Nell Boyle is a founding Director of the U.S. Green Building Council Southwest Virginia (USGBC SWVA) Chapter Chair. She served as Chapter Chair from mid-2007 through December 2008. Nell still remains active on the board serving as the Southeast Regional Council Chapter Representative and Chair, and is also a member of the National USGBC Steering Committee. In addition to her other responsibilities with the USGBC SWVA Boyle served on the team that developed the regional standards for the LEED® 2009 edition for Southwest Virginia. Professionally, Boyle is currently employed as the Director of Sustainable Practices at Breakell Inc., General Contractors in Roanoke, Virginia. Ms. Boyle’s responsibilities are to serve as an internal resource for environmental practices throughout the company. On the jobsite she is responsible for training and implementing procedures that enforce appropriate sustainable construction practices. Administratively, she manages all LEED® paperwork and protocol for the company and conducts continuing education to all the entire company staff regarding sustainable practices in the office and the environment. Over the last five years Ms. Boyle has served as a leader in the community as a green building advocate. Her previous position was as the Executive Director of C2C Home, LLC. At C2C Home she directed the construction phase of one of the final entries of the internationally renowned design competition. This successful design competition was based on the work of William McDonough and his popular book Cradle-to-Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things and received over 600 hundred entries from all over the globe. Ms. Boyle is involved with numerous environmental activities including, but not limited to; the USGBC Southwest Virginia Board Chair, the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals Educational Services (AECP-ES) Board of Directors, the Clean and Green Business Coalition in partnership with Roanoke City Council Member Gwen Mason to advocate sustainable practices in local businesses and the Roanoke County’s RC Clear Advisory committee to reduce greenhouse gases.

I have 11 + of years experience as a Project Architect/Manager. My responsibilities include team coordination, programming, conceptual design, specification writing, cost estimating, detailing, construction document production, and construction administration for numerous projects. The buildings I have worked on serve the needs of higher education, museums, K-12 public schools, public service, medical facilities, and senior living facilities. My experience enables me to integrate client needs with economically efficient and functional facilities for the stake holders.

K Robin Laing is an EcoBroker & Realtor with Remax 1st Realty, Roanoke. She presently serves as Treasurer and Board Member of the USGBC SWVA, and is on the Board of Directors for the Roanoke Metaphysical Chapel. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech, with Masters Studies in Geography & International Development with an emphasis on Sustainable Development and Food Systems. She was the first grant writer for the SWVA 2nd Harvest Food Bank, Roanoke. Robin is interested in the linkages between Sustainable Agriculture, Green Building (Residential & Commercial), and Sustainable Utility Systems. She is looking for ways to open channels of communication and create a harmonic link between local governances and an array of sustainable planning concepts provided by individuals representing Sustainable Agriculture, Green Building, & Sustainable Energy Resources/Utilities.

Adam Markwood graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Public and Urban Affairs. Immediately following graduation, he acquired a position at the New River Valley Planning District Commission, where he co-authored several policy analyses and assisted in the coordination of a number of regional sustainability initiatives. This introduction to environmental planning led him to the private sector at Wallace Roberts and Todd, LLC, a national planning and architecture firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here he was able to participate on a number of projects, including LEED® registered buildings, sustainable urban design plans and large-scale green plans. After growing his skillset at WRT, Adam moved on to a small architecture firm in Southwest Virginia where he provided project quality control assistance and managed the LEED® certification process for the Claude Moore Education Complex. As Vice President of Preservation and Environment for Brian Wishneff & Associates, he concentrates most of his time on the environmental side of the company through pursuing new initiatives including LEED® certification management, NAHB Green Home Verification, green building financing, renewable energy tax credit projects and historic preservation. Adam is a LEED® accredited professional, and a NAHB Green Home Verifier and is on the Roanoke City Fair Housing Board.

Trina Mastran was recently elected to the USGBC SW Virginia Chapter and serves as the Newsletter Committee Chair. Trina has over 19 years of experience working in the environmental arena. Trina started her career out working in the area of environmental housing and code enforcement and in 1992 received a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech. She has served as a regulator for public drinking water supplies, a Project Engineer and Public Works Director for rural communities. She currently is the Director of Wastewater Treatment and the Erosion and Sediment Control Co-Administrator for the City of Buena Vista. Trina also is owner of Starry Night LLC, a real estate holding company with USGBC membership. Trina currently serves on the Board of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) as Director at Large, AWWA’s Young Professionals Committee Chair, the Water For People Volunteer Services, Training and Applied Research, and Virginia Tech’s Environmental and Water Resources Graduate Department Advisory Board. Trina is a recipient of the Ken Miller Award from Water For People as a result of her commitment to serving those without adequate water and sanitation in developing countries. Trina has a lifelong interest in both the environment and housing and is particularly interested in sustainable design including water and sanitation components for rural low-income communities.

Dr. Sean P. McGinnis is a Senior Research Scientist with a joint appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and the Department of Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) at Virginia Tech. He is the Director of the Green Engineering Program and teaches courses in Life Cycle Analysis, Green Engineering, and Sustainability.

