WHO'S WHO IN GREEN INDUSTRIES
Who's Who in Green Industries
Published: Monday, May 18, 2009 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 4:30 p.m.
The 31 people selected here for the Business Journal’s first Who’s Who in Green Industries are widely recognized as being among the pioneers and visionaries in an industry that today includes many hundreds if not thousands of creative professionals.
They are divided by industry and then listed alphabetically.
WATER CONSERVATION
Paul Ciandrini
President and Chief Executive OfficerHydroPoint
1720 Corporate Circle, Petaluma 94954
www.hydropoint.com
800-362-8774
Paul Ciandrini took the helm at HydroPoint after concluding the company’s technology lowers the cost of irrigation, requires no changes in behavior and is good for the environment as well. “This is a rare confluence of positives,” he said.
HydroPoint’s automated irrigation control systems pull down a constant stream of satellite weather data and coordinate it with local moisture readings to determine when and how much water to apply to plants.
Mr. Ciandrini served in executive positions for several software companies, including Oracle, before taking the position.
“Water management and conservation through automation will follow the same trajectory of business automation software once people connect the dots,” he said.
RENEWABLE & CLEAN ENERGY & CLIMATE PROTECTION
Louis Capuano
President and Chief Executive OfficerThermasource
3883 Airway Drive Ste. 340, Santa Rosa 95403
www.thermasource.com
707-523-2960
Starting out in the petroleum drilling industry, Louis Capuano moved into geothermal drilling in the 1980s, first for Hughes Aircraft Corp. and then as CEO of his own geothermal drilling consultancy ThermaSource.
During the past two years, answering the demand for more clean, sustainable geothermal power, Mr. Capuano has taken his company from a three-man operation to the largest geothermal drilling outfit in the world today, with 220 employees and a fleet of 10 drilling rigs. He has raised $93 million in venture and private capital.
“We expect to be a significant force in the exploration and drilling of geothermal wells globally,” he said.
Henry Gundling
ChairmanSustainable Napa County
1303 Jefferson St. Ste. 100-B, Napa 94559
www.sustainablenapacounty.org
707-255-5555
Henry Gundling is the visionary that brought Sustainable Napa County into being. He saw the need to bring Napa business, agriculture, nonprofit and government entities into collaboration for long-term sustainability on environmental, economic and social levels.
“We’re on a mission to help people get informed about sustainability and be inspired to do the things they can do to make a difference, even if it means swapping just one light bulb for a compact fluorescent,” he said.
Mr. Gundling is an investment adviser with UBS Financial Services. He’s currently a board member and vice president of the Gasser Foundation, Sustainable Napa’s founder. Under his leadership the Gasser Foundation installed a solar system on its Napa building and worked out a model to fund solar systems for other nonprofits.
Ann Hancock
Executive DirectorClimate Protection Campaign
P.O. Box 3785, Santa Rosa 95402
www.climateprotectioncampaign.org
707-525-1665 ext. 112
Employees: 6
Revenue: $750,000 (2008)
Credentials: Implementation of Sonoma County’s Community Climate Action Plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2015; more than 25 years of experience in community leadership, education and fundraising, including as sustainability planner for the county of Marin, coordinator for the Sonoma County Ecological Footprint Project and on staff with Humboldt State University
Ann Hancock is the co-founder and executive director for the Climate Protection Campaign, a nonprofit representing Sonoma County seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Through a partnership of local officials, city and county staff, teachers, business leaders and other community members, the group works to reduce the county’s emissions through special projects, advocacy, policy and education. Ms. Hancock founded the campaign in 2001 with her partner Mike Sandler and released a community action plan for reaching sustainability goals in October 2008. The plan can be viewed at www
.coolplan.org.
She earned her master’s in public health administration and planning from U.C. Berkeley and her bachelor’s in applied behavioral sciences from U.C. Davis.
Richard Schorske
Climate Action DirectorMarin Climate & Energy Partnership
555 Northgate Drive Ste. 230, San Rafael 94903
415-883-2581
Richard Schorske is founder and climate action director of the Marin Climate & Energy Partnership, a collaboration of Marin’s 11 towns and cities, the county, its transportation authority, municipal water district and general services authority to reduce Marin’s greenhouse gas emissions in alignment with California’s AB 32 targets and local climate action goals.
