Green Team

Christopher Cayten, LEED AP – Managing Director
Mr. Cayten has more than 10 years experience in architecture and real estate development working on large mixed use projects around the world. At CodeGreen Mr. Cayten works as an owner’s representative for building owners on energy efficiency upgrade and renewable energy projects including cogen and solar power systems. Mr. Cayten also works with building owners to identify available financial incentives for energy efficiency upgrades from state and federal agencies such as NYSERDA and EPA. Mr. Cayten is also head of CodeGreen’s corporate sustainability team which provides services to companies including drafting of corporate environmental policies, carbon footprint calculation, and participating in environmental reporting programs such as the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.  Mr. Cayten holds a BA in architecture from Yale University and Masters of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture.

Stephen Rizzo, LEED AP – Co-Founder
Stephen Rizzo is the Co-Founder of CodeGreen Solutions. Mr. Rizzo’s experience lies in making the ‘business case’ for implementing green projects. He has helped CodeGreen’s clients procure financial tax incentives and rebates for Energy Conservation Measures from both private and public entities, including NYSERDA, ConEd, and various private sources. In addition, he has helped in the creation of CodeGreen’s proprietary ProAct™ software. Mr Rizzo is a LEED Accredited Professional, and a licensed attorney in New York State. He was previously an adjunct instructor for Pratt Institute’s Continuing Studies in Architecture Program, as well as the Co-Chair of BOMA NY’s Sustainability Committee. He is a graduate of Fordham Law School. He is an avid skier, and enjoys running, yoga and cooking.

Project Management

Patricia Lee, LEED AP – Director
Patricia earned her BA in Urban Studies & Architecture with a minor in Environmental Science from Columbia University. She has worked in both the architectural and construction professions and has extensive experience developing and reviewing project drawings and specifications. She has experience in the design of commercial and residential spaces, with a focus on green design, as well as experience in construction management. Ms. Lee works as a Director for CodeGreen where she uses her background in sustainable architecture and construction management as a valuable resource for consulting on existing building, commercial interior, and new construction projects. She has successfully managed numerous projects of varying scope in achieving LEED certification. Ms. Lee is also an active member of the USGBC-NY.

Chris Vander Weyden, LEED AP – Director
Chris earned his diploma in Construction Engineering Technology in Canada. He has substantial construction management experience on large commercial, residential and institutional projects in Toronto, Canada. Since graduation he has focused on project management and green design. Chris has considerable LEED experience and knowledge with the LEED programs for Existing Buildings (EB), New Construction (NC), and Core & Shell (CS) and has managed the LEED EB certification for over 15 million square feet of Class A office buildings. Additionally, Chris is currently involved in over 15 LEED projects (a variety of EB, NC and CS projects) where he actively manages all phases in the Certification process. Mr. VanderWeyden is a Director for CodeGreen and an active member of the Urban Green Council (USGBC-NY).

Jessica Handy, LEED AP – Director of West Coast Operations
Jessica Handy earned her LEED AP in December 2008 while working as a property manager for a large commercial real estate firm in New York City. She was the Co-Chair for BOMA/NY’s Green Buildings Committee and in this capacity worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability to help make NYC’s Greener, Greater laws as palatable as possible to property owners and managers. Jessica joined CodeGreen Solutions in August 2011 as the Director of west coast operations. Jessica attended the University of Washington in Seattle when recycling was just being established for single-family homes. As the self-appointed volunteer Recycling Coordinator for the Greek system, she sold 43 living groups, approx. 3500 students, on collaborating on a recycling program. Years later her bins were still in place and the program going strong. In 1999 she moved to NYC to earn her M.S. in Security and Protection Management/Emergency Management. Jessica is excited to be back on the West Coast and helping CodeGreen to better serve their clients there.

Rebecca Shore, LEED AP ID+C – Project Manager
With the support of a Fulbright grant, Rebecca earned her M.A. in Architecture in Germany at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences, focusing on high-performance building design. She earned her B.Arch at Carnegie Mellon University with a minor in Business Management. Rebecca has extensive experience working with energy-modeling simulation programs in the design, renovation and optimization of energy-efficient structures, meeting stringent energy standards, such as Passivhaus. As a core member of her team’s 2007 Solar Decathlon house in Washington DC, she served as the solar thermal specialist and financial manager. Her prior successful experience in architecture firms working to certify LEED-CI projects and create construction drawing sets has proven valuable in her current position as Project Manager at CodeGreen. Rebecca presently consults clients with existing buildings, new construction and commercial interiors projects to achieve LEED Certification.

Mark Girgis, EIT – Sustainability & Energy Efficiency Analyst
Mark earned his BE in Chemical and Molecular Engineering from Stony Brook University. He minored in Biology and specialized in Environmental Health Sciences. As a student at Stony Brook, Mark participated in numerous environmental research studies and projects such as creating Biofuel and increasing the efficiency of different chemical processes.  Mark also has experience in environmental technologies while working for a US Army & Defense contractor.  At CodeGreen, Mark works on benchmarking, LEED certification and energy audits.  He is currently a Sustainability and Energy Efficiency Analyst and is on his way to becoming a LEED AP.

