August 30, 2008
Shawna Michaud has been interested in the built environment ever since drawing street maps for her matchbox cars. She’s an illustrator and designer,
intent on marrying her love for design, research, and writing by becoming an urban planner. She has her BFA from MassArt in Boston. She discovered GreenHomeNYC while scouting out urban planning programs, and ever since she’s been a volunteer, she’s helped secure Building Green forum venues and speakers. She’s moving to Seattle for a while, to do design work at an architectural firm and to take notes on how to make NYC even more green and sustainable! Staff Volunteer 2004-2006
Daniel Harris is a researcher and consultant who holds an MS and BS in engineering of control systems from the University of Washington in Seattle. He earned his energy experience at H Power Corp. as a PEM fuel cell researcher and has expanded his area of interests to buildings and large energy projects. He is excited to be working with GreenHomeNYC to facilitate energy efficiency in society. Staff Volunteer 2002-2007
Lauren Gropper became interested in all things green as a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Canada. A steadfast GreenHomeNYC enthusiast and former staff volunteer, Lauren now splits her time between Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto, working as an independent green building and LEED consultant. Lauren works with real estate developers, builders, architects, engineers, homeowners and television producers to make their buildings, homes, apartments, and sets go green. Lauren is also a proud alumna and adjunct professor at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment. Staff Volunteer 2002-2006
Mark Caserta played a leading role in fighting for the city’s environment for more than twelve years, as Deputy Director of New Yorkers for Parks, Director of the Waterfront Parks Coalition, and NYC Lobbyist for the New York League of Conservation Voters. In April 2004, Mark and his wife Samantha opened an eco-friendly home and lifestyle store in Park Slope, Brooklyn, known as
3r Living. A second store in Maplewood, New Jersey, opened in October 2007. 3r Living is now online, only, at
3rliving.com. Mark is also a web and social media consultant to small businesses through his company M2C Consulting/Main Street Complete. Board Member 2003-2006, 2009-present
Cory Trembath has been concerned about the environment for as long as she can remember. The rampant suburban sprawl she witnessed in her hometown as a child led her to study architecture, and later historic preservation, as a way to lessen the impact of the built environment on the natural world. She earned her degree in Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and spent an exchange year at the Eidgen�ssische Technische Hochschule in Z�rich. She currently works for John G. Waite Associates, a nationally recognized preservation architecture firm, where she continues to strive towards a holistic approach to sustainability through the compatibilities of historic preservation, green design and urban planning. She is thrilled to join the team at GreenHomeNYC to push these goals even further. In the summer Cory can be found leading free kayak tours along the Hudson River with the Downtown Boathouse, introducing New Yorkers to a part of their local environment.
Silvia Steude came to New York in 2002 to pursue a career in architecture. Having grown up in an environment in Germany where living sustainably was a way of life, she soon realized that it was essential for her to be working with people who felt there was more to architecture than pure aesthetics, an opportunity to give back to the environment, to provide a healthy and sustainable living space, work place, etc. Silvia joined GreenHomeNYC in the Fall of 2007 to deepen her connection to like-minded people and increase her knowledge of sustainable building design and technology. Volunteer 2007-2008
Sam Pardo joined GreenHomeNYC in February of 2008 during a brief sabbatical from “gainful employment”. He took right away to the House Calls program and has spent a year boot-strapping it and being 50% of the first presentation team. Sam is an enthusiastic supporter of the peer-to-peer learning model of GreenHomeNYC, and his happy to be growing his network of sustainable friends and colleagues through his involvement. In his spare time he enjoys surfing, cooking, traveling, gardening, and badgering others about the merits of congestion pricing and other progressive sustainably-minded initiatives. He counts tropical fruit and quasi-frequent surf trips to Central America as his environmental vices.
Alison Novak is a tree hugging real estate developer. She came to real estate by way of the public sector, where she worked on the revitalization of commercial districts. Alison took her Master in City Planning and Master of Science in Real Estate Development from MIT where she found even more sustainably-minded folks than in Northern California. Now she endeavors to bring sustainability to The Hudson Companies’ projects, by way of its first green building project, as well as to other New Yorkers via GreenhomeNYC. Inspired by solutions that combat multiple problems, Alison appreciates the intersection of sustainability, social justice, urban form, and bricks-and-mortar that can be found in sustainable real estate development.
Program Coordinator
Erik Nevala-Lee, a California native, came to New York to go to NYU and study Urban Design. He has since realized the unique position the city plays in the ongoing quest for sustainability. Hoping to further his personal education, as well as the education of others, he became a part of GreenhomeNYC in 2004. While school and work have taken him in many different directions he will continue to keep environmental issues at the core of his day to day life until he can focus on it full time.
Abby Kelly thinks that sustainability is a vital part of making the world both beautiful and functional. Her involvement in GreenHomeNYC reflects her belief that designers are especially responsible for using our
natural resources intelligently.
