By Sangeetha Sambandam
As the incoming chair of Green Building United’s Board of Directors, I am greatly honored to be serving this organization. I am immensely grateful to our departing board members, including past Board Chairs, Lisa Shulock and Lindsey Walaski for their leadership, commitment and continued support.
I am also excited to welcome and celebrate our new slate of Board of Directors. We are looking forward to collaborating with this diverse group of individuals, to enhance our vision and mission and elevate our regional impact during these politically and economically challenging times. Our region faces real challenges: aging housing, rising energy costs, environmental pollution, and the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions while protecting our most vulnerable communities. In addition to these impacts, the threat faced by humanity due to disruptions caused by climate change has never been more significant. GBU strives to meet these challenges by advancing an equitable transition to climate-friendly and healthy built environment through education, advocacy and strategic initiatives in the region. For decades, GBU has brought together advocates, professionals, and enthusiasts to create healthier, more efficient, and more equitable places to live and work. I am immensely proud of the accomplishments of Rich Freeh and his team and the impact of GBU to date, delivering measurable benefits for people and the planet.
“The need to scale our efforts making homes, schools, offices, parks, open spaces and communities healthier, sustainable and equitable is more significant than ever.
These improvements will not only provide immediate benefits, but the ripple effects will positively impact generations to come.”
Our impact depends on the strength of our community. I invite you as individuals and businesses, who care about human health and climate change to support GBU – become a member, participate in events, learn, meet like-minded individuals and help us scale up our positive impact in the region. Your support will help us advance human health, decarbonize neighborhoods and make communities more equitable. The need to scale our efforts making homes, schools, offices, parks, open spaces and communities healthier, sustainable and equitable is more significant than ever. These improvements will not only provide immediate benefits, but the ripple effects will positively impact generations to come.
Angela Iraldi
Angela is an experienced sustainability consultant, whose entire career has been focused on educating and coaching owners, architects, and contractors on sustainability best practices and implementation. Her areas of expertise include Living Building Challenge, Passive House, zero energy and zero carbon, LEED, building commissioning, facilities planning, and sustainability visioning services. Angela’s technical expertise and community-focused nature make her the perfect fit for untangling complex challenges and working across the entire sustainability spectrum. As a Senior Sustainability Manager for Skanska, Angela helps clients across all building scales and sectors outline, apply, and push forward their sustainability goals with impact areas that include net zero best practices, materials and sustainable supply chain vetting, carbon tracking, circularity, electrification, and social and health inclusion and diversity. Integrating with teams from design through occupancy, she works to deliver low-impact, high performance projects that look holistically at the larger green picture. Angela is also a strong advocate for community engagement and collaboration, working closely with clients, colleagues, and industry partners to scale sustainable solutions for all. She has served as the sustainability expert on some of the most sustainable projects in our region, and has used that experience to educate the green building enthusiast community. Her leadership and commitment to sustainability have made her a respected figure in the field, and her work continues to inspire others to pursue innovative and high-performance solutions in the AEC industry. Angela has talked breaking down sustainability barriers at conferences and events across the country, and is active in organizations such as the Carbon Leadership Forum, Urban Green Council, and Urban Land Institute, where she currently serves on the ULI New York Sustainability Committee. Angela received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and a Master of Engineering in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Lehigh University, and is a LEED Accredited Professional, Certified Passive House Consultant, and Living Future Accredited.
Carlee Dietterick
Carlee Dietterick brings over 15 years of experience in sustainability consulting and educational facilities management, with expertise in green building design and construction, energy management, waste reduction, and daily operations. She has worked with/ for independent schools and their Boards to understand and improve the impact of the built environment and to plan strategically for effective resource investment.
Carlee previously served as co-facilitator of the Lehigh Valley Community Council and is closely aligned with GBU’s mission, goals, and constituency. She remains actively involved in monthly meetings, special events, and community initiatives.