Prior to this appointment in October 2005, Dr. McGinnis spent seven years at Johnson & Johnson’s Spectacle Lens Group in Roanoke, Virginia, as a research scientist and R&D coating group manager. He has also worked as a process engineer in the area of sputtered magnetic thin films at Intevac, Inc, in Santa Clara, CA, and held a postdoctoral appointment at Uppsala University, Sweden, in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry with a research focus on fullerene and metal carbide thin films.

Dr. McGinnis received bachelor’s degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Materials Science from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University. His current research interests include sustainable manufacturing processes, green engineering, design for the environment, and life cycle assessment (LCA).

Todd Owen is the Chair of the Lynchburg Provisional Branch, which grew out of the Lynchburg Green Building Initiative. He is the Manager of Construction Phase Services at Wiley/Wilson and is a LEED Accredited Professional.

Monica Rokicki-Guajardo, LEED AP BD+C is Chair of the Board of Directors for 2010. She is the Director of Design & Sustainability at LEED® AP at Balzer & Associates, Inc where she has worked since 2001. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Houston, and has won prizes in three international design competitions. From 1996- 2001 she was Executive Director of the International Center for the Solution of Environmental Problems (ICSEP) in Houston, a non-profit scientific and educational organization with 43 statured scientist affiliates worldwide. While at ICSEP, she helped found the Citizen’s League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN) and organized a ‘Bucket Brigade’ which provided equipment, methodology and management for neighborhood air-monitoring coordinated with several other non-profit organizations and the EPA. Monica is a former Director for the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction and is Co-Founder of the Vesper Club. Her appreciation for clear argument, a scientific basis for practical knowledge and respect for the environment inform her passion for “architecture that listens.”

Nick is the Chair and a founding member of the Holston Valley Green Building Coalition, a Branch of the SWVA Chapter. Currently, Nick is the Green Building Operations Manager for People Incorporated of Virginia, a community action agency with over forty programs. Nick works with People Inc.’s Housing and Program Development departments which develop affordable housing for low-income households that are now all achieving EarthCraft House certification and offering a whole line of energy efficiency trainings.

Nick has been working in the non-profit sector for over five years now, previously with Appalachian Sustainable Development and Rural Action Incorporated. He is a passionate advocate for the Forest Stewardship Council and the US Green Building Council. Nick has served many volunteer positions for USGBC over the past few years. Most notably, his work on the Southeast Regional Council (SERC) where he organized the Diversity & Social Equity Committee in 2007 and Chaired through 2009. Nick holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Southern Vermont College and a M.A. in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management from The School for International Training.

Nick enjoys many other volunteer responsibilities, gardening, reading, snowboarding and being with his wife Jenny and their three cats and one dog in their home in Abingdon, VA.

In March 2008, James Sledd joined AECOM Design as a Project Manager/Commissioning Authority focusing on building systems commissioning and sustainable design. James has 7 years of previous third-party commissioning experience with Engineering Economics, Inc. and over 13 years of design experience, with SFCS, Inc. In March 2005, James stated CxGreen, an online blog focused on bringing the Commissioning (Cx) and Sustainable Design (Green) Communities Together. Acting both as a Commissioning Agent, mechanical designer and web manager within the HVAC Industry, gives James a unique perspective on the technology issues that affect our Industry. James holds degrees in both mechanical engineering and architecture. James is a Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP), LEED® Accredited Professional and a Certified Document Technologist (CDT). Obviously, James enjoys working on the Internet. He also enjoys spending time with his family.

Steve Sunderman is an architect and principal with RRMM Architects in the firm’s Roanoke office and is Director of the Higher Education Studio. He is also founder, President and Chairman of TerraZia Corporation, which promotes sustainable building practices. He is a Virginia licensed architect with National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) certification and is a LEED® Accredited Professional (2.0 version) with the USGBC. He is a 1974 graduate of the University of Oklahoma with over 37 years of diversified architectural experience, including extensive energy and utility auditing work, throughout the United States and the Middle East. He has promoted alternative energy, conservation and environmental design since the late 1960's.

Steve is deeply committed to helping create a healthier planet by positively impacting our built environment through design and construction of high-performance buildings and, via the mass media, encourages builders, designers, manufacturers and the general public to embrace sustainable building practices as a means to implement a strategy of change for our built environment.

Hunter Young grew up in Lynchburg and graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Civil Engineering. Hunter is a LEED® Accredited Professional and is employed at Civil Consulting Group, P.C. which he founded in 2007. He began his career in the Washington D.C. suburbs where he spent five years designing land development projects and modeling stormwater runoff. He relocated to the Roanoke area in 1999 where his career has been split between institutional site planning/design and utilities design/modeling. His experience and position enable him to assist his clients in incorporating sustainable elements into their projects.

Hunter is a member of ASCE, AWWA, the National Eagle Scout Association, and he presently serves on the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Committee.