Masonry Magazine September 2007 Page. 53
News
Local, State and Regional News
# Colorado
The Rocky Mountain Masonry Institute (RMMI) is proud to announce that RMMI Executive Director Larisa LaBrant has earned LEED Accredited Professional certification. LaBrant passed the LEED AP examination on the first attempt, putting her in an elite class of people nationwide who pass on the first try.
A Colorado native, LaBrant has served as the executive director of RMMI for more than two years. She is a graduate of Regis and is completing her master's degree at the University of Denver. Prior to joining RMMI, LaBrant was the local government liaison for the Rocky Mountain Housing Association.
She is the third RMMI staff member to achieve LEED certification. RMMI Technical Assistant Shahnaz Jaffari earned LEED AP in November 2006 and RMMI Technical Director Diane Travis achieved LEED certification in February 2007.
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED Professional Accreditation distinguishes individuals with detailed knowledge of LEED project certification requirements and processes and a command of integrated design principles. LEED accreditation is awarded to building industry practitioners who successfully demonstrate these proficiencies on a comprehensive exam.
The Rocky Mountain Masonry Institute (RMMI) is a consortium of more than 100 companies throughout the states of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The organization includes brick and concrete masonry manufacturers, stone producers, mason contractors, suppliers and associates. RMMI's mission is to increase the use and understanding of masonry products and systems throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
For more information, please visit www.rmmi.org.
# Michigan
The Michigan Mason Contractors' Association held its annual fall meeting at Boyne Mountain, Aug. 24-26. The general membership meeting and board of director election took place on Saturday, Aug. 25 (results will be published in the October issue). Saturday afternoon, members participated in our annual golf outing or enjoyed the many family activities available at Boyne Mountain, including Michigan's largest indoor water park, Avalanche Bay.
For more information about future activities, please visit our website at www.mmca-mi.com.
# NSC Develops Plan to Promote Sustainable Practices for Industry
The Natural Stone Council (NSC), a collaborative organization representing business and trade associations that promote stone under the Genuine Stone brand, announced the partnership of their Committee on Sustainability with the University of Tennessee's Center for Clean Products. The alliance is charged with researching and promoting the ways that natural stone can contribute to the green building movement.
The NSC's "Green Committee" met with Jack Geibig, director of the University of Tennessee's Center for Clean Products in Washington, D.C. Geibig and his team of environmental engineers proposed a comprehensive, multi-year sustainability plan that includes background research, the development of product-specific environmental fact sheets and data supporting life cycle assessment, and benchmarking of industry environmental practices, as well as communication of this information to both the stone industry and the design community.
The committee and research team are currently in the early phases of conducting on-site reviews of the environmental impacts of natural stone quarrying.