Alex Boetzel
Vice President
Construction Manager
Certified Passivhaus Consultant
As Green Hammer’s Vice President, Alex has helped define the firm’s growth as a leader in ultra energy-efficient construction. In addition to leading Green Hammer’s R&D, Alex consults on Passivhaus projects, manages construction projects, and finds time to serve on the Board of Passivhaus NW. A German native, Alex started his career in construction as a "Zimmermann", an apprenticed and certified carpenter and timber framer. Working for over 20 years in Europe and the US, he has managed a diversity of complex and innovative projects, including several Passivhaus projects and three LEED Platinum homes in Portland, as well as the largest private solar array installation in Austria. He is passionate about helping to nurture and strengthen Passivhaus building practices that advance energy-efficiency, carbon-neutrality, indoor air quality and make buildings feel as good as they look. Alex’s understanding of detailing, air-sealing technology and materials, and building science is practically unparalleled in the Northwest. His expertise is an invaluable asset both in the design studio and on the construction site.
Andrew Morphis
Home Performance Team Manager
BPI Certified Professional
Andrew joined Green Hammer in 2007 to take over as lead framer and built the bones of many LEED-H platinum certified buildings for Green Hammer. In doing so, Andrew developed a keen interest and knowledge in high performance construction. Andrew is now among the region's most talented home performance technicians and leads Green Hammer's growing Home Performance team. He ensures that Green Hammer's environmental values guide product selection for all weatherization projects. Andrew has worked to earn Green Hammer a top-tier rating by the Energy Trust of Oregon and selection as preferred contractor in the Clean Energy Works Oregon program, among other public agency weatherization programs. He serves on the Steering Committee of the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, is a founding member of the Home Performance Contractors Guild, and is an avid cyclist around town as well as on the 'cross course.
Dana Hopkinson
Construction Manager
Dana is a Green Hammer Construction Manager who finds personal enjoyment in taking on projects that incorporate green, sustainable building practices. Dana has proficient onsite job coordination skills and is known for his ability to resolve challenging and complicated conditions. Born and raised in Vermont, Dana learned early on solid skills & techniques of the building trade. With his move to Southern Oregon over a decade ago, he set himself in motion to start his own construction business. His intention was a focus on eco-contemporary and ecologically oriented builds. Before joining Green Hammer, he managed construction for commercial and residential projects including: a one of a kind 90-panel solar array; a unique community of platinum-rated Earth Advantage homes; and eco-friendly development projects for a local food cooperative. He was recently asked to join the Green Hammer team and couldn’t be happier in the type of company and projects he’s involved with. In his spare time, you’ll find Dana spending time with his pack of dogs, taking his motorcycle through the scenic byways of Oregon, brewing homebrews, or involved in a tennis match with friends.
Daryl Rantis, Architect
Director of Design
Daryl Rantis is a licensed architect with more than 25 years of experience and an extensive background in traditional neighborhood design and environmentally sensitive architecture. A long-time member of the Congress for New Urbanism and a graduate and visiting professor of Kansas State University, Daryl apprenticed with nationally recognized architects Helmut Jahn, of Murphy Jahn Architects of Chicago, and with the late AIA Gold Medal winner E. Fay Jones of Arkansas. Daryl recently joined Green Hammer’s design team. Daryl and his five-person office in downtown Asheville, NC, Rantis Architects, have worked with a variety of clients, emphasizing sustainable design and smart growth concepts. He is a Certified Charrette Planner, and has associated with nationally known New Urbanist planners Duany Platter-Zyberk (DPZ) of Miami and Seth Harry and Associates of Woodbine, Maryland, on several New Urbanist design projects in Western North Carolina and other locales. A member of the WNC Green Building Council, Rantis participates in several urban design charrettes each year as a team leader or as a team consultant. His work has appeared in New Urban News, American Bungalow, Fine Homebuilding and other publications.
Devan Anthony
Home Performance Construction Manager
BPI Certified Professional
Devan has been building for as long as he can remember- the countless forts and tree houses of his childhood led to exploring natural building methods such as the construction of cob and straw bale homes. He operated his own remodel contracting company for five years before joining Green Hammer. Devan enjoys thinking about how buildings relate to their environment and to their occupants. He likes the challenge of making existing homes more comfortable and more energy efficient, for each home presents a new puzzle and a new solution. Devan excels at working with clients to create projects that balance possibility with reality to arrive at value. Devan is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied Design and Psychology. In his spare time he is a sculptor, a beekeeper, and is still a tree house builder.
