Bay Area Sustainable Building Advisor Program

Cheryl Barton- Office of Cheryl Barton

Cheryl Barton is a landscape architect, urban planner, site mediator and the creative director of her studio in San Francisco which was founded in 1994. The firm’s purpose is to develop humane places inspired by site and culture, giving thoughtful form to the landscape for the ordinary and extraordinary needs of every day life. Ms. Barton is a nationally registered landscape architect who received a master’s degree from the Harvard Design School. She is also a Fellow and past-president of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a recipient of the prestigious 2003-2004 Prix di Rome. A member of the USGBC and a LEED accredited professional, she has lectured internationally on the site-related aspects of sustainable design. She has taught Sustainable Site Planning and Design workshops at the Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco, and a ‘Green-on-Brown’ studio in the Department of Landscape and Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley. Many of her award-winning projects are parks and campus projects on brownfield sites. Recent examples include The Fields park in Portland, OR; the South Lawn at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Rincon Park on San Francisco’s waterfront; Fort Baker, a sustainable conference center and retreat in Sausalito, CA; and the Hewlett Foundation Headquarters in Menlo Park, CA—which received the first LEED gold certification in California.

Charles Bohlig – East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD)

Mr. Bohlig has more than 13 years of working experience in water and energy efficiency. As a Supervisor of Water Conservation for commercial, industrial, and institutional programs, Charles plans and participates in the development and implementation of EBMUD’s Water Conservation Master Plan, which supports of long-term goals for water supply and demand. Mr. Bohlig is the program manager for many of the Water Conservation Division’s research programs and presents research activities and results at association meetings and conferences. Mr. Bohlig is the lead on the Water Energy Partnership with Pacific Gas and Electric Company in an Embedded Energy research project for the California Public Utilities Commission. Mr. Bohlig has worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop guidelines and specification standards for water and efficient appliances. He has also worked with the Federal Energy Management Program to develop buying guidelines associated with water and energy efficient equipment for federal buildings. Mr. Bohlig has written four American Society of Testing and Materials Standard Test Methods for testing energy efficient equipment and authored more than 30 reports on energy efficient appliances. Mr. Bohlig co-developed the Arizona Public Service remote solar program and the EPA’s Energy Star Home Program.

Jana Boring - Unified Systems / Sustainable Building Advisor Course

Jana Boring is the Program Coordinator and Lead Instructor for the Bay Area Sustainable Building Advisor Program, a green building certification course hosted at the Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco. In addition to orchestrating the SBA Program Jana is a principal of Unified Systems, a consulting firm which provides third party verification and quality assurance for project delivery. She performs Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) Coordination and Commissioning Process Management for the construction of Hospitals and Medical Office Buildings. Jana is a Nationally Certified Sustainable Building Advisor, a Certified Commissioning Process Provider, a licenced OSHPD Inspector and a LEED Accredited Professional.


Eden Bruckman- Cascadia Region Green Building Council

An architect and sustainable building advisor, Eden has focused her professional career on incorporating socially and environmentally responsible strategies into design and construction. Since 2005, her work expanded to also include research and implementation of sustainable policies, particularly related to building certification using the LEED rating system and the selection of appropriate building materials. Eden received a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master's degree in Illustration from the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.

Josiah Raison Cain - Design Ecology

JOSIAH RAISON CAIN is a landscape architect with 16 years experience as an ecological design professional. He founded a design/build firm in 1997, and for 8 years provided ecologically-driven master plans and innovative green projects to hospitality, schools, developers, and residential clients internationally. He then managed an office for an influential, nationally recognized ecological design firm, leading project teams for civic clients including the New York Dept. of Environmental Protection(DEP), University of California, and the California Academy of Sciences. Currently he is the lead designer at Design Ecology, a Bay Area design firm. Cain was raised on a remote organic homestead along the Trinity River, in Northern California. He holds a BS in landscape architecture from University of California at Davis and a Master of Design Technology & Environment from Harvard Graduate School of Design.


Andres Edwards- EduTracks

Andres Edwards is an educator, author, media designer and sustainability consultant. He is founder and president of EduTracks, a firm specializing in developing education programs and consulting services on sustainable practices for green building and business initiatives. Andres is Co-Director of the Center for Regenerative Design at The College of Marin in Kentfield, California which is the college’s collaborative team envisioning a green campus and curriculum and the sustainability education gateway for the community. He has served as producer, exhibit developer, and consultant for projects in natural history, biodiversity and sustainable community in Northern California, Florida, Missouri, Alaska, Illinois, Washington D.C., Taejon, South Korea and Kerala, India. Andres is author of The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift and co-author with Robert Apte of Tibet: Enduring Spirit, Exploited Land. Andres holds a BA degree in Geography from the University of Colorado; an MPS in Media Studies from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program and an MA in Humanities and Leadership/Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community from New College of California, Santa Rosa. He is a LEED Accredited Professional, Permaculture certified, graduate of Angeles Arrien’s Four Fold Way leadership program, and a member of the US Partnership, United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development program.

