• Meet The Trainers: Scott Kelly and David Johnston
  
• We Want To Hear From You!
  
• Spotlight On: York College of Pennsylvania Engineering Innovation Center
• 2008 Tax Deduction Supports Commercial Green Building Practices
  
• Green Advantage in the News: Certification Benefits Building Professionals
  
• Welcome to GA's New COO and General Counsel
  
• Announcing Green Advantage's New Director of Certification
  
• Green Tip from Matthew Wylie of Texas
  
• Green Advantage at GreenBuild
  
• California Adopts Green Building Code
  
• Making a Difference: GreenFleet!
  
• Green Advantage Success Story: D.C. Chapter of NECA
  
• Upcoming Green Advantage Training Opportunities
  

Welcome Green Advantage's New COO and General Counsel

On September 15, 2008, Marc Nichols joined GreenAdvantage® as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. I caught up with Marc earlier this month and had an opportunity to ask him about his move to Green Advantage and his goals for the organization. He started by stating that he looks forward to meeting and working with all the members of the Green Advantage community. He's currently traveling around meeting major clients but invites your contact if you have immediate concerns or needs.

Q. Marc, you've been on board a short time but already we're seeing some changes around Green Advantage. What changes are underway?

Marc: In early September, before my official start date, I participated in the staff strategic planning retreat that was referred to GA’s Board and formed the basis for a reorganization to improve the corporate infrastructure and streamline communications. The result is a new internal structure with three divisions:

1. Finance, Measurement and Administration under Ruth Snyder
2. Legislative and International Affairs under former Congressional Representative Claudine Schneider
3. Operations under Marc's leadership. Operations includes the following departments:
4. Sales under Chris Haddox,
5. Development (grants and other funding sources) led by June Hamrick Tayloe
6. Certification Services under Dr. Amy Townsend
7. Internal Services (such as IT and database management) under Kim Mihalik
8. Marketing under a director to be named

Note: See related article about Dr. Amy Townsend in this issue of Green Light. A complete interview of Amy will appear in the next issue.

Q. What are your goals for Green Advantage?

Marc: I have four goals for Green Advantage.

First, to triple the number of metropolitan areas in which we operate within three years.

Second, by the end of 2009, to increase by three times or more the number of certified professionals. We want to expand training exponentially through the training organizations and will do so by putting more emphasis on sales and marketing, working with colleges and universities to increase the number of training institutions offering GA training and exams.

Third, we want to continue to restructure Green Advantage to better market the benefits of certification. Over the past two years, Green Advantage has focused on commercial construction, and, now, we're trying to expand the development of the residential program by working with more established residential trainers like David Johnston, or supporting the expansion into the residential training market by Resource Dynamics out of the Philadelphia area, and moving into the South through Wilson Community College in North Carolina and NCCER through the University of Florida..

A fourth goal is to get government to aid in helping to build green buildings in their cities. My fifth goal is to diversify GA training to provide more value for participants with a higher level of demonstrated green building competence; there's a need to differentiate our exam based on experience level so so we designate master-level designers and craftspersons from apprentice or journeyman-level personnel. Dr. Amy Townsend, our new Director of Certification Services, and her team expect to unveil this program in 2009.

Q. What's the greatest challenge for Green Advantage?

Marc: Right now, the economy is the number one challenge. We certainly need money for building and rebuilding. But current financial woes provide an opportunity for the construction industry as a whole to reevaluate the marketplace and the return on investments. Certification allows leaders in the construction industry to get ahead of the curve and use green building to differentiate within the marketplace. Those that do will be in a stronger position to increase revenue. Those that do not, will not survive. It’s that simple now.

Q. Can you provide an example of the opportunity that exists?

Marc: Take the city of Chicago. Chicago is a leader in greenbuilding, it is number five among green metropolitan areas. But Chicago lacks enough qualified green building professionals. The city is probably nearly two years behind where they want to be in terms of the construction of green buildings because of this lack qualified personnel. For Green Advantage this provides a huge opportunity. How will we respond? A new presidential administration will also likely usher in a new green economy. If you think we’re moving at breakneck speed in the green movement now, I submit in a year to 18 months we will look back at this point in time as baby steps.

Stay tuned for more from Marc in the coming months. More information about Marc is available in the press release announcement: http://www.greenadvantage.org/about-people-marcn.php.

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