UCGEC Green Building Seminar Series No. 1 Speakers

James T. Caldwell, Ph.D., President, E3 Regenesis Solutions and a Director of the UCGEC.

Founder of Pacific Rim Connections, Inc., he was the first editor of the Unicode Standard (ISO10646). Jim specializes in building green energy alliances and energy systems integration for Eco-cities and sustainable neighborhoods. He is a member of the California Biomass Collaborative, of Sustainable San Mateo County a President of the Conexions Board of Directors and serves on its Sustainovation steering committee. He is a member of the Energy Voyager Corporation's International Knowledge Trust, and a Director of the 1990 Institute. Dr. Caldwell has taught university courses on the Politics of Energy and the Environment, Comparative Politics, Chinese Politics and World History at SUNY Binghamton and Iona College, NY. He was a Doctoral Fellow at the U.C. Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies and Assistant Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford University. 

Joseph Horwedel, Director, City of San Jose Planning, Building and Code Enforcement.

Joe Horwedel became Director of Planning, Building, & Code Enforcement in November 2007 and brings 26 years of experience, leadership and commitment to outstanding customer service to the role. He is responsible for oversight of all long-range land use planning, building construction review and compliance, and community code enforcement for the City and most recently helping the City with reengineering efforts.  

Joe’s sense of humor and willingness to “roll up his sleeves” and work with customers have enabled him to work tirelessly to resolve complex issues with numerous stakeholders.  With his guidance, the City has completed some of the most high profile and beneficial development projects in its history including the Silver Creek Country Club development, the redevelopment of the Hitachi campus to add over 2,000 housing units integrated into the Hitachi campus, started the initial concept planning of Santana Row through the most recent sign code changes. He has also pioneered efforts to streamline the development process such as creating an approval process in Downtown with extensive public involvement, and Planning Director approvals of all development; lead efforts with the League of Cities on behalf of all cities to rewrite the California Environmental Quality Act to encourage infill smart growth projects; and identified how to use technology in the land use field to better serve the community.  He works with customer groups to match their expectations of service with the costs of service to match resources and service delivery. Joe is a certified planner and a graduate of California Polytechnic State University, a certified planner.  He speaks frequently to groups on planning issues and is a frequent presenter at workshops on Legally Defensive CEQA, and Performance Measurement in the Development Process.  He lives with his wife, daughter, and two cats in San Jose. They enjoy anything Disney, travel and watching hockey.

Mary Davidge, IIDA, LEED AP 

As a USGBC LEED AP and LEED Faculty Member, Ms. Davidge provides education and leadership in the LEED certification process. She serves on the Steering Committee of the USGBC Northern California Chapter, Silicon Valley Branch as the Vice Chair of the Education Committee. Her professional career spans more than 25 years in working with corporate and institutional clients in the planning, design and construction of large scale campus projects. The focus of her practice is in working with clients to develop a practical, integrated approach to planning and implementing green building strategies and LEED certification. Recent and current projects include managing the LEED certification processes for Google, Inc., Apple Computer, and HP Pavilion.

Bryant Tong, General Partner, Nth Power Venture Capital. 

Nth Power only invests in alternative energy and Clean Tech.Bryant Tong joined Nth Power in 2001 as a Managing Director. Bryant has led Nth Power’s investments in Accelergy Corporation, NanoGram Corporation, Microposite, Inc. and Arxx Corporation, and he serves on the board of each of these companies. Previously, Bryant was founder, President and CEO of Pacific Venture Capital, LLC (PVC), the venture capital arm of the PG&E Corporation. At PVC, Bryant led investments in the energy and telecommunications sectors. Prior to joining PVC, Bryant co-founded ReSourcePhoenix, Inc. (RPC) and successfully took the company public. RPC pioneered the use of the Internet to help businesses outsource their IT and accounting operations. As President and COO, he planned business strategy, sales and marketing and was responsible for all day-to-day operations. Previous to ReSourcePhoenix, Bryant also served as part of the senior management group at Phoenix American, Inc. While at Phoenix American, Bryant worked with Phoenix Growth Capital (PGC). PGC invested in over 200 venture capital-backed companies by providing venture lease financing. PGC was one of the most profitable divisions within Phoenix American. A native of San Francisco, California, Bryant received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Bryant is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and also serves as a member of several industry advisory boards including the Energy Venture Fair and the Golden Capital Network. Bryant founded and chairs the China-U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance. Bryant also serves on the University of San Francisco Entrepreneurship Program Advisory Board.

Jacinta McCann, FAILA, LEED AP Director AECOM Design USA West Region. 

Jacinta McCann’s career has spanned global practice in urban community planning and landscape architecture since 1981.  She has worked on transformational projects at all scales ranging from the Sydney Olympics, heralded as the first green Olympic Games and encompassing the largest brownfield cleanup undertaken in Australia, through to public realm planning and design as an integral part of urban renewal programs such as at Mission Bay in San Francisco.  Ms McCann has been recognized as a creative leader in her field and is a sought out speaker and panel participant in interdisciplinary workshops addressing complex land use, environmental, and socio-economic challenges.  Sustainability is embedded in her work as the foundation to the planning and design process.  Ms McCann has lectured extensively at universities and institutions in the United States, Asia and Australia. She has developed innovative site plans and sustainability strategies for numerous institutional and medical campuses and is the recipient of many industry association awards for her work.  Ms McCann is a Board Member of SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association) a non- profit dedicated to advocacy, good planning and good government; serves on Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Open Space Task Force, and sits on the national program committee for the Urban Land Institute. AECOM is a globally operating infrastructure, planning and design consultancy.  EDAW AECOM is renowned for its urban planning and regeneration of major global cities in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States.