Board of Directors

Cindy has a wide range of building related areas including architectural design, production and construction, project management, and provincial green building policy and program development. She currently works as Planning Officer for her family’s small home development company.

In these various roles, she has and continues to volunteer in sustainability and building-related committees, boards and working groups including Manitoba Round Table for Sustainable Development, Bee Better Manitoba and the Building Energy Technology Access Center at Red River College. She was a founding member of Manitoba’s Chapter of the Canada Green Building Council which later evolved into Sustainable Building Manitoba.

Prior to his involvement in climate change, he worked for 25 years as Director of Quality Systems with a Winnipeg-based electronics design and manufacturing company. While there, he helped the company grow from 12 people in a small, local facility to an international concern with manufacturing and offices in 5 countries, and 1000+ employees.
In 2010, Curt was trained by Al Gore in Nashville and became part of the global Climate Reality Project. He continues to work with that project internationally.
Locally, Curt is working with many groups to move us to a fossil-fuel free future. He was one of the founders of Bike Winnipeg as well as 50by30.org and Transition Winnipeg. Recently, he has been doing consulting work on sustainability with northern First Nations.

Alex joined the Manitoba Energy Management Task Force in 2001, chairing the rebranded “Building Energy Management Manitoba” until 2009.  He continued volunteering as founding chair and enthusiast of the Better Buildings Conference for nine years, – culminating in the 2008 Better Buildings Conference featuring Justin Trudeau’s environmental education gala event. 

Alex continues to steer Demand Side Energy into its 4th decade of energy and emission modelling, energy auditing, facility commissioning and measurement and verification across Canada and abroad.  Circling back to geothermal heat-pump application engineering, he hopes to add experience and continued passion for net zero buildings, through energy modelling, energy efficiency and optimized geothermal design.

As a lifelong learner with diverse intellectual interests, Jessica is driven by the conviction that architects must take on a prominent role in addressing the crisis of climate change. She has extensive experience working in diverse, collaborative team environments, and consistently works to develop new skills, including most recently obtaining LEED accreditation. Jessica is thrilled to join the board of SBM to engage with and advocate for the bigger picture of sustainable policy in Manitoba.

Ahmed Yasien Soliman, Ph.D., P.Eng earned his Ph.D. from the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Manitoba. His doctoral research centered on cold weather concreting techniques, with a focus on introducing environmentally friendly solutions to extend the construction season in Canada. Before this, he obtained his M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees from Cairo University in Egypt. With a combined academic and industrial background spanning 11 years, Ahmed has specialized in concrete materials science and structural engineering. A significant aspect of Ahmed’s current role involves educating industry professionals on emerging technologies aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the concrete and cement sectors, aligning with the federal government’s 2050 net zero carbon plan. He perceives membership on the SBM board of directors as an exceptional opportunity to effect positive change in sustainable practices, benefiting both the environment and society. By joining the board, Ahmed seeks to contribute to the collective efforts towards a more sustainable future.

For over 13 years, Amy has been designing and delivering energy efficiency programs for a variety of customer segments in Manitoba. With a decade at Manitoba Hydro, she gained insight into the significant role that demand side management plays for utilities and the importance of bill affordability for underserved customers.

She believes that everyone should have access to energy efficiency programs and provides the strategic direction for a number of programs aimed at reducing barriers to participation and that build capacity opportunities.

Prior to her work with SSCI, with a Bachelor of Social Work from U of M and family experience with disability, she became involved in the disabilities movement, became President of a provincial non-profit organization for ten years and Executive Director of a national non-profit for over five years.

In 2000 Diane and her husband built their forever home without connecting to the natural gas line in front of our property, relying instead on passive solar and solar PV technology, biomass and geothermal heat pump technology. Living in a home with low environmental impact provides a sense of calm and optimism about the future for their family.

Dudley nurtured Prairie as an architectural firm that was committed at its roots to sustainability, stakeholder participation in design and building community. Prairie demonstrated this commitment to Sustainable Buildings with an integrated staff of building scientists and 90% of staff members that are LEED accredited. Prairie certified over 30 LEED buildings under Dudley’s leadership including Manitoba’s first LEED GOLD Building, Mountain Equipment Co-op, and several LEED Platinum projects including Manitoba Hydro Place and Amber Trails School. In his 35 years of practice, Dudley guided Prairie Architects Inc. as an Integrated Design Process Facilitator on numerous projects, in the regeneration of dozens of historic buildings, the renewal of many urban sites, the creation of many First Nation projects as well as a wide variety of residential, community and educational projects. Mr. Thompson recently served on the Board of Directors of Manitoba Hydro and was chairperson of the non-profit Winnipeg Housing and Rehab Corporation. In 2014, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Canada Green Building Council, Manitoba Chapter,  “For his visionary leadership, and his outstanding personal and professional commitment to advancing sustainable building practices in Manitoba.” He also received a Fellowship in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 2016.  He lives in Winnipeg with his wife and two sons.

Erin currently works as a Senior Sustainability Analyst with EQ Building Performance. She operates primarily as a LEED Consultant for the Gordie Howe International Bridge port of entry facilities under construction between Ontario and Michigan. Erin also works as a Sustainability Consultant on a number of other developments, coordinating both LEED and compliance with the Toronto Green Standard.

Previously Erin worked as a Building Performance Consultant in Ottawa, as well as a Coordinator and Technical Writer for Sustainable Buildings Canada. Erin also spent time in the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program with Environment and Climate Change Canada contributing to Canada’s submission to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

She currently works as an Environmental Specialist at Manitoba Hydro, overseeing the Environmental Management System to manage risks and implement measures to minimize and mitigate environmental impacts within Manitoba.

Previously Kale worked at the University of Manitoba in the Office of Sustainability and the Architecture and Engineering Office. Kale is also a sessional instructor in the Clayton Riddell Faculty where she teaches about natural and anthropogenic issues in the environment. Her favourite sustainable build is the Clearwater buildings in Clearwater, MB. The community participation involved with everything in Clearwater is palpable making it one of her chosen towns to visit in the province

Lindsay specializes in whole building energy modelling for code compliance, design optimization, sustainability certification and incentive programs.  Presently Lindsay is a member of the SBM Advocacy Committee and board member of the Manitoba Eco-Network, serving as Secretary and member of the Strategic Planning and Policy committees.  Previously he volunteered in the construction of Manitoba’s first Earthship home, and as a design team member developing the monitoring system for Manitoba’s first certified Passive House.  Before pursuing his passion for high performance and sustainable buildings, he had a 12-year career as a manufacturing engineer with Boeing.

Red North Carpentry is a 2023 recipient of the Building Science Leadership Award from Logix Brands. This is for an ICF home that achieved 0.29ACH/50 and uses over 50% less energy than a standard home.  He is happiest out in the elements, working the tools, teaching and mentoring the company’s apprentices, and learning about building science and best practices.  Outside of work, you’ll usually find him running in Winnipeg and on Manitoba’s trails – having completed multiple ultra marathons. 

He has extensive experience developing research proposals, managing applied research projects and supervising staff, Rob enjoys the hands-on fieldwork with BETAC, and has trained and helped deliver large building airtightness testing services and training; he also has taken Level 2 Thermograph training. Prior to joining the College, Rob worked in technical sales in the areas of metering and controls and raw materials for composite manufacturing. He has a B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Manitoba and an M.Sc.in Bioresource Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. Rob was born and raised in rural Manitoba just north of Winnipeg