Gary Hamer, President BC Hydro, Burnaby, BC
Gary Hamer is a Technology & Innovation Manager at BC Hydro
where he is helping advance world-leading energy-efficient policies,
practices and technologies for BC’s residential sector. He joined BC
Hydro in 2001 to provide technical support to customers and the
residential marketing group.
Prior to joining BC Hydro, Gary held several engineering roles at a
natural gas utility in British Columbia and an oil & gas company in
Alberta.
Gary currently serves as technical committee chair with the Canadian
Standards Association (CSA) to advance energy performance standards for
residential equipment; on the Board of Directors for the Net-Zero
Energy Home Coalition; and on the Oversight Committee for SolarBC.
He is a professional engineer in BC, a Fellow of Engineers Canada
and a certified energy manager. Gary received his BSc in Chemical
Engineering from the University of Alberta. |
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Simon Knight, Past President Climate Change Central, Calgary, AB
As one of the original designers of Climate Change Central (C3),
Simon Knight has played an important role in the organization's
development and success, particularly in the area of energy efficiency.
He helped design the organization's successful consumer programs which
evolved to the current $36 million consumer energy efficiency rebate
programs C3 delivers for the Government of Alberta.
Mr. Knight's interest in sustainable building design has kept him
active in the residential and commercial building sector for many years,
having served as president of the Alberta Chapter of the Canada Green
Building Council and on the board of the Canadian Energy Efficiency
Alliance and as the current President of the Net-Zero Energy Home
Coalition.
Prior to joining C3, Mr. Knight worked in the environmental field
within the Alberta government for 20 years. At Alberta Environment, he
worked on issues such as biodiversity, in-stream flow needs, information
management and Environmental Impact Assessments. He has a Bachelor of
Biological Sciences from the University of Guelph. |
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Cory Krygier, Vice-President
Jigsaw Homes, Calgary, AB
Cory Krygier is co-founder of Jigsaw Homes Inc., a Calgary based
home-builder focused on building single family and small multi-family
projects with specific attention to architectural design, exceptional
finishing and sustainability. Jigsaw Homes has grown to become one of
Calgary’s largest inner city builders over the past 8 years.
Cory graduated with a Master of Architecture degree from the
University of Calgary in 1999 and upon graduation worked at one of
Calgary’s large Architectural firms where he was involved in projects
varying in scale from single family homes to large commercial projects.
Cory, along with his business partner, has undertaken an aggressive
reposition of Jigsaw Homes over the past three years to establish Jigsaw
as one of the foremost sustainable builders in Canada. Setting high
benchmarks for quality and sustainability Jigsaw has been able to
achieve excellent results to date and continues to push the limits of
both performance and affordability.
Cory also sits as a director of the Net-Zero Energy Homes Coalition
and is an active member on the steering committee of a new social
innovation initiative in Calgary. |
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Frank Baker, Treasurer/Secretary
Plasti-Fab Ltd., Blissfield, MI
Frank has over 16 years of experience at General Motors
Corporation as an Engineer in Mechanical/Electrical, Packaging,
Architectural/Mechanical and as a the Industrial Engineering Department
Supervisor.
In 1979 Frank founded Riverbend Timber Framing Inc, now the largest
custom timber frame/insulated panel building system fabricator in the
US. He was the CEO/Owner until 2007. In 1990 he founded Midwest Panel
Systems dba: Great Lakes Insulspan, a Midwest Structural Insulated Panel
manufacturer and was the CEO/Owner until 2007. In 1994 he co-founded
and was the CEO/Owner of Insulspan Inc., a licensor of Insulspan SIP
panel manufacturers. Since 2004 he has been a member of PFB
Corporation’s Board of Directors.
His affiliations are numerous and include SIPA, Timber Frame Business
Council, Timber Frame Guild, Building Systems Council of NAHB, Toledo
Home Builders’ Association Green Building Committee, USGBC Toledo
Chapter, Southeast Michigan Builders’ Association, Washtenaw County
Builders’ Association, Lenawee County Builders’ Association, and of
course the Net-Zero Energy Home Coalition.
Frank has a Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University, formerly the General Motors Institute.
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Robert Armstrong, Director BASF Canada Inc., Mississauga, ON
Robert Armstrong is the Manager of Marketing and Business
Development for BASF Canada’s polyurethanes group. He is responsible for
the business group’s approach to building and construction markets
within Canada and the marketing of BASF Canada’s polyurethane
insulation/air barrier systems. For the past 7 years the main focus of
his work has been promoting best practices for improving the energy
efficiency of residential and non-residential construction through
improvements to the building envelope.
