About Us
Learn More About Who We Are
The Sustainability Foundation was established primarily to help educate people about new building methods that contribute to the well-being of our state and its natural environment. The founders have many years of combined experience in the home building industry as well as in the green home building industry. Our goal is to share the knowledge we've gained with anyone who is interested in green building, particularly in Washington State.
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Robin Rogers, LEED AP, MArch, President and Technical Advisor
Robin advises residential and commercial projects, as well as educates diverse groups, in sustainable design and building practices. Formerly the Sustainability Advisor for Otak, a national architecture, engineering and planning firm, she was the primary sustainable building consultant to King County, WA from 2005 to 2008. Her monthly electronic sustainability newsletter, Ozone, won a 2008 national award for best newsletter. Robin is an active member of the American National Standards Institute/Green Building Initiative Committee that is developing the national green building standard.
She was the first director of Built Green, the Seattle-area environmental building program, where she quadrupled the program by every measure, helping the program’s voluntary certification process to become the de facto standard for green homes across the state. As director, Robin created and conducted green building training courses for builders, remodelers and associate members, lectured on sustainable building throughout the community and created the area’s first online green building newsletter, Built Green News, a National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) award-winning communication. She was also a member of the national committee that developed national model green home building guidelines that are the basis of the new green home building standard.
Working with Washington’s Department of Ecology, she facilitated the creation of Built Green Washington, a coalition of Washington’s regional green home building programs. Robin also assisted other home builder associations in the state establish Built Green programs, including Central Washington, Thurston and Whatcom counties.
She has been a key sustainability consultant to green home demonstration projects in Washington, such as the Built Green Home at Suncadia in Roslyn, the Built Green Idea Home in Issaquah, and Going Green at the Beach in Warm Beach. She has authored numerous articles on green building in publications that include Eco-Structure, Urban Land, Building Edge, Northwest Construction and Master Builder magazines, and the Daily Journal of Commerce.
Robin was a consultant and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) technical reviewer to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the foremost organization promoting sustainable buildings, and co-wrote the LEED Supplement for King County. She holds a Master of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech, and is a LEED Accredited Professional (2002) and Green Advantage Certified Residential Professional (2008).
Brenda Nunes, LEED AP, CSBA, Vice President and Executive Director
As Co-Founder and Executive Director for Sustainability Foundation, Brenda Nunes advocates education and outreach as the means for progressing green building in Washington State. As developer of the award-winning Built GreenR Demonstration Home at Suncadia, located in Cle Elem, Washington, she has firsthand knowledge of the benefits, as well as the challenges, of choosing to build green. Invited to lecture across the country about this unique home, she has helped to demystify the processes and products available to builders, developers and consumers interested in adopting sustainable practices.
Currently assisting Central Washington Home Builders in the development of their Built GreenR Program, Brenda is a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor, active member of the Master Builders of King and Snohomish County (MBAKS) Built GreenR Executive Committee, and member of the MBA University Board of Governors. In 2007, Brenda received the MBAKS Built GreenR Pioneer Award in recognition of her contributions to green building. Brenda has worked in the building industry for over 18 years and recognizes the growing demand for development that is not just profitable, but environmentally conscious as well. Believing it can be both, she cofounded the Sustainability Foundation with the goal of developing training, marketing and communications programs that support sustainable building and its associated businesses.
With 16 years experience as Marketing Director for Associated Earth Sciences (AESI), she is the Past president of the Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce and chair of Sustainable September, a non-profit organization promoting sustainable business on the Eastside and across Washington. Brenda was an expert contributor to the newly created National Association of Realtors new Green Designation Program and will be instructing throughout the United States. In addition, she is the administrator for the Sustainability Foundation’s Licensed Real Estate School that teaches specialized courses to real estate professionals on marketing green homes, sustainable building materials and low impact development techniques.
Brenda has a BA in Communications from Marquette University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Seattle University. She has taken continuing education classes in real estate, planning and development, training professionals, and sustainable building. As the 2006 Chair of the East King County Chamber of Commerce Legislative Coalition Brenda has co-authored position papers on growth management and the environment. She is a past president of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, and a member of the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties.