Josh Fodor - Central Coast Wilds

Josh is a restoration ecologist, ecological landscape specialist and the owner of Central Coast Wilds(CCW). CCW is a design-grow-build ecological landscape contractor and California native plant nursery servicing the greater San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. CCW specializes in residential and commercial landscapes with an emphasis on ecological design, green building applications and habitat restoration. Josh has broad experience in ecological soil and pest management, integrated water management, native plant horticulture and watershed restoration. Josh recently completed a certificate in California Water Management and Ecosystem Restoration at U.C. Berkeley. He teaches Principles of Restoration Landscaping at Cabrillo College and is an active member of the Ecological Landscaping Association, California Landscape Contractors Association and the Society for Ecological Restoration.


Eric Corey Freed- Organic Architects / West Coast Green

Eric Corey Freed is an architect and principal of organicARCHITECT, a design firm and consultancy based in San Francisco. He teaches the Sustainable Design curriculum he developed at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and UC Berkeley. He is on the boards of Architects, Designers & Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), Green Home Guide, The Natural World Museum, and West Coast Green. He is author of the upcoming book, "The Inevitable Architect: A Phase By Phase Guide to Green Building" due in 2006 and a featured columnist for Greenerbuildings.com.


Barry Gilles - Building Wise / U.S. Green Building Council Northern California Chapter

Barry Giles is the co-founder and CEO of BuildingWise LLC, a consulting company dealing with existing building sustainability and operations improvemnets throughout the USA. Prior to starting BuildingWise, Barry was the facilities and Building Services Engineer at the California State University at Moss Landing Marine Lab. During his time Barry sheparded the building through the USGBC’s LEED Existing Building Program resulting in a GOLD standard. This was the fifth building in the national to complete the program and the first in the CSU. Barry is a senior faculty member for the USGBC teaching LEED EB, the Vice Chair of the USGBC curriculum committee and a reviewer for Greenbuild 2006 and 2007.


John Goins – Center for the Built Environment

John is most interested in where architecture overlaps with environmental, economic and social justice concerns. His work as lead researcher on the IEQ survey project is an extension of those interests. He has been a developer of affordable housing and life sciences labs, and has researched the intersection of economics and social development. He holds a graduate certificate in Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California and an M.S. in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. His awards include the Zak Asefa Award in Architecture, Marshall School of Business Development Proposal Award and the Arcus Foundation Award. John was also a member of the winning 2006 Bank of America Low-Income Housing Challenge team, and is a member of the Urban Land Institute.

Allen Green - Green Planning Facilitation

Allen Green facilitates collaborative projects with activists, public agencies, NGOs, consulting teams, social entrepreneurs and youth groups joining forces for the common good.  In projects spanning from urban gardens to regional ecosystems, his work unites economic renovation with habitat restoration to enrich local life.  Allen has handled every phase of community development from planning through planting, with an emphasis on innovation embodied in bold ideas and hands-on site arts.  Applying media and methods that tap collective wisdom, Allen's pioneering partnerships have won grants from the National Endowment for The Arts, Reader's Digest-Lila Wallace Fund, Rockefeller Foundation, and many more sources for advancing ventures that address the issues of our times.  He has taught courses ranging from Multicultural Leadership to Sustainable Planning and Advanced Communication at U.C. Davis, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, San Jose State University and other centers of innovation.  His seminars at Asilomar, Yosemite, colleges and conferences draw enthusiastic responses to proven practices for making places invested with passion that flows from ethical imagination. 

Steve Guttmann - Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers

Steve Guttmann is a Principal with Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers, a 38-person consulting engineering firm in California that has received national and regional ASHRAE awards for innovation in sustainable design. Continuing a legacy, Steve has dedicated himself over the last two decade to expanding the high standards of design and client services established over the firm's 51-year history, while developing a strong commitment to sustainable design, energy conservation, and healthy building design. For the past four years, Steve has served on the LEED for Healthcare Core Committee and on the Steering Committee of the Green Guide for Health Care, developing guidelines and best practices for sustainability in our nation’s healthcare facilities. Steve has developed innovative ventilation system design solutions for many projects, including the chilled beam systems for a 100,000sf biomedical research laboratory building and a 77,000sf Health & Wellness Center on two campuses of University of California. Steve is also an expert in the applications of underfloor air and mixed-mode ventilation systems. Steve is a 1983 graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a B.S. with Honors, Mechanical Engineering; and a B.A. with Honors, Environmental Studies.

