GBCI Canada names first board members

OTTAWA — Green Business Certification Inc. Canada (GBCI Canada), a joint venture between GBCI and the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC), has announced its first board of directors.

GBCI Canada was created to accelerate and scale up the green building market transformation and impact in Canada, indicates a release, adding the delivery of certification and credentialing services for a range of existing and new products through state-of-the-art delivery platforms is at the core of GBCI Canada’s mandate.

The joint venture’s green building product offering includes the LEED green building rating systems, WELL, Parksmart, TRUE and the Investor Confidence Project.

The board consists of five members from Canada and the U.S., the release states.

Board members include:

• Brian Denney, who is the former CEO of the Toronto and Region and Conservation Authority and a former CaGBC national board member. During his time at the TRCA, he transformed Toronto, the release reads, with the development of waterfront parks, extensive shoreline protection works, flood protection and erosion control projects, land acquisition and conservation park development;
• Lachlan MacQuarrie, vice-president of real estate management with Oxford Properties Group, has over 18 years of real estate experience, primarily focused in investments, development and asset management;
• Taryn Holowka, the senior VP of marketing, communications and advocacy with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), heads up all global marketing, communications and public affairs efforts for the USGBC and its LEED green building program;
• Peter Papagiannis, COO at Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (BGIS) and a former CaGBC national board member, is responsible for the delivery of Facility Management Services across BGIS globally; and
• Jonathan Westeinde is the founder and CEO of Windmill Development Group, a real estate development company “dedicated to transforming conventional development practices using the triple bottom line approach of people + planet + profits,” said the statement. In his role, Westeinde is interested in creating alternative financing vehicles to embed sustainability into projects.