Emerging Technologies Associates, Inc | Lee Stevens - Vice President of Business Development

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Lee Stevens

Lee Stevens - Vice President of Business Development

Lee Stevens brings innovative approaches to sustainability by blending the ENERGY STAR® approach to energy management strategies with her 15-year experience in corporate finance and marketing to develop energy efficiency and sustainability solutions that meet clients’ investment criteria and profitability goals. Working with the utility industry, government program and several commercial sectors, Lee has developed unique energy management and financing strategies for her clients.

Lee believes investment in energy efficiency can be evaluated in the same manner as competing capital projects and therefore the same due diligence and the similar risk adjustment on potential cash flow estimations must be properly applied. The time value of money of savings beyond the inital year should be quantified and properly discounted in the multi-year positive stream of cash flows. The driving force behind the strategies that she recommends to her clients is the goal to "maximize resource productivity": this means maximizing the energy, water, material and labor components that go into managing a building's total performance. This immediately leads to financial savings that can be quantified and measured.

Her interest in water management and productivity has led her to study water strategies through leading academic institutions, utility initiatives and strategies to conserve the precious resources that water and energy represent. She is participating in the US EPA WaterSense program as a stakeholder. Lee will look at simple ways to train others to achieve water productivity whether using ozone technologies or simple water -saving devices inside and outside of buildings. Please refer to US EPA hidden jewel, WaterSense:

US EPA WaterSense Water Efficiency Program Website

In 2008, she joined Emerging Technologies Associates as a project coordinator on the assessment of a DDC-based HVAC control technology for hotel guest rooms. Having performed a previous assessment for a major owner and developer extended stay corporate housing, Lee was able to bring her knowledge of the technology and hotel management needs to ensure the completion of the project.

Lee began working with the ENERGY STAR program four years ago. She is working with her clients on implementing the energy management strategies and program that ENERGY STAR brings to the market. Many of her clients have been successful at reducing their energy use with Lee's help in establishing quantifiable baselines in their building's consumption. Five buildings totally three million square feet excluding parking received the ENERGY STAR labels since 2009. She embraces the “whole building” approach used by the program to reduce energy use and has trained two large hospital groups as well as a Fortune 100 client on the ENERGY STAR program and its benefits.

The three investor-owned California utility companies engaged Daryl DeJean and Lee to develop a statewide training program that encompasses market drivers and financing energy efficiency projects training and certification, the California Advanced Lighting Control Training Program (CALCTP). The CALCTP program created for the electrical contracting industry has received national recognition as an innovative Green Workforce Development initiative and was awarded in January, 2010 a Federal Grant to expand the program beyond the State of California. Lee developed and teaches the " Financing Energy Efficiency Projects" module of the course statewide. Please refer to the CALCTP current schedule for past and upcoming seminars.

In 2007, she assisted Hilton Hotels Corporation in evaluating and implementing a new ozone based-technology that saved water, natural gas, electricity and supplies at the same time in a pilot test: the technology was adopted by the chain as a potential energy efficiency technology for their affiliates ans franchisees. She coordinated a pilot study at a Hilton property that led to the development of a case study. Hilton Hotels Case Study

Lee was interviewed for an article published in the Sacramento Business Journal, Room (for greener) service by Robert Celaschi June 20, 2008, at the request of University of California Davis - California Lighting Technology Center to describe trends in the adoption of energy efficiency technologies in the hotel industry. The link to the article is http://sacramento.stories/2008/06/23/focus2.html .

Lee was named the first New Product Manager for Bank of America World Banking Division in the bank and led several successful new product introductions globally working with account managers on turning existing one off bank transactions into entire products. In her capacity as Vice President in charge of New Product Development at Bank of America Strategic Planning & Development Department, she was instrumental in developing strategic new products and systems that gave the Bank a competitive advantage as the deregulation of the financial services industry set in. Lee and her colleagues reviewed new product ideas from Bank of America’s entire World Banking Division and selected products that fit strategically in the Bank’s growth and profitability objectives. She coordinated teams of project managers from the Management Information Systems area, stock brokerage, operations departments and line managers on developing market surveys , training and other key phases in the product launches. Several of the financial systems that she helped bring to market are still in use and are integral parts of the US banking system . The Customer Initiated Integrated Overdraft Credit Facilities and Automated Remote Letter of Credit Systemthat is used globally by banks, originated from the new product development projects that Lee spearheaded as a Product Manager located at the Bank's Strategic Planning & Develpoment Department in San Francisco. Due to the strategic nature of Product Management, her area was headed by one of the Executive Vice President reporting directly to the CEO of the Bank. This allowed Lee to look at the entire bank and its product portfolio strategically deriving key sub-strategies for entries into niche markets that heretofore were overlooked by the Bank. The product strategies also required a realignment of marketing groups to common goals to ensure the successful launches of new products or repositioning of existing products.

As a member of the team sent to Seattle to develop the Pacific Northwest market, Lee worked with the Bank's senior management during the acquisition of Seafirst Bank in migrating new banking products between parent and subsidiary. She was instrumental in facilitating the merging of two different corporate cultures: the acquisition was one of Bank of America's most profitable and successful acquisitions. While with First Interstate Bank's Merchant Banking Group, Lee developed creative relationship-enhancing strategies with key Fortune 500 companies that increased the profitability of then banks' corporate portfolio. By working with industies as diverse as the truck, tire, defense, information technologies and food manufacturing, she gained a real appreciation for the direct correlation between profitability and productivity.