A 25-year Marin resident and former director of the Workforce Investment Board of Marin County, Mr. Schorske is also a charter school entrepreneur and has founded two high schools focused on sustainability and the built environment.
Dan Thompson
President and FounderSPG Solar
20 Leveroni Court, Novato 94949
www.spgsolar.com
415-883-7657
Dan Thompson had 20 years in the electrical contracting and construction industry before founding SPG Solar in 2001. He leads the industry in the North Bay and is recognized internationally for his active participation in the photovoltaic industry.
Mr. Thompson is an innovator, spinning off Thompson Technology Industries to manufacture and sell its patented solar products to other installers. One of those products is the first floating voltaic system. The panels sit atop a water-treatment pond at Far Niente Winery, freeing up valuable acreage for vines and actually improving the water by retarding algae growth.
Alexander von Welczeck
President and Chief Executive OfficerSolar Power Partners
100 Shoreline Highway Ste. 210-B, Mill Valley
94941
www.solarpowerpartners.com
415-389-8981
Alexander von Welszeck, a co-founder of Solar Power Partners, is a pioneer in the solar energy services business. His company puts together funds to build solar systems for mid-sized commercial buildings.
SPP builds and owns the systems, guaranteeing a rate lower than PG&E’s.
“We’re bringing together investors with a high tax burden and building owners whose appetite for tax breaks is much lighter but who are interested in clean solar energy,” he said.
Although the company is relatively small, it’s raised about $100 million in funds, putting it at the number three spot in the U.S. for similar
entities. Mr. von Welczeck has been instrumental in creating the vision, strategies and tactics that have contributed to SPP’s rapid growth.
He served in management and sales capacities at Thyssen-Krupp, Dover Corporation, Dorma and Friendlyway prior to joining SPP.
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
Doug Allard
Chief Executive OfficerKriStar Enterprises Inc.
P.O. Box 6419, Santa Rosa 95406
www.kristar.com
707-524-8181
Employees: up to 70 before winter
Doug Allard has been on the forefront of controlling stormwater erosion, one of the top banes to the health of North Coast waterways, since he started KriStar in 1993. The company gained prominence with fiber rolls, fabric bags and other mechanisms to corral and filter dirt and other pollutants during construction, reaching 40 percent market share during the height of the last building boom.
With regulatory agencies increasingly wanting control of water use and of erosion as well as post-construction changes to runoff flow, a principle called low-impact development, KriStar has come out with a line of products, along with new sister company Cudo Stormwater Products, to help project engineers address the issues.
Patty Garbarino
PresidentMarin Sanitary
1050 Andersen Drive, San Rafael 94901
www.marinsanitary.com
415-456-2601
Patty Garbarino has declared Marin Sanitary’s goal is to add nothing at all to landfills. Under her father’s leadership, the trash collecting company initiated the first curb-side recycling program and built a substantial recycling center.
Ms. Garbarino carries on the pioneering spirit, advocating sweeping changes in the packaging industry and urging consumers across the nation to think about what they throw away.
Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin, she studied special education at U.C. Berkeley and taught for 11 years before going into her father’s business.
Ms. Garbarino was one of the first female members of the California Refuse Removal Council and its first woman president. She’s a board member of the Marin Conservation League and has served on the Advisory committee for Marin County for Waste Management and the Hazardous Materials Management Sub-Committee, among many others.
Ken Kurtzig
Founder and Chief Executive OfficeriReuse LLC
P.O. Box 2358, Sausalito 94966
www.ireuse.com
888-473-8731
In 2005 Ken Kurtzig launched iReuse, a company that provides consulting services to businesses for becoming more sustainable while at the same time maximizing profit. iReuse supports the efforts of nonprofits with its corporate reuse program.
Mr. Kurtzig launched the company in honor of his father, Arie Kurtzig, founding board member of Sustainable North Bay and an environmentalist committed to sustainable farming who passed away in late 2001.
Mr. Kurtzig worked for PeopleSoft, eBenefits and CompassPoint Nonprofit Services before starting iReuse. The company received the 2006 Green Entrepreneur of the year award, the 2007 Environmental Enterprise Award presented by Acterra, the 2007 Business of the Year Award presented by the Marin Conservation League and the 2007 Environmental Leadership Award presented by the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, in addition to being selected as a 2007 Going Green 100 Top Private Company.
