Ed Begley Jr.
Actor / Activist / Environmentalist

When it comes to taking personal responsibility for the environment, few individuals can match the record of actor and activist Ed Begley, Jr. Known for turning up at Hollywood events on his bicycle, he has servedas chairman of the Environmental Media Association and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. He serves on the boards of organizations including the Thoreau Institute, the Earth Communications Officeand Friends of the Earth. His work has earned awards from numerous environmental groups including theCalifornia League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Coalition for Clean Air, Heal the Bay, the Santa Monica Baykeeper and the Southern California Gas Company. Currently, he is the co-star of the hit series Living with Ed on Planet Green a look at the day-to-day realities of “living green”with his not so environmentalist wife Rachelle Carson. His new book Living Like Ed is currently availablenationally from Clarkson Potter / Random House, and he continues to tour the country giving speechesabout his sustainable living practices. Appearance arranged by ARC and GreenSwitch.


Charles J. Kibert, Ph.d., P.E. - Conference Chairman
Professor and Director, Powell Center for Construction & Environment, College of Design, Construction and Planning, University of Florida.

 Dr. Kibert is the co-founder and President of the Cross Creek Initiative, a non-profit industry/university joint venture seeking to implement sustainability principles into construction. He has been vice-chair of the Curriculum and Accreditation Committee of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and helped create its first ever student chapter for which he serves as faculty advisor. His research interests include sustainable development and the environmental impact of construction, demolition, debris recycling, and construction ecology and metabolism. He was the lead author of the first edition of the highly successful publication “Greening Federal Facilities”, the author of Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), the editor of Reshaping the Built Environment (Island Press, 1999) and lead editor of Construction Ecology (Spon Press, 2002).

Karan Grover
Karan Grover & Associates, Vadodara, India

Karan Grover is an internationally acclaimed Indian architect who in 2004, became the first architect in the world to win the USGBC “Platinum” Award for the greenest building on earth. Today he is working towards the need for practicing “Green Architecture” inspiring students and fellow architects to build “Beyond Platinum” and set cutting edge benchmarks in the architectural fraternity. Mr. Grover has been passionately advocating the need to look at one’s culture and heritage for clues as to the direction for contemporary architecture and sustainable development. Winner of all five of the Indian awards for Excellence in Architecture and Interior Design, he was nominated as one of the 14 architects from Asia for this Millennium. Mr. Grover aims to spread awareness of sustainable architecture by addressing in excess of 20,000 professionals and students every year - a commitment he made when addressing the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in 2007.

Kathy O. Roper, CFM, MCR, LEED AP, IFMA Fellow
Associate Professor, Building Construction Program, Georgia Institute of Technology

With over 20 years’ experience in the management of corporate facilities and real estate, Professor Roper has broad experience in the multi-faceted specialties of Facility Management and Corporate Real Estate. Working for Sprint Communications, Financial Service Corporation, U.S. General Services Administration and The American Cancer Society she has gained wide experience with corporate, government and non-profit business models, which she incorporates into her teaching and research. Her keynote speeches in international conferences worldwide capture the state-of-the-art in Facility Management research and application.


Llewellyn Van Wyk
Research Group Leader, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa

Llewellyn van Wyk is an expert on the construction sector, especially in the fields of sustainable building and construction activities, skills development, and advanced construction technologies. Mr. Van Wyk has more than twenty-two years’ experience as a practising architect, and five years’ experience in studies and contract research related to the construction sector, spanning the fields of construction industry development, built environment professions skills development and training, sustainable building and construction evaluation and reporting, holistic building design and planning, policy and strategy development, and advanced construction technology research.

Dominic Sims
Chief Operating Officer, International Code Council, Washington, DC.

Dominic Sims is responsible for the International Code Council’s day-to-day operating activities, financial performance, short- and long-term planning and strategic business activities. A membership association dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, ICC develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states that adopt codes choose the International Codes developed by the ICC. Mr. Sims holds several professional certifications with the Code Council and the states of Florida and Ohio and was Executive Director of the Palm Beach County (Fla.) Planning, Zoning and Building Department. He has served on numerous boards and committees, including as Vice Chairman of the Florida Governor’s Building Code Study Commission and was Vice Mayor of Jupiter, Fl.

Jeff DuFresne
Executive Director, Urban Land Institute: Atlanta District Council, Atlanta, GA.

Jeff DuFresne is Executive Director of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Atlanta District Council. ULI is global research and educational “think tank” focusing on land use and sustainability issues in 90 countries worldwide. ULI membership consists of developers, investors, engineers, consultants, architects, attorneys and public officials. Prior to joining ULI, Mr. DuFresne held senior positions with national investment firms such as Prudential Real Estate Advisors, DIHC, LNR Property Corporation and Colonnade Properties, where he specialized in development, re-development, asset management and adaptive reuse. Mr. DuFresne holds the CCIM and CPM real estate designations, earned a bachelor degree in economics from Trinity College (Hartford) and concentrated in marketing and finance at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business (New York).