Team
Small enough to be focused on clients committed to market leadership, and to pay attention to their specific needs.
Large enough to have the expertise and experience required to accelerate the market towards planet-positive solutions.
Meet the Team
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Ahmad Kayello
PhD, CPHD, CEP
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Alex Hugo
B.Eng., M.A.Sc.
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Brent Moore
P.Eng., LEED AP BD+C
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Christianne Aussant
M.A.Sc., P.Eng., CMVP
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Conan O’Connor
Eng.
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Douglas Webber
Principal P.Eng, LEED AP
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Drew Shepherd
B.A.Sc., M.Sc.
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Elaine Wong
B.A.
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Emma Rohmann
P.Eng., LEED AP, Fitwel Ambassador
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Eric Chisholm
Principal P.Eng., CEM, LEED AP, GPRO
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Evan Lawrence
B.Sc., E.I.T.
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Jason Manikel
P.Eng., LEED AP, CBCP
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Kamilia Vaneck
LEED AP BD+C, CPHC
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Kristen Jaczko
M.A.Sc., P.Eng., LEED GA
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Laura Fylyshtan
MSc.Pl, LFA, WELL AP
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Liam Mahoney
B.A.Sc.
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Lizeth Rivera
MASc., LEED GA
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Luka Matutinovic
Principal P.Eng., CPHC, LEED AP BD+C
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Matthew Hirsch
Principal B.A.Sc., LEED AP O+M
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Mike Anderson
Principal P. Eng., LEED AP
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Nancy Zhou
B.A.SC. LEED GA, LEED AP ID & C WELL AP
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Niara van Gaalen
B.Arch, LEED GA
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Noah Cassidy
M.A.Sc Civil Engineering, LEED GA
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Peter Halsall
Principal P.Eng, MASc
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Priscilla Chew
Principal P.Eng., M.Eng., LEED AP BD+C, O+M
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Yair Levin-Konigsberg
M.A.
Consultants
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Dora Vancso
M.Sc., B.Sc., LEED GA
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Stacy (Xi) Sun
M.A.Sc, B.E.S., LEED GA
Priscilla Chew, Principal P.Eng., M.Eng., LEED AP BD+C, O+M
Priscilla brings extensive project and team management experience, with a focus on helping clients achieve their LEED certification goals. She has been involved with over 100 sustainability projects of various types, including LEED NC, LEED CS, LEED CI, and LEED EB projects for various types of buildings ranging from commercial office to high-rise residential to institutional. She also provides sustainability services at the portfolio level, including developing portfolio-wide sustainability programs, and implementing LEED Volume.
Eric Chisholm, Principal P.Eng., CEM, LEED AP
Eric has been providing strategic direction and technical solutions to sustainability and energy management for over 10 years. He most recently served in the role of Manager of National Energy Performance, Sustainability & Energy at WSP. His experience delivering carbon reduction strategies, portfolio planning, energy audits, retro-commissioning, and LEED certification has supported hundreds of individual properties across Canada and portfolios representing tens of thousands of properties. Eric was named an Emerging Leader in Canada’s 2016 Clean50.
Peter Halsall, Principal P.Eng, MASc
Peter excels at driving change; developing commitment and finding innovative solutions within existing supply chains and financial models. As Chairman/CEO of the Halsall group of companies, Peter led the integration of sustainability into all aspects of the businesses and services through growth to over 350 people. After Halsall’s sale to an international company, he was responsible for creating the company's global sustainability program. Most recently, at the Canadian Urban Institute, he led the development of Solutions for a Low Carbon Future. He has been recognized with Lifetime Achievement Awards by CaGBC and the Canada Building Envelope Council.
Matthew Hirsch, Principal B.A.Sc., LEED AP O+M
Matthew has over 10 years of experience developing practical sustainability solutions for some of Canada’s largest commercial office developments and multi-unit residential communities. He focuses on meeting each client’s particular sustainability targets through all stages of the journey. He has experience in building performance benchmarking and auditing on all scales of projects and has been involved with over 50 LEED projects. Matthew brings an interdisciplinary background and experience and uses this to take a collaborative approach to understand complex problems, distill clear actions and empower clients with the strategies and tools they need to achieve their desired outcomes.
Luka Matutinovic, Principal P.Eng., CPHC, LEED AP BD+C
Luka has spent 16 years focusing on improving the performance of the built environment. He combines detailed knowledge of building design, operations and project delivery to make advanced technical solutions possible. To achieve this, he focuses on integrating performance analytics into the design process to improve how people work together. The result is elevated value-creation at the project, team and organizational levels. Luka has acted as the sustainable design lead on over 100 projects in nearly all asset classes, including LEED Platinum, Passive House and Zero Carbon projects. He is a past Vice-President of IBPSA Canada.
