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Advisory Board

Meet the Hub's advisory board members.

Headshot of David Ferrera

David Ferrara, NAPEEF

David joined NAPE in 2020 as the Executive Director. He is very familiar with the organization after being on the Board of Directors for the past 5 years and being an instructor for the association for eight years. He is directly responsible for day-to-day operations of the Association, as well as overseeing all asset management for NAPEEF. Prior to accepting the full-time position as the Executive Director, David was the Director of Property Management for Douglas Development. In this role, he was responsible for a $4 billion portfolio. David oversaw lease administration, finance, accounting, property management, and operations. Immediately prior to being at Douglas Development, David was the Regional Manager at Lincoln Property Company, where he was for 10 years in roles ranging from Lead Engineer to Regional Manager.

Headshot of Gautami Palanki

Gautami Palanki, Howard Hughes Corporation

Gautami is passionate about accelerating climate action in buildings and cities, through better connections between data and people. Her expertise includes high performance architectural design, sustainability reporting, green building certifications and technology implementation. She is currently Vice President of Sustainability for Howard Hughes Corporation. Prior to this role, she led product engagement and global implementation of an environmental performance score for Arc Skoru, a data driven technology platform. Gautami also worked at the US Green Building Council, transforming LEED to a performance-based rating system for buildings and cities, and she led sustainability strategy consulting for AtSite Inc. She started her career as an architectural designer at RTKL, developing culturally and environmentally-conscious design schemes. A licensed architect and LEED AP, she received her Bachelor of Architecture from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India and M.S. Sustainable Design from Carnegie Mellon University. Twitter @gautamipalanki.

Headshot of Holly Lenninhan

Holly Lennihan, Cannon Design

Holly serves as a Science & Technology Project Manager at CannonDesign. She has two decades of experience and is a seasoned project manager, working with clients across markets and regions of all sizes. She is a strong advocate of both sustainable design solutions and high-performance building design. Holly is a strategic advisor to her clients, currently working with both the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Matan Inc. Holly is active in both professional and community outreach. She serves on multiple regional sustainable building councils in Washington, DC and has served for over 20 years on the Board of Directors of Mi Casa—a nonprofit affordable housing developer committed to providing quality affordable housing to low and moderate households in the Washington DC area.

Headshot of James Ball

James Ball, MaGrann Associates

James is committed to creating buildings that have a positive influence on human well-being and the natural environment. As the VP of Business Development at MaGrann Associates he works with clients to improve the social, economic, and environmental value of buildings. Fourteen years ago James led the design and construction of the first LEED Platinum Habitat for Humanity home in the nation and has continued to push the industry forward ever since. His work experience includes building Net Zero Energy Homes, writing technical requirements for EPA’s Indoor airPLUS program, developing services for the Lifecycle Performance of buildings, and speaking to national and local audiences on cutting edge trends in Sustainable Building. James holds a Bachelor of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute, a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University, and a Professional Certificate in Commercial Real Estate from Cornell University.

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