Leadership

Board of Directors

Auxiliary Board

Programs Committee

Advisory Board

2022 Board of Directors

Kelly Adighije

Board Member

Vice President
Baumann Consulting

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After graduating in 2004 with a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Sheffield, England, Kelly embarked on a career in the building industry. He spent his formative engineering years at the global consultancy Ove Arup for the first 5 years where he was exposed to cutting edge design including impact assessment on energy use and sustainability. Kelly then pursued his LEED AP credentials in 2009 and over the past 10 years has been focused on having an environmental or sustainability impact on the energy use our designs, operation and life in general have on the environment.

Kelly's goal in his work is ensuring that we are all doing our part to address climate change and to secure the future of generations to come. He feels a position as a member of the Illinois Green Alliance Board is the logical step in this pursuit.

Royce Cunningham

Board Member

Owner
Architectural Services Group

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Royce is an entrepreneur and lifelong Bronzeville resident with a deep commitment to environmental justice and climate action. He is currently the owner of Architectural Services Group, Inc., a Chicago-based alliance of construction industry professionals who are working to link, leverage, and lead renewable energy, natural resource conservation, and sustainability benefits to Chicagoland urban communities.

Michelle McClendon

Board Member, ED&I Chair

Project Executive
Gilbane Building Co.

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Michelle McClendon is a Project Executive at Gilbane Building Company. With more than 17 years in the construction industry she has encompassed a diverse portfolio of projects including corporate headquarters, high-end and multi-family residential, schools, public use facilities and much more. She is a champion for sustainability, and healthy-high performing construction having worked on and successfully achieved certification under the LEED for Schools, LEED ID +C, LEED BD +C and WELL sustainability rating systems. As a Project Executive for Gilbane's K-12 and public sector market her commitment to promoting sustainability has increased as she is a primary stakeholder in providing direction to owners, colleagues and subcontractors in the planning and execution of healthy, and high-performing projects that directly impact the communities we live and work in.

Prior to her role at Gilbane, Michelle was a Senior Project Manager at Leopardo Companies, Inc. and served as co-chairman of Leopardo Construction's Sustainability Committee for nearly 10 years in which she helped steer corporate policy and practices around sustainability.

Jon Cheffings

Strategic Advisor

EVP Strategy
SCC&M

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Amaris Alanis-Ribeiro

Board Member

Director
North Park Village Nature Center

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Amaris Alanis Ribeiro is the Center Director of the North Park Village Nature Center in the Chicago Park District. Amaris has over fifteen years of experience in environmental science education, coordinating community engagement strategies, and developing STEM-equity programs at museums, botanic gardens, and nonprofits.

Amaris is interested in asset-based approaches in centering communities in environmental education. Amaris currently serves on the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Informal Science Education Committee and the Advisory Board for Environmentalists of Color. Amaris has a BS in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master's degree in Science Education from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Annalise Dum

Secretary

Vice President, Sustainability
JLL

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To date, Annalise has over 100 projects under her belt and has managed ESG advisory and certification efforts for 16 million+ square feet of space. 17 of her projects have received certifications including LEED, WELL Health-Safety Rating, Fitwel, ENERGY STAR, and WELL (including Portfolio). Having worn many professional hats in the corporate and nonprofit spheres, including commercial interior designer, facilities manager, and sustainability manager, she is a green building subject matter expert.

Annalise's fresh perspective, dedication, and impact are evident through her involvement on Illinois Green's Auxiliary Board the past several years.

John Mlade

Vice Chair

Director, Sustainable Environments
Wight & Co.

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Kevin Augustyn

Board Member

Senior Vice President
DBRS Morningstar

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Kevin Augustyn is a Senior Vice President in the North American CMBS, Global Structured Finance group at DBRS Morningstar. DBRS Morningstar is a credit rating agency and investment research firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. In his role at DBRS Morningstar, Kevin covers several esoteric finance instruments and leads Morningstar's effort to provide credit ratings for CPACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) loans on a national basis. He also serves on the firm's ESG methodology subcommittee.

He has over 25 years of real estate development and finance experience with several national real estate development firms and financial institutions including Bank of Montreal, Trammell Crow Companies, OPUS and CIII Capital Partners.

Kevin began his career as a city planner, reflecting his passion for community economic development and historic preservation. His first professional assignment was to return to his hometown of Hammond, Indiana, where he served initially as the Land Use Planner and eventually as the Director of the Planning Department.