Douglas Webber, Principal P.Eng, LEED AP
Doug has focused on creating high performance buildings for over 25 years. After general contracting and building off-grid demonstration homes, he joined Halsall in 1999. He led Halsall’s Green Planning and Design practice to become a national team serving new and existing building markets Following WSP’s acquisition of Halsall, Doug led WSP Canada’s Sustainability and Energy business line. He has delivered performance modeling, certification services, retro-commissioning and portfolio performance management across all asset classes, at all scales and all phases of asset life. He is Chair of the CaGBC’s newly formed Zero Carbon Steering Committee. Doug was recognized as one of Canada’s Clean 50 in 2013.
Alex Hugo, M.A.Sc.
Alex brings more than 12 years of building energy simulation experience to the team, with a focus on facilitating the design of high-performance buildings. He uses energy modelling throughout the design process to provide valuable information to clients, improving the decision-making process and maximizing the energy and carbon performance of buildings.
Kristen Jaczko, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., LEED GA
Kristen is a building performance analyst with a passion for improving the built environment, focusing on energy management. Her experience includes supporting sustainability certifications, existing building energy management and new construction performance analysis. While an undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering, she was part of the Queen’s University team that participated in the 2013 US Solar Decathlon to design and build a solar-powered house. She completed her Master’s thesis in 2017 on Integrated Energy Systems for High-Performance Building.
Brent Moore, P.Eng., LEED AP BD+C
Brent has been simulating buildings of all types for over 5 years. He is experienced in modeling energy use, thermal comfort, indoor air movement, and emissions production for new construction projects in multiple jurisdictions across North America. This experience has afforded him the ability to identify areas of potential improvement accurately and efficiently for proposed building designs. Working on several net-zero developments and integrating future climate scenarios as part of these building simulations has Brent ready to take on human civilization’s need for a low carbon built environment.
Dora Vancso, M.Sc., B.Sc., LEED GA
Dora is a building technologist with a passion for building for the sustainable, circular future. Before Purpose, she worked as a sustainability consultant in the Netherlands. Her experience is broad and includes researching and building for the circular economy, energy modeling, low carbon roadmap development and supporting sustainability certifications. She holds degrees in Architecture and Building Technology from the Delft University of Technology, with a specialization in circularity measurement methods.
Kamilia Vaneck, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC
Kamilia has been developing and implementing high performance building solutions for over 8 years. Her experience includes project and team management, green building certifications such as LEED, new build commissioning, and performance analysis of new and existing buildings. Most recently, she has been focused on integrating low-carbon, resilient, passive building designs and smart building technologies. Kamilia holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Harvard.
Elaine Wong, B.A.
Elaine has been working in the sustainable buildings industry for over 10 years. With experience in project administration, coordination, and analyst, she specializes in document quality and production, supporting sustainability certifications such as LEED, TGS and BOMA BEST.
Elaine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University with a major in Film Studies and a special interest in Earth Sciences.
Nancy Zhou, B.A.SC. LEED GA WELL AP
Nancy is passionate about applying her engineering specialization in energy and sustainability to create healthy and circular built environments. Her experience includes designing and building innovative net-zero energy homes for the affordable housing market through partnerships with Habitat for Humanity, Ottawa Community Housing, and the US Department of Energy. At Purpose, she has helped as affordable housing providers and large real estate companies develop low-carbon resilient portfolio strategies. Nancy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Emma Rohmann, P.Eng., LEED AP, Fitwel Ambassador
Emma has over 15 years’ experience in managing green building and community design, construction, and operations projects. She has led dozens of multi-disciplinary teams towards successfully delivering high-performance projects, including LEED, Fitwel, and WELL certifications. She was a key team member on award-winning projects that include Waterfront Toronto's Minimum Green Building Requirements and Evergreen Brickworks. Emma recognizes that we need healthy people to create a healthy planet and has a particular interest in creating healthier indoor spaces. She holds a Certificate in Environmental Health through the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
Stacy (Xi) Sun, M.A.Sc, B.E.S., LEED GA
Strategic Partner
Stacy is an experienced building performance analyst. She is focused on integrating performance analytics - including energy, daylighting and thermal comfort - into the design process. Stacy holds a Master’s degree in Building Science and a Bachelors in Environment & Business. Before Purpose Building, she worked at WSP in Toronto and Transsolar in New York. Since 2013, she has volunteered with the CaGBC Toronto Chapter including the Emerging Green Professionals Committee. In 2018, she was recognized for her dedicated efforts as a finalist for CaGBC Ontario Volunteer Leadership Award.
Laura Fylyshtan, MSc.Pl, LFA, WELL AP
A Living Future Accredited Professional, Laura is committed to building sustainable communities. By drawing on her BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, she brings an interdisciplinary perspective to project discussions and a passion for holistic thinking. Most recently, Laura has focused on expanding her knowledge of healthy, circular and sustainable building materials.
Mike Anderson, P. Eng., LEED AP
Throughout his 15 year career, Mike has led the delivery of mechanical design solutions for new and existing commercial and multi-residential buildings, as well as energy simulations and sustainability assessments. He applies his experience and expertise to help teams integrate sustainability strategies seamlessly into portfolio planning and the overall design process and to make deep retrofits both constructable and financially attractive. Mike graduated from Ryerson University in Mechanical Engineering.
