The Green Building Initiative (GBI) has elected its 2019 Board of Directors, led by Stimson Lumber Co. Vice President of Sales and Pacific Northwest Association of Rail Shippers President Tim Atkinson, who succeeds outgoing chairman Rich Mitchell, managing principal architect of Mackenzie. The latter is based in Portland, Ore., along with GBI and Stimson. Atkinson takes the reins following the largest two-year growth period in the group’s history, during which staff and members supported more than 465 building projects that earned third-party assessment and certification through the Green Globes and federal Guiding Principle Compliance (GPC) programs. Atkinson has served on the GBI Board of Directors since 2013 and assumes the chairman’s post after a two-year term as treasurer.
Concurrent with the officer and board announcement, GBI cites major steps or accomplishments over the past two years toward a goal of increasing the organization’s market impact and promoting new levels of transparency, among them:
- Acquiring global rights for Green Globes and advancing the revision of Green Globes for New Construction, the flagship rating system, through a multi-year American National Standards Institute consensus process.
- Supporting building owners and their practitioners or consultants through the assessment and certification process of 462 Green Globes building projects.
- Increasing the understanding of sustainability issues in a building’s life cycle through education and professional credentialing programs that include instruction on New Construction, Core and Shell, Existing Buildings, and Sustainable Interiors. More than 800 certified Green Globes Professionals and Guiding Principle Compliance Professionals (GPCP) are supporting building projects throughout the world.
- Launching a revised membership program that provides access to GBI member benefits to organizations for as little as $500. Additionally, new bylaws were approved that encourage involvement of the organization’s growing membership in all levels of governance.
“GBI has carved out a unique niche in the market,” Atkinson affirms. “We’ve seen GBI increase education and promotion of Green Globes and develop customized tools to support private and public sector owners, practitioners, and contractors with understanding that sustainability can be incorporated into every building type—no matter the size, budget, or unique function. With GBI’s Green Globes and GPC programs, the market is remembering that third-party certification can apply to all buildings and be both comprehensive and flexible.”
The new GBI Board will oversee execution of an aggressive education and promotion plan for 2019, he adds, to include: Launching a user-friendly Green Globes software platform with portfolio management support; Releasing a bimonthly thought leadership webinar series with case studies from portfolio owners, lessons learned from Three and Four Green Globes certified projects, plus education and support for pilots of the new versions of Green Globes New Construction and Existing Buildings certification programs; Growing membership involvement in GBI’s performance and tool development, government engagement, and education and promotion committees; and, Increasing awareness of GBI’s unique GPCP credentialing program to support federal government practitioners and their contractors on Guiding Principles and UFC compliance requirements. GBI has overseen third-party Guiding Principles Compliance assessment of 269 federal buildings and certified an additional 338 federal buildings through Green Globes. — www.thegbi.org