Light House Board of Directors
Nina Winham, President / President, New Climate Strategies
Chris Corps, Vice President / President, Asset Strategics
Dan Paris, Treasurer / Director of Development, Vancity Enterprises
Murray MacKinnon, Secretary / Director, Project Development Canada, Ledcor Construction Ltd.
Christine Bergeron / Vice President Investments
Albert Bicol / Partner, Cobalt Engineering
Wilma Leung / President, WISA Healthy Homes
Lyle Mills / Director, Sales, Herman Miller Workplace Resource - Vancouver
For full bios, scroll down
Nina Winham: President, New Climate Strategies
Light House President What I do: I am a business and communications consultant with a focus on sustainability engagement: helping people understand sustainability issues and move towards meaningful change. For companies, this can mean building a social brand, engaging employees and developing leadership, and articulating new business strategies for a changing marketplace. For governments and non-profits, it often means innovative communications strategies to build commitment and excitement, particularly atter of course. Private developers build more than any other player in the construction sector and therefore they hold the greatest potential to positively impact our communities and the environment. Why I am excited about being involved with Light House: I think there are far more solutions to our global environmental crisis than we realize, and Light House is engaged in the solutions business where it really counts: in our homes, our workplaces, our public buildings. I love green building because it demonstrates the best aspects of sustainability: what's good for the planet is, surprise, good for our health and our individual well-being too. (Funny, isn't it, that we needed green building codes to tell us that bringing sunlight and greenery into our workplaces is good for us?) True sustainability may seem like a lot of change and in some ways a lot of sacrifice; what we are only starting to realize is that it really means a higher quality of life, better balance, and stronger communities. Light House is very effectively promoting and synergizing one aspect of the shift we need to learn to make, and I'm pleased to help it along.
Chris Corps: President, Asset Strategics
Light House Vice-President What I do: Work on complex real estate problems and make them work. Add substantial value to client assets. Work on leading edge initiatives. Why I am excited about being involved with Light House: Other than Helen telling me that I would be, it would have to be because Light House can help provide a legacy and transfer both knowledge and skill sets to effect and support change and sustainability. My Vision for Light House:By providing or referring people to affordable and informed resources and knowledge on sustainability. That way we can help those who don't know where to start on sustainability, and help the informed take things to the next level. To provide grounded, sound and yet leading edge help with a ready smile and a willing hand. To have fun.
Dan Paris: Director of Development, Vancity Enterprises
Light House Treasurer What I do: I work with a great team of people at Vancity Enterprises to deliver leading edge, sustainable real estate development projects. Most are affordable housing projects developed in partnership with community groups who are trying to meet a specific need. With nearly 20 years experience in development, consulting and design, I contribute practical and creative solutions to the process. I also actively research and promote Vancity's affordability and sustainability initiatives. My Vision of Light House: I believe that Light House is one of the very best organizations capable of promoting the adoption of sustainable building practices to government, industry and the marketplace. I'm excited to help shape the organization's direction and growth. In particular, I'd like to see Light House help the private development industry adopt green practices as a matter of course. Private developers build more than any other player in the construction sector and therefore they hold the greatest potential to positively impact our communities and the environment.
Murray MacKinnon: Director, Project Development Canada, Ledcor Construction Limited
Light House secretary What I do: The majority of Ledcor’s work is evolved in cooperation with our clients and I provide the bridge between the construction side and our development partners and their designers. We are increasingly involved with sustainable design & construction methods and I am often involved in the workshops which focus those projects’ objectives. Why I am excited about being involved with Light House: I see Light House as a clearing house of ideas, a place where movement is being encouraged toward sustainable work over a very broad scale – from small to large – without authorship or ownership being an issue. We are all desperately needing to go in the same direction and whose name is on the solution is much less important than the solution itself!
Christine Bergeron
What I do: For over ten years, I’ve been involved in technology investing and entrepreneurial endeavors. I was a founding team member of one of the first "CleanTech" sector specific venture capital firms in the world and spent 7 years investing equity capital in North American companies focused on commercializing clean energy technologies. I now work with an investment fund whose focus includes renewable energy, the environment, natural resources, agriculture and water resource companies. This means I spend most of my days analyzing and understanding companies, their cutting edge technology, the market drivers and dynamics within these industries broadly - areas such as solar and wind power, clean fuels, demand management and control, clean transportation, new materials, energy storage and more. I am also a member of the Investment Committee for E&Co, a not for profit group dedicated to sustainable investments throughout the developing world. My Vision of Light House: Sustainable buildings are one key piece in achieving overall energy sustainability. Promoting the adoption of sustainable building practices to all stakeholders is timely and required. I think Light House is well positioned to lead as a not for profit in promoting best practices and in being viewed as an excellent source of knowledge and network within the sustainable building marketplace.
Albert Bicol: Partner, Cobalt Engineering
What I do: As a mechanical engineer I promote sustainability. I have extensive expertise in modeling building energy usage, thermal comfort and indoor air quality conditions. As a LEED Accredited Professional I perform reviews for the USGBC on projects applying for LEED certification and at Cobalt I review project applications for the Canada Green Building Council. I am the second mechanical engineer to serve on the City of Vancouver Council’s Urban Design Panel. My passion for sustainability has led me to deliver over 100 presentations and I have been a keynote speaker on sustainable building design and the true “Net Zero” approach in Canada, the US, and Asia. I also volunteer to educate elementary school children on climate change. Why I am excited about being involved with Light House: I believe that the Light House organization will be a catalyst to educate the public about sustainability. In my profession I always strive to make a positive impact with clients and colleagues in terms of increasing their awareness about the benefits and the importance of building green. While there have been limited opportunities to communicate such messages to the broader general public, I am confident that Light House is an effective avenue to transform the perspective of the general public. My Vision for Light House: As an organization Light House will effectively educate individuals that sustainability is not an option.
Wilma Leung: President, WISA Healthy Homes
What I do: I run a residential design-build contracting company that uses the R2000 Standard as the Minimum Standard for all its work. My background is in engineering and environmental protection, and I am currently the Chairman of the 700-member Western Canada Group of Chartered Engineers. I am also active in the industry outreach of the builder-led BuiltGreen BC Program. Why I am excited about being involved with Light House: What else can I say? It is simply exciting to meet and work with people who simply make things happen. My Vision of Light House: Primarily one of capacity building, and insights and experience sharing. A place where we meet as individual entities and are dispatched as teams to build sustainability.
Lyle Mills: Director, Sales, Herman Miller Workplace Resource - Vancouver
What I do: I direct a team of dedicated team members to help Herman Miller’s client's make great places to work. Why I am excited about being involved with Light House: I guess it would have to be Helen's excitement around Light House and our company's record of environmental sustainability and my desire to give back to the community we serve. My Vision of Light House: As the Sustainable Building Centre it fits that Light House should be a sustainable business. I appreciated our first meeting with David lePage, manager of the Enterprising Non Profits Program, in that it appears as though the intent should be not only a sustainable business model but for a value added not for profit with “profits”. I also hope that this is an enjoyable initiative and that it become a good place to learn and grow as a group of professionals in a variety of roles.
