Meet the BuildingEnergy NYC 2024 Content Committee

The content of BuildingEnergy NYC is curated by a volunteer committee of NESEA Members, who collectively put in hundreds of hours throughout the year to ensure that conference sessions are genuinely useful to attendees. If you are interested in serving on a future committee, please contact Ben Sachs-Hamilton, Conference Manager, at bsachs-hamilton@nesea.org.

2024 Conference Chairs

Danielle Donnelly is Assistant Vice President of Sustainability Programs and Manager of the Climate Friendly Homes Fund (CFHF) Program at the Community Preservation Corporation. In her current role, she oversees CPC's sustainability-related educational programming, has published a number of case studies and guides highlighting energy efficiency opportunities for buildings seeking private and public financing, and provides technical support to CPC customers and partners. In her role as Manager of the CFHF, she coordinates the internal and external resources needed to standup and administer $250MM dedicated to electrifying existing buildings. Before joining CPC’s Sustainability Team, Danielle was a Program Coordinator in charge of monitoring and compliance for CPC’s Sandy Build it Back and SPARC storm recovery programs. She comes to CPC from New York City Human Resources Administration where, as a Community Associate, she conducted outreach to LMI tenants and seniors to help them navigate HPD and Department of Finance resources for repairs, rental assistance, and tax credits. She graduated from the University of Connecticut 2014 with a B.A. in English and Political Science.

Monisha Royan is an architect, sustainability specialist and entrepreneur focused on building energy performance and climate-responsive design. She has applied sustainable design solutions in new construction and building retrofits in India. She has also worked with an internationally diverse team in Germany and Cyprus and promoted the reuse of material through experimental parametric architecture. She founded WindSSim that educates students, trains faculty, and professionals using the Water Table apparatus to make actionable design decisions to improve natural ventilation in buildings. She has also presented her research on mixed-mode ventilation to reduce cooling and carbon emissions while improving indoor air quality in buildings at Inspire 2017 (Jaipur), PLEA 2018 (Hong Kong), IBPSA (Rome) conferences. She has published her research paper in Energy and Buildings 2020 Journal. Monisha is also interested in exploring computational building design, Life Cycle Assessment, Daylighting, and Energy Modeling. Monisha's goal is to work towards sustainability and help emerging professionals to achieve gender equality.

2024 Conference Co-Chairs

Tristan Grant is an Associate Director, Codes & Policy at the New Buildings Institute, with experience in the renewable energy industry and high-performance building design and construction. As a interdisciplinary team member and project leader, he crafts positive-sum solutions for complex problems relating to energy, sustainability, resilience, health, and equity in the built environment. Tristan has experience overseeing teams providing design consultation, energy modeling, site inspections, testing and verification for green building and sustainability projects primarily in the Northeast region. In addition to managing the technical completion of project deliverables, Tristan's work has aided clients in scoping and developing comprehensive and strategic approaches to decarbonization, sustainability, and resiliency at the project and portfolio level. He has overseen the implementation of research and pilot demonstration projects, helped craft corporate sustainability strategies to aid clients in meeting internal and externally imposed sustainability objectives, co-authored industry white papers, presented at and curated regional energy and sustainability conferences and webinars, and been featured in industry articles. Tristan volunteers with NESEA on the Building Energy NYC and Boston annual conferences, and is a founding board member of the PHIUS Alliance chapter, Passive House Rhode Island (PHRI). Tristan holds a B.A from Hampshire College in Sustainable Design and Development, and a Master of Design Studies (MDS) in Sustainable Design from the Boston Architectural College. He is a PHIUS+ Verifier, RESNET HERS Rater, LEED Green Associate, and former BPI Building Analyst.

Amritha Rajan is a sustainability professional with over six years of experience providing comprehensive strategies, professional sustainability consulting insight, and creating detailed green building documentation as per client demands. Significant strengths include strong interpersonal and problem-solving skills, organized, hardworking and inquisitive, complemented by sound engineering knowledge and an interdisciplinary educational background in engineering and sustainabilitySustainability professional with over six years of experience providing comprehensive strategies, professional sustainability consulting insight, and creating detailed green building documentation as per client demands. Significant strengths include strong interpersonal and problem-solving skills, organized, hardworking and inquisitive, complemented by sound engineering knowledge and an interdisciplinary educational background in engineering and sustainability