green building movement. Ryder has been essential to the success of the EGB program. Over the past three years since its inception, Ryder has created and led the USGBC Design Competition, a national program that recognizes and awards students and young professionals for exceptional project design using the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™.

The LEED award went to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). With leadership from Craig Kneeland, a NYSERDA project manager, the organization has become a critical force for green building in New York. Kneeland initiated the first green building program based on the principles of the LEED green building rating system in the state of New York. He led the effort to craft New York State Green Building tax credit legislation.

The LEED individual award went to Paul von Paumgartten of Johnson Controls for his many years of service in the development of the LEED for New Construction and for Existing Buildings rating systems as a member and as Chair of LEED committees, and for his leadership within Johnson Controls in brining the message of sustainability to their customers. Von Paumgartten provides valuable counsel to the sales force, and he helps customers understand the tremendous triple-bottom-line value green building can bring to their organizations. Additionally, von Paumgartten formed an internal “Green Team” that includes more than 50 people from Johnson Controls who have become LEED Accredited Professionals.

In the category of Organizational Excellence, Gensler Architecture, Design & Planning Worldwide was recognized for its advancement of sustainable design in the role of leader, innovator, and supporter of the successful, seamless integration of superior design and green principles. Under the direction of founder Art Gensler, Gensler explores avenues of innovation that demonstrate how a green approach can add value to clients’ businesses by enhancing the public responsibility component of the corporate culture and confirming a commitment to a high-quality and healthier workplace.

Ross Spiegel of Fletcher-Thompson, Inc, was also honored for Organizational Excellence. Spiegel leads his firm’s green team and is responsible for the greening of the firm’s written construction documents and building a base of technical knowledge on green products for use by the firm’s architects, engineers, and interior designers. Spiegel has also served on the Greenbuild Steering Committee for the past four Greenbuild conferences.

The Research award went to Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Office Buildings (AEDG-SO). The AEDG is a joint effort of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) and the New Buildings Institute (NBI). AEDG-SO was recognized for its outstanding effort in developing the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Office Buildings, a significant contribution helping to advance green building.

The Research individual award went to G. Z. Brown, professor of architecture and director of the University of Oregon Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory. Brown has been a proponent of sustainable building practices his entire career. He was principally responsible for integrating sustainable curriculum into the University of Oregon School of Architecture. In 1985, Brown founded the Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory and has served as its director since.

Global Green received the Advocacy award for working for the last 10 years to advance policy initiatives that support green building. Global Green USA was founded in 1993 as the U.S. affiliate of Green Cross International, President Mikhail Gorbachev’s international environmental movement. The mission of the organization is to foster a global value shift toward a more sustainable world by focusing on the three greatest problems facing the world: global climate change, weapons of mass destruction, and access to clean water.

Tim Carey, former president and CEO of Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) and current Chief Operating Officer, New York Power Authority received the Advocacy award for his leadership at BPCA; Carey demonstrated a deep commitment to spreading the word about the successes and lessons learned in Battery Park City, and about the work of USGBC. Thanks in part to these foundational efforts and the leadership of Gifford Miller, Speaker of the New York City Council in October 2005 Mayor Mike Bloomberg signed the city’s High Performance Buildings Bill, requiring LEED Silver for all city buildings—becoming one of the first major cities in the nation to enact legislation requiring green building practices.