Dylan Lamar
Architectural Designer
Certified Passivhaus Consultant
In addition to his role as an Architectural Designer, Dylan holds a deep understanding of building-science and is one of the most experienced Passivhaus designers in the country. Dylan has designed and consulted on over 20 Passivhaus projects throughout the US, taught Passivhaus consultant trainings, and was responsible for the translation of the Passivhaus energy modeling software from metric into US-standard units. Dylan has degrees in structural engineering and architecture and worked for five years as a research assistant studying building-energy issues at the University of Oregon and the University of Illinois. In his early college years he also spent summers working in carpentry and heavy timber framing. Dylan’s approach to building design is well informed by both the technical and the poetic. His view of sustainability starts with a deep consideration of human-ecosystem interrelation, which is the source of his inspiration in using his technical talents. In 2010 he authored Urbanize and Insulate: The Development of a Fossil-Fuel Exit Strategy, published by Green Hammer and presently used as a text in several area college courses.
Gene Wixson
Construction Manager
Certified Passivhaus Consultant
Gene is a Green Hammer construction manager who blends technical expertise, field experience and excellent interpersonal skills. He is equally at home writing scopes of work for subcontractors, explaining an air sealing detail to a volunteer or digitally modeling a complicated 3D connection. A Certified Passive House Consultant, he has been building sustainable projects for more than a decade and wrote LEED into the Lewis & Clark College building standards when he was Student Body president there.
Gene is currently the lead consultant on the CAPACES Leadership Institute, where he sits on the design team and closely interfaces with the client and the field construction staff to ensure that this project is on track to be the first certified Passivhaus office building in the country. Gene understands that beautiful, cost effective, durable and healthy buildings are formed in the design studio and on the construction site and is excited to contribute in both spheres.
Gina Franzosa
Business Development Director
Gina Franzosa is a green building veteran. Initially, working as rebelliously innovative civil engineer, then most notably, serving as the first Oregon State Director of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, Gina played a central role shepherding the growth of Oregon’s green building movement. With a high level understanding of the energy efficiency policy and business arena in Oregon, Gina works to leverage Green Hammer’s capabilities for new strategic ventures, bringing benefits to the firm and clients alike. Gina is passionate about addressing climate change, now, in ways that will expand local economies and boost individual prosperity. If not out enjoying a Portland happy hour, she can be found digging in her garden or practicing yoga.
Jan Fillinger, Architect
Design Team Manager
AIA, Certified Passivhaus Consultant, LEED-AP
Jan Fillinger manages Green Hammer’s Design Team. He is a Certified Passivhaus Consultant and LEED-accredited professional with 25 years of experience in design that emphasizes environmental responsibility, beauty, efficiency, comfort, functionality, and cost-effectiveness. His projects include multi-family, religious, library, civic, mixed-use, office, and hospitality projects, as well as hundreds of residences. His work has won numerous awards and has been featured in magazine and newspaper articles.
In 2010 he completed the award-winning Orchard Street House, Eugene’s first Passivhaus building. Jan is currently the lead Passivhaus consultant to St. Vincent DePaul and Bergsund-DeLaney Architects on a new three-story subsidized multifamily housing project currently in construction document development in Eugene, and slated for completion in 2012.
Jan was raised in Switzerland, where his exposure to the innate craft, powerful architecture and enduring cultural aesthetic of centuries past instilled in him a deep appreciation of- and commitment to- quality, environmental sensitivity and aesthetic creativity. After leading a large office in Berkeley for ten years, he moved to Oregon where, as a founding partner in 2002 of Solarc Architecture and Engineering, he helped pioneer integrated team design in the Northwest with a focus on the skillful combination of building science, function, craft, and cost effectiveness. In 2006, Jan formed STUDIO-E Architecture to apply his expertise on higher-density design-build and mixed-use projects emphasizing exceptional energy-performance and real carbon reduction.
In addition to his design and consulting work, Jan teaches design and construction technology at the University of Oregon School of Architecture.
Jeff Orr
Carpenter
Jeff started his building career soon after he started walking, and still enjoys swinging his hammer today. He has worked as a machinist, a furniture-maker, a cabinet-maker, and in all phases of home construction. Jeff was drawn to Portland from Colorado thanks to the strong sustainable building culture and progressive bicycling attitude. When not working he enjoys all things outdoors: biking, hiking, skiing, and climbing all top the list.
Jesse Withers
Home Performance Lead Carpenter
Jesse has loved the construction industry since he was a child, and even remembers his first project- helping his dad build their house when he was in the 4th grade. As a Home Performance Production Manager/lead carpenter at Green Hammer, Jesse enjoys interacting with clients and managing subcontractors and crews, while getting to wear his bags and swing a hammer. Jesse found Green Hammer through employee Gene Wixson- a fellow alumnus at Lewis & Clark College, where Jesse graduated with a BA in Sociology/Anthropology. After 5 years with the company, Jesse still appreciates working with like-minded individuals, whose care and concern for sustainable building practices result in a quality product.
