Staff and Board
The Green Roundtable/ NEXUS takes a strong leadership role creating and implementing market transformation programs through a range of activities within the focus areas of Education, Policy, and Technical Assistance. The strength and diversity of experience of our personnel are a core component of how we are able to do this.
Barbra Batshalom, LEED AP
Executive Director
Barbra is the founder and Executive Director of The Green Roundtable/NEXUS. With a background in social psychology, architecture and exhibit design, she has practiced in traditional firm settings and as a green design consultant for over 16 years. She has provided technical assistance, integrated design team facilitation and rating system implementation on a wide variety of planning projects and building types, within local governments and institutions. Barbra also consults on policy formation and conducts a range of education and training courses.
Phoebe Beierle, LEED AP
Special Projects Coordinator
Phoebe brings project management skills and a broad range of experience in the green building and renewable energy field to her position as Special Projects Coordinator. For the past two years, one of Phoebe’s main roles has been to manage the organization’s relationship as the Massachusetts Affiliate of the US Green Building Council. Phoebe is currently providing consulting services to the State on their Green Schools Program and is managing a new Program on Sustainable Community Planning & Policy. While at NEXUS, Phoebe has also written grant and project proposals and managed the Walk Lightly – Low Impact Living Program. After graduating from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Psychology, she traveled and worked in Europe and then settled in Boston to work in the green building industry.
Patricia Burke, LEED AP
Green Building Consultant
Patricia brings diverse work experience in the areas of education, policy, law, program development as well as project management skills to the consulting practice of NEXUS. Patricia has been a consultant to the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development where she participated in the development and implementation of the City's Green Affordable Housing Program. Prior to consulting to the City of Boston she was Coordinator of the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Patricia’s work at NEXUS includes policy initiatives (in particular our City of Boston initiative) and work on numerous LEED projects, utilizing NC, CI, O&M, and ND rating systems and addressing a variety of building types, from office, campus and retail to multi-family and affordable housing.
Annie Cardinaux
NEXUS Resource Coordinator
Annie oversees the resources, internship program, tours, Help Desk, and database and website systems at NEXUS. She brings a diverse set of skills and experience from her work with environmental non-profits including grant writing, curriculum development, environmental education, volunteer coordination, program evaluation, urban horticulture, and nonprofit administration. Annie holds a B.S. in Geology from Tufts University and is a recipient of the James Hume Field Geology Prize. She has worked for a number of environmental nonprofits, including Antioch’s Glen Helen Outdoor Education Center, Nature’s Classroom, The Bagaduce Watershed Association, The Urban Ecology Institute at Boston College, and EarthWorks Projects, where she currently serves as a volunteer consultant to the board of directors.
Aaron Desatnik, LEED AP
NEXUS Events & Marketing Coordinator
Aaron manages events and marketing at NEXUS. In less than two years, he has established an events program to provide thousands of building professionals, business professionals, government officials, and the general public with the mindset, skills, tools, and networks to implement green building. He is also responsible for marketing, public relations, and cultivating organizational partnerships. As a trained community organizer, Aaron works on the side to organize young adults of faith, most recently running a campaign to increase awareness and community-wide purchasing of local foods in the Greater Boston Jewish community. He is also on the Board of the LivableStreets Alliance. Aaron has a BA in Comparative Studies from the Ohio State University, is an intermediate-level bike mechanic, and is an active member of the non-profit community.
Dawn Graichen
Manager of Operations and Finance
Dawn brings extensive experience in non-profit program management with a background in business and economics to her roles as Manager of Operations and Finance. She was previously the Lead Residential Counselor at the Boys Hope Girls Hope facility in Willmete, Illinois and a planning consultant at the Omni Group in California. Her responsibilities include finance and operations management.
Tova Greenberg
Director of Business Development
Tova is responsible for administration of NEXUS' consulting and training services. She holds a BA in architecture from Princeton University and has extensive project management, client management and consulting experience. She has worked for architecture, planning, not-for-profit real estate development and intellectual property consulting firms.
William R. Huss, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer
Dr. William R. Huss is currently a Board member and acting Chief Operating Officer for NEXUS. Dr. Huss has over 25 years of experience in the energy consulting industry having most recently served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of XENERGY Inc., one of the world's leading energy efficiency and market analysis firms. At XENERGY, Dr. Huss was responsible for the growth, profitability, and client satisfaction of a 200+ person organization with annual revenues in excess of $30 million -- an organization that served the needs of nearly all of the major electric utility companies in North America. He is also an Executive Advisor to Concentric Energy and holds a full-time lecturer position at Babson College. He holds a Ph.D., in business and engineering, an M.A. in public administration and an M.S. in industrial and systems engineering from The Ohio State University as well as a B.A. summa cum laude in mathematics and physics from Gettysburg College.