Katy Hollbacher, P.E. – Beyond Efficiency

Katy Hollbacher, P.E., founder of Beyond Efficiency, is a civil engineer, LEED Accredited Professional, Certified GreenPoint Rater, and Certified Energy Plans Examiner with over ten years office and field experience in the architecture/engineering/construction and green building industries. She recently launched Beyond Efficiency, a consulting firm that provides technical services to building professionals, and spent four years managing Build It Green's suite of education programs including the Ask an Expert green building hotline and Best Builders technical services program. Ms. Hollbacher has worked on numerous new design, historic preservation, and retrofit projects for both commercial and residential buildings and has pounded nails and pulled wires on various construction projects. She received her Master's in Structural Engineering from the University of Michigan and is a licensed engineer in California and Wyoming.

Elaine Hsieh- Kema

ElaineHsieh is a Senior Green Building Consultant with KEMA’s Green Building Services group based in Oakland. She also serves as the elected Chair of the Pacific Regional Council of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and a Board Emeritus of the Northern California Chapter (USGBC-NCC). An experienced business, team, and project manager with an engineering background and a broad understanding of the construction, biotechnology, education, retail, manufacturing, and finance industries. Ms. Hsieh has a keen ability to effectively communicate difficult concepts to people in diverse age groups, cultures, and business sectors. By working on over 15 green multifamily and mixed use residential projects within the group, Ms. Hsieh has gained in depth experience with GreenPoint Rating and LEED for Homes consulting. In addition, Ms Hsieh’s work includes managing large commercial LEED projects, research and writing, LEED advisory and documentation, and green building rating system development. Ms. Hsieh is a LEED Accredited Professional, a Certified Green Building Professional, and a Certified GreenPoint Rater. She holds a Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering and an Masters in Engineering Management from Duke University.

Karen Kho- Stopwaste.org

Karen Kho is a green building program manager for Stopwaste.org, working in both the residential and commercial building sectors. She assists Alameda County cities in developing green building policies and programs and promotes the coordination of local green building policies throughout California. As the project lead for the agency's residential Green Building Guidelines, she works extensively with building industry professionals. She has also been instrumental in launching the GreenPoint Rated program and is collaborating with Build It Green on extending it to the remodeling and existing home sector. Prior to joining the agency, Karen had over a decade of experience in community development, environmental advocacy, and transportation policy. Karen holds a Master's degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Development Studies from UC Berkeley. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and is active in various green building organizations.

Sarah Minick- San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

Sarah completed a dual master’s degreed at UC Berkeley in City and Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Her research there was focused on urban stormwater management and regulation and the decline and resurgence of urban rivers. Sarah was a winner of the Geraldine Knight Scott Travelling Fellowship, which supported her field work on six urban Mediterranean rivers in Spain, Italy, and Australia. Sarah’s work has been consistently focused on watershed issues – urban rivers and urban stormwater management in particular. Her work at the Berkeley-based International Rivers was on dam decommissioning and international outreach to dam-affected communities. At Community Development by Design, also in Berkeley, Sarah worked on engaging citizens in environmental planning and land use decisions, as well as the strategic acquisition and design of multi-functional open spaces for wildlife habitat, water quality improvement, groundwater recharge, and recreation. She recently joined the SFPUC Stormwater Program, where she works on stormwater management planning, policy, and regulation.

Tom Radulovich- Livable City

Tom Radulovich has been an urban environmental activist since attending college at UC Berkeley, advocating for urban environmental restoration, better public transport, and the greening and revitalization of public streetscapes and open spaces. He joined Livable City as executive director in June 2004. He played an important role in voter initiatives to create the Octavia Boulevard and to create a "Grand Central Station" at San Francisco's Transbay Terminal that connects regional and intercity rail and bus lines. In 2003 he chaired San Francisco's expenditure plan committee that developed a 30-year program of transportation projects. Tom has served as an elected director of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District since 1996, where he has advocated for reinvestment and renovation of the BART system, and improving BART practices in the areas of sustainability, accessibility, customer service, architecture and urban design, and the creation of transit villages at BART stations. He also served as an instructor in The Osher Lifelong Learning Center's urban studies curriculum.

Nicholas Rajkovich – Pacific Energy Center

Nicholas Rajkovich is a senior program engineer with the Pacific Gas & Electric Company's Pacific Energy Center. At the Energy Center, Nicholas assists with the coordination of educational programs and consultations, focusing on daylighting design, indoor environmental quality, and post occupancy evaluations. Prior to joining the Pacific Energy Center, Nicholas was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at Cornell University, teaching courses on lighting, acoustics, and building systems.  Prior to working for Cornell, Nicholas was an associate at Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (EYP) in Albany, NY. At EYP, he worked to reduce the overall impact of buildings on the environment under contract to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the U.S. Department of State. Nicholas received a Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. He is a LEED Accredited Professional.