Christianne Aussant, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., CMVP
Christianne has been working in building performance simulation and alternative energy systems since graduating in Mechanical Engineering in 2004. It was the subject of her Master’s thesis and has been a core part of her work at consulting firms since then. She has worked to promote effective, efficient, low-carbon building energy system design across commercial, institutional, residential, health care and industrial projects across Canada. Christianne wants to leverage the deep expertise and commitment to team success at Purpose to help accelerate the market. She lives with her family in Ottawa, was an All-Star roller derby player and now helps coach her daughter’s hockey team.
Ahmad Kayello, PhD, CPHD, CEP
Ahmad (who has always been called Rami) joined Purpose from a background in low-impact housing and teaching. A Certified Passive House Designer, Rami strives to bridge the gap between industry and nature with simple solutions and people-empowering projects. His doctoral research focussed on improving the suitability and durability of the building envelope in Inuit housing. He has provided design for incorporating carbon-sequestering materials in home building. He taught courses covering sustainability and the building environment at Concordia University, where he received the Building Engineering Medal. At Purpose, Rami puts his passion into practice, leading the way for regenerative design in the built environment.
Drew Shepherd, B.A.Sc., MSc.
Drew has five years of experience helping commercial and multi-unit residential buildings reduce energy/water consumption and carbon emissions. Over this time, he has completed more than 15 ASHRAE energy and water audits. His work has also focussed on continually improving the operational performance of buildings through retro and ongoing commissioning. In addition, he has helped clients determine the feasibility of implementing alternative energy generation, energy storage, and EV charging station solutions to reduce carbon emissions at portfolios of buildings.
Evan Lawrence, B.Sc., E.I.T.
Evan has advocated for environmental stewardship since his youth, having spent his summers outdoors on Vancouver Island. This has led him to a career contributing to the energy efficiency goals of many new and existing building projects across Canada. Evan has experience in energy modelling and decarbonization for a wide range of building types, from residential and office towers to transportation and institutional facilities.
Liam Mahoney, B.A.Sc.
Liam has a passion for leveraging new technologies to achieve positive environmental outcomes. At Purpose, he is focused on creating strategies for low-carbon, resilient buildings that thrive in the ever-changing environment. Liam has worked on emerging photovoltaics and organic materials, applying his degree in Engineering Physics with a minor in Mechanical Engineering at Queen’s University.
Noah Cassidy, M.A.Sc Civil Engineering, LEED GA
Noah is excited to apply his technical expertise and skills in data analysis to create a more sustainable future. As a grad student, he founded the Sustainable Buildings Network, a group of students dedicated to connecting individuals involved with sustainable buildings throughout the University of Toronto and beyond. Noah Cassidy received his B.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto, and is currently completing an M.A.Sc., degree also in Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto.
Yair Levin-Konigsberg, M.A.
Yair is passionate about finding ways to reconcile society with the natural environment. He has been working in sustainability challenges for over 5 years and is experienced in modelling and data analysis focused on environmental issues. His work includes energy planning, waste management, and water distribution.
Before joining Purpose, he was researching the structure of water distribution systems in relation to the size of the population they serve in the Global South.
Lizeth Rivera, MASc., LEED GA
Liz is passionate about creating innovative solutions for accelerating the decarbonization of the built environment. With a strong background in life cycle assessment, energy modeling, and parametric analysis, she has developed processes for building design optimization to achieve this acceleration.
Liz has a master's degree from the University of Toronto, where she specialized in analyzing the trade-off between embodied and operational carbon. Through her work, she gained valuable insights into effectively balancing environmental considerations throughout the life cycle of a project. At Purpose Building, Liz is eager to make a meaningful impact on shaping a better future for our society.
Niara van Gaalen, B.Arch, LEED GA
Niara is committed to using her analytical and design skills to bringing social and environmental value to communities. She has worked in urban design, architecture and sustainability consulting at firms from Vancouver to Amsterdam. Her experience includes analyzing solar radiation and thermal comfort, developing massing schemes for single family and large urban developments, and creating presentation graphics to effectively communicate design intent. She is excited to continue her learning about the life cycle of building materials and the emerging circular economy.
Conan O’Connor, P.Eng.
Conan brings decades of expertise in energy and carbon software and data analytics for commercial real estate. He has developed portfolio-wide sustainability programs for commercial buildings, delivered GHG and climate disclosures, implemented demand respond programs and helped clients navigate GRESB and the ever-changing world of ESG. Prior to joining Purpose, he led the software and data services business at a leading energy management firm through a decade of growth.
Jason Manikel, P.Eng., LEED AP, CBCP
Jason is excited to bring his 25 years of green building experience to help Purpose clients accelerate their asset performance. He has been focussed on helping plan for - and take action towards - a low-carbon future for commercial real estate assets and portfolios. This includes designing new, high-performance green buildings and optimizing existing buildings. For many of these years, he worked with the founders of Purpose. Jason is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canada Green Building Council, a LEED Accredited Professional, a Certified Building Commissioning Professional, and a professional engineer, licensed in BC, Ontario and Quebec. He is a mechanical engineering graduate from Queen's University.