Jacob Knowles, LEED AP
Senior Project Manager
Mr. Knowles’ experience championing sustainable projects ranges from super-insulated homes to large-scale commercial, multi-use, and industrial LEED-certified projects. With a background in architectural design, cost-estimating, and construction, Jacob has forwarded the sustainability agenda from a variety of perspectives. Prior to joining NEXUS, Jacob also founded an architectural design firm, specializing in sustainable and energy-efficient design. His current role at NEXUS involves integrated-design facilitation, LEED project management, sustainable strategy guidance, technical review of project documents, carbon footprint analysis, lifecycle cost and lifecycle assessment. Jacob has also co-developed and presented a variety of green building and energy-efficiency trainings.
David Martin
Chief Financial Officer
David Martin joined NEXUS in 2005 as a part-time bookkeeper. Today he serves as Chief Financial Officer. Originally from Colorado, Mr. Martin holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from The Colorado College. Prior to joining NEXUS, he was active in a number of local, state and national political campaigns and has served as controller of other NPOs including Second Nature. Mr. Martin is principal in the Chick Montana Group, an accounting and information technology consulting firm specializing in NPOs and political campaigns. Mr. Martin lives in Dedham with his wife and three daughters and serves as chairman of the Dedham Finance Committee.
Colleen Soden, LEED AP
Director of Technical Assistance & Green Building Consultant
Colleen has over 10 years’ experience in the sustainability sectors of planning, architecture and landscape architecture. Her projects encompass large-scale, mixed-use urban developments, office buildings, multifamily housing, retail, institutional, and healthcare sectors.
Colleen’s experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors has provided the rounded perspective that assists in her current green consulting work. Her current committee work for the City of Boston involves assisting in green policy standards for housing development and redevelopment across the city. Colleen is active on the State Sustainability Committee for Massachusetts, the Green and Healthy Building Network for the City of Boston, as well as the local USGBC chapter. At NEXUS, Colleen’s project management skills have guided many of NEXUS’ most high-profile and successful projects.
Dee Spiro, LEED AP
Green Building Consultant
As a member of The Green Roundtable/NEXUS technical assistance team, Dee consults on a wide variety of green building projects, including university buildings, multifamily housing, commercial office buildings and schools. She also serves as a member of NEXUS’ policy team which works to assist the City of Boston with the ongoing development of its green building policy. Dee brings a range of skills in project management, strategic planning, community organizing and writing to her work at NEXUS. Prior to joining NEXUS, Dee served as senior planner for the City of Newton Housing and Community Development Program.
Ravi Srinivasan, CEM, LEED AP
Director of Technology and Innovation
Ravi's expertise is in building simulation and energy studies, sustainability and high performance strategies, Carbon emissions, and Net Zero Energy buildings. He has worked on several reputable global sustainability projects including energy and daylight modeling work for a 5.4 million sft Towers in Dubai. Recently, Ravi was one of the panel members to discuss building energy modeling scope for the proposed Stretch Code, Appendix 120.AA of the Massachusetts Building Code, for the City of Cambridge. Ravi is involved in consulting work of several reputable Net Zero Energy projects including the City’s first Net Zero Energy housing project for the Boston Housing Authority, and Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management’s Net Zero Energy buildings. Ravi has been instrumental in developing the Nexus Net Zero Energy™ Training Series with over 18 courses from concepts to advanced modeling, the first of its kind in the nation offered to building professionals that is geared towards designing bio-responsive buildings. Ravi was also honored by the Association of Energy Engineers with a “Chartered Legend in Energy Award.” Ravi has over 18 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications in the field of building energy & sustainability. Ravi is member of IBPSA, AEE, ASHRAE, and AIA. He is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and a LEED Accredited Professional.
Ravi holds Master of Science degrees in Engineering from the University of Florida and in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a PhD candidate in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. His PhD dissertation focuses on “Re(de)fining Net Zero Energy Definitions” as the existing definitions do not fully encompass the larger goal of global sustainability. Ravi’s dissertation aims to close the gap between building designers and the over-arching goal of buildings, as systems, that contribute to the overall sustainability of the geobiosphere.
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The Green Roundtable/ NEXUS Collaborative Partners
NEXUS also has a network of collaborative partners that we work with in a range of ways that also assist and enhance our program efforts.
NEXUS Board of Directors
NEXUS' whole-systems approach to market transformation is enabled by a incredibly diverse, talented and dynamic Board of Directors. Coming from all sectors of the industry, the Board directs the organization and facilitates implementation of NEXUS' work. Meet the Board of Directors below.
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Barbra Batshalom, Executive Director and Board President, The Green Roundtable
Barbra is the founder and Executive Director of NEXUS. She has provided the vision and strategic thinking to create an organization focused on market transformation. She collaborates with cities, institutions and companies to transform their internal practices to improve performance, profitability and sustainability. Barbra's professional experience in design and environmental policy provides the organization with the guidance needed to address issues surrounding sustainable design from various perspectives.
