Jim Newman is Owner and Managing Partner of Newman Consulting Group in Farmington Hills, MI, an EPA Energy Star® and Rebuild Michigan® Partner.

He is active in many professional organizations such as ASHRAE, BOMA, US Green Building Council, Engineering Society of Detroit (ESD), AIA Committee on the Environment, and the Urban Land Institute. He is a Fellow of ESD and of ASHRAE. Jim speaks about green and sustainable topics on radio and TV and gives seminars world-wide to both technical and non-technical organizations on these and other topics related to the construction industry. These include methods to finance energy conservation projects. He has received numerous awards and has been published in many magazines and technical journals.

Jim was a member of the committee that wrote the new chapter on Climate Change published in the 2021 ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals. He has spent many hours in the past 2 years educating himself and others on what should be done relative to HVAC and COVID-19, writing about it in website blogs, articles in magazines and speaking in international webinars.

Newman Consulting Group assists building owners and developers to design and construct Green and Sustainable buildings, to receive rebates from states and local utilities, and grants from various organizations. The Group also performs energy audits and retro-commissioning to help commercial building owners, the Federal Government and the Department of Defense conserve energy and save money.

Saagar Patel is a seasoned and demonstrated expert in energy and sustainability ‐ especially relating to design and construction ‐ while also being adept with analytics and data. He is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), a LEED Accredited Professional (AP), a WELL Accredited Professional (AP), and a Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP). Patel is actively involved in ASHRAE and BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) and serves on the Building Decarbonization Working Group for the City of Chicago and the Illinois Energy Code Advisory Council.

Investment management firms are engaging in critical ESG-related conversations with facilities managers. To achieve and sustain energy efficiency and/or net zero energy targets means having a holistic E and S program operationalized at the asset-level. This presentation will focus on the critical role facilities managers play in supporting the achievement of ESG targets and how they can leverage the current spotlight on ESG to move the needle on implementing energy efficiency and/or net zero energy projects. Dhruti advises clients on decarbonization and leads Blue Dot's real estate ESG advisory.

Before joining Blue Dot Capital, Dhruti spent 10 years in energy management and sustainability reporting at various firms. Most recently, Dhruti was the Energy Manager at Brookfield Properties where she played a key role in establishing portfolio-wide decarbonization framework to feed into BAM's Net Zero commitment. She also helped develop Brookfield Properties’ strategy for integrating climate-related risks to set the stage for Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure aligned reporting.

Prior to joining the real estate industry, Dhruti worked within the energy and utilities sector specifically with power generators developing a renewable energy portfolio.

Recognitions: 40 Under 40 Midwest Energy News, 2017.

Education: MSc in Energy Engineering from University of Illinois at Chicago, BSc in Civil Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Blue Dot Capital is a sustainable finance consultancy. We partner with financial services firms to support the end-to-end development and execution of ESG and impact investing programs, capabilities, and products.

Our clients and partners include asset managers, alternative investment managers, family offices, and data providers.

Alexi has spent more than a decade working to transform the built environment through energy efficiency programs, best practices guidance, and policy development. Alexi Miller is the Associate Technical Director at NBI and is NBI's lead engineer. He brings insight and analysis about cutting-edge technologies and strategies to diverse stakeholders as part of a wide-ranging effort to improve the energy performance of the built environment. Alexi leads several programs and initiatives at NBI including the GridOptimal Initiative, the Public Buildings Portfolio Management Initiative, the Getting to Zero Buildings Database, and FirstView.

Alexi has expertise in a range of topics, including zero energy and zero carbon buildings, code and policy, building controls, deep energy savings retrofits, and emerging technologies. Prior to joining NBI in 2013, he spent six years at The Cadmus Group. Alexi is a registered Professional Engineer in Mechanical Engineering in Oregon and is a LEED accredited professional. He is fully fluent in Spanish and conversationally fluent in Portuguese.

Kevin supports NBI with technical research and data analysis. He also develops and maintains systems for tracking building energy use and reporting on building systems and trends. Kevin Carbonnier works on a variety of projects areas including FirstView, data analysis and visualization, and technical research and writing. Kevin also manages NBI's database of zero net energy buildings, which is used to collect, maintain, and analyze energy usage data and project information for over 500 buildings.

Prior to joining NBI, Kevin worked on the equipment side of the HVAC industry as part of a sales team specializing in large commercial HVAC equipment. Kevin also has a background in renewable energy, advanced building controls, and energy modeling from his graduate work at Penn State University where he earned his PhD in Architectural Engineering in 2014.