2009 Media Releases & Alerts
Desiderio Joins NAHB Research Center as Director of Green Building Programs
Seasoned Green Building Professional to Enhance National Green Building
Certification Offerings
April 6, 2009, Upper Marlboro, Md. - Today the NAHB Research Center
welcomes a new member to its management team – Michelle Desiderio is now the
Director of Green Building Programs. Desiderio's green home building expertise
has been fostered over her 15 years in the housing industry including previous
positions at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Fannie Mae, and
the National Capital Planning Commission.
"We are excited to add Michelle to our green building team," said Michael
Luzier, NAHB Research Center president. "She is a seasoned industry
professional with a wealth of experience in the environmental arena. She is
exactly the right person to have at the helm of our National Green Building
Certification program, especially now as so many new opportunities have been
created for builder, remodeler, developer, and manufacturer participation with
the ANSI approval earlier this year of the
National Green Building Standard™."
Just prior to joining the NAHB Research Center, Desiderio was a planner with the
National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) where she exposed the significant
risk of flooding in downtown Washington, D.C. This resulted in the
collaboration of over 100 federal and local leaders during a two-day forum to
develop comprehensive flood mitigation measures.
Before her tenure with NCPC, Desiderio managed Fannie Mae's Housing and
Environment Initiative which promoted housing affordability through energy- and
location-efficient homes. At Fannie Mae, she developed the Smart Commute
Mortgage and revamped the Energy Efficient Mortgage to promote green housing
homeownership. 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.
As Assistant Staff Vice President at NAHB, Desiderio represented the home
building industry on legislative and regulatory policy issues regarding
endangered species, air quality, and solid waste management. She also authored
"The Developer's Guide to Endangered Species Regulation," which still serves as
the definitive resource on ESA policy and regulation for the residential
development industry.
Desiderio 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.
Since February 2008, the NAHB Research Center has been administering National
Green Building Certification using the NAHB Model Green Home Building
Guidelines as its scoring platform; the option to have a project scored to the
National Green Building Standard became available when the Standard was
approved by ANSI in January 2009. For more information on National Green
Building Certification and the National Green Building Standard, visit the
NAHBGreen website.
04/09
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