Michelle Desiderio
Director, Green Building Programs

Michelle Desiderio leads the national green building certification program based on the ANSI-approved National Green Building Standard™ (ICC 700-2008). The program includes training and accreditation of Green Verifiers and certification of single family, multi-family, renovations, additions, and land development. As a related service to product manufacturers, the Green Approved Products program pre-approves certification points for products that meet green building practices.

Michelle possesses a broad knowledge of the housing industry, and has developed a unique perspective that addresses the environmental, land use, and financing issues that confront builders and developers. As a Planner for the New York City Department of City Planning, she facilitated a multi-year, citywide effort to site and build transitional housing for homeless families and individuals. As a Policy Analyst at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) she developed comprehensive and innovative policy solutions to achieve environmental goals while protecting housing affordability.

Interested in how to capture the intrinsic value of high performance homes to boost homeownership; Michelle transitioned to Fannie Mae to develop their Housing and Environment Initiative which promoted housing affordability through energy and location efficient homes. At Fannie Mae, Michelle developed the Smart Commute Mortgage and revamped the Location Efficient and Energy Efficient Mortgages. In addition, she developed a patent-winning methodology to calculate the emissions reductions from energy efficient homes so the reductions could be sold as energy credits on emerging carbon markets.

Michelle has a Masters in Urban Planning and Environmental Studies from the University of Virginia and a BS in Environmental Studies from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.