Mr. Kurtzig is on the Marin County Sustainability Task Force, the Sausalito Sustainability Commission, the board of directors for MarinLink and the Marin County Zero Waste Commission. He is involved in local community green initiatives.
“It is amazing to think about how quickly we have grown and the expanded services we are providing to many industry-leading companies. I remain more committed than ever to joining environmental benefits with social and financial benefits for our clients so sustainability really is a win-win.”
Randy Poole
General Manager and Chief EngineerSonoma County Water Agency
404 Aviation Blvd., Santa Rosa 95403
www.scwa.ca.gov
707-526-5370
Randy Poole has been with the Sonoma County Water Agency since 1991 after working as the engineering/assistant general manager of the Marin Municipal Water District.
He graduated with a degree in agricultural engineering from Oregon State University.
Mr. Poole was instrumental in the rolling out of the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program, which launched last month and takes advantage of Assembly Bill 811 in which counties and cities are able to set up financing districts to make loans for energy-efficient improvements of properties.
The program is intended to not only serve to offset carbon emissions but to act as an economic stimulus to the county, providing jobs.
All nine cities and the county have come together to make loans to property owners for insulation, solar panels and other means to increase home and commercial space sustainability, and the loans are payable through the property-tax bills.
Mr. Poole is a registered civil engineer in the State of California.
Gopal Shanker
PresidentRécolte Energy
3901 Lake County Highway, Calistoga 94515
www.recolteenergy.com
707-480-1960
Gopal Shanker has a business model that puts himself at the bottom of the service chain.
Récolte Energy, a consulting company that emphasizes collaboration over competition and integration over division, serves “society, the environment, my clients, my partners and finally myself,” he said.
He does the research to discover where a client can and needs to save energy, and he facilitates the process for clients like Chapellet Vineyards, Chateau Montelena, Far Niente, Opus One and Trinchero Family Estates.
Mr. Shanker is active in Sacramento, working with the California Public Utilities Commission and legislators to modernize energy policy and expand the possibilities for clean sources of power.
CLEAN TECHNOLOGY
Jay Harmon
Founder and Chief Executive OfficerPAX Scientific
1615 Fifth Ave. and F St., San Rafael 94901
www.paxscientific.com
415-256-9901
Jay Harman began his career as a naturalist with the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in Australia, but soon demonstrated a flair for invention, particularly in the field of fluidics. He built his own lightweight sailboat based on natural design and came to believe that industrial products should imitate the efficiencies of nature.
PAX Scientific is Mr. Harman’s fourth startup, from which he has spun off PAX Streamline, PAX Water Technologies and PAX Fans. His first product was an impeller with a design so elegant – it’s called the Lily – that it’s been featured in an exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art.
Mr. Harman is an avid sailor. In addition to his self-designed and built sloop, he owns a 150-foot minesweeper, sister ship to Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso.
GREEN BUILDING
Bradley Baker
President and Chief Executive OfficerCodding Enterprises
1400 Valley House Drive Ste. 100, Rohnert Park 94928
www.codding.com
707-795-3550
Employees: 200 (consolidated)
Revenue: $38 million (consolidated)
Under Brad Baker’s direction, Codding Enterprises, which primarily has been a developer and owner of Sonoma County commercial and residential real estate for more than 60 years, has embraced sustainability and green technology in the past four years. The company invests in commercial real estate, commercial construction, green building products, alternative energy and deeply sustainable communities.
The company has been reworking the former Agilent Technologies campus in Rohnert Park into a 200-acre environmentally friendly urban village called Sonoma Mountain Village. The project, estimated to cost $1 billion over a decade, includes adapting 700,000 square feet of existing office and warehouse space into 520,000 square feet of offices and 200,000 square feet of shops.
Remaining space would provide some of the nearly 1,800 planned homes and multifamily dwellings and 27 acres of parks and open space. It is one of five communities worldwide endorsed by the U.K.-based One Planet Living program and the first in North America. It is also targeted for the highest level of certification in the LEED Neighborhood Development pilot green-building rating system.
Also, Codding is repositioning the 930,000-square-foot regional shopping mall Coddingtown in Santa Rosa with venture partner Simon Property Group and is in discussions to redevelop the center with green-building approaches akin to what was employed with the pending Whole Foods Market store in the center.
True to the new direction of the company, Mr. Baker co-founded and helps direct alternative fuels producer American Biodiesel and set up Codding Steel Frame Solutions with Canada-based Genesis Worldwide to replace lumber in construction with more recyclable, faster-to-assemble light-gauge fabricated steel wall panels. Codding also has fostered the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster to incubate companies committed to sustainability.
