Team
You Want To Do the Right Thing. We Know How To Help You Do It
Companies that follow the Roadmap to Continuous Improvement understand that no individual, however talented, can deliver effective sustainability services in isolation. The SPI team - of educators, designers, strategists, visionaries, engineers, and others - is a testament to this truth. Read below to learn about the Staff and Board that enables SPI to deliver on its promises.
 | Barbra Batshalom, Executive Director Barbra the Founder of the Sustainable Performance Institute (SPI). SPI advances sustainability in the built environment by building the capacity of those that design, build and operate it. Barbra pioneered the first industry-wide Certification that provides design and construction companies with a roadmap and methodology to improve performance and profitability. Barbra has spoken at international, national and regional conferences including the UN Disaster and Risk Assessment Conference, Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, AIA National Expo, etc. With a diverse background of fine arts, social psychology and seventeen years in architecture and consulting, Barbra brings a variety of skills to all of her work and unique perspective engaging the human dynamics of decision-making and creative collaboration to technical work, to ultimately optimize building system integration, enhance quality and performance of projects. Barbra is an educator, designer and policy consultant and works with a wide range of corporate, governmental and institutional clients. |
 | Tova Greenberg, Director of Business Development Tova is responsible for various business initiatives at the Sustainable Performance Institute, focused on the Certification program. Before joining the organization in 2007, she held project and administrative positions at a small architecture & planning firm, served as assistant to the Director of the Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development (engaged in education and not-for-profit real estate development, particularly transitional housing for women and children) and managed –and sold—a boutique patent management & licensing firm, EKMS, Inc. She has extensive project management, client management, business development and consulting experience. Tova holds a BA in architecture from Princeton University and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She enjoys hiking, biking, kayaking and sporadically trying to complete the renovation of her 1945-era Cape |
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| Guy Sapirstein Dr. Sapirstein has published articles and book chapters on high performance team building, social resilience and preparedness, and has co-written manuals for interventions with adults and children following disasters. These manuals have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Urdu, Spanish and Tagalog and have been distributed following disasters in China, Japan, Pakistan, Chile, Philippines, Haiti, and the USA.
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Marianne Tyrrell After completing a year as a Global Energy Fellow at the Vermont Law School (VLS) Institute for Energy and the Environment where she managed a year-long project exploring the barriers to financing residential energy efficiency upgrades, Marianne is now working as the Land Use Fellow in the VLS Land Use Clinic. Marianne also is an instructor in Marlboro College’s MBA in Managing for Sustainability program, which is a hybrid in-person/virtual program, as well as in the Vermont Law School distance learning program. Prior to her engagement at VLS, Marianne worked as a consultant serving such clients as the Science and Innovation Team at the British Consulate General, Boston, working on a transportation efficiency innovation project; ICF International, serving as a project manager to U.S. EPA’s Smart Growth Implementation Assistance projects and EPA’s Zoning Assessment project; and the Center for Climate Strategies, managing projects and facilitating stakeholder-based state climate action planning processes. Since 2004, Marianne has been a Vice Chair for the American Bar Association Committee on Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems. Among other climate change events, Marianne organized a symposium—Facing Climate Change, Opportunities and Tools for States—and assisted with the Environmental Law Institute's panel at the United Nations World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. Marianne served a judicial clerkship with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire. She received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and her J.D. from Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg, where she served as Editor in Chief of the Law Review.
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| Dianne Callan is a Director of the New England Chapter of Environmental Entrepreneurs (e2) and ofGreen Pro Bono and is Independent Counsel at Green Tech Legal. Dianne has over 30 years of professional experience, most recently as Vice President and General Counsel and Secretary for NMS Communications Corporation, a publicly-held telecommunications solutions provider. She recently served as acting counsel for The Transition Group, an environmental consultancy. In addition, Dianne previously served in in-house positions, including Deputy General Counsel for Lotus Development Corporation for 10 years. She is also a founding member of Green Pro Bono, a new organization to assist non-profits and social entrepreneurs define their legal needs and provide access to the pro bono legal network for environmental organizations. She has recently taken graduate law courses in Energy Regulation and Environmental Law. | |