Ted Reiff - The Reduse People

Prior to founding TRP in 1995, Ted was managing partner with an investment banking firm that provided financial services to young technology companies. Now, in addition to guiding TRP’s national expansion program, he consults with private companies and government bodies on a variety of demolition and waste diversion projects. A graduate of Ohio State University and a licensed demolition contractor, Ted served three terms as board president of I Love a Clean San Diego and is an advisor to Urban Habitat Chicago.

Bry Sarte - Sherwood Design Engineers

Bry Sarte founder of Sherwood Design Engineers, has years of international engineering experience ranging from master planning and infrastructure design to site planning for individual buildings and urban spaces. Leading a group of civil and environmental engineers based in San Francisco, New York, and Cambridge, Mr. Sarte as built an international reputation by providing engineering services and design solutions which reflect a deep commitment to executing well-planned, sustainable alternatives for our world-wide communities. Mr. Sarte as served as Principal Engineer for projects that range from the sustainably-oriented site design of LEED-Platinum Berkeley School of Law, to the 5,000 acre ecological master plan for the Great Wall Villages in Northern China, and has been published internationally for his contributions to contemporary research involving global environmental issues affecting water supply, urban design, material science and energy use.

Alex Spilger - GreenStep

Alex Spilger is Principal and Founder of GreenStep Education and has worked on over two-dozen diverse green building projects.   He teaches green building workshops through organizations such as local chapters of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Sustainable Building Advisors Program and the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business among others.  He has also developed curriculum for UC Berkeley Extension where he teaches a 6-week LEED Project Management course.   His experience includes facilitating eco-charrettes, researching green building technologies and policy, and managing both the people and the processes involved with taking projects through LEED Certification. Alex is an active member of the Northern California Chapter of the USGBC and serves on the USGBC Corresponding Committee for LEED-EBOM.  In addition to leading green building courses, he works with BCCI Construction; helping to educate staff, develop internal tools and systems, and facilitate the LEED documentation efforts on several projects. Alex is a LEED Accredited Professional, Certified Green Building Professional, AIA Continuing Education Provider, HERS Rater and holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from UCLA.

Ryan Stroupe- Pacific Energy Center

Ryan Stroupe is the Building Performance Program coordinator at the Pacific Energy Center. He teaches classes and consults with building professionals on a variety of issues including architectural design, building commissioning, monitoring protocols and measurement tool applications. He has served as the Tool Lending Library Coordinator at the Energy Center in the past. This is a program that provides measurement tools to California energy customers, allowing them to monitor a building's performance and energy use. While at the Center, Ryan has taught a number of classes on building measurement and energy-efficient design including a year-long intensive series on commissioning existing buildings. He also teaches an undergraduate architecture course at the California College of the Arts and in San Francisco titled Building Energy Systems, and has taught in undergraduate programs at the Academy of Art University and DeAnza Community College. Ryan is actively involved with the US Green Building Council and has served as co-chair of the Northern California Chapter's Green Building Resources Committee. He is a product of the Masters of Architecture program at U. C. Berkeley where his interest in building performance was encouraged.


Rick Unvarsky, P.E. - Rick Unvarsky Consulting Services

Rick Unvarsky, P.E., LEED-AP attended the Pennsylvania State University and received a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering (BAE) degree, specializing in HVAC design in 1995. Upon graduation, Rick worked for Bacik Karpinski Associates, Inc., a Cleveland-based Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing consulting firm, designing HVAC, plumbing, fire protection and medical process systems for seven years. He then worked as MEP manager at XL Construction, Inc., a leading high-tech general contractor in the Bay Area. Rick lead the MEP coordination group, was an MEP technical resource and trouble-shooter, evaluated designs, managed the design-build process, and served as a quality-assurance representative for the design and installation of the MEP systems on XL projects for five years. Rick also acted as lead for all green building projects, serving as the LEED manager and LEED project administrator of several projects. Rick currently runs his own company, Rick Unvarsky Consulting Services (RUCS) providing LEED commissioning, LEED management and MEP consulting services.

Ron Whittaker - The Reuse People

A transplanted New Yorker, Ron has called the Bay Area home for over 20 years. In addition to working with over a dozen certified deconstruction contractors on projects from Carmel to Napa to Lake Tahoe, he continues to volunteer time with local community service groups. He and his partner Kate live with their two sons in the lovely island city of Alameda.