Warren Brown
PresidentSolar By Design, Warren Brown Construction
P.O. Box 532, Graton 95444
www.solarbydesignllc.com
707-824-1951
Employees: 10-40
Credentials: California general and electrical contractor license, Certified Green Builder
After 30 years in construction, Warren Brown in 2001 began focusing exclusively on design and installation of solar-electric systems for businesses and municipal facilities in Northern California through his company Solar by Design.
A second-term North Coast Builders Exchange board member, Mr. Brown also is chairman of the group’s newly established Green Building Committee. He has been charged with setting up a high-tech green-building education center in Santa Rosa and overseeing training in such materials and methods for the exchange’s about 1,800 members. His local advocacy for renewable energy includes advising on local green-building ordinances.
Joshua Carrell
Owner and ArchitectDwellsol Architecture, Interior Design
and Planning
2280 Bethards Drive Ste. 5, Santa Rosa 95405
www.dwellsol.com
707-328-3731
Credentials: LEED Accredited Professional with the U.S. Green Building Council; projects include Montgomery Village facade remodel, Sequoia Village and the Windsor Redwood Apartments, both by Burbank Housing
Joshua Carrell is the owner and architect for Santa Rosa-based sustainable building and consulting company, Dwellsol Architecture, Interior Design, and Planning. Mr. Carrell has designed many environmentally friendly projects in the North Bay during nine years of work, including several affordable housing projects.
He has worked in Sonoma County for the past four years after starting his career in Minnesota and San Francisco. He earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture and environmental design from the University of Minnesota and his master‘s of architecture from the University of Oregon, where he was a graduate teaching fellow.
Elizabeth Durney
Senior Green Building ConsultantKema Sustainable Buildings and Operations
8276 Old Redwood Highway, Cotati 94931
www.kemagreen.com
510-207-2668
Employees: 1,500 (companywide)
Working from Kema’s Cotati and Oakland offices, Elizabeth Durney, 28, facilitates eco-charrettes, manages rating system development and LEED documentation, and leads seminars on green building, the LEED rating system and climate change.
She managed the update to Build It Green’s Green-Point green-building guidelines for multifamily, single-family and existing homes as well as the group’s Climate Calculator. Clients include Codding Enterprises, Harmon Union School District, city of Santa Rosa, Redwood Credit Union and Stop-Waste.org.
Ms. Durney is vice president of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Redwood Empire chapter.
Pete Gang
PrincipalArchitect, Common Sense Design;
Principal, Longview Education Associates
145 Keller St., Petaluma 94952
www.commonsensedesign.com, www.longvieweducationassociates.com
707-762-4838
Credentials: LEED Accredited Professional, California general building contractor license
Pete Gang, 52, started Petaluma-based custom residential and small commercial architecture firm Common Sense Design in 1991. He was one of the founders of the Redwood Empire chapter of U.S. Green Building Council in 2001.
In 2004 he and another chapter co-founder, Bruce Hammond of Hammond & Company, developed and taught in Sonoma State University’s Green Building Professional Certificate Program. Earlier this year they formed Longview Education Associates to teach a condensed version of the program, currently at Autodesk in San Rafael, and lead Green Advantage certification courses for businesses and local governments.
Bruce Hammond,
Chief Executive OfficerHammond & Company
490 W. School St., Cotati 94931
www.hammondandcompany.com
707-795-6045
Employees: 8
Revenue: about $4.5 million (2008)
Credentials: LEED Accredited Professional, California general building contractor license, EPA Energy Star Partner
Bruce Hammond, 55, started his residential and commercial development and construction company in 1980, built his first passive-solar-heated home in 1982 and has been building homes with various “green” elements that have garnered attention from lifestyle and design publications. A recent project in Santa Rosa aimed for Gold-level certification under the new LEED for Homes rating system.
Mr. Hammond was founding chairman of the Redwood Empire chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council remains on the advisory board. He also sits on the Green Advantage Certification Board and the council’s Codes Committee and is the solar specialist for the Cotati Design Review Board. As a planning commissioner for the city, he helped craft the mandatory Sustainable Building Program that set a tone for ordinances in other local cities.
