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Company Bios

Sandra Heffernan, LEED AP: BD&C

President

Sustainable Partners President Sandra Heffernan—LEED AP: BD&C, brings a passion for conservation and more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience to her role as Founder and President of Sustainable Partners, LLC. A full-service LEED consulting firm, Sustainable Partners, LLC educates and assists clients in adopting green programs for existing and newly constructed buildings.

Heffernan began her career in Oklahoma City managing apartment, retail and office buildings. Her first re-sponsibilities included accounting for 30 commercial properties. Throughout her 25 year career, Heffernan has excelled in many facets of commercial real estate, from roles in accounting, leasing and property manage-ment. As National Marketing Director for Balcor, an American Express Company, Heffernan analyzed office buildings across the United States looking for value opportunities through best management practices and leas-ing programs.

After leaving Balcor, Sandra spent the next 15 years with Dutch real estate firm Wereldhave USA, Inc. where her passion for conservation met real-world application. It was at Wereldhave USA, Inc. that Heffernan played an integral role in developing the McKinney Green Building, one of the first privately held LEED Certified Core and Shell Platinum buildings in the United States.

Working extensively on the McKinney Green Building solidified Sandra's belief that building design, the con-struction process, and the daily operations of commercial buildings all carry environmental impacts. However, implementing green building practices and programs can significantly reduce or eliminate environmental im-pacts as well as improve operational practices.

Heffernan created Sustainable Partners, LLC to assist the commercial real estate industry in achieving business and environmental efficiencies. Sustainable Partners, LLC currently assists clients across the United States in achieving greater business and environmental efficiencies as well as LEED and Energy Star certification.

Sandra Heffernan is a member of the Texas Recycling Coalition, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), the USGBC—North Texas Chapter, the IFMA—DFW Chapter and the BOMA—Dallas Chapter.

Chase Ezell, LEED AP: O&M

LEED Project Manager

Backed by nine years of project management and a passion for sustainability, Chase Ezell, LEED AP: O&M serves as LEED Project Manager for Sustainable Partners.

With an eye for detail, Chase currently manages LEED certification projects totaling over 3.3M square feet (combined) under the LEED Green Building: Operations & Maintenance and Green Building: Design and Construction (Version 3) programs.

His project assistance was instrumental in achieving the following certifications: Granite Park One & Two (LEED Gold), Granite Park Three (LEED Silver), GPI Tollway - The Madison (LEED Silver), 6565 MacArthur (LEED Silver), St. Alcuin Montessori School (LEED Certified) and IEWC-Plano (LEED Certified).  Chase has contributed to LEED Projects in the United States, Mexico and Canada. 

Previously Chase managed projects spanning a variety of industries including energy generation, energy management and real estate. Aside from LEED Project Manager duties, he also develops content for the company’s newsletter and website.

Chase is a member of the North Texas Green Council — USGBC North Texas Chapter, and Chair or the Chapter’s Existing Building Committee.  He holds dual degrees from Texas Tech University – a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts.

 

Cara Leigh Ingram, LEED AP

Director of Business Development

Cara Leigh, LEED® Accredited Professional, is a well regarded Real Estate Professional with a bachelors degree from the University of Oklahoma coupled with 14 years of commercial real estate industry experience. Throughout her professional career Cara Leigh has obtained the skills needed to lead teams and manage buildings toward sustainability while maximizing operational efficiencies.

Cara Leigh served as the Director of Sustainability for Lincoln Property Company responsible for leading the corporate national green council in implementing a national green policy impacting over 183 million SF of property and the direct sustainable practices training of over 35 regional employees. Employees who would in turn train their teams in local regions in order to achieve a superior level of sustainability. She managed Lincoln’s 442,355 SF class AA multi-use corporate headquarters property in Dallas, Texas, leading the project team to a LEED EBOM Gold Certification as well as, advising and assisting many other projects within the portfolio toward increased Energy Star ratings and multiple LEED Certifications.

Congruently, Cara Leigh served as BOMA Dallas’ Green Task Force Chairperson steering the 24 person committee to achieve over 20 initiatives within a 12 month term.  For her exceptional leadership of the Green Task Force, Cara Leigh was awarded the Lonestar Award from BOMA Dallas for Chairperson of the Year for the achievements accomplished by this committee. From 2010-2011, she served on BOMA Dallas’ Board of Directors over Education and the Green Task Force.

Cara Leigh brings with her a passion and drive to educate organizations on sustainability and bring about environmental change in the existing building market

Tricia Loe, MBA, LEED AP: BD&C

LEED Project Manager

Tricia Loe, MBA, LEED AP: BD&C, combines her engineering experience, business insight, and team leadership skills in her role as LEED Project Manager at Sustainable Partners, LLC. She is currently involved in the LEED certification process of Hotel Éilan in San Antonio, a Wereldhave USA, Inc. property.

Prior to joining Sustainable Partners, LLC, Tricia worked at MLink Technologies, Inc. and MarketForce Consulting, Inc., where her clients included companies in the manufacturing, building construction, energy, logistics, and financial services industries. Her work helped clients boost revenues and profits through focused sales, marketing, and training.

Beginning her engineering career at Texas Instruments in Dallas, she gained sales and marketing experience at ComputerVision Corporation (now part of Parametric Technology Corporation, PTC). Tricia achieved success in technical sales to major accounts through effective account management skills, customer-oriented solutions, and thorough product knowledge.

Tricia has an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University. She is a member of the USGBC - North Texas Chapter and the American Solar Energy Society.