While not at work, Jesse's other main passion is playing and listening to live music. Growing up with a traveling musician mother, Mary Flower, and going on 14 years as a member of the Northwest band Jackstraw, Jesse considers himself a connoisseur of good music. He enjoys using music as a way to communicate with people and make them happy.
Karen Goat
Office Manager
A native New Yorker, Karen always felt that she was born on the wrong coast. After ski bumming through several western states and volunteering for AmeriCorps, she settled in Portland in 2004. She worked for an outdoor retailer and a holistic spa before getting her first taste of the green building industry at YOLO Colorhouse, a Portland-based zero VOC paint company. In 2008, Karen attended Bainbridge Graduate Institute and emerged two years later with a Masters in Sustainable Business. Currently acting as Green Hammer’s office cat herder, Karen is enjoying learning more about design/build and office operations. In her spare time, you can find Karen playing soccer, reading a book, or taking her dog, Lola, on a hike in Forest Park.
Katie Foote
Architectural Designer
LEED-AP
Katie is an Architectural Designer holding a Masters Degree in architecture as well as a Bachelors Degree in Sculpture. She is also a LEED Accredited Professional. This unique combination of studies informs the way Katie sees space and designs buildings. Continuing education is an important part of the Green Hammer community, and Kathryn is currently enrolled in the Sustainable Homes Professionals course presented by the Earth Advantage Institute. Prior to joining the Green Hammer team, Katie worked with Seed Architecture Studio where she investigated sustainable design through a contemporary, modern lens, working with clients as well as contractors to complete projects from schematic design through construction. It is in interactions with clients and the investigation of intentional space that Katie finds meaning and endless opportunity.
Kennett Payne
Building Analyst
BPI Certified Professional
Since childhood, Kennett has been interested in understanding the science behind sustainable design and building performance. He brings his sustainable design background to his work as one of Green Hammer’s BPI certified Building Analysts. He has a Masters in Architecture from the University of Oregon where he served for two years as a coordinator with the Ecological Design Center as well as being a graduate teaching fellow for the architecture department’s building science class. Since then he has wielded both a hammer and a variety of drafting and modeling software in his work including as a volunteer for Architects Without Borders and as an Energy Advisor for the Clean Energy Works program. Off the clock, Kennett enjoys making music using a variety of instruments and exploring the diversity of the environment of the Northwest.
Leland Gilmore
Cabinet & Furniture Shop Manager
Leland, a craftsman woodworker, joined the Green Hammer team in 2008. Leland brings a creative aesthetic and strong detail-orientation to our business as shop operations manager. From a family of craftsman, Leland’s passion for quality workmanship has been engrained over the past 20 years. Growing up working in the shop of his father (a Bay-area contractor), Leland developed a passion for Japanese carpentry and incorporation of natural building products. A decade in the Pacific Northwest has further developed that passion. Leland loves to bring out the inherent beauty of wood—showcasing colors, grain patterns and natural lines in fine furniture pieces, cabinetry and finish carpentry.
Outside of the shop, Leland enjoys cycling, mountaineering, rock climbing, and spending time outdoors with his wife and best pooch, Oz. Leland is a PSU graduate with a degree in English and sustainable urban development.
Matt Greer
Construction Manager
Sailor, Musician, Construction Manager. Over the last 16 years Matt has worked in virtually every aspect of construction which has given him the tools to be a multi-faceted Construction Manager. He is also an accomplished sailor with American Sailing Association Instructor credentials, a 100 Ton USCG license, and has logged many sea days teaching students on the Columbia River and off Orcas Island in Washington State's San Juan Archipelago. When not working Matt enjoys fly fishing, playing guitar, and spending time with his family.
Michael Spatzek
Construction Manager
As construction manager, Michael brings to Green Hammer a vibrant personality, big smile and positive attitude. His attitude is that high-performance homes can be built without having to check the fun at the door. Originally from Chicago, Michael considers the Green Hammer crew to be his family away from home. He has overseen several LEED-H Platinum homes, including the completion of the first gut rehabilitation project to receive LEED-H Platinum certification in Metzger, Ore. Before moving to Portland, Michael spent 10 years exploring the mountains of central Idaho, where he developed his craft and passion for all things natural. He was drawn to Portland to pursue culture and a building team that did things a little differently.
