Steve Parker (President): Steve is the Director of Facilities for Fort Wayne Community Schools. Fort Wayne Community Schools and the Board of School Trustees are supportive of green measures for our school district. Lakeside Middle School will be the first school to achieve LEED Certification. As a school district, Steve started the Sustainable School Committee. This is a group of 13 folks in the district that mange departments or represents schools. We are working on reducing our waste, increasing our recycling, and reducing our energy consumption. As the second largest school district in the state, with 53 schools and approximately 4,200 employees, we have an obligation to lead as well as educate the community we support.
Dan Ernst (Vice President): Dan is partner at Earth Source, Inc. and a registered landscape architect. Dan graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture and an Associate degree in Agriculture from Purdue University in 1990. At Earth Source, Dan is responsible for landscape architectural design and planning, stormwater management and treatment, park and recreation design, fairgrounds site planning, native landscape design, soil bioengineering, ecological restoration, erosion and sedimentation control, and constructed wetland/mitigation design. Dan is also a board member of Friends of the Parks of Allen County and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Evan Davis (Secretary): Evan is a librarian in the Business, Science and Technology Department at the Allen County Public Library. Previously, he was a journalist for 25 years, including 13 years as an editorial writer for The Journal Gazette. Many of his editorials were about prevention of child abuse and neglect. As a reporter in southern Illinois, he wrote extensively about reclamation of coal strip mines and about the relationship of high-sulfur coal to acid rain. He is active in the Democratic Party and has served on the board of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Wayne.
Lisa Miller (Treasurer)
Dr. Regina Leffers (Former Board President and Founder):Regina is the Director of the Center for the Built Environment and professor of Construction Engineering Technology at IPFW. She is a founding member and past President of the Northeast Indiana Green Build Coalition. Regina was Co-Chair of Mayor Graham Richard’s Green Ribbon Commission for the City of Fort Wayne. The Commission was charged with establishing environmental goals and implementation strategies for Fort Wayne in the areas of air quality and energy conservation. Our current Mayor, Tom Henry, is committed to going forward with this cause. She is the founder of Synergid Commercial, Inc., a commercial construction company specializing in sustainable construction. Her book, Sustainable Construction and Design, is due on bookshelves from Prentice Hall in May, 2009.
Ann Beeching (Director): Ann has a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics / Secondary Teaching from the University of Utah and an associate’s degree in Interior Design from Purdue. She has worked as an interior designer for 25 years and now teaches at IPFW in the Interior Design program as well. Her art has been published in writer Ted Andrews 2009 Animal Peak Calendar. She won best in show for the NEIGBC Christmas Tree in the 08 Festival of Trees at the Embassy. She believes that it is time for her to give back by actively helping to educate people on how to live in harmony with the Earth.
Candace Imbody (Director): Candace is an owner and President of Construction Recycling Solutions. Construction Recycling Solutions is a company originated in Fort Wayne in 2005. Candace and her partner started CRS with 2 employees and a dump truck. The inspiration came from an EPA report on a 1996 pilot program in Oregon where 90% of construction waste was successfully diverted from the land-fill. Today thousands of tons of construction waste are taken from the waste stream and used beneficially in our community. “Sustainability and pollution prevention are the focus” for the seedling company….”today we are the exception, tomorrow this will be the rule!”
Mark Joseph (Director): Mark is a Purdue University graduate. He is a principle of MSKTD & Associates, Inc. Architects Engineers Interiors, a business that has embraced sustainable design. He has led Business Development efforts for this firm for 18 years. Mark also takes an active role in other organizations including GFW Chamber of Commerce, Mad Anthony’s Golf Charity, the Society of Marketing Professional Services, and the Fort Wayne Zoological Society.
Marge White (Director): Marge is the executive director of Sophia’s Portico, a not for profit art and feminine spirituality center established in 1992. She has had extensive involvement with neighborhood development and outreach and was the principal organizer for Project Renew in the LaRez neighborhood. She is committed to incorporating sustainable living practices in her own life and assisting others to do likewise. She is a member of the Three Rivers Velo Sport Club and cycling is her passionate hobby.
Kathi Weiss (Director)
