NORTHWEST ECOBUILDING GUILD WELCOMES CHRIS VAN DAALEN AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Building on the success of our signature programs, the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild is making bold moves to expand our leadership in the region.

At the annual Green Building Slam & Summit event last weekend in Seattle, the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild announced the promotion of Chris van Daalen to the position of Executive Director. This is an interim position for 6 months; making it permanent will depend upon the success of membership fundraising efforts getting under way now to ensure a sustainable budget in 2018.

Van Daalen has been a volunteer, chapter president and program consultant for the Guild since 2007. He led development of our signature policy program, the Code Innovations Database, pulling off a major win for the Guild in 2016 by “crowdfunding” $25,000 from EcoBuilding members and supporters, then leveraging that for another $95,000 in grant funding.

Encouraged, the board positioned the Guild as an emerging voice for advocacy by helping establish the Zero Net Carbon Buildings Alliance. Chris is on the Alliance steering committee, taking a stand on our behalf, for buildings as climate action at a time when our federal government is dragging us backward.

Van Daalen and the Board have ambitious plans for the Guild in the next three years – to replicate and expand our successful events and programs – to mobilize our community for strategic advocacy – and to spark a market transformation to rapidly, equitably scale-up high-performance green building.

The board welcomes van Daalen to build on his leadership experience, living and breathing the Guild’s mission for more than a decade. He has an intimate knowledge of our organization and a unique leadership style focused on building teams and partnerships. We think you’ll agree he’s the right choice to lead our organization and empower Guild members to transform the built environment for long-term sustainability!