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Biographies of Committee Members
C.R. “Chuck” Pennoni (chair) is chairman and chief executive officer of Pennoni Associates, Inc., a consulting engineering firm based in Philadelphia. Mr. Pennoni is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers; a trustee and past president of United Engineering Trustees; past president of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology; and a member of the U.S. Council for International Engineering Practice. Mr. Pennoni is currently chairman of the Board of Trustees of Drexel University and was president of the university for the academic year 1994–1995. He has served on the engineering advisory boards of several universities and is a member of the board of Jefferson Bank, DHA Engineers, and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. He is a licensed engineer in 11 states and has lectured at several colleges and universities on engineering, planning, ethics, and professional development. Mr. Pennoni holds a B.S. and a M.S. in civil engineering and an honorary doctorate from Drexel University.
Eric Belsky is executive director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and he has extensive expertise in housing policy, economics, and finance. He has more than 17 years of experience conducting research on a wide range of housing and urban topics for public and private sector organizations and clients. Dr. Belsky is also an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Business, Harvard University. Prior to his appointments at Harvard, Dr. Belsky led the Housing Finance and Credit Analysis Group at Price Waterhouse LLP, where he focused on developing analytic methods to manage housing finance risk. Before that, he was director of housing finance research for Fannie Mae. He has also served as senior economist at the National Association of Home Builders and assistant professor of urban geography at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Belsky is the author of dozens of articles on housing economics and finance in trade publications and academic journals. He is currently a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Housing Research and is a research associate at the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Bureau of the Census University. He holds an M.A. in international development and a Ph.D. in economic geography from Clark University.
Robert Blancett is director of the Materials and Construction Laboratory at the USG Research and Technology Center, where he oversees the operation of five laboratories involved in product development, systems engineering, and code certification for building materials. Prior to joining U.S. Gypsum in 1987, Mr. Blancett held various product engineering and research management positions with Owens-Corning, a large building materials manufacturer. He is coauthor of a number of publications on energy utilization in buildings and sustainable construction. He is a member of the Building Environment and Thermal Envelope Council Board of Direction, the National Evaluation
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Service Building Innovation Center (NESBIC) Board of Direction, and chair of the Membership Committee of the Industrial Research Institute. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University.
Eric Burnett is the director of the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center and the Hankin Professor of Residential Building Construction at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Burnett was selected for his competence in the broad areas of building science and technology and his expertise in construction and structural engineering. He has worked with and been a consultant to a number of research and development agencies in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. At Penn State, he has cross-appointments to the Departments of Architectural and Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering. His research interests include the performance of building enclosures and the integration of structural and control functions. As director of the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center, Dr. Burnett oversees research projects ranging from the development of innovative technologies and processes to fundamental research on building systems and materials. Dr. Burnett has a B.Sc. in engineering from the University of Cape Town, a D.I.C. and M.Sc. in engineering from the Imperial College, and a Ph.D. from the University of London.
Paul R. Fisette is director of the Building Materials and Wood Technology Program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Mr. Fisette was selected as a member of this committee for his expertise in light-frame construction, residential energy efficiency, sustainable building practices, and the performance of residential building materials. He has developed an innovative web service that provides technical advice to builders and researchers regarding the performance, specifications, and use of building materials. Mr. Fisette frequently contributes articles to regional and national publications on building materials and the residential construction industry. Previous to his current position, Mr. Fisette was senior editor of Custom Builder Magazine, which covers technical information and information about innovations of interest to small and medium-sized residential building firms. He holds a B.S. and a M.S. in wood technology from the University of Massachusetts.
Karen L. George is director of Residential Services at E Source, Inc., an information service for utility companies that provides strategic business analyses, technology assessments, and market research. Ms. George is also principal author of the Residential Appliances Technology Atlas (E Source, 1999), a reference book for those engaged in energy efficiency programs. Ms. George was selected for this committee for her experience in the residential energy and housing markets and her focus on product analysis and technology transfer. Prior to joining E Source, she was a consultant to many firms, such as R.W. Beck and Associates and RCG/Hagler-Bailly, Inc. She was also an independent consultant to other clients, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the China Association of Science and Technology, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In addition, Ms. George was manager of the Residential and Renewable Energy Programs for the Colorado Office of Energy Conservation and a professional research assistant for the Joint Center for Energy Management at the
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University of Colorado's Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Department. Ms. George holds a B.S. in education from California State College.
Manuel Gonzalez is principal at KTGY Group, Inc., in Irvine, California, an award-winning planning and design firm focusing on single and multifamily residential projects. Mr. Gonzalez was selected for his experience and expertise in architectural design and technology innovations for the home building industry. Prior to joining KTGY, Mr. Gonzalez was executive director of architecture for Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation where he was in charge of residential planning and design. Under Mr. Gonzalez' direction, Kaufman and Broad received widespread industry recognition and design awards. Prior to this position, Mr. Gonzalez was a partner with Johannes Van Tilburg and Partners where for 10 years he directed the design of award-winning single-family and multifamily residential projects and master-planned communities. He holds a B.S. in architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.S. in architecture from the University of Southern California. Mr. Gonzalez is a registered architect in seven states and recently served as chair of the Housing Committee for the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Ashok Goswami is director of the Housing and Building Technology Division of the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting quality and innovation in the building environment through technical services, education, and training. Mr. Goswami was selected for this committee because of his promotion of safe new technologies in building construction and interstate acceptance of modular buildings. He oversees a program that provides third-party monitoring and associated services for state and local governments, the construction industry, and home owners. He is a participant in the Industrialized Buildings Commission, which provides similar services to the modular-building industry. His division also performs plan reviews and product assessments and evaluates the performance of building systems and new construction technologies and products. He is a certified quality auditor and a registered professional engineer with a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from Punjab University and an M.S. in business and public administration from Southeastern University.
