Branch Leadership Retreat

Contributed by Scott Watkins, Emerging Green Professionals Committee, Diablo East Bay Branch

Warm muffins and zesty coffee welcomed us-- 40+ USGBC-NCC members-- when we arrived at XL Construction’s incredible facility in Milpitas. Included among us were representative leadership of the five NCC Branches, Chapter board members, and Branch committee members. After spending a few minutes touring the LEED Silver certified XL Construction, I was impressed, but not surprised, that XL was honored by the San Francisco Business Times “as one of the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area.”

The retreat kicked-off with a group exercise: building a model skyscraper out of newspaper and tape that could support a kiwi. As our smaller workgroup, which represented all five regions of NCC, began rolling newspaper into piers for our model, we began discussing our roles within our respective branches, as well as each branch’s successes, challenges, and operational practices. We identified a great deal of symmetry between our collective branches, but also identified opportunities to replicate the procedures and successes of other branches.

Building a Green Future for the Golden State: Green California Summit

Contributed by Maggie Hartley, Director of Marketing, Gen7

Join local and state government leaders, school officials, businesses, architects, builders and green technology innovators at the 2012 Green California Summit and Exposition. The state’s largest annual conference addressing California’s environmental policies and the technologies that support them will take place April 26-27 at the Sacramento Convention Center. 5,000 attendees are expected from the public and private sectors.

Now in its sixth year, the Expo will offer hands-on exposure to 150 companies offering green products and services, including a Green Schools Pavilion and a Green Auto Mall. The Summit will also include keynote presentations, educational sessions addressing policy, funding and implementation issues, expanded offerings for school administrators, educators, and networking opportunities. The Green California Leadership Awards, acknowledging accomplishments by state and local government, will be presented at a special awards ceremony on April 26.

USGBC California

Contributed by Dennis Murphy, Secretary, USGBC-NCC Board of Directors

USGBC California is a multi-chapter advocacy organization representing eight California chapters and over 20,000 green building professionals statewide. Their mission is to advocate for regenerative buildings and communities by providing thought leadership and a unified voice to guide the epic transformation to a sustainable built environment and economy. Dennis Murphy has chaired the organization from its inception. He is aided by Dan Geiger, who advises the Executive Committee, Paul Wermer, who heads the Council of Experts effort, and Panama Bartholomy, who was instrumental in building support from the other seven California Chapters.

USGBC California, initially named USGBC California Advocacy Committee (CAC), has been focused on building out an evergreen organization that has a consistent presence in Sacramento policy discussions. USGBC California’s pooled-resource coalition has been singled out as a model for both multiple-chapter states and individual chapter-branch relationships. The California multi-chapter operational environment was featured in an August 2011 national advocacy webinar.