Carly Faul, Secretary Treasurer
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Brad Taylor, Esquire
Currently leading a diverse construction and business law practice, Brad has extensive professional experience with private construction projects as well as public municipal, state and federal projects. In addition, Brad represents a variety of business clients in their commercial transactions, business acquisitions, real property transactions and leases, collections and corporate matters. Brad represents partnerships and limited liability companies as well as closely-held corporations.
As an advocate for the continuing improvement of the construction industry, he has provided educational presentations about the law as it relates to contractors, as well as guidance for improving contractor’s business practices. With undergraduate degrees in both Civil Engineering and Construction Management from Washington State University and a law degree from the Seattle University School of Law, Brad is closely tied to the Pacific Northwest.
His interest in the sustainable building industry was tweaked while serving as an officer and director of the Central Washington Home Builders Association. During his tenure, Brad had the opportunity to work on the steering committee of a unique sustainable demonstration project being undertaken by Brenda and Art Nunes -- the award-winning Built GreenR Demonstration Home at Suncadia, located in Cle Elem, Washington. Seeing the vast interest this demonstration project model generated, and realizing the many valuable educational opportunities it provided, Brad and Brenda recognized the growing need for presenting the business advantages of sustainable development and construction practices to developers and builders across Washington State. Out of this shared insight, the mission of the Sustainability Foundation was conceived.
Brad is the author of the Washington chapter of Aspen Law Publications' Fifty State Construction Lien and Bond Law. He co-authored and presented Federal Publications’ Washington State Environmental Law Manual and Seminar. He also co-authored a manual and taught a seminar entitled Contracting for Profit in The 90’s.
Dave Porter
Dave Porter has been in the real estate industry for over 30 years. He is a recognized national speaker, trainer and writer. He has presented for the National Association of Realtors, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Home Builders as well as scores of other groups both nationally and internationally. Most recently he was Senior Vice President in the builder division for 13 states at Countrywide Bank. Mr. Porter holds four designations from the National Association of Home Builders; MIRM – Member, Institute of Residential Marketing, CGP – Certified Green Professional, CGA – Certified Graduate Associate and CAPs – Certified Aging in Place Specialist. He serves on various green building and marketing committees. He and his wife were developers and visionaries the award winning green home, WWW.goinggreenathebeach.com project, which was the winner of the 2008 NAHB Built Green Custom Home of the Year.
Mr. Porter provides training consulting on a variety of business topics including EEMs, EIMs, green building, sales, marketing and financing. He can be reached at 206 304 8228 or DaveP@porterworks.com
Cheryl Isen
Cheryl Isen is president of Isen and Company, a strategic marketing and public relations firm she founded in 2001 after serving nearly 20 years in executive management capacities for high-growth companies. Isen & Company focuses on two strategic areas: partnering with organizations as their on-call marketing team and specializes in uncovering a company’s unique value through innovative messaging; and using an objective-driven strategic planning process, bringing a company’s story to the market using strategic PR and marketing to achieve a bottom-line, measurable difference. This approach results in increased corporate visibility, a unique brand identity, and expanded market opportunities. Cheryl is also a sought after writer and speaker. Since 2005 she has written a regular column called Executive Insights for the Puget Sound Business Journal, and currently provides a weekly radio segment called Marketing Matters, for the KKNW radio program Small Business Innovators.
Before founding Isen and Company, Cheryl served as a Corporate Officer and Vice President of Marketing for VitalCom, based in Irvine, CA, where she helped to orchestrate a marketing turnaround prior to the company’s acquisition by GE Health Systems. As a Senior Director of Corporate Communications for Seattle-based PHAMIS Inc., Cheryl helped introduce the concept of personalized electronic medical records to the healthcare industry, and led the company through an IPO and eventual merger with GE. Earlier she held marketing management positions at TRW, Inc., The Interface Group and VLSI Technology. Cheryl has a B.A. in Journalism and Marketing from San Diego State University and is a frequent judge at the annual business plan competition at the University of Washington Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Business School. Since 2005 she also has written a monthly column called Executive Insights, for the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Doug Davis
Disclaimer
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