KEYNOTE SPEAKER
R. Christopher Mathis, ASHRAE
President
MC² – Mathis Consulting Company
R. Christopher “Chris” Mathis has spent the past 34 years focusing on how buildings and building products perform – from energy efficiency to code compliance to long-term durability. Today, his business focus is to work with strategically-aligned clients, leveraging that knowledge and understanding to improve buildings, building products and the codes and standards that govern them.
Chris received his undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. He received a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT where his graduate work focused on energy use in buildings.
He has served as a Scientist in the Insulation Technology Laboratory at the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Technical Center, was the Director of the Thermal Testing Laboratory for the National Association of Home Builders Research Center, and Director of Marketing for Architectural Testing, Inc., a private laboratory specializing in the performance of buildings and building products.
Chris was a founding member and served for four years as the first Director of the National Fenestration Rating Council, the non-profit organization that developed the nation’s energy performance rating and labeling system for windows, doors and skylights.
Chris has published a variety of technical papers on topics including: advanced test methods for insulation materials and wall systems; daylighting design and assessment techniques; off-peak cooling techniques for commercial office buildings; new residential and commercial energy codes; and metrics for environmentally preferable products. He has written numerous builder, architect and consumer-targeted articles and guides on building and product performance issues. He is the author of “Insulating Guide” – a book for home builders providing insulating best practices for many of the most common home building details.
Chris is an active participant in Standards and Code development at ASHRAE, NFRC, ASTM and the ICC. He served six years on the Board of Directors of the Energy and Environmental Building Association (EEBA). He has been selected four times to serve on the International Energy Conservation Code Committee of the ICC, working to refine and improve the IECC – our national model energy code. Chris is a member of the Board of Directors of BETEC – the Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council. He is immediate past chairman of ASTM committee E60.01 on Buildings and Construction Sustainability and now serves as a Director on the Sustainability Executive Committee. He was a member of the ICC’s Sustainable Building Technology Committee helping to draft a national model code for sustainable buildings. Chris has recently been recognized as an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer, conducting seminars on a variety of building science, energy efficiency and sustainability topics across the US and worldwide.
Now, as president of Mathis Consulting Company (MC2), Chris and his team provides a variety of strategic services to both private and public sector interests related to buildings and building product performance. The MC2 team provides strategic support services to energy and building industry leaders – from trend analysis to code assessment to regulatory positioning. These efforts address product and building performance issues for new construction as well as for renovation, energy use and peak demand issues for utilities, meaningful sustainability metrics, as well as local, state and national regulatory planning. Chris and his team conduct frequent training seminars for architects, builders, manufacturers, code officials and others addressing these myriad energy and performance issues – from improved building energy efficiency and comfort to energy and power planning to improved building and energy codes to the challenges of sustainability and green building.
Chris is also an on-going student of about 90 million years of sustainability and building science through his activities as a beekeeper. He lives and works near the farm he grew up on in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina.
Fiona Aldous
Principal
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Fiona Aldous is involved with commissioning and design peer review of buildings enclosures, commencing with the pre-design phase, design phase and extending through completed construction with on-site observation and performance verification. She has specific experience in the detailing and installation of various curtain wall and window systems, sloped glazing, air barriers, waterproofing of below-grade and plaza systems, low slope roofs, and the interfaces of the various enclosure components. She has performed investigations and condition surveys on numerous building types and a variety of building enclosure systems. Such investigations typically have resulted in the development of repair designs to remediate distressed and defective building enclosures.
Ryan Dalgleish
Chief Operating Officer
The Air Barrier Association of America
Ryan has been involved in the building envelope and building performance areas of construction in both the commercial and residential sectors for over 20 years.
Ryan is a trainer, facilitator and performed a number of management roles for over 2 decades. He is also actively involved in research, training development and delivery, certification management and helping industries increase their professionalism. Ryan acts in the position of Chief Operating Officer for the Air Barrier Association of America.
Ryan obtained credentials in Adult Education, Leadership and Organizational Excellence from the University of Manitoba and has been mentored and trained by some of the best building scientist’s in the world. Ryan is a certified Net Zero building instructor, teaches master builder courses to builders across the country and is a frequent speaker at various technical presentations dealing with the building enclosure to various building official associations, city departments, building enclosure councils and chapters of the American Institute of Architects, Construction Specifications Institute and a number of local home builder associations.
Ryan frequently publishes papers for design and construction magazines such as Journal of Building Enclosure and Design, Construct Canada, Interface, Coating Pro Magazine, Spray Foam Professional to name a few.
André Desjarlais
OakRidge National Laboratory
André Desjarlais is the Group Leader for the Building Envelopes Research Program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has been involved in building envelope and materials research for 40 years, first as a consultant and, for the last 22 years, at ORNL. He is active in the building industry, participating in ASHRAE, ASTM, Cool Roof Rating Council, SPRI, RCI Foundation, Roof Industry Committee on Weather Issues, Federal Roofing Committee, and the Building Environment and Thermal Envelope Council. Areas of expertise include building envelope and material energy efficiency, moisture control, and durability.
Andrew Dunlap, AIA, CDT, LEED AP, NCARB
SmithGroupJJR
Andrew Dunlap’s primary work experience is in the analysis and development of exterior building enclosures, including historic buildings. Exterior enclosure expertise is comprised of roofing, skylights, windows, curtain walls, rainscreen/cavity walls and waterproofing, and includes development of remediation options and construction documents for corrective work. Andrew’s work focuses on providing energy efficient designs as he regularly participates in validating designs for energy code compliance or to exceed code requirements. Project responsibilities include the collection of detailed building information, investigation and analysis of existing conditions, computerized thermal analysis of building systems (WUFI 5.2, THERM 7, WINDOW 7, and other software packages), formulation of remediation plans, preparation of construction documents for remediation, and construction contract administration including field observation and systems testing. This work often includes performing diagnostic field water tests as part of the forensic investigations or used to validate installed conditions.
Andrew Merriman
Risk Engineering Consultant
The Zurich Services Corporation
Andrew has over 19 years’ experience in the heavy construction industry with great familiarity in quality control, construction defect investigation and construction project management in both the private and government business sector. As a Risk Engineering Consultant, he is responsible for providing Risk Engineering services to owners and project managers in an effort to help reduce losses and increase profitability at both the project and corporate level. Andrew also facilitates the integration of underwriting, engineering and claims services.
Som Shrestha, PhD, BEMP
R&D Staff
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Dr. Som Shrestha is an R&D staff member within the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His current research is focused on the experimental and analytical study of the energy performance of building envelope, equipment, and systems. He is leading the development of an online energy savings calculator for building envelope airtightness. Dr. Shrestha is an ASHRAE certified Building Energy Modeling Professional (BEMP).