He was one of three founding instructors of Sonoma State University’s Green Building Professional Certificate Program and has partnered with fellow instructor Pete Gang in Longview Education Associates, which puts on condensed certification courses.
Rachel Lang
Principal and Senior Plan Check EngineerCode Source / Code Green
7064 Corline Court Ste. D, Sebastopol 95472
www.codesourcecodegreen.com
707-823-8489
Credentials: LEED Accredited Professional, Certified Access Specialist Program; CABEC Certified Energy Plans Examiners; GreenPoint rater for new and existing homes; HERS rater for New Homes, Existing Homes and Alterations, New Solar Homes PV and California Energy Star program; Green Home Energy Upgrade – Level 2
Knowing that green building was the future of the construction industry, Rachel Lang, 52, and business partner Hilary Ransom formed Code Source / Code Green. It’s one of a core group of North Bay firms that local governments and builders call on for help in building code compliance, plan check and inspections.
The firm also helps them cope with the evolving realm of green-building rating systems such as Build It Green’s GreenPoint. The firm also tests energy performance according to HERS and PG&E standards.
Tom LeDuc
President and Chief Executive OfficerLeDuc & Dexter Inc., Super Service Plumbing
2833-A Dowd Drive, Santa Rosa 95407
www.leducanddexterplumbing.com
707-575-1500
Employees: 41
Revenue: $7.3 million (2008)
Credentials: Certified Green Plumber in all five classifications (Caring for Our Water, Climate Care, Solar Hot Water, Water Efficient Technology), Florida Solar Energy Center Certified Solar Heating Professional and studying for the Certified Green Building Professional and California Building Performance Contractors Association Level 1 Certification examinations
Tom LeDuc, 61, has worked in plumbing since 1966. He and Art Dexter incorporated the plumbing, heating and fire-protection contracting company in 1982, formed Super Service Plumbing in 1991 and expanded into commercial plumbing and fire systems in 1993 and into hydronics in 2003.
Mr. LeDuc was an early promoter of the GreenPlumbers program imported from Australia, and his company is one of three North Bay companies to be certified. LeDuc & Dexter is working with a number of companies – including multiple Sonoma County health clubs, a Dry Creek Valley winery and a Sebastopol inn – looking for ways to conserve water, heat domestic and pool water more efficiently and possibly install solar water heating systems.
He is a member of the North Coast Builders Exchange Green Building Committee and The Green Group of Sonoma County.
Hugh Linn, P.E.
PresidentRiechers Spence & Associates
1541 Third St., Napa 94559
www.rsacivil.com
707-252-3301
Employees: 35
Revenue: $6.5 million (2008)
Credentials: LEED Accredited Professional
Hugh Linn, 45, is one of the principals of this 29-year-old civil and environmental engineering firm, which has offices in Sacramento and Napa and a hand in current major local projects such as the Napa Pipe redevelopment and the planned Ritz Carlton hotel. Because of the increasingly rigorous regulatory landscape of the North Coast, many local engineering firms in recent years have been enhancing their expertise in designing systems that use energy, water and resources highly efficiently with less impact on the environment.
However, Mr. Linn and his team are also developing new products. In November 2007 as the spigot closed on the flow of new housing-development work for his engineers, he was alerted by the firm’s accountant to a state tax credit for billable hours spent on research and development. So Riechers Spence has been partnering with local businesses to research and develop better systems to reuse water, realize energy savings and preserve agricultural land. Some of those products are close to becoming ready for use in wineries and commercial buildings.
Robert Massaro
Chief Executive OfficerHealthy Buildings Management Group Inc. and Healthy Buildings Construction Group Inc.
100 Coombs St., Napa 94559
www.healthybuildingsusa.com
707-676-8999
Credentials: LEED Accredited Professional, California general contractor, 2008 Green Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Business and Industrial Development from the California State Fund for Enterprise
Robert Massaro has been involved in design-build construction and real estate development since 1981 and in that time has built more than 150 projects throughout the state. The company built its first “green” project in 1983 and in 1999 committed to building all its projects to promote the health of occupants and ecology.
He’s a member of the board of directors of the Redwood Empire chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, Sustainable Napa County and Napa County Asthma Coalition. Mr. Massaro helped convince the chapter and Sustainable Napa County to get behind Napa’s first green-building ordinance.
Bill Mattinson
PresidentSoldata Energy Consulting Inc.