Robert joined BASF in 2001 after completing an International MBA at
Schulich School of Business. In addition to his work with energy
efficient construction and Net Zero Energy Homes, he has been involved
in a number of sustainable development initiatives including managing
life cycle analysis projects within the Canadian market. He is also a
LEED Accredited Professional and has served as the chair of the Canadian
Plastics Industry Association’s Green Building Task Force. |
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Ann Edminster, Director  Design AVEnues LLC, Pacifica, CA
Ann Edminster’s preoccupation with net-zero energy homes has been foreshadowed by a number of her life events:
- 1966 (age 10) first manifested inborn passion for minimizing waste in
all forms by volunteering at her town’s new recycling center;
- 1969 spent many hours cleaning birds stricken in the Santa Barbara oil
spill, galvanizing lifelong dedication to environmental restoration;
- 1974 began formally studying buildings at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (B.S. Architecture, 1978);
- 1977-78 lived in Florence, Italy, became ardent critic of North
America’s resource-intensive and socially destructive development
patterns;
- 1983-85 lived in Phoenix and experienced the worst of American development firsthand;
- 1987-93 founded and led small non-profit dedicated to ecological restoration;
- 1991 resolved to shift professional practice 100% to the nascent field
of green building, completed that transition 1995 with M.Arch. degree
from UC Berkeley;
- 1996-98 researched and wrote Efficient Wood Use in Residential Construction;
- 1999-2004 instrumental in development of LEED for Homes (steering committee, chair, co-chair);
- 2005-2008 participated in LEED for Homes pilot implementation, worked on several net-zero homes;
- 2009 wrote and published Energy Free: Homes for a Small Planet;
- 2010-2011 living, sleeping, breathing, teaching net-zero energy homes.
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David Johnston, Director What's Working Inc., Boulder, CO
For the last 30 years David has been working to transform the building industry to become greener and more sustainable.
For ten years David’s award winning company Lightworks Construction
Inc. built passive solar homes and offices. His company What’s Working
developed the first green building code in the US for the City of
Boulder, CO. David also established the first private sector green
building program in Denver through the local HBA. It was the largest
program in the private sector and was the catalyst for NAHB to develop
national green building guidelines. He was also a co-director of the
original LEED for homes development process in 2000. David conducts
training for hundreds of building industry professionals each year and
is one of the founding trainers for the Green Advantage Certification
for green builders.
David has written four books on the topic of Green
Building/Remodelling, one of which is “Toward a Zero Energy Home”,
winner of the 2010 Nautilus Award. Articles by David have been published
in numerous magazines and journals and he has been featured in all the
major building publications as well as newspapers. He holds several
professional memberships and his work has won many awards. He has also
been very active in his community service through volunteer work on many
boards. |
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Paul Locke, Director E. I. du Pont Canada Company, Mississauga, ON
Paul is a Certified Tyvek® Specialist and has been with DuPont
for 18 years and 8 years with BASF prior to that. Paul has extensive
experience in technical and business development, sales and account
management within various businesses including automotive and his
current role within DuPont Building Innovations.
Paul has been on the board of the NZEH Coalition for the past two
years. He is an active member of the CHBA Manufacturing council and
Renovator Committee and is a member of OBEC, OHBA, BILD, and GOHBA. Paul
graduated from the University of Waterloo in 1984 with a degree in
Honours Applied Chemistry. |
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Gordon Shields, Director Individual Contributor, Nepean, ON
Gordon Shields is one of the founders and is the past Executive
Director of the Net-Zero Energy Home Coalition. As Executive Director,
Mr. Shields’ role was to help expand the Coalition’s network of industry
knowledge and participation and identify areas where government and
private sector stakeholders can help accelerate community scale NZEH
deployment. Through the Coalition, Mr. Shields has led the private
sector proposal for supporting a 1500 net-zero energy home demonstration
initiative that was endorsed by the federal government (Canada Mortgage
and Housing) in 2005. Through the organization of workshops and
industry outreach, the Coalition remains active in developing
homebuilder and cross-sectoral support for advancing knowledge and
investment in net-zero energy housing design and construction.
Previously, Gordon has worked as a senior consultant to a national
government relations consulting firm and led his own private practice
for ten years serving clients in the areas of environment and energy,
dealing largely with climate change and energy policy, deployment
programs for renewable energy technologies and, regulatory matters. He
has also served as an advisor to three Federal Members of Parliament. |
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Sam Rashkin, Ex-Officio Director US DOE, Washington, DC
Mr. Rashkin has recently joined the Office of
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy as
Chief Architect of the Building Technologies Program to help deploy successful
energy efficiency research for new and existing homes. Prior to this role, he
managed the Energy Star for Homes program since its start in 1996. Under his
leadership, the Energy Star for Homes program grew rapidly to include more than
8,000 builder partners, over one million labeled homes, and to represent nearly
30 percent of the national housing market.
Mr. Rashkin received his Bachelor of
Architecture from Syracuse University; completed Masters of Urban Planning
studies at New York University; and is a registered architect in California and
New York. During his 20-plus years as a licensed architect, he specialized in
energy efficient design and completed over 100 residential projects. He has
served on the national Steering Committees for USGBC’s LEED for Homes, NAHB’s
Green Builder Guidelines, and EPA’s Water Sense label, and on the development
team for EPA’s Indoor airPLUS label. Sam has authored a new book titled
“Retooling the U.S. Housing Industry: How It Got Here, Why It’s Broken, and How
to Fix It” that presents a comprehensive strategy for reinventing housing
industry at a time of crisis. Sam has also prepared hundreds of articles,
technical papers, reports, and seminars; and contributed to other books on
energy efficient and green construction. |