Energy Management

Robert M. Peras, CEM, LEED AP – Director of Engineering: Energy Auditing
Robert has over 7 years of experience in the energy management industry, focusing on electric utility infrastructure and building energy efficiency.  Prior to joining CodeGreen, Robert oversaw  energy audits and energy retrofit projects for the city of New York. Robert oversees CodeGreen’s energy auditing team and manages all energy audit projects for CodeGreen.  Robert earned his BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a MS in Energy Management from New York Institute of Technology.

Edgar Bello, CEM – Energy Manager
Edgar earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from Hofstra University. While at Hofstra he worked at the Department of Energy’s IAC program where he performed over 150 industrial energy audits. His career has led him to perform dozens of commercial building audits as well managing a team of energy auditors of residential buildings under the federal Weatherization Program. Edgar has substantial experience in the energy sector within demand response programs, renewable energy and Combined Heat and Power projects. He is currently the Commissioning Agent for CodeGreen’s new office space and is excited to be now closely involved in LEED projects.

Md Aminul Islam, EIT – Commissioning Engineer
Md Islam has over three years experience in HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) industry focus on commissioning, testing and balancing, and construction management. His activities have included planning, organizing, directing, monitoring and reporting on project activities, supervised the installation, commissioning, and testing and balancing of HVAC systems. Prior to joining CodeGreen, Md Islam worked with commissioning group in New York City Transit Authority. During that time, he successfully developed functional and pre-functional test procedures and spreadsheet for various systems prior to NYCT User Department inspecting the systems. He was also assistant manager of oil and gas industry where he involved for supervising operators, who monitored and operated the various gas processing and oil refinery plants. His professional credentials include being Engineer in Training (EIT) certificate, and Occupational Safety and Health certificate. Md Islam earned his B.Sc. and M.E. in Mechanical Engineering from KUET and CUNY respectively. As a graduate student, he received Graduate Citation for his outstanding achievement from Grove School of Engineering of the City College of the City University of New York. Md Islam currently involve with commissioning and retro-commissioning projects for CodeGreen Solutions, where he investigates, tests, analysis, and reports on new construction, and existing building systems compliance with Local Laws-87, Local Law-84, LEED, State laws and specifications.

Alexis Faraci – Project Manager
Alexis holds a B.A in Sociology from Hamilton College and an M.A in Urban Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She was the recipient of the 2009 TAPA Outstanding Planning Award project for her work on the Redevelopment of the Westside of Chattanooga. Prior to joining CodeGreen, Ms. Faraci has worked in a variety of built environment fields including international construction and development and municipal planning and zoning. Ms. Faraci oversees energy benchmarking for commercial and residential buildings as well as assessing properties for the Energy Star Label.

Christopher Powers – Commissioning Engineer
Christopher holds a BE degree in Electrical Engineering from SUNY Maritime College. While attending, he completed extensive work maintaining and operating the various systems on the school’s training ship, which included the high pressure steam plant, the turbo generator-powered electrical system, and the HVAC cooling systems. After graduating, he took this knowledge and applied it towards becoming a Commissioning Agent, in which he combs through various building systems in order to verify their functionality. His wide range of past projects includes the New York State Psychiatric Institute, the Museum Of Natural History, and the Central New York Psychiatric Institute. Christopher currently commissions projects for CodeGreen Solutions, where he inspects, tests and reports on existing building systems to verify that they are in compliance with State laws and specifications.

Harry Etra, LEED AP – Assistant Project Manager
Harry earned his BA in history from Yale University. He comes to CodeGreen from the startup and marketing world where he has extensive experience working with Fortune 500 clients to support their internal initiatives. Harry is a LEED AP (O+M) and works on the corporate sustainability,  LEED management, and marketing teams. He uses his background in sustainable transportation solutions and energy efficiency programs to help clients comply with local laws and achieve their sustainability goals.

Christopher Yee – Assistant Project Manager
Christopher graduated from Columbia University with a B.S. in Earth and Environmental Engineering, concentrating in Sustainable Energy and Materials. He previously has worked in carbon-capture research and energy-efficiency policy on a federal level, and he attended the UN COP15 Climate Negotiations as a Delegate in December 2009. At CodeGreen, Christopher works on carbon-foot printing, Energy Star benchmarking, and performing energy audits on local buildings to monitor their energy usage and improvements.

Business Development

Matthew McCue – Director of Sales
Matt earned his Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University. Following Brandeis, he spent the past 15 years of his career in the technology sector, specializing in software and hardware sales. Matt’s extensive career includes prior work at EMC Corporation and Oracle Corporation. At EMC, Matt was a top performer focused on selling Storage Area Network Infrastructure and Business Continuity Software. While at Oracle, his focus was selling Service Oriented Architecture Integration, Business Intelligence and Work Flow tools. Matt is currently using his breadth of technology and services knowledge to drive the sales of ProAct software and CodeGreen’s consulting services.