Charles J. Kibert is the interim director and CSR/Rinker Professor in the M.E. Rinker, Sr., School of Building Construction at the University of Florida. He was the director of the Center for Construction and Environment at the University of Florida from 1991 to 1999. He was selected for his research and expertise in construction-waste management, environmental impacts of construction, and recycling of residential construction debris. Dr. Kibert has published more than 90 papers and books and edited several publications on construction and the environment. He is a cofounder and chairman of the Cross Creek Initiative, a nonprofit industry/university joint venture seeking to implement sustainability principles into construction and has worked with neighborhood-based housing corporations on the renovating derelict structures into high performance homes. Dr. Kibert has created an innovative educational outreach program and several continuing education classes for building contractors; he teaches a newly developed graduate course on sustainable construction. He is a registered professional engineer and a chartered
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engineer in the United Kingdom and a mechanical and electrical contractor in Florida. He has a B.S. in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy, an M.S. in nuclear engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of South Florida.
Tricia Parks is founder and president of Parks Associates, a consulting firm that studies, analyzes, and forecasts the home networking and broadband industries, in addition to many other industries involved in service markets for residential and light-commercial technologies. She was appointed for her understanding of automation, electronic, and communication technologies in residential environments. Ms. Parks founded Habitech, a trade and training show for home systems, which was sold to the Electronic Industries Association. Parks Associates owns and cohosts Forum, an annual state-of-the-nation overview of current and emerging residential systems and services markets, and cohosts Connections, a showcase event for in-home networks and gateways. Previous to starting her own firm, she was a founder of MARTECH and a senior vice president of Future Computing. She is a contributor to industry trade magazines and a frequent speaker at trade events. She is the founder of Wiring Americas' Home Campaign, which was launched in 1997, and a board member of the Home and Building Automation Association. Ms. Parks has a B.A. from Sweet Briar College and completed graduate studies at the University of Texas.
Robert Pleasure is executive director of the Center to Protect Workers' Rights, Inc., established by the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. Mr. Pleasure was appointed for his expertise and understanding of safety and health issues in construction environments. He is currently the principal investigator for a multiyear National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) cooperative agreement on construction safety and health interventions. Mr. Pleasure's responsibilities include: safety and health planning; basic and advanced training; and education in safety and health emphasizing OSHA policies and standards, hazard recognition, and hazard abatement. The center is involved in injury and illness prevention in residential construction and funds projects, such as the cost-benefit analysis of ergonomic interventions. Mr. Pleasure holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
Michael Pyatok is principal of Pyatok Associates, Inc., and professor of architecture at the University of Washington. He was selected for his expertise in the design of high-quality affordable housing and his knowledge of related policy, finance, regulations, and the construction and design processes. Mr. Pyatok, who has been a practicing architect and professor of architectural design for 33 years, is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He has designed more than 9,000 units of affordable housing for lower income households, for which he won numerous local and national design awards. He recently coauthored the book, Good Neighbors: Affordable Family Housing, which documents the ability of communities to build excellent affordable family housing. More than half of the book is a series of case studies of high-quality affordable housing from all regions of the United States; the case study projects are thoroughly documented in terms
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of residents, project scale and unit mix, financing and cost, and construction type and design. Mr. Pyatok has a B.Arch. from Pratt Institute and an M.Arch. from Harvard University.
Timothy Reinhold is associate professor of civil engineering at Clemson University. He was selected for his expertise in wind effects on structures, structural dynamics, reliability engineering, and structural analysis and failure investigations. He is currently involved in wind-load studies for low-rise and specialty structures, including the resistance of structures to wind effects. Dr. Reinhold's research has included projects on improving the simulation of wind loads on residential and low-rise structures, wind-loads for coastal structures, and retrofiting solutions for existing structures subjected to high winds. Dr. Reinhold is a member of the Wind Effects Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Southern Building Code Congress International Wind Loads Subcommittee, and the ASCE-7 Standard Wind Loads Subcommittee. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Walter R. Young, Jr., is chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Champion Enterprises, Inc. Mr. Young was selected for his experience and expertise in all aspects of housing and his leadership of the nation's largest producer of manufactured housing. Since he joined Champion Enterprises, the company's annual revenues have escalated to $2.3 billion. The company built more than 70,000 homes in 1998. Several national business journals have cited Champion Enterprises as one of the most improved and productive companies in the United States. Mr. Young was honored by his peers in 1999 for the third straight year as “Industry Person of the Year.” He began his career in 1968 with BF Goodrich, where he quickly progressed and turned around the European tire operations, North American retail chain, and various chemical operations. In 1983, he joined the Budd Company to head the Aftermarket Division. In 1989, he joined the Henley Group, where he led the turnaround of the Wheelabrator Corporation. Mr. Young holds a B.A. in liberal arts from Muskingum College and an M.B.A. in management and marketing from Pennsylvania State University.