401 College Ave. Ste. C, Santa Rosa 95401
www.soldata.com
707-545-4440
Credentials (firm): HERS certified rater, GreenPoint certified rater, Certified Energy Analyst, LEED Accredited Professional, Certified Green Building Professional
Soldata has analyzed energy use for 10,000 projects in the North Bay since Bill Mattinson founded the firm in 1978, advising designers, builders and homeowners on energy efficiency and LEED projects, verifying performance and certifying scores of GreenPoint-rated homes.
Mr. Mattinson served two terms on the International Energy Conservation Code Advisory Committee and is serving his second term as a member of the California Green Building Code Advisory Committee. The firm also developed and delivered more than 100 training sessions, introducing high-performance windows to the building industry for a project funded by the California Public Utilities Commission.
Jon Nyberg
Executive DirectorU.S. Green Building Council–Redwood Empire Chapter
1300 Valley House Drive Ste. 38, Rohnert Park 94928
www.usgbc-rec.org
707-664-6250
Credentials: Held past positions with the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County, Nature Conservancy, Envirocorps and the Wild Steelhead Coalition; green building professional certification and construction management certification from Sonoma State University
Jon Nyberg is the executive director for the U.S. Green Building Council–Redwood Empire Chapter, a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to promoting green building in Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
He received his bachelor’s in environmental studies and planning from Sonoma State University, where he also earned a green building and construction management certification. He writes a monthly column called “The Green Guy” focusing on green building and other sustainability topics, and he is a co-author of a retail green-building resource guide. The council offers training, seminars and events related to environmental construction.
John Shurtz
PresidentGreen Builders of Marin
205 Montego Key Blvd., Novato 94949
www.greenbuildersofmarin.com
415-883-0600
Revenue: $1 million (2008)
Credentials: LEED Accredited Professional, GreenPoint rater for new homes, GreenPoint adviser for existing homes, Marin County Green Business
In addition to running a green building consulting firm that rates homes under Build It Green’s GreenPoint system, John Shurtz, 58, is lead instructor for Sonoma State University’s Green Building Certificate Program. He’s been in construction since 1974, became a licensed general contractor in 1986 and transitioned into what is now known as green building in 1996.
That involvement grew to include assistance with development of Alameda Waste Management Authority’s 2001 green building guidelines and the training program for Build It Green’s Certified Green Building Professional in 2003. Mr. Shurtz also worked extensively on green-building regulations and programs with with Sustainable Novato, Sustainable San Rafael, Sustainable Fairfax, Sustainable Marin, San Rafael, Novato, Mill Valley and the county of Marin.
Mr. Shurtz also is heavily involved with sustainability education organizations. Mr. Shurtz is an adviser for Dominican University’s sustainability program.
Bill Wilson
Associate, Environmental Engineeringand Sustainability
Carlile Macy
15 Third St., Santa Rosa 95401
www.carlilemacy.com
707-542-6451
Credentials: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certifications for wastewater and remediation of contaminated sites, founding member of the LEED Water Efficiency Technical Advisory Group and president emeritus of Algalita Marine Research Foundation
Bill Wilson is a top national expert in water-wise real estate development, having worked in sustainable development and restoration for 40 years. He joined civil engineering, landscape architecture, planning and surveying firm Carlile Macy of Santa Rosa in 2007.
His background includes design of wastewater recycling plants, regeneration of degraded coral reefs and LEED-certified projects. The latter include the Gold-level-certified Gaia Napa Valley hotel in American Canyon. He’s also working on the SMART project in downtown Santa Rosa.
He’s taken his know-how in water and energy efficiency and water conservation, harvesting (rainwater collection) and reuse to the wine industry. Mr. Wilson helped gain permission from various agencies for use of water harvesting in Sunset Magazine’s Casa Verde zero-energy demonstration home in San Francisco, efforts that led to the ability of other projects in the city to use rainwater for irrigation and toilets.
AGRICULTURE
Mike Benziger
Founder and Estate WinemakerBenziger Family Winery
1883 London Ranch Road, Glen Ellen 95442
www.benziger.com
707-935-3000
Employees: 80
Credentials: CCOF-certified organic, Demeter Association-certified Biodynamic, Stellar Certification Services-verified Benziger as Certified-Sustainable
Mike Benziger, 58, started the family down a nearly 30-year progression from conventional viticulture – chemical growth, pest and weed control and ample use of fresh water – to agricultural methods that use naturally occurring controls, such as beneficial insects and planetary motion, as well as water recycling and reduction in direct and indirect emissions of gases blamed for climate change. Nowadays Benziger’s green practices include recycling a million gallons of wastewater annually, solar electricity, biodiesel-powered equipment and highly recyclable or recycled-content packaging.