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Jon Abe, Vice President, Nexamp
Jon is a vice president of Nexamp in charge of business development. Nexamp is a clean energy solutions company. Nexamp analyzes, designs, finances, builds and maintains clean energy projects for businesses, governments, and homeowners. Nexamp combines energy project construction experience with expertise in energy technology, markets, finance, and policy to make clean energy simple and profitable for its clients. During Jon's tenure, Nexamp's revenues have grown 5X and Nexamp has delivered over 200 clean energy project and road maps across New England. Prior to joining Nexamp, Jon worked at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Renewable Energy Trust where he led the development and implementation of the $68 million Commonwealth Solar program. He also was responsible for the Large Onsite Renewables Initiative which supported the development of distributed wind, hydro, and biomass combined heat and power projects. He has worked as a project manager and senior consultant at KEMA and XENERGY, where he was responsible for business development and the management of renewable energy and energy efficiency consulting projects. He serves on the Cambridge Climate Protection Action Committee. Jon received his bachelor of arts from Cornell University.
Moshe Cohen, Trainer and Mediator, The Negotiating Table
Moshe Cohen is a trainer and mediator based in Cambridge, MA. Since founding The Negotiating Table in 1995, he has conducted hundreds of negotiations skills workshops for numerous corporations, law firms, financial services companies, consulting firms, and more. Moshe also teaches Negotiations and Leadership in the MBA program at Boston University and Cambridge College, and previously taught at Bentley College. In addition to corporate and university classes, he conducts public seminars on negotiation and conflict management and is a frequent guest speaker at business functions, conferences, and universities.
Moshe has published numerous articles on negotiation, mediation, conflict management, and leadership. As a mediator, Moshe Cohen specializes in business, employment, workplace and discrimination disputes and serves on a number of mediation panels locally and nationally. Moshe Cohen received his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Cornell, a Master in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, and a Master in Business Administration from the Boston University Graduate School of Management. Moshe career includes over twelve years of engineering and project management experience prior to founding The Negotiating Table.
Michael R. Davis, Vice President and Principal at Bergmeyer Associates, Inc.
Michael R. Davis, AIA, LEED, a registered architect, is Vice President and Principal at Bergmeyer Associates, Inc.. His recent design work includes the adaptive reuse as workforce housing of the Tuberculosis Wards at Boston Specialty and Rehab Hospital in Mattapan and the LePages' Factory in Gloucester, which was funded in part by grants from CHAPA and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. As co-chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee for the Boston Society of Architects, Michael is active in advocacy for public policy initiatives that support sustainable design. As a member of Mayor Menino's Green Building Task Force, the Boston Civic Design Commission, and Governor's Patrick's Net Zero Energy Building Task Force, Michael is experienced in public policy implementation in support of sustainability. He serves on the faculty and as an Overseer of the Boston Architectural College. Michael holds a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Architecture from Yale University.
Gary Epstein, President and Founder of ERS, Inc.
Gary Epstein is the President and Founder of ERS, Inc. (ERS) and is a US Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional. His interdisciplinary skills are in the energy engineering and environmental consulting fields. His current work and areas of expertise include energy technology characterization, impact evaluation, research, and assessment; energy code development and consulting; assessment of environmental impacts of energy use and conservation; and development, planning, and evaluation of utility and government resource conservation programs.
Gary is the past chair of the AESP Energy Services and Technology Committee and his work has been published in numerous professional journals and conference proceedings. Gary holds a MS from the University of Massachusetts and a B.S. from the State University of New York at Buffalo, both in Mechanical Engineering.
Jacquelynn Henke, Manager for Sustainability and Senior Project Manager, Allston Development Group of Harvard University
Jacquelynn Henke is the Manager for Sustainability and a Senior Project Manager with the Allston Development Group of Harvard University. Jackie's focus is to advance and implement sustainability goals for all Allston Campus projects from infrastructure to parks to buildings. Harvard's expanded Allston Campus includes approximately 250 acres of land and 9-10 million square feet of buildings to be designed and constructed in two phases over the next 50 years.
Before joining Harvard, Jackie was a Vice President in the Development and Advisory Services group and the firm's Director of Sustainability at Colliers Meredith & Grew, as well as a Project Engineer and Area Superintendent for Turner Construction. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and serves the USGBC in elected local and national roles that as the chair of the Upper Northeast Regional Council and a member of the Chapter Steering Committee. Jackie holds a Bachelor of Science in architectural design, a Master of Architecture, and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering all from MIT. Jackie was honored in 2008 as a recipient of the Boston Business Journal's 40 Under 40 award as well as a NAIOP's Developing leader award, is a Banker and Tradesman New Leader and has been awarded NEWIRE's 2009 Professional Service Award.