Isaac Elnecave

Board Member

Policy Specialist
Phius

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Isaac Elnecave joined Phius in 2019 where he wears two hats. He provides design review and energy modeling services to evaluate project qualifications for PHIUS+ Certification. Isaac works closely with the submitting CPHC to provide feedback on questions pertaining to energy modeling and building plans. He also works as the Policy Specialist promoting building policies aimed at requirements that will result in deep energy efficient buildings. Prior to joining PHIUS, Isaac worked as a policy manager focused on promoting the development, adoption and implementation of the latest building energy codes and appliance efficiency standards. Isaac also worked as a civil engineer in Southern California where he designed seismic retrofits for older buildings susceptible to damage from earthquakes.

Isaac has a Bachelors Degree in Engineering Mechanics from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Elena Savona

Treasurer

Director, Federal Partnerships
Elevate

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Elena Savona is the Director of Federal Partnerships at Elevate, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating equitable solutions to climate change that provide healthy, safe, and affordable homes for everyone. Elena is an expert in energy and sustainability, and is passionate about equitable climate action that brings the benefits of clean energy to all. Over her 20 years of experience in the energy and sustainability industry, Elena has led projects that range from city energy planning and utility energy efficiency program management to individual energy audits and infrastructure assessments. Elena has been a member of Illinois Green Alliance since 2008 and has collaborated with the organization in different capacities, including as the chair of the Programs Committee and now serving on the Board of Directors.

Kathia Benitez

Ex-Officio Chair

Sustainability, Compliance Director
Discover Financial Services

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Kathia is an energy management and sustainability leader experienced in demand side management and utility energy efficiency programs for large commercial industrial and small business customers, planning, operations, and maintenance of higher education and healthcare major campus programs.

For Kathia, sustainability means embodying a benevolent leadership presence that serves as a catalyst to bring about action and transformation.

She served as the Board Chair in 2021.

Keara Fanning

Board Chair

Senior Director, ESG
Link Logistics Real Estate

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Keara Fanning is the Senior Director of ESG at Link Logistics Real Estate which is the largest operator of industrial real estate operating solely in U.S with over 400 million square feet under ownership. Keara oversees Link's ESG program including investor and annual reporting, sustainable development programs, health and wellness and social impact. Additionally, she works to help achieve their ambitious environmental sustainability goals including carbon neutral operations by 2025 by delivering efficiency programs throughout the portfolio. Prior to joining Link, Keara helped develop the ESG strategy for a large investor's multifamily and retail portfolios. Keara has over ten years of sustainability consulting experience for a diverse portfolio of projects including LEED and WELL certifications, sustainability strategy, energy retrofits, net-zero carbon development, corporate sustainability reporting, and life-cycle assessments. She is focused on reducing building energy use and the impact of construction on the environment and leverages her Biology background to make spaces healthier for occupants. Keara is a LEED AP, WELL AP and Fitwel Ambassador.

Sarah Wood

Governance Chair

Senior Sustainability Specialist
Jacobs

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2022 Auxiliary Board

The Auxiliary Board is led by emerging professionals who advance Illinois Green's mission. Learn more about their work.

Kate Anderson

Account Executive
Johnson Controls



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Leadership

2022 Board of Directors

Kelly Adighije

Royce Cunningham

Michelle McClendon

Jon Cheffings

Amaris Alanis-Ribeiro

Annalise Dum

John Mlade

Kevin Augustyn

Isaac Elnecave

Elena Savona

Kathia Benitez

Keara Fanning

Sarah Wood

2022 Auxiliary Board

Kate Anderson

Natalia Gardocki

Justin Johnson

Lauren McManus

Jackson Sattell

Laura Turner

Ian Champ

Kate Holly

Brian Keller

Elias Menninger

Prachi Sharma

Miranda Wright

Bingxu Chen

Adam Householder

Ivy Klee

Brandon Pieczynski

Amelia Sisk

Ayush Chobe

Owen Hull

David Lopez

Luke Rossi

Cameron Small

2023 Programs Committee

Jill Ackermann

Anjana Dalal

Damon Henrikson

Jason Meyering

Connor Rettig

Alex Tompsidis

Jennifer Alvarado

Thomas Dietz

Jason LaFleur

Daniel Moring

Sophia Seol

Sydney VanKuren

Matthaios Aravosis

Allen Dusault

Chelsea Lamar

Iwona Mroz

Aditya Singh

Wayne Beals

Mohammad Heidarinejad

Jim Laukes

Janet Olson

Rachel Starr

Advisory Board