Lee received her Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College, Mass. and her Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Finance from Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York. As an undergraduate Biology major, she has a keen interest in the advancement of science in water and energy productivity.

Lee was a voting member of Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and participated for many years in many key PDMA Los Angeles conferences where she developed strategies for launching emerging and new technologies.

In April 2009, Daryl DeJean and Lee Stevens participated in the Workshop Toward Product Standards for Sustainability organized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) with the support of the US EPA. The workshop brought together 340 stakeholders representing standard developing organizations, consortia, industry, government and consumer groups to focus on issues related to sustainability and environmental performance standards for products. For a copy of the Final Report from the Workshop, you can click on the following link, ANSI Workshop Toward Product Standards for Sustainability April 8-9, 2009 . With today's consumers shopping with sustainability in mind, the concepts of green and socially responsible being subject to many interpretations. " Government, industry and consumers are all looking for product standards and criteria to help establish uniform technical requirements, methods, processes, and practices that address sustainability" according to ANSI. The Workshop brought together stakeholders to share insight into the market drivers and identify key gaps and define the roles of product standards in sustainability.

The workshop offered a neutral venue where all interested stakeholders can engage in discussions that will support and facilitate the timely development, promulgation, and use of standards to address sustainability issues related to products. 240 individuals attended in person during the two-day workshop, and nearly 100 more participated by teleconference and webinar. ASTM International and ANSI collaborates on such global standards setting initiatives.

Lee is a voting member of ASTM International E60 Committee for Sustainability which is a global joint Sustainability initiative led by industry, government and end-user. A video is available on the ASTM International E60 Committee video link at, http://www.astm.org/COMMIT/COMMITTEE/E60.htm.

In 2008, Lee participated in the first Green Meetings Initiative led by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC). The Green Meeting Industry Council, the Convention Industry Council, the Environmental Protection Agency, and ASTM International joined forces in 2008 to develop universal environmental standards for the meetings and convention industry. Lee participated in the February 18, 2008 Green Meetings Standard work meeting. Pat Picariello, Standards Development, ASTM International reviewed the process of developing green meeting standards at http://meetingsnet.com/green_meetings/meeting_standard_time_0708/. As the Green Meeting Initiatives stakeholders joined forces with ASTM in 2009, Lee joined in 2009 the ASTM International E-60 formed to set sustainability standards for buildings worldwide. Daryl DeJean and Lee attended the first E-60 global meeting in Vancouver in 2009 and began working on several sub-committees as voting members.

In 2008, Kingport Corporation managed by Lee Stevens made a donation to support the Eco-E program Awards and the Green Pieces program at the University of California Donald Bren School of Environmental Sciences (Bren School) and Technology Management Program (TMP) at the UCSB College of Engineering. The Bren School and TMP created the nation's first program of study in Eco-Entrepreneurship (Eco-E) to launch an environmental solution from concept to market and promote environmental entrepreneurship and technology transfer. On March 14, The UCSB "Green Pieces" Group won a National Competition at the World Resources Institute in Washington D.C. (http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/academics/eco_entrepreneur.htm)

In January 2011, Lee Stevens and Daryl DeJean were invited by Dr Jay Golden, Director of th The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutionsat Duke University to participate in the January 26-27, 2011 " Corporate and Product Sustainability Conference on Government and Industry Initiatives and Associatted Research, Data, and Tool Needs".

The conference had a record-breaking attendance showing the tremendous support from the business community and government in an academia-led firm and product sustainability global initiative. Lee participated in the Pre-conference meeting where 45 representatives from a wide cross-section of government, non profit and business began to look at the many Ecosystems Services and the global challenges facing eco leaders.Instead of fifteen of us, there were fourty five highly passionate and engaged stakeholders ready to go to work and help Duke craft a blueprint. The Sustainability Consortium presented its research initiatives and tremendous findings from well constructed surveys. The need for a framework at the highest policy and strategic level was thrown out on the table. We all voiced our opinions of what works and does not. Dr. Jay Golden proposed that The National Center for Sustainability Reporting & Computation could tackle the complex crafting of an eco master plan. This is one of the most productive and sold out conferences ETA has participated in. Lee and Daryl already contributed to the Conference by presenting ideas on who to include in future endeavors and how to engage the general population in this massive undertaking.

BrenNewsSpring08_web2.pdf 4.01 Mb

Google Video - Bren - Business Plan for Green Modular Housing (Green Pieces)


Lee 's interest in the crucial connection between Energy and Water leads her to look for simple ways to recommend water and energy-savings steps to her clients. Her educational initiative includes volunteering countless hours working with communities, educational institutions and embracing ENERGY STAR at Home tips in teaching energy efficiency in the home.	Kicking off the year with a major hospital initiative, Lee and Daryl were invited to share knowledge about appplying the ENERGY STAR Buildings and Plants program at a monthly Energy Management meeting. The Directors of Engineering and senior manager are well on their way with a brand new building that earned ENERGY STAR in 2009.