Sustainability Summit Speakers

Cynthia is CEO and Co-founder of Pearl Certification, an NAR REach company that provides third party certification of energy efficient and renewable energy features to increase equity value in the refinance or real estate transaction. Cynthia is also the co-founder of the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council, a twenty-five year veteran in energy efficiency and green construction, and an NAR Green designee.

Sandra K Adomatis, SRA of Punta Gorda, Florida, is the 2023 President-elect of the Appraisal Institute. She will serve as the 2024 President. Adomatis is a real estate appraiser and consultant at Adomatis Appraisal Service in Punta Gorda. She is also an Appraisal Institute instructor, developer of seminars and courses, The Appraisal Journal author, contributor to textbooks and author of Residential Green Valuation Tools. Additionally, she is a national spokesperson to state and federal government agencies, energy organizations, REALTOR® groups, state coalitions, national and local homebuilder groups, and utility companies. Adomatis contributed to the 2011 Appraisal Institute Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum, and to the 2014 Appraisal Institute Commercial Green and Energy Efficient Addendum.

Carina joined the NFF in 2022 as Director of Conservation Finance and Natural Climate Solutions. Her team supports the organization's strategy and practices related to outcomes-focused partnerships and funding for projects and programs on our nation’s Forests and Grasslands.

Carina brings experience related to scaling quantifiable climate-related benefits across the land use sector, with expertise in voluntary carbon markets. Prior to her recent roles at Verra, Climate Focus and the Ecosystem Marketplace, Carina managed Forest Trend's Katoomba Group, fostering ecosystem service payment initiatives across Latin America, leveraging the water, carbon, and biodiversity values of natural landscapes.

J.H. Cullum Clark is Director, Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative and an Adjunct Professor of Economics at SMU. Within the Economic Growth Initiative, he leads the Bush Institute’s work on domestic economic policy and economic growth. Before joining the Bush Institute and SMU, Clark worked in the investment industry for 25 years. He served as an equity analyst and portfolio manager at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (1993-96), as a portfolio manager at Warburg Pincus Asset Management (1996-2000), as President and Chief Investment Officer of Cimarron Global Investors, a Dallas-based hedge fund firm (2000-02), and as President of Prothro Clark Company, a Dallas family investment office (2002-18). Prior to entering the investment industry, he served for one year on the staff of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Clark fulfilled a lifelong goal by earning his Ph.D. in Economics at SMU in May 2017, and subsequently joined the faculty of SMU’s Department of Economics. His research has focused on monetary policy, fiscal policy, financial markets, economic geography, urban economics, modern economic history, and economic growth. He is the co-author of The Texas Triangle: An Emerging Power in the Global Economy, published in May 2021 by Texas A&M Press.

Clark's volunteer leadership activities include serving on the boards of Uplift Education, the Eugene McDermott Foundation, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Foundation for the Arts, as well as on the investment committee of SMU. He earned a B.A. in History from Yale University in 1989 and an A.M. in Political Science from Harvard University in 1993, in addition to his Ph.D. in 2017. After graduating from Yale he lived for one year in Japan. Clark and his wife Nita have three daughters: Lili, Annabel, and Charlotte.

Conn has been with Austin Energy Green Building for four years, primarily working with residential projects to achieve their sustainability goals and AEGB ratings. As the main AEGB representative for the Mueller Neighborhood, he collaborates with builders and architects from the design phase, through construction, and to close out. As part of the AEGB process, projects in Mueller address a variety of green building concerns such as energy efficiency, water efficiency, and sustainable material use.

Prior to AEGB, Conn worked as an Energy Specialist with the South Carolina Energy Office and an outreach coordinator with Americorps VISTA after graduating from SUNY-ESF with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Sustainable Construction.

Rod Helm (GRI, CRS), a REALTOR® from Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the 2023 Chair of the Sustainability Advisory