About Us

BuildGreen Solutions' belief in the value of integrated teams with diverse skill-sets to overcome design challenges is reflected in the four partners. The partners bring relevant experience in development, business, law, engineering, carbon accounting, facilitation and integration of triple bottom line thinking into projects and organizations. A range of associates specializing in energy modelling, LEED submittals, commissioning, and finance can be brought into projects to assemble the right team for your project.

The four partners of BuildGreen are:

Scott Demark, MBA, P.Eng, LEED AP

Scott is a civil engineer by training, but has spent most of his career managing people and change. Atypical for an engineer, Scott believes people, not technology, are the key to solving our environmental crisis.

Scott trusts the principles of Natural Capitalism and has worked to implement sustainability practices in the corporate world. Scott worked in Field Operations for the Otis Elevator company for more than 10 years, culminating in the position of Director, Environmental, Health and Safety covering Canada and the mid-west US. Looking to expand influence and propagate triple bottom line solutions beyond Otis, Scott changed paths and began applying his expertise to other enterprises in a consulting role. Now, much of his work concentrates on educating developers, design professionals and municipalities on how to foster sustainable buildings and communities within a realistic economic context.

Prior to BuildGreen, Scott worked for a leading Engineering Consulting firm where he managed the Green Buildings offering for the National Capital region. His projects ranged from LEED Platinum interior fit-ups to sustainable infrastructure planning for new communities. Scott thrives on projects that are attempting to break down the barriers to creating regenerative redevelopment.

Knowing that education is one of the key factors required to drive market transformation toward global sustainability, Scott teaches Green Development Economics to 4th year architecture students at Carleton University. An accomplished facilitator, he frequently speaks and participates in workshops on Sustainability issues. Scott also sits on the Board of Directors of the City of Ottawa's Envirocentre; a non-profit partner of the City that delivers energy-efficiency services to the community with a focus on upgrading low-income households to less energy intensive devices.

Scott and his family are steadily decreasing their carbon footprint. They aim to eat low on the food chain, as local as possible, and seasonally from their shared neighbourhood organic garden. Scott is also a member of Bryson Farms Community Supported Agriculture program. Scott's family lives in central Ottawa, a short walk from all of their needs, where they have been restoring and upgrading the energy performance of their 1870's home.

Jamie James, MES

Jamie joined Windmill Developments and BuildGreen Solutions as a partner in 2005, bringing with him specific, hands-on experience implementing energy efficiency and environmental performance in multi-unit condominium developments. Jamie currently works on clean infrastructure on Windmill projects and with other developers through BuildGreen - in some cases, collaborating with private utility providers. He also focuses on creating green building and technology financing instruments.

Since 2003, Jamie has been a sustainability advisor to Tridel, Toronto's largest condominium builder, and has contributed to the company's transition to become a green builder with over 6 million square feet in development or under construction in LEED candidate projects. Working with the Toronto Atmospheric Fund and Tridel, Jamie helped to develop a scaleable incremental cost financing mechanism for green, energy efficient highrise condominium construction in Toronto.

Jamie also worked for two years at Columbia University's Earth Institute, where he developed continuing education programs on sustainability. He has consulted for the United Nations Development Programme on public-private partnerships for urban environmental services (waste, energy, water) in developing countries and on greenhouse gas mitigation financing. Before that, he worked with Trexler and Associates, a consulting firm responsible for developing greenhouse gas reduction, mitigation and offset projects for corporate and governmental clients. And in the mid-1990's he lived in the highlands of Papua New Guinea on sustainable micro-enterprise development initiatives with indigenous landowners of a large biodiversity rainforest heritage area.

Jamie serves on the Board of Directors of the Canada Green Building Council and Co-Chairs the CaGBC's LEED for Neighborhood Developments Core Committee. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Bioregional North America, the group responsible for implementing One Planet Living CommunitiesT in North America.

Jamie lives in Montreal with his wife and three children.

Jonathan Westeinde, MBA

Jonathan brings a great deal of experience in corporate strategy, finance and business development as it relates to green development practices. Prior to founding Windmill, Jonathan was a founding partner of Venbridge, the venture capital services division of Gowlings, one of Canada's leading law firms. Previously, Jonathan was CEO and founder of LOSC, Inc., a Boston based venture capital firm, and had senior positions with Corel Corporation and Exocom Consulting post completing his MBA. Jonathan has also spent several years in the real estate development industry in various leasing and financing positions.

Jonathan has been actively involved in the evaluation of various innovative technologies and finance structures that enable high performance green buildings to both be innovative and viable. Jonathan currently is involved in the development of four mixed use residential projects that will be the first to achieve LEED Gold or Platinum in Canada if successful.

Jonathan is a former board member of the Canadian Green Building Council and is active in speaking at conferences and other events to share his green building experience. Jonathan is also the Chair of the Centre for Environmental Cooperation's Green Building Advisory Group. This is a NAFTA initiative aiming to provide an integrated green building strategy for Canada, USA and Mexico. Jonathan also is involved as a volunteer with various non-profit green building initiatives.

Rodney Wilts, LLB, LEED AP

Rodney has built a successful career focused on facilitating market transformation to enhance sustainability. His consulting engagements have focused primarily on the issues of climate change and green communities. Prior to embarking on a consulting career, Rodney was an environmental lawyer, entrepreneur, and has also worked for several leading environmental organizations.

While working for West Coast Environmental Law, Rodney recognized a market barrier to implementation of green building practices. In order to address this barrier, Rodney founded Canada's first, and largest, green building store - The Healthiest Home and Building Supplies. His company worked on major LEED projects across Canada, as well as countless smaller renovations and construction projects. The company grew and was profitable every year under Rodney's leadership. Upon sale of the business, Rodney launched a successful consulting practice speaking and providing sustainability consulting in the UK, US and across Canada. He was a founder director of Loop Initiatives, a company focused on corporate sustainability. While with Loop, Rodney led carbon accounting and mitigation efforts for major Canadian companies. He has taught courses on sustainability topics at Carleton University and Yestermorrow, he regularly writes for publications such as Building Magazine and Alternatives, and is a faculty member of the Canadian Green Building Council delivering courses on the Integrated Design Process.

For the past three years Rodney has been a Senior Consultant to a series of One Planet Living Zero Carbon/Zero Waste large-scale mixed-use communities. Rodney has worked on projects in the UK, California, Washington and Montreal aiming at the highest levels of green performance.

Rodney is an active contributor to his community, and strong sustainability advocate. He has sat on the board of directors of several non-profits, including the Environmental Law Centre, BioRegional North America, and the Youth Coastal Action Network.

Buildgreen is Windmill Development Group company