Meet the Trainers: Vicki Saville and George Felici

Both George Felici and Vicki Saville conduct Green Advantage ® training for Resource Dynamics, Inc. (RDI). Vicki started working with RDI at the start of the Green Advantage training program in 2005 while George has been working with Green Advantage for the last two years. Both are regularly on the road, running about one to two workshops per month, working with each other as well as with other GA trainers. They've touched ground in Tulsa and Tennessee, New Jersey and Nebraska, South Florida and Seattle, Dallas and Delaware, and stops in between! Both put a high value on the quality and need for the GA certification.

Vicki SavilleVicki Saville

Trainer Vicki Saville is unique because while earning her landscape architecture degree at Virginia Tech, she was prodded by her European professors who said that to become a good landscape architect, she needed to become an architect as well. Thus Vicki launched the pursuit of two degrees, a blended career, and a commitment to meshing good design of both structure and landscape. According to Vicki, you can't have good architecture unless the structure is sited properly. The same applies to ensuring that the landscape design is related to the buildings.

She is now both an architect and landscape architect with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Schools, the 19th largest school district in the country with 160 campuses serving 140,000 kids. Vicki brings an exuberance to her work, valuing the difference she makes on projects that range from ADA compliance to renovations of a 1925 school building. She clearly has a passion for green building. That passion is what makes her value Green Advantage's certification.

As a founding board member of the Charlotte, N.C. chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Vicki spotted an invitation from the Delaware Valley's GBC to become a GA trainer. The DVGBC helped develop the original GA training, and Vicki was selected as one of the first round of GA trainers, working with RDI. Last year she led 16-plus training workshops.

As a building representative for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, Vicki is looking for contractors who can fulfill the dream of the architect and be good stewards of the tax dollars entrusted to the district. She enthuses that “Green Advantage gives contractors the confidence and understanding that helps them carry out what the designers are asking. The outcome is healthier buildings and happier people.” In addition, that confidence translates to financial gain: “Green Advantage helps the contractors make money off the green industry.” Vicki likened it to one of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: “The Green Advantage training reflects the habit 'Begin with the end in mind.'”

She notes that many contractors share her enthusiasm for Green Advantage. Contractors put the GA certification credential on their email signature. And they regularly relate to her the business generated by Green Advantage—how Green Advantage puts them in good stead with owners and provides a strong match with architects and designers. In many cases, Green Advantage has opened the door and helped them win jobs.

At the Charlotte schools Vicki has seen Green Advantage translate to better and more energy efficient buildings. Vicki helped arrange workshops, through the USGBC Charlotte Region Chapter, for Charlotte and surrounding areas At those workshops were contractors who build the CMS schools. The result is that the GA-certified contractors working with the schools are doing a better job, with less haggling over project details since they now understand the “language of green.”

While green building is currently seen as cutting edge, Vicki points out that designing for the environment is nothing new. For generations humans used locally available materials and built for the local climate. Ultimately Vicki indicates that green building practices are soon going to be commonplace, just the normal way of doing business. Land and building have to be thought of together and have to be designed with nature in mind.

As for Vicki herself, she says the greatest lessons from Green Advantage have come to her personally since it has given her a deeper understanding of contractors and their language. That means that she can communicate better on-site and throughout the job. The result is a better job for all involved and, ultimately, a better building and better result for people, the bottom line, and the environment.

George FeliciGeorge Felici

George Felici shares Vicki's view on Green Advantage. George, a Senior Project/Construction Manager for Freedom Enterprises, Inc. in East Norriton, Pennsylvania, first heard of Green Advantage from a former colleague in construction management. Bruce Offner of RDI helped write RDI’s Green Advantage curriculum and introduced George to the training about two years ago. George has since been doing workshops across the country.

George hears about the value of Green Advantage from architects and designers: “When working on LEED project at any level, the Green Advantage training and certification is 'priceless' to the rest of the team. Everyone is tuned in and knows the same requirements and speaks the same language.” Professionals with the LEED-AP credential gain value from Green Advantage's emphasis on practical construction knowledge. Waste haulers attend so they are familiar with the paperwork that LEED requires. Window treatment installers come because they know daylighting is important. Property managers, developers, and others attend because they want to educate themselves on how buildings are built and the systems are integrated so they can implement good green practices.”

George's first experience with green building was the Silk Factory, an adaptive reuse of a 1920s factory into 115 apartments. The historic Lansdale, Pennsylvania structure was on a brownfield site and its redevelopment incorporated sustainable green features (energy efficiency, waste recycling, historic preservation). George acknowledges that at that time (the building was designed in 2004-2005), LEED was a new practice and the company didn't pursue the certification.

There's still a need to make the case for green buildings. George emphasizes presenting budgets to building owners showing all the variables comparing conventional and LEED buildings, including tenancy rates, productivity benefits, reduced absenteeism, and other return on investment benefits of LEED buildings. One of the challenges of green building is the perception that it costs more, but in fact the benefits far exceed the costs. In the Philadelphia area, many developers, both large and small, have committed to LEED because data now show that green buildings earn higher rents from tenants and higher sales prices for properties.

George is also the Chairman of the Whitpain Township planning commission and is helping to promote LEED and Climate Action Planning within the Township.

While continuing to emphasize greening new construction, looking forward George sees great opportunities in greening existing buildings. Existing buildings need updates to mechanical equipment, improvements in operations and maintenance, and incorporation of practices that result in healthier and more energy efficient structures. Still, green building has reached a tipping point and George, like Vicki, can envision the day when LEED becomes a thing of the past because all buildings are green as a matter of course.