CONFERENCE KICK-OFF SPEAKER: REBECCA FLORA

Rebecca Flora, Executive Director of the Green Building Alliance (GBA), and Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council

Rebecca L. Flora, is the executive director of the Green Building Alliance (GBA), a non-profit organization that drives market demand for green building through education programs, economic development initiatives, and project facilitation throughout Western Pennsylvania. In 2006, GBA launched the Green Building Product Initiative, a program initiated by Ms. Flora to grow Pennsylvania’s green economy through expansion of the green building products industry. 

Ms. Flora also serves as the Board Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-government organization (NGO) with over 14,000 member organizations worldwide. As board chair, she is co-chairing the USGBC’s strategic planning process and development of a new 5-year plan for the organization and leading work to improve all aspects of board leadership and organizational governance.  

While at GBA, Ms. Flora chaired the Southwestern Pennsylvania Convention Center Design Commission. She was also the LEED Accredited Professional (AP) for Pittsburgh’s $375 million convention center expansion project that opened in 2003. Ms. Flora holds a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Science from Plattsburgh State University of New York. She also holds several professional certificates.

As an adjunct faculty member of Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, Ms. Flora instructs graduate students in sustainable community development, a class she developed for the school in 2000.

She has received several recognitions and awards, including being named an “Environmental Hero for 2004” by Interiors & Sources magazine and as one of “The Top 50 Cultural Forces in Pittsburgh” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She has also published several articles and appeared in many video and broadcast media productions.

SCOT HORST, PRESIDENT, 7GROUP
8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Scot Horst serves as chair of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Steering Committee and is widely recognized as a leader in the sustainable design movement. During his chairmanship, he has overseen the development of LEED for Core and Shell, LEED for Schools, Revisions to LEED for Existing Buildings, LEED for Neighborhood Development, LEED for Homes, LEED for Healthcare and extensive work on the next version of LEED that will establish a new structure for a single LEED known as the LEED bookshelf. This structure will normalize all LEED rating systems to 100 points, add a regional category, intentionally weight the credits, fix credits and align credits and submittals across all rating systems. He has also guided a revised and holistic structure for developing LEED through a new committee structure. 

Mr Horst also serves as President of 7group a green building consultancy and the Athena Institute International, a non profit organization that focuses on sustainable materials and life cycle assessment. 

Mr. Horst will speak on the LEED rating system and its role in market transformation. He will show how LEED is the center piece of a growing movement in the United States and will speak about the nature of that movement.