William R. Huss, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer, The Green Roundtable
William R. Huss, PhD, is currently a Board member and acting Chief Operating Officer for NEXUS. William has over 25 years of experience in the energy consulting industry having most recently served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of XENERGY Inc., one of the world's leading energy efficiency and market analysis firms. At XENERGY, William was responsible for the growth, profitability, and client satisfaction of a 200+ person organization with annual revenues in excess of $30 million -- an organization that served the needs of nearly all of the major electric utility companies in North America. He is also an Executive Advisor to Concentric Energy and holds a full-time lecturer position at Babson College. He holds a Ph.D., in business and engineering, an M.A. in public administration and an M.S. in industrial and systems engineering from The Ohio State University as well as a B.A. summa cum laude in mathematics and physics from Gettysburg College.
Marta Z. Kagan, Managing Director, Espresso: The Brand InfiltrationTM Agency
Marta Kagan is a savvy, strategic marketing professional with a passion for social media and extensive experience using digital media to engage consumers and create memorable brands. As the outspoken voice behind The Secret Diary of a Bonafide Marketing Genius (http://bonafidemarketinggenius.com), Marta writes and speaks frequently about branding and advertising in the digital channel. Her critically acclaimed viral hit What the F**k is Social Media? has been translated into seven languages.
In the past, Marta has contributed her diverse talents to global consumer brands and early-stage start-ups alike, including Razorfish, Estee Lauder, Fidelity Investments, and Viximo. She also served as President and CEO of her own venture, Lifeline Coaching, Inc.
Carolyn Kaplan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Nixon Peabody
Carolyn Kaplan serves as Chief Sustainability Officer for Nixon Peabody, the first such position in a law firm. In that role she manages the firm's "Legally Green®" initiative, working closely with the firm's Green Operations Steering Committee to implement sustainable practices and reduce the firm's carbon footprint and identifying opportunities to better service and partner with clients and others on joint sustainability initiatives. As an attorney in Nixon Peabody's Boston office, Carolyn concentrates her practice on land use and environmental matters, and co-chairs the Renewable Energy Team in the firm's Energy and Environmental practice group. Carolyn lectures frequently on matters relating to sustainability and renewable energy for a variety of audiences. She is a member of the Steering Committee for the State Bar Task Force on Sustainable Law Practice in California. She also serves on the American Wind Energy Association's Siting Committee and Offshore Wind Working Group and co-managed the drafting of AWEA's Wind Energy Siting Handbook. Carolyn holds a J.D., cum laude, from Boston College Law School and a B.A. from Cornell University.
Richard Kennelly, Vice President of Marketing, BigBelly Solar
Richard Kennelly is a founding Board member of NEXUS. An environmental attorney who has specialized in clean and renewable energy policy, Richard has been Vice President of Marketing at BigBelly Solar since its founding in 2003. BigBelly Solar, an environmental solutions company based in Massachusetts, is the maker of the "BigBelly" Solar Compactor - the world's only solar-powered, automatic compaction system for trash and recycling.
From 1996 until 2002, Richard was an attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, the region's leading non-profit environmental organization, where he served as Director of CLF's Energy Project for three years. At CLF, he concentrated on electric utility deregulation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, green design, air quality, and climate change. He worked extensively with New England electric utilities and other stakeholders on the development of large-scale renewable energy commercialization and energy efficiency programs. At CLF, Richard actively engaged in various legislative and regulatory proceedings to help shape clean energy policy in the region.
Richard holds a B.A. with honors in English and American Literature from Harvard University, a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and a Master of Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia School of Architecture. Richard is also an Olympic silver medalist in rowing, having competed in the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona games.
Leith Sharp, Harvard School of Public Health
Leith has 18 years of experience in greening universities around the world. Leith has consulted and presented to over 100 organizations and sits on the governing committees and editorial boards of numerous organizations dedicated to greening higher education including AASHE and the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Leith has received numerous awards for her work including a Churchill Fellowship and Young Australian of the Year, NSW Environment Category. From 2000 to 2008, Leith was the founding director of Harvard's Green Campus Initiative. During her time at Harvard Leith created the largest green campus organization in the world, taking Harvard to the forefront as a global leader in campus sustainability. Under Leith's leadership Harvard achieved over 50 LEED building projects (mostly Gold or better), instituted a $12 million revolving loan fund achieving an average return on investment of 30%+, implemented wide scale engagement in occupant behavioral change, onsite renewable energy projects, a significant GHG reduction commitment, alternative fuels for vehicles, green cleaning, environmental purchasing and much more. Leith is currently engaged in a variety of writing, teaching and consulting activities. She has an ongoing affiliation as a visiting scholar with Harvard School of Public Health and continues to teach organizational change management for sustainability through Harvard's Extension School. Leith has a bachelor of engineering (environmental) from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia and a Master of Education (human development & psychology) from Harvard University.