Elizabeth Frantz
Elizabeth Frantz is Senior Director and Philadelphia Market Leader at Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution. Utilizing her expertise in community finance, New Markets Tax Credits, and Low Income Housing Tax Credits, she works in collaboration with housing developers, nonprofits, and partners to make visionary projects a reality in Philadelphia and across the Mid-Atlantic region. She has provided over $275 million in loans to support the development of affordable housing, community facilities, nonprofit and arts programs, historic renovations, sustainability, economic development and other community-serving real estate projects. Elizabeth has provided low-cost loans for projects that meet energy efficiency goals. For instance, she worked closely with Called to Serve CDC, a GBU grant recipient, providing low-cost construction financing to build the Sullivan Community Impact Center, an energy-efficient community center providing healthcare, afterschool programming, and art therapy in North Philadelphia. She is excited about the opportunity to support GBU and its work to create a more sustainable and resilient Philadelphia. She sees both the significant need and imperative to better support organizations in accessing the expertise and funding needed to make their projects energy efficient and resilient. Unfortunately, energy efficiency and resiliency are not always top goals in the development or rehab of affordable housing and community development projects in Philadelphia, and she wants to change that. Elizabeth is working to increase her knowledge of best practices in energy efficiency, sustainability and resiliency. Currently, she is a participant in a training program about green lending led by Philadelphia Green Capital Corporation and the Institute for Market Transformation. Having underwritten debt for several dozen nonprofit organizations, Elizabeth brings significant expertise in nonprofit financial management and evaluating financial reports (audits, annual budgets, etc.), valuable skills for board service. She previously served on the finance committee for a Philadelphia food co-op. Elizabeth has a graduate degree in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in history from Northwestern University.
Larissa McFall
Larissa McFall is an accomplished sustainability professional and emerging leader within the built-environment community, bringing a distinct blend of technical, equity and stakeholder-engagement expertise. She holds the credentials AIA, NOMA and is a LEED Green Associate. At U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) she serves on the LEED Technical Development Team where she advances the integration of equity, community engagement and resiliency into evolving rating systems—including the launch of the LEED v5 Human Impact Assessment component. As the 2022 LEED for Cities Equity Fellow, she supported local governments in embedding social equity into sustainability planning and served as a speaker and facilitator at major industry venues. Her academic grounding in architecture with a minor in construction management, combined with regular speaking and convening experience, equip her with both the technical fluency and the convening acumen advantageous for a board leadership role. Larissa’s career demonstrates a consistent commitment to advancing just, inclusive, high-performance buildings and communities, a strong match for the strategic oversight and stakeholder-oriented responsibilities of a Green Building United board member.
Nina Morris
Nina is the Sustainability Director in the University of Pennsylvania Sustainability Office. Nina leads the sustainability office and collaboratively sets and implements Penn’s sustainability goals, programs, reporting, and communications. She also serves as the University’s primary spokesperson regarding sustainability performance and is responsible for compliance with University membership requirements for the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, the Ivy+ Sustainability Consortium, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and the Global University Leadership Forum’s International Sustainability Campus Network.
Previously, Nina worked for 10 years at the University of Virginia’s Office for Sustainability leading the outreach programs and communications team. Nina holds a B.A. in Spanish & Religious Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University and a M.S. in Community and Regional Planning from Temple University. Nina is a LEED Green Associate and certified PROSCI Change Practitioner.
Rishika Ghosh
Rishika is passionate about creating connections and expanding clean energy access. She has a background in clean energy finance, program management, and partnership development. She is currently transitioning roles and will be joining S2 Strategies as a Finance Fellow to work with financing institutions working to scale inclusive, community-centered clean energy solutions. For the past 4 years, Rishika worked at the Philadelphia Green Capital Corp. (PGCC), the green bank affiliate of the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA), where she supported the development of new technical assistance & financing programs and led growth initiatives for the green bank, focusing on connecting energy projects to capital across Southeast Pennsylvania. Rishika is the president of Young Professionals in Energy’s Philadelphia chapter, which brings together professionals of all ages who seek to learn and contribute to the energy industry in Greater Philadelphia, and serves on the board of the Clean Air Council.
Samir Patel
Samir Patel is an architect at DIGSAU with over 20 years of experience leading sustainable projects that balance performance, beauty, and impact. As a Certified Passive House Consultant and Living Future Accredited professional, he has integrated deep technical expertise in high-performance building with a commitment to regenerative design and social equity. Samir has guided teams towards achieving energy and carbon goals while advancing occupant health and resilience. His work includes LEED credentialed buildings, Net-Zero Energy retrofits, and Net-Zero ready single-family homes. He currently volunteers with Green Building United’s Policy and Advocacy Committee. Samir is passionate about bridging the gap between policy and practice helping to empower architects, builders, and clients to deliver meaningful climate action through design. He brings collaborative leadership, systems thinking, and a strong regional network to the Green Building United Board, with a vision to strengthen partnerships, expand education, and inspire the next generation of green building professionals.