Code Council adds subject matter experts to energy team, advancing commitment to help communities worldwide enhance energy efficiency

Codes and standards play an important role in advancing energy efficiency and responding to a changing climate. In U.S. President Joe Biden’s first days in office, he has made it clear that the new U.S. administration will prioritize tackling the climate crisis with building energy codes as an important component of that work.

Through a new framework on energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reductions approved by the Code Council Board of Directors in March — Leading the Way to Energy Efficiency: A Path Forward on Energy and Sustainability to Confront a Changing Climate — the International Code Council reiterated and expanded its commitment to helping communities worldwide advance energy efficiency, to provide the tools and solutions needed help to create a more efficient and sustainable built environment and to play an essential role in tackling both climate adaptation and mitigation.

To help implement and advance its resiliency, sustainability and energy strategy, three new specialized professionals recently joined the Code Council team to provide advanced products and solutions related to energy efficiency.

Kristopher Ryan Stenger

An ICC Certified Sustainability Professional, Kris Stenger, LEED BD+C, joins the Code Council as Director of Energy Programs with the Technical Services division where he will closely monitor, report and advise on energy mandates and standards proposed or propagated by federal, state and local agencies and external associations. As the principal technical expert for the Code Council concerning energy and related technical areas, Stenger will be responsible for developing relationships with the members, clients and industry stakeholders in the energy community to serve the market’s needs. Additionally, he will serve as the staff liaison to the Code Council’s Committees developing the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and chapter 11 of the International Residential Code (IRC), and the Sustainability, Energy & High-Performance Building Code Action Committee (SEHPCAC).

A Certified Building Official and licensed Florida architect, Stenger previously worked for the city of Winter Park’s Building and Permitting Division as the assistant director of building, permitting and sustainability where he configured and implemented the EnerGov/Tyler Permitting System and developed and implemented the city’s Sustainability Action Plan. Before that, he was with the Orange County Division of Building Safety as an architect. He previously served on the International Code Council SEHPCAC Committee and has worked on the National Green Building Standard ICC700 Consensus Committee and the American Institute of Architects Codes and Standards Committee. He is a past president of the Central Florida Building Officials Association of Florida Chapter (2018). With experience as an adjunct professor at both Valencia Community College and the University of Central Florida, Stenger has educated more than 2,000 Orange County homeowners on building systems and energy efficiency techniques through the Orange County Homeowners Energy Efficiency Program. He has a master’s degree in architecture from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s degree in architectural studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jerica Stacey

With experience in the development, adoption and implementation of building energy codes and standards, as well as with energy code compliance evaluations and field studies and energy efficiency program evaluations, Jerica Stacey will bring her knowledge of the energy code compliance industry and talents to the Code Council’s Business and Product Development division as its new Energy Code Specialist. Stacey will support the Code Council’s energy code initiatives, energy codes and standards technical content development, and advance its business interests related to energy codes and standards for both the national and international markets. She will also help develop technical content for support publications to the Code Council’s International Codes, including its Significant Changes, Code Essentials and Study Companion series publications as well as many other projects.

Previously with the Cadmus Group, Stacey was also an energy code consultant with the Britt/Makela Group and a project specialist for the Risk and Decision Sciences Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she contributed to projects under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Energy Codes program. She has spent nearly a decade working on the development, adoption and implementation of energy codes. She graduated magna cum laude from Boise State University and has a bachelor’s degree in sociology, with an emphasis in social research and statistics.

Joseph W. Sollod

As the new Sustainability, Resilience and Innovation Associate with the Code Council’s Government Relations division, Joe Sollod brings a wealth of acquired knowledge in climate change and adaptation, environmental policy, global environmental issues, sustainable development and buildings, and coastal community resilience to the position. He will work with the Code Council’s senior management to support the association’s initiatives in advancing building and community safety, sustainability, and resilience, both in the U.S. and internationally, as well as the Code Council’s family of building safety solutions, including building codes, standards, consulting and capacity building, training, professional certification, and conformity assessment (product testing, evaluation and accreditation). Sollod will also contribute to highly visible sustainability, resilience and innovation initiatives, including the Global Resiliency Dialogue, the Code Council’s Off-Site Construction Initiative, the Alliance for National & Community Resilience, and administration of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ISO Technical Committee 59.

With a background in environmental science and sustainability as well as political science and urban resilience, Sollod has engaged with government officials, state and local governments, and the public during his time working with the homeland security team within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery where he updated the Planning for Natural Disaster Debris guidance document. In the environmental consulting sector, he worked for TRC Environmental Corporation as a permitting specialist where he performed environmental screenings based on zoning requirements and filed land use permits as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process for solar energy development projects. A graduate of Drew University in Madison, N.J., he has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and sustainability, with minors in anthropology and political science. He recently received his master’s degree in urban sustainability from the City College of New York.

These three talented individuals join the Code Council’s cross-organizational team supporting implementation of the Code Council’s new framework and other energy-related activities. Team members include Ryan M. Colker, J.D., CAE, vice president of innovation for the International Code Council and executive director of the Alliance for National and Community Resilience; Dave Walls, vice president of business support initiatives for the Code Council; Shawn Martin, vice president of technical services with the Code Council’s Solar Rating and Certification Corporation; and Jason Toves, technical staff for the Code Council. These dedicated experts will be working with Code Council Executive Vice President Mark Johnson, Code Council Senior Vice President of Technical Services Mike Pfeiffer, and the entire family of solutions to provide advanced products and solutions related to energy efficiency.