Melanie Danuser
Melanie Danuser
Smart Buildings Center
Melanie has spent her career in the power and energy efficiency industries and worked with utilities throughout the United States. She holds a Master of Public Administration degree from West Virginia University with a focus on Organization Development, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Her work entails serving the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council and Smart Buildings Center as Director of Education and Training, managing the Building Operator Certification program, and leading strategy for technical webinars, new curriculum and programs for stakeholders of NEEC and SBC, and contributing to conversations on the evolving workforce in the built environment. The BOC program is a training and credentialing program offering three certificates and one certification to building operators and technicians to increase their knowledge and skills in energy efficient facilities systems.
All Sessions by Melanie Danuser
Building Rating Systems & Certifications
Several national and international organizations now offer ratings and certifications for the built environment. These systems focus on smart capabilities, wellness, sustainability, energy performance, indoor environmental quality, and even workforce credentialing. If you have wondered whether these systems are the right for your building, this is a session you won’t want to miss. Experts will discuss various ratings and certifications, what they entail, and most importantly how the market is embracing these labels.
Buildings are Getting Smarter – Workforce Development Opportunities
The scale of smart technology adoption hinges in part on a sufficiently capable workforce. This session will highlight initiatives addressing the need for skilled facilities professionals and building operators to run complex, smart, connected, high performing buildings. Panelists will discuss opportunities to improve workforce diversity through initiatives that address barriers to entry and strengthen pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, and training programs to help connect participants to high-quality building operations and maintenance careers.
Workforce Skill Development for a Smart Building Future
Creating and maintaining a building environment that is healthy, comfortable, and productive for occupants has always been challenging. That challenge is growing exponentially today as building systems become more sophisticated and employee expectations for their indoor environment become a critical component of talent acquisition and retention. These challenges are creating need for new skills and abilities for all who bear the responsibility for making buildings work better. Leading building owner/manager organizations and the Biden administration’s Better Buildings program effort are focusing on the issue of workforce development. This session will bring practitioners from the front lines of workforce development to talk about how training programs are addressing this need from entry level to on-the-job training and how these programs open the door to a more diversified workforce in this important area.