Nick Sommerhiser
Cabinet Builder & Finisher
Nick is a talented finish craftsman and painter extraordinaire. Since he was hired on as a painter, Nick has transitioned to become a solid woodworker and cabinet-maker. No matter the project, Nick delivers excellent skills and customer service. In 2009 Nick was featured with Steve Thomas formally of 'This Old House' on the Discovery Channel's 'Renovation Nation Program'. (SEE IN THE MEDIA) He has a passion for sustainability and would one day like to attain his LEED Accredited Professional certification. Nick is a Portland native. He graduated from Portland State University with a degree in geography with an emphasis on alpine environments, sustainability and Northwest ecosystems. Growing up under the roof of a carpenter, Nick has always worked side jobs in construction and painting. He also worked at local snowboard shops during high school and college. He’s been heli-boarding and traveled around Europe, but finds recreating in his backyard Cascades the most fulfilling recreation.
Rob Cellini
Construction Manager
BPI Certified Professional & Sustainable Homes Professional
Rob thrives in his role as Construction Team Manager, where he brings his humor, wit, and wisdom to his team, his clients, and his projects. Rob joined Green Hammer as a project manager in 2008 and quickly climbed the ranks. Before managing the team, Rob managed the completion of several significant projects for Green Hammer, including a net-zero energy remodel and a prefabricated two-story residential addition designed to Passivhaus standards. His professional green building experience along with his steady eye for the big picture has made the projects he works on highly successful. Rob has been swinging a hammer for most of his life. A native of New Jersey, Rob worked construction with his dad before attending Notre Dame University. He traveled the country before settling in Berkeley, CA and finally Portland. When not leading the Green Hammer build team, Rob can be found out in a different sort of field - playing Ultimate Frisbee.
Stephen Aiguier
President & Founder
Certified Passive House Consultant
Stephen founded Green Hammer in 2002 as a design/build company that was sensitive to the industry’s impact on the environment. With an extensive working knowledge of a diversity of trades as well as expertise in building science, Stephen is involved with nearly all projects and is likely to be the first smiling face to greet you. Beyond the science and techniques of green building, he is passionate about local economies and being responsible to the natural environment. To this end, Stephen pushed the company to become the first in the nation to build homes entirely of Forest Stewardship Council certified wood. He’s proud of the firm’s commitment to FSC, including becoming the first builder in the United States to gain membership in the Council. A truly socially-conscious entrepreneur, Stephen also started Urban Timberworks, a small mill that salvages and repurposes logs from timber cut in the Portland Metro area. In 2005, he co-founded the Build Local Alliance to connect local forest stewards to builders and architects in the region. Stephen has served four terms as chair for the Western Columbia Chapter of the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild. He teaches sustainable building classes to industry professionals. Before Green Hammer, Stephen worked as a Financial Analyst for an organic chocolate importer and the Sustainability Coordinator for a 1200-acre organic Agro-Tourismo in Italy. He earned a degree in Community Development and Applied Economics from the University of Vermont.
Tyler Coke
Home Performance Construction Manager
BPI Certified Professional
PTCS Certification
Following in the footsteps of his contractor father, Tyler has been hanging out on job sites since he was 8 years old. After graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in sociology and a minor in business, he continued his path in the construction industry and started his own remodeling business. Tyler’s interest in and commitment to sustainable building practices led him to Green Hammer, where he was soon invited to join the company. Tyler’s greatest strength comes not only in his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, but also in his ability to share that knowledge. He’s always happy to explain the science behind a project and to take the time to make sure the homeowner gets what they need. An integral part of the Home Performance team, Tyler looks forward to getting involved in larger projects with an emphasis on Deep Green retrofits and new construction. A natural extrovert, Tyler enjoys spending time with his family and friends, cooking good food and brewing tasty beer. Outside of work, you can find him hiking, snowboarding or playing disk, often accompanied by his dog Kenzi.
Zoe
Zoe is our security system, quality control manager, company morale leader, part time excavator, and all around spirit team. She might look tough, but she's a cream puff inside.
Joolz Moorcroft
Urban Timberworks Yard Manager and Log Whisperer
Joolz finds the beauty in everything, particularly materials that a lesser craftsperson might simply throw away. His passion to turn trash into treasure is why he decided to switch gears from master carpenter to business manager for Green Hammer’s sister company Urban Timberworks. Joolz served as a lead carpenter with Green Hammer for six years until he and Stephen Aiguier launched UTW. Joolz is a multi-tasker at UTW, spending time as yard manager, crane truck operator, mill manager, and most importantly “log whisperer.” Joolz’s specialty is sizing up trees and fallen logs and forecasting the type of finished wood product that could come from them. Joolz frequently consults with clients to support their goals of turning beloved trees into gorgeous new pieces.