Panama Bartholomy

Panama Bartholomy is the Director of the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a cross-sectoral initiative to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment. Previously he directed the Investor Confidence Project where he worked to unlock capital markets for energy efficiency project development.

Panama was the Advisor on Energy and Natural Resources to California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez. He has served as Deputy Director of the California Energy Commission’s Efficiency and Renewables Division and advisor for Chairwomen Douglas and Pfannenstiel.  He has worked for the California Conservation Corps on vocational environmental education, and ran the Sustainable Schools program for the Division of the State Architect. Panama served on the City of Sacramento Planning Commission and the County of Sacramento Environmental Commission, and is a former board member on the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and past president of the Northern California Chapter of the USGBC.

Bill Burke

Bill Burke is an architect with a long background in energy-efficient building design and environmental issues related to buildings, planning, and public policy. He was on the staff of the PG&E Pacific Energy Center (PEC) for many years where he oversaw architectural educational programs, with a focus on building enclosure, daylighting, Title 24 Part 6 Energy Standards, zero net energy/zero net carbon design, and decarbonization. Bill retired from PG&E in 2020 but continues to work on education and policy initiatives through AIA California’s Climate Action Committee and Architecture 2030. Bill believes high performance building design is key to protection of Earth’s atmosphere and improving the quality of the indoor environment and occupant health and comfort.

Prior to his work at PG&E, Bill managed the Vital Signs Curriculum Project for the University of California, Berkeley in the mid-1990s. Vital Signs assisted educators to incorporate building performance topics into architectural curricula at schools throughout North America. Early in his architectural career Bill worked at HOK San Francisco and MBT Architecture (now part of Perkins & Will).

Bill has served on the Board of Directors of AIA/San Francisco and on the AIA/California Council Committee on the Environment (AIA/CC COTE). He graduated from the University of Oregon School of Architecture where he earned his M. Arch. His undergraduate degree was in History from Grinnell College.

Carl Elefante

Carl Elefante, FAIA, FAPT is Principal Emeritus with Quinn Evans Architects where he served as design principal on architecture, preservation, and community revitalization projects. Known for coining the phrase: “The greenest building is one that is already built”, Mr. Elefante writes and lectures nationally on historic preservation and sustainable design topics.

In 2018, Mr. Elefante served as the 94th President of the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Elefante is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Association for Preservation Technology (APT). Mr. Elefante attended the Pratt Institute School of Architecture and University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Mr. Elefante is an Adjunct Professor at The Catholic University of America and University of Maryland.

Charles Eley

Charles Eley, P.E., AIA, BEMP, CEM, Member ASHRAE, LEED® AP is an architect, mechanical engineer and author with 40 years’ experience in energy efficient and sustainable design. As a Senior Fellow, Charles worked with Architecture 2030 in creating the ZERO Code, the first national and international zero net carbon building code standard.

His latest book is Design Professionals Guide to Zero Net Energy Buildings (Island Press 2016). During his career, Mr. Eley has made significant contributions to the California energy standards, ASHRAE Standard 90.1, and energy codes in Hong Kong, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and Australia. He has also developed a number of important technical manuals and publications; served as the founding executive director of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools; developed a number of energy analysis software applications; and has served as energy consultant for a number of landmark green buildings. Mr. Eley currently writes, serves on non-profit boards, provides specialized consulting, and teaches classes on building energy efficiency and green technologies.

Kira Gould

Kira Gould, Allied AIA, LEED AP, is a writer, strategist, and convener dedicated to advancing design leadership, climate action, and climate justice. Through Kira Gould CONNECT, she advises building sector clients about storytelling and knowledge leadership. Previously, she directed communications for William McDonough + Partners and Gould Evans and served as Managing Editor at Metropolis magazine.

She co-authored Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design (2007) with Lance Hosey, and is co-host of the Design the Future podcast with Lindsay Baker. Kira serves on the AIA Committee on the Environment national leadership group (and was its chair in 2007). Kira believes that the best chance for our species to preserve the habitability of Earth is to listen to and learn from the wisdom of nature and indigenous people. She lives on land of the Ohlone and the Chochenyo (now, Oakland, California) with her husband and son.

Quinnie Li

Quinnie Li is the General Manager of BRE (Building Research Establishment) China, responsible for leading BRE’s business growth in China, working with multiple stakeholders from government, industry and academia to facilitate knowledge exchange, collaborations and partnerships. Quinnie was previously the Vice President and one of the youngest female partners of leading global engineering company. She was the first to assist the company in establishing its Asia practice and has successfully managed many complex, high-profile sustainability projects. Quinnie has a BA in architecture and urban planning with a concentration in Business Administration from UC Berkeley. She is also pursuing an EMBA from London Business School/Columbia University/Hong Kong University. She is a qualified professional of various green building standards from China, US and UK.

Brett Phillips

Brett Phillips is an award-winning sustainability leader and advocate, whose private and public work on decarbonization is shaping how the built environment is addressing climate change. He is Vice President of Sustainable and Responsible Investments at Unico Properties, a subsidiary of Unico Investment Group, where he manages high-performance green building and renewable energy projects for Unico’s national real estate portfolio. He is also co-founder and Vice President of Unico Solar Investors, a Unico subsidiary that develops, operates, and supplies solar energy for commercial real estate and business portfolios across the United States.

