Director's Leadership Awards

Winners of the Department of General Service's first-ever "Greening California" Director's Leadership Awards were announced on December 18, 2006.

These awards recognize DGS employees who have taken the lead in supporting Governor Schwarzenegger's goals for environmental leadership through their support for the DGS' "Building Green-Buying Green-Working Green" efforts.

Business Services Office

Individual Award: Gilbert Labitoria. Took the lead on researching 100 percent, post-consumer content recycled printer and copier paper now being used throughout the Ziggurat. Advocated purchase of recycled toner cartridges to conserve resources while reducing landfill volume.

Green Team

Team Award: Steve Ambrose, Rita Brandes, Barbara Browne, Dan Burgoyne, Jim Byers, Glenn Chadwick, Terry Counts, John Golemon, Ken Hunt, Mike Langley, Pat McCoy, Steve Nowell, and Theresa Townsend. This team is the primary program management staff for Gov. Schwarzenegger's Green Building Initiative and the governor's Green Action Team. Members worked to advance a wide-variety of green building measures from green building certification to installation of onsite solar power at state facilities. In November 2006, the DGS and the state of California were honored by the US Green Building Council with a national "Leadership Award" for green building advocacy.

Office of Fleet Administration

Team Award: Steve Nielsen, Bryon Rush, Rick Shedd, and Rick Slama. The team advanced the governor's goals of reducing petroleum consumption and increasing the use of biomass resources by replacing gasoline-powered vehicles in state agency fleets with bi-fuel (E-85) vehicles. As ethanol fueling stations come online throughout the state, OFA's fleet is positioned to reduce petroleum consumption while taking advantage of the lower cost of ethanol fuel.

Office of State Publishing

Individual Award: Carl Sterkel. Coordinated the replacement of 5,000 existing lighting fixtures at the state publishing plant with fluorescent bulbs that are more energy-efficient. Result: a projected one-year cost savings of approximately $16,000.

Office of Surplus Property & Reutilization

Team Award: Manuel Airada, Luke Anderson, Hector Arredondo, Andrew Cole, Norman Cottman, Jon Hicks, John Hilton, Warren Horsley, Mark Jimenez, Jeff Jordan, and Dan McDonough. Anthony Beltran, Rocky Del Monte, and Jonathan Stephens of the Office of Technology Resources assisted the surplus property team. The team's efforts included recycling state and public agency e-waste through a statewide recycling contract, free e-waste recycling services offered to the public during surplus state property auctions held in Sacramento, and advancing the reuse of state-owned surplus computers and monitors through public auctions.

Office of Technology Resources

Team Award: Ben Buller, Alan Kneisel, and Brian Sahli. Coordinated the greening of printing jobs by unplugging more than 100 of the department's single-user, desktop printers in favor of networked printers capable of producing two-sided copies. Result: energy savings, reduced paper use, and lower support costs.

Team Award: Becky Liou, Mike Piliotis, Dale Sharp, Wayne Wong, and Michael Young. Deployed power management software for 1,200 personal computers used by employees in the Ziggurat resulting in impressive energy savings.

Procurement Division

Team Award: Charlie Galinato, Eric Mandell, Mary Purvis, and Shahid Rehimtoola. Created educational Ziggurat lobby display and brochures promoting environmentally preferable purchasing practices.

Team Award: Fran Archuleta, Steven Kobayashi, Hiroko Kurosawa, and Mallie Stone. Created and managed the green products offered in the statewide office supplies contract including a "green products catalog" and green purchasing tracking system.

Individual Award: Mary Purvis. Designed the department's new "green" logo and other materials used for outreach and education purposes regarding DGS greening efforts.

Individual Award: Shahid Rehimtoola. Worked with the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Task Force to create green specifications for the low-mercury content lighting contract and other state contracts.

Real Estate Services Division

Team Award: Glenn Burnett, Joyce Crandall, Cindy Ann Duran, Kim Tsumura, and Brenda Waltman. ENERGY STAR Benchmarking Team collected database information involving more than 50 state buildings as part of the department's overall Green Building Initiative responsibilities.

Individual Award: George Carollo. Developed and implemented several measures advancing Green Building Initiative goals related to state-leased facilities.

Individual Award: Dennis Corelis. Advanced Green Building Initiative goals including onsite energy production projects for several state-owned facilities. Advanced LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) training opportunities for RESD staff.

Individual Award: Lewis Dean. Played a leadership role in implementing processes and procedures to incorporate LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) features in several new construction projects.

Individual Award: Linda McMullen. Directed statewide sustainability programs for RESD's Building and Property Management Branch. Played an integral role in the state of California obtaining LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification for the California Department of Education building; the first state-owned office building in the nation to achieve the US Green Building Council's highest level of energy efficiency and environmental certification.

Individual Award: Howard Sacks. Coordinated greening activities within RESD, including managing DGS' new retro-commissioning program, in order to ensure energy savings goals are met in state facilities as directed by the Green Building Initiative.

Individual Award: Lorrie Uribe. Led team effort to benchmark state facilities in order to establish a baseline for energy consumption. This effort is critical to increasing energy efficiency in DGS buildings, as well as earning LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification credits from the US Green Building Council.

Telecommunications Division

Individual Award: Wayne Pfohl. Coordinated management program for testing and proper disposal of large storage batteries used by TD for back-up power at public safety communications sites. Program also ensures product quality and reliability while minimizing number of batteries being used.