Featured Speaker(s)

Alicia Ravetto Architect PA is a small minority/woman owned business located in Carrboro, NC, specializing in environmentally sensitive architecture. The focus of Alicia's work is on a design approach that integrates advanced building technologies with renewable energy to achieve more comfortable, durable, affordable and environmentally sound buildings. Alicia combines design skills and experience in working with planning groups. She has in-depth knowledge of energy efficiency, conservation, daylighting and renewable energy, the LEED certification process and facilitation of green charrettes.
Alicia has a history of providing environmental design solutions based on the core principle that sustainability must be integrated into the design process and ethic, and is not something that is tacked on at the end of the project. She is a member of the AIA (American Institute of Architects), a LEED Accredited Professional since 2002, an Energy Star Partner and a national instructor of Energy 10, High Performance Schools, Daylighting and Green Building Design and Construction. She is the Co-founder of GreenPros LLC, that provides education and training to building professionals and the general public about practical ways to improve the quality, efficiency, and environmental impact of the spaces in which they work and live.
Alicia designs custom homes, small commercial, and consults on green building and daylighting.

Alison Carpenter is a Transportation Planner with The Louis Berger Group, an avid cyclist and environmentalist at heart. She has over six years of experience in the field and has worked at the campus, municipal and regional level managing planning projects and programs. Alison has a wealth of experience in transportation demand management (TDM) projects including work on Safe Routes to School plans, bicycle and pedestrian planning, university TDM efforts and bicycle/pedestrian encouragement programs. Prior to joining Berger, Alison managed a statewide nonprofit and worked with North Carolina youth on environmental advocacy efforts related to local, state and national climate policy, sustainable energy, green jobs and sustainable transportation projects. In her time with Berger, she has conducted a number of local Safe Routes to School and Bicycle/Pedestrian plans to promote walking, biking and other alternatives to driving alone.

Amy Armbruster received her Bachelors of Science in Environmental Studies and Biology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Convinced that her true calling was saving endangered plant species, her first job was as a field botanist in Venice, FL. After single-handedly killing several hundred highly endangered plants (it was a very hot, dry summer), Amy moved on to a new calling: Saving the Hudson River. Amy and her soon-to-be husband led canoe trips up the Hudson (only two paddlers on their trips fell into the water; no casualties). Then, Amy moved south again; this time for love, not plants. She got a job as an environmental educator in the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling at UNC-Greensboro and cleverly got them to pay for her Masters of Science in Applied Geography. Amy married her canoe paddling sweetheart, Dave, and lives very happily with him and their dog Curlew in their first home in Raleigh.

Now, Amy works at the Triangle Transit as the TDM Marketing Coordinator. She is most proud of three accomplishments: 1) The SmartCommute Challenge, a program that encouraged over 12,000 Triangle commuters to try a commute alternative; 2) The totally re-vamped Triangle Transit, including our new buses and web site, triangletransit.org and a renewed commitment to customer service; and 3) the 7-year TDM plan, which aims to reduce the growth of commuting vehicle miles traveled by 25% in the Triangle.