Since 2008, Brett has overseen sustainable development and operations projects for over 25 million square feet of LEED-certified real estate. Notable projects include the Bullitt Center (the world’s largest commercial “Living Building”), LEED Platinum Stone34 in Seattle, and the award-winning LEED Platinum development of Circa Building in Denver. In a personal venture, he is developing Inspire, Seattle’s first zero-carbon multifamily building which is drawing the blueprint for net-positive residential developments in the region.

Brett is a co-founder and the current board chair of the 2030 Districts Network, a nonprofit organization devoted to creating a global network of low-carbon cities. He authored the update to Seattle’s Living Building Challenge Pilot and the creation of the 2030 Challenge Pilot which provide critical land-use incentives for new and existing buildings in exchange for delivering low-carbon buildings. He is also an Architecture 2030 Senior Fellow, where he is promoting the adoption of the 2030 Challenge to rapidly decarbonize the built environment as a central solution to stemming the climate crisis.

Leon (Lihong) Qiu

Leon (Lihong) Qiu is the general manager of DLR Group’s Shanghai office and a Chinese Class I registered architect and a fellow of the China Architecture Association. Leon was instrumental in the development and signing of the Architecture 2030 China Accord.

After graduating with an architecture bachelor degree from Tongji University, Leon developed his skills and passion for design through various architectural and executive positions with Xian Dai Architecture Design (Group) Co., Ltd. Since beginning his career in 1988, he has grown rich, strong professional and social relationships with people at companies, government and trade organizations throughout China.

Rick Schwolsky

Rick Schwolsky has been professionally involved in renewable energy systems and environmental building for more than 40 years — as a pioneering solar contractor, innovative high-performance home builder, and award-winning construction journalist with Hanley Wood in Washington, DC., focusing on sustainable design and construction.

With degrees in environmental science and biology, and trade skills in carpentry and plumbing, Rick founded two innovative companies in Vermont in 1976: Sunrise Solar Services and Grafton Builders, both of which contributed directly to today’s understanding of residential renewable energy systems, building performance, energy efficiency, and building science. In 1979 Sunrise Solar Services was selected to install the solar system on The White House in Washington, DC. for President Jimmy Carter. And in 1982 Rick co-authored The Builder’s Guide to Solar Construction published by McGraw Hill.

At Hanley Wood Rick served as construction editor for BUILDER magazine, was chief editor of EcoHome magazine, and built an annual series of nationally-recognized high-performance demonstration homes. He also helped create and lead the Vision 2020 Sustainability Research Program and The Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainability. As an Architecture 2030 Senior Fellow based near Boulder, CO, Rick assists with the organization’s embodied carbon initiatives as well as communications outreach.

Pamela Conrad

Pamela Conrad, PLA, ASLA, LEED AP, is a Principal at CMG Landscape Architecture and Founder of Climate Positive Design in San Francisco, CA. As our world continues to face challenges of urbanization, social injustices and climate change, Pamela focuses on finding solutions to the climate crisis and planning for a resilient future. Her passion for the environment is deeply rooted – from growing up on a farm in the mid-western United States, to degrees in Plant Science and regenerative landscape architecture, and large-scale habitat restoration experience.

At CMG she concentrates on climate and resilience projects including protecting 7.5 miles of waterfront from flood and seismic events on the Port on the San Francisco Waterfront Resilience Program. Conrad also leads the global, award-winning research initiative called Climate Positive Design, which empowers designers of the exterior built environment to reduce carbon emissions and increase sequestration. The initiative provides free online guidance and resources, including the Climate Positive Design Challenge and the landscape carbon Pathfinder app.

Conrad is the Vice-Chair of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Climate Change Working Group who co-authored the IFLA Climate Action Commitment presented at COP26 and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects Climate Action Committee. Her nearly two decades of work has been widely featured as Conrad speaks nationally and internationally on the subjects of landscape architecture, climate action, and designing for future resilience.

Lisa Richmond

As Executive Director of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Seattle for the past 15 years, Lisa Richmond helped lead the association’s national agenda on climate change mitigation and adaptation. She partnered with Architecture 2030 on the development of the AIA+2030 Professional Series and Materials Matter, professional development programs that sought to transform architectural practice towards zero-carbon buildings.

Under her leadership, AIA Seattle’s Public Policy Board made significant progress on critical policy priorities including building electrification, and was a founding partner of Shift Zero, a green building advocacy consortium. She co-authored the AIA’s national climate plan, and supported development of climate action and education in AIA chapters across the US.

A serial entrepreneur, Lisa founded the Seattle Design Festival to spotlight design as a tool for progress, and developed Seattle’s Center for Architecture & Design, an exhibit and event space.  She received her BA from University of Virginia and an MA from University of Wisconsin.

Lisa is a certified leader with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, and a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She is currently taking a sabbatical, using her time to accelerate her leadership on climate change and find inspiration in nature. She recently completed a 3-week solo bike trip down the coast of Oregon and California.

Andrew Waugh

Andrew is a founding director of Waugh Thistleton Architects, an architecture practice dedicated to designing buildings and places of the highest architectural quality that acknowledge their impact on the environment.

Andrew is a passionate advocate of low carbon design and construction; encouraging clients to look at the beauty and benefits of innovation. He has led the practice on award winning schemes from synagogues to social housing, offices and public buildings and was responsible for the design and delivery of Murray Grove, the building which spearheaded the international movement in tall timber construction.

Andrew teaches and lectures frequently with a focus on sustainability, timber construction and the future of architecture. Andrew is a member of the steering committee for Architects Declare in the UK and an ardent campaigner for good causes.