Conversion of vineyards to Biodynamic certification started in 1996 and was completed in 2000, and viticulture methods Benziger uses with its 50 growers were formalized into a sustainability certification program in 2005. By the 2007 all Benziger wines were certified sustainable, organic or Biodynamic.
Paul Dolan
PartnerPaul Dolan Vineyards, Parducci Wine Cellars, Mendocino Wine Co.
501 Parducci Road, Ukiah 95482
www.pauldolanvineyards.com, www.parducci.com
707-463-5350
Employees: 60 (full- and part-time)
Credentials: 2009 Climate Action Champion, California Climate Action Registry; Parducci, 2007 Governor’s Economic and Environmental Leadership Award; certificate of special congressional recognition from Rep. Mike Thompson and recognition by Friends of the River and Fish Friendly Farming for exceptional activities, environmental improvements and leadership, August 2007; Mr. Dolan, recognized by the state Senate in Resolution 419 for professional and civic leadership; participant, Sustainable Winegrowing Program, Wine Institute
A fourth-generation winemaker through the Rossi and Concannon families, Paul Dolan, 58, has been a visionary for the future of the wine business as an early promoter of what has come to be known as “sustainable winegrowing.” He joined Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland in 1977 as winemaker and launched the first national organic wine brand, Bonterra, in 1991.
A year later, Brown-Forman Corp. acquired Fetzer and named Mr. Dolan president. He raised the awareness of the benefits of the “triple bottom line” of sustainable business – economic, ecological and social success – even within a cost-sensitive publicly traded company.
He took that message to the greater wine industry by helping to start the Wine Vision strategic think tank in 1999, contributing to the creation of the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing in 2002 and a year later publishing the green-wine manifesto “True to Our Roots,” showing how sustainability can be profitable. In 2004 he retired from Fetzer and joined Tim and Tom Thornhill in forming Mendocino Wine Co. and acquiring Parducci Wine Cellars.
Mr. Dolan has been in leadership of the influential wine business advocacy group Wine Institute since 1990 as a board member, vice president in 2005-06 and chairman in 2006-07.
At Mendocino Wine Co., he and his partners have been pushing sustainability further, striving to be the first “carbon-neutral” U.S. winery by employing on-site solar and purchased wind power.
Albert Straus
PresidentStraus Family Creamery
P.O. Box 768, Marshall 94940
www.strausfamilycreamery.com
415-663-5464
Employees: 64
Credentials: Marin Organic Certified Agriculture, QAI Certified Organic, AHA Free Farmed
In 1993 Albert Straus converted Straus Dairy, started in 1941 by his parents, Bill and Ellen Straus, to organic milk production, the first to do so in the western U.S. The following year, Albert Straus opened Straus Family Creamery to make organic products with the milk from the farm.
He is a strong advocate of farmland protection and sustainable farming. Toward that goal, the facility uses recycled water to flush manure into enclosed ponds that capture methane. Straus was on the forefront of North Coast biogas power, producing 300,000 kilowatt-hours annually.
John Williams
Owner and WinemakerFrog’s Leap Winery
8815 Conn Creek Road, P.O. Box 189, Rutherford 94573
www.frogsleap.com
707-944-4704
Employees: 38
Credentials: CCOF Organic Certification; LEED Silver; EPA Green Power Certification; 2004 Safe-Bidco North Coast Green Entrepreneur Award; Inc. Magazine Top 50 Green Businesses; Certified Fish Friendly Farmer; co-chair, Rutherford River Restoration Project
John Williams, 56, started Frog’s Leap in 1981. He was an early leader in organic farming, with Napa Valley’s first certified vineyards in 1989. He’s a leading proponent of dry farming, with all 200 acres cultivated without irrigation. The winery was among the first to employ photovoltaic power and geo-exchange heating and cooling and had the first LEED-certified building in the California wine industry.
He helped found the Rutherford Dust river restoration project, said to be a contender for the largest privately initiated riparian restoration project in U.S. Mr. Williams was in the first “class” of certified Fish Friendly Farmers.
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