Best Practices in Material Health: The Owner’s Perspective

Portland Materials Transparency Collaborative (PMTC) and Health Product Declaration Collaborative (HPDC) invite you to the “Healthy Product Selection Using Transparency Data” discussion in our continuing Discussion Series: Transparency and Material Health In Practice. Architecture and design professionals, contractors and owners will get practical answers to questions that you are likely to encounter as you take the next steps to integrate healthy materials practices into product selection and specification in your projects.

Upcoming In Discussion #4: Owners are an integral part of the material transparency movement. Finding success requires building consensus with multiple stakeholders around transparency and the values alignment of different certification standards like LEED, WELL, and Living Building Challenge. This panel will feature owners representing a wide range of public and private organizations who have a vested interest in material transparency. Topics will include aligning sustainable materials goals, including human health and embodied carbon, with organizational values, return on investment, and breaking down barriers to allow growth in owner engagement.

Participants will be able to:

Understand core concepts of material transparency and disclosure to productively bring this new information into their practices as designers, architects, specifiers, and owners.

Prioritize aligning sustainable materials goals, including human health and embodied carbon, with organizational values.

Identify necessary steps to building consensus with multiple stakeholders around transparency and the alignment of different certification standards like LEED, WELL, and Living Building Challenge

Recognize how a focus on material health and transparency is a good financial return on investment (ROI) for different organizations.

Provide key ways to break down barriers to allow for growth in owner engagement around material health and transparency.

Panelists include:

Sara Cederberg – Google

Leslie Crehan – Home Forward

Kate Vance – Multnomah County

Gisele Geiger – California State Teacher’s Retirement System

Bethany Clouse – Kaiser Permanente

1 AIA LU/HSW Credit*, 1 GBCI General Credit**

*Approval Pending, **Self Reporting

If you cannot be in Portland for discussion #4 in the series, join this discussion via the live stream from 6 to 7:30 PDT on October 15.

To register please see the event website.

Panelist Information:

Sara Cederberg – Google
Sara Cederberg joined Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services Sustainability Team in late March as the new Healthy Materials Program Manager to advance safer and circular building products in Google’s buildings. Over her career, Sara has focused on the intersection of climate change, human health and social equity as a way to motivate positive change. Before joining Google, Sara led the air quality and sustainability team for the seaport of Seattle and Tacoma where she worked on large infrastructure electrification projects and fleet conversion of old diesel heavy duty trucks and cargo handling equipment. Prior to moving to the Pacific Northwest, she worked at the U.S. Green Building Council for many years developing the content for the LEED Rating System, including developing the requirements for the Materials and Resources section of LEED. Sara has a Masters in Architecture from Tulane University in New Orleans.

Kate Vance – Multnomah County
Kate Vance was recently hired as the Project Delivery Program Manager at Multnomah County, where her team manages a variety of project types in existing county buildings. Previously, Kate spent 11 years at Portland State University managing and supervising complex multi-million dollar capital projects to meet the University’s goals for future growth and collaborative partnerships. Kate’s professional commitments include collaborative leadership, client relationships, teamwork, and safety.

Leslie Crehan – Home Forward
Leslie Crehan is a Senior Project Manager for Home Forward, where she has designed and managed multi-million dollar renovations to Home Forward’s low income housing properties for the last 27 years. Leslie is dedicated to installing materials that are sustainable and durable while also being a good steward of public dollars. She promotes Home Forward’s mission to “promote, operate and develop affordable housing that engenders stability, self-sufficiency, self-respect and pride in its residents and represents a long-term community asset.” She has a degree in architecture from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA and is a licensed Architect.

Gisele Geiger – California State Teacher’s Retirement System
Gisele Geiger is the Facilities Planning and Development Manager for the California State Teacher’s Retirement System (CalSTRS), the largest educator-only pension fund in the world. Gisele leads CalSTRS facility construction projects, including its approximately 500k square foot Headquarters Expansion, as well as ensuring ongoing sustainable maintenance of existing facilities. She has worked to incorporate CalSTRS sustainable principles into its headquarters by introducing materials transparency, design for occupant wellness, and on-site energy production, while keeping within budget. Gisele actively engages with stakeholders, board members and the State of California to encourage environmental stewardship in the built environment.

Bethany Clouse – Kaiser Permanente
Bethany joined Kaiser Permanente in 2017 to lead the National Total Health Environment initiative for Kaiser Permanente facilities in the Northwest Region. In her role, she works with design, construction and facilities teams to promote responsible material stewardship as it relates to sustainability, performance, maintenance and life-cycle analysis. Prior to her work with Kaiser Permanente, Bethany provided planning and design services to healthcare institutions and architecture firms in NYC through her consulting company, Design for Healing, LLC. She has a Bachelor of Interior Design degree from Drexel University and is a Certified Interior Designer in the state of New York. Bethany is passionate about supporting the delivery of high-quality healthcare, while improving the human experience through the built environment.