Who We Are

Julie Gabrielli, NCARB, LEED AP

Julie Gabrielli, founder of GOforChange, is an award-winning, leading green business expert. She is an industry-changer who was instrumental in starting the sustainable design movement in her region over twelve years ago. Her work has included helping large businesses and institutions develop sustainability initiatives and Climate Action Plans.

As an architect, Julie has worked with many clients to help them realize their dreams, from concept to construction. As an advisor to the 2007 Solar Decathlon, she helped steer team LEAFHouse to be the top-placing American team, a second-place-overall finish.

Julie mentors entrepreneurial businesses and organizations to “see the green.” The secret is so simple! It’s two things: slash waste and create something innovative. She is a dynamic and inspiring public speaker and loves to connect idealistic college students with forward-thinking businesses.

Her blog, Thriving on the Threshold, is a journal of living in the time between stories.

The long version:

A registered architect since 1990, Julie Gabrielli has been practicing for 25 years. Since 1998, sustainable design has been her specialty. Past work includes green residential design; owner advising on green institutional projects; organizational sustainability initiatives, and LEED Rating System coordination. She has been the lead LEED coordinator on two Silver-certified projects, and advised on over ten others. Recent work includes participating on teams for three Climate Action Plans: Howard Community College, Montgomery County, and State of Maryland. Julie taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Architecture from 1990 to 2008. She helped to form and lead an interdisciplinary, academic/professional design team for their 2007 Solar Decathlon entry, LEAFHouse, which placed first in the U.S, second overall.

A Baltimore resident for 20 years, Julie has served on several Governor’s Task Forces for the State of Maryland: Energy Efficiency, 2001; Green Buildings, 2007; and Green Jobs & Industry, 2010. She also co-chaired the Built Environment Subcommittee for the Baltimore Sustainability Plan in 2008. She is a founding organizer of the Baltimore Bioneers Conference, which debuted in 2007. She was co-founder of the Baltimore AIA Committee on the Environment.

Her years of competitive sailboat racing taught Julie that when good design is combined with clear vision, steering for changing conditions, and a healthy respect for the forces of nature, great results are possible!

Collaborators

Geoffrey Stack, MSc, LEED AP

Geoff is a creative coordinator, educator and urban designer who has been immersed in the study and practice of sustainability, urban design and ecology for 14 years. He holds deep knowledge of the applications and intricacies of The Natural Step Framework – a powerful tool for strategically moving business, municipalities and our society towards sustainability.

Emerging from his deep roots in the study of ecology and environmental science, Geoff’s professional career has focused on how to effectively create built environments that help us move towards sustainability, and beyond to regeneration. As a project manager and LEED® Accredited Professional with EDAW and Wallace, Roberts & Todd, Geoff introduced whole-systems design approaches to collaborators while working on public open space, university campus and urban redevelopment efforts.

Geoff has also periodically tended to his green roots by teaching at the Ferry Beach Ecology School along the south coast of Maine. Geoff currently serves as member of the Healthy and High Performance Schools committee of the Maryland chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. He regularly provides presentations on green business, The Natural Step Framework, integrative design and community development.

Guest Writers on GOforChange

Creative Director Alyssa Dennis is an artist interested in architecture as it relates to human function. She holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and is represented by Gallery Imperato . Alyssa has worked on a number of sustainable building projects with SEI: Solar Energy International and in straw bale construction, adobe, earthen plaster and living roofs with Furbish Co . She also restores vintage posters and enjoys drawing and painting, making things rather then buying them, roof top gardens, using a worm compost, magnetic termites, climbing and all things art, music and film. Currently, some of her favorite reading is “Overlay ” by Lucy Lippard and “Design Like You Give a Damn”.

Rachel Adams is the Assistant Editor for Change Magazine in Washington DC. She has a masters in poetry from Johns Hopkins and has published an online journal of poetry and short proses called Lines and Stars . Her interests are self-analysis, C.S. Lewis, tea, educational pursuits, poetry experiments, primary colors, and legwear. A personal goal of hers is to to think effectively and write affectingly.

Gordon Griffin received his degree in Architecture in May 2008 from the University of Maryland, College Park. He intends to pursue his interest in the increasingly relevant issues of green and sustainable design. He hopes to see architecture, in both form and function, affect people and their environment in the most positive way. Gordon is also an avid runner, a film enthusiast, and passionate piano player who enjoys writing music. Also fond of writing, he is currently working on his ongoing autobiography.

Joe Stewart is sixty, lives in Better Waverly with his partner, Flash, and a dachshund, Odaat. Joe is a swimmer with a passion for the open water and a photographer who loves shooting nature and urban architecture. He uses his swimming and photography to raise funds for charitable organizations, especially environmental- and community-based ones. He works as an attorney at SDAT. He writes poetry. He is a Governor-appointed member of the Patapsco/Back River Tributary Team and currently serves as Secretary and Hospitality Chair of the Better Waverly Community Organization. Joe drives a small Saturn. He vacations in Provincetown, MA. and he spends time every week with his 92-year-old mother. His philosophy of life is “one day at a time”.