...green buildings. The goal is for all buildings to be green and have some real market leaders that are LEED buildings.

TR: LEED is excellent. It is a well defined standard that is well thought through and it has evolved. They have made major changes separating out LEED for homes, LEED for schools, LEED for healthcare, LEED for interiors – the list goes on. They are really trying hard to make it specific to each of the different building instances.

FB: I am pleased with how LEED has responded to the market. I am pleased with how it is leading the market and that it is a constantly evolving system and process. I am most impressed that it is a living process that is constantly improving and constantly growing.

I think they have made great strides in addressing gaps in the marketplace, such as the weighting of the building criteria. They have recognized neighborhood design, schools and homes. There is still a lot of work to be done but I am very pleased about the direction and how the organization has responded historically.

NYC: What are your chapter’s major goals over the next year?

RU: Once we release the report for the New York City Green Codes Task Force we will be working with the City, the City Council and the members of the Green Codes Task Force to implement those recommendations. Later this year, we will be rolling out our training program for building trades and contractors called G-Pro (www.g-pro.org). So our goal for next year with that program will be continuing to develop new courses and rolling out existing courses. We will be continuing the high level educational programs we have been offering and we have plans for another Urban Green Expo in Fall 2010.

TR: Some of our top goals are basically running good programs and events for our members so that they can continually be exposed to the types of projects we have here in Connecticut and things they can use in their everyday occupations. Running education - all the LEED classes –we are doing a good job of that. Also being the go to organization for high performance buildings in Connecticut. Those are probably our three top concerns. To make sure we are here for the residents in Connecticut that want to learn more about high performance buildings. That is what we are all about and we’ve got the resources to support it.

FB: We have a specific plan that was adopted in January that mirrors the USGBC national plan. The top initiatives are education and advocacy – meaning legislative support and representing organization and groups that need assistance. We also are looking at organizational excellence internally, that we be transparent, efficient and responsive to our membership.

One of the newer areas that National adopted and so are we is social equity. We are really focusing more on that population that would not ordinarily have access to green building, the inner cities, affordable housing. And, of course, growing and supporting our membership so that we can be providing these services that the market demands.