Symposium

executive dialogue speaker bios

5A: BUILDINGS – Unleashing the Power of Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Moderator

William Sisson
Director, Sustainability, WBCSD Buildings Program
United Technologies Corporation

William Sisson is presently the Director, Sustainability and since 2006 the co-chair for UTC in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Energy Efficiency in Buildings Project. The Project is a multi-corporation, broad reaching, holistic look at the building life cycle with the intent to bring forward new directions for the collective industry to reach zero net energy buildings that are environmentally neutral and socially acceptable, while preserving business growth and profit objectives. He completed his undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech in Engineering Science and Mechanics, received his M S in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was awarded an MBA from the Sloan School at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Rapporteur

Benoit Lebot
Climate Change Technical Advisor
United Nations Development Program - Environment Finance Group

Since 2004, as a Climate Change Technical Advisor, Benoit Lebot provides technical leadership on UNDP/GEF activities on Energy-Efficient Policies and Programs for End-use Products and Processes. Mr. Lebot promotes and reinforces the UNDP portfolio on GEF projects in the field of energy efficiency with specific focus on public policies and legal, fiscal and technical measures on the energy demand-side. Current Projects cover Latin America, Asia, India, China, Africa and Eastern Europe. Mr. Lebot was previously with the International Energy Agency as an advisor within the Energy Efficiency Policy Analysis Division.  From 1990 to 1997 Mr. Lebot was part of ADEME, the French National Energy and Environment Agency, where he contributed to numerous developments of market transformation policies and demand-side management projects.

Speakers

Tan Tian Chong
Director, Technology Development Division
Building and Construction Authority, Singapore

Tan Tian Chong is Director of the Technology Development Division at the Singapore Building and Construction Authority. The Technology Division initiates and implements policies and measures to ensure the quality and sustainability of the built environment. Chong oversees the BCA Green Mark Incentives Scheme for private developers of green buildings.


Brandi McManus
Global Business Development Manager - Energy Services
TAC, LLC

Brandi McManus is the Global Energy Services Officer at TAC. Over the past 9 years, Ms. McManus has worked at TAC to ensure efficient sales operations through strategic planning and proactive leadership with a focus on training and development of personnel.   Currently, Ms. McManus works to manage and grow energy services by working with sales channels all over the world to increase their knowledge in energy and sales communication.


Philip Mihlmester
Co-Chairman
Energy, Climate, & Transportation
ICF International

Philip Mihlmester is a Senior Vice President and Managing Director at ICF International. He serves as Co-Chairman of the firm’s Energy, Climate, and Transportation Practice, where he oversees the firm’s global energy, resource, and climate change consulting business and its 550 professionals.  Mr. Mihlmester has over 32 years of experience in all facets of the energy business. He has worked as a consultant in the electricity, natural gas, and petroleum sectors and his work has spanned the value chain from production to delivery. Mr. Mihlmester advises energy industry clients on a variety of strategic and business issues, including climate change, market analysis, asset optimization, transmission, revenue/asset management, pricing, and new product and service offerings. He also has experience in public policy issues, and has worked with commissioners and senior government managers on a variety of energy and environmental policy questions, including transmission policy, advanced energy technology, climate policy, and infrastructure protection. Mr. Mihlmester holds an M.S. in Operations Research from the George Washington University, and received a graduate fellowship in international economics and statistics from Georgetown University. He also holds an A.B. from Columbia University, and is trained in management facilitation techniques.


Constant Van Aerschot
Director, Construction Trends
Lafarge

As Director of Construction Trends at Lafarge, Mr. Van Aerschot is in charge of the sustainable construction strategy.  His role in identifying global construction trends directly shapes the R&D portfolio.  Constant also co-chairs the WBCSD "Energy Efficiency in Buildings" project and serves on the board of the UNEP SBCI.  Prior to joining Lafarge in 2005, Constant was an Associate at Arup, a global design firm.  Constant holds a Master's degree in civil engineering from the ETHZ, Switzerland and a MBA from Cranfield, UK.


Larry Wash
President
Trane Global Services

Larry Wash is President of Trane Global Services. Larry has responsibility for the profit and loss of Trane global service, contracting and parts business which includes service operations in 60 countries, more than 300 parts retail stores and 5,000 of the industry’s best associates.

Larry leads Trane Performance Contracting Energy Services business, which performs energy audits and enables building owners to use future energy and operational savings to finance infrastructure improvement projects.

In this role, Larry delivers high performance building solutions to executives and owners around the world that deliver a strong financial return on investment, and make their buildings more operationally and energy efficient. This includes services ranging from Intelligent Building Services, remote diagnostics, performance and turnkey contracting, predictive maintenance services, and aftermarket parts.