Presenters:

Magdalena Szpala, Sustainability Planning and Reporting Manager, BC Housing

Patricia Gee, Director of Tenant Engagement, Senior Consultant, Ameresco 

Moderator:

Jennifer Sanguinetti, P.Eng., P.E., LEED® AP, Director, Smart Buildings & Energy Management, BC Housing

Successfully linking green building technology and at-risk youth engagement is necessary to create a culture of sustainability that cuts across socio-economic lines. BC Housing and Ameresco have been working to this end at social housing sites in Toronto and Vancouver.

This session provides examples of how youth can be leaders in their community; and how an energy retrofit project can offer opportunities for education, engagement and green job pathways. Participants will learn success factors for the development of a
tenant engagement program focusing on sustainability, based on an award-winning example of an existing program run at a social housing site.

Presenter Bios

Magdalena Szpala
Working as a Sustainability Manager at BC Housing, Magda leads the process of planning, reporting and integrating sustainability into business processes and organizational culture.Prior to joining BC Housing, Magda worked as a sustainability consultant. Her clients included: Vancity Credit Union, The Co-operators, and Climate Smart (social enterprise). Magda completed her Master’s in Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability, at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden. She holds the Certificate of Training in GHG Accounting from the GHG Management Institute. She is a member of the GHG Management Experts network, Climate Smart network of trainers, and the Natural Step Associate.

Patricia Gee
Patricia Gee and her staff are the exclusive tenant engagement and training consultants to Ameresco Canada. They have designed and delivered services to residents of over 10,000 social and subsidized housing units. Patricia originated and her staff manages the award-winning youth Green Collar Corps, with chapters in Toronto and Vancouver. Patricia is president of GreenRoots Strategies and a former teacher who has more than 25 years of staff and consulting experience in environmental education and training, community-based social marketing, welfare-to-work strategies, and inner-city youth citizenship and work skills development. Patricia received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina.

Jennifer Sanguinetti
As BC Housing’s Director, Smart Buildings and Energy Management, Jennifer is responsible for coordinating the GHG emissions reductions in BC Housing’s portfolio of over 700 social housing buildings. She also facilitates the targeted LEED Gold certification on new projects.

Previously, she was a Principal with Stantec Consulting and Keen Engineering. She has worked on green buildings and resources designed to assist implement green strategies. Jennifer understands both building and community scale energy issues, including GHG emissions reduction strategies. She has extensive experience with LEED, is a LEED Canada faculty member and a member of the CaGBC’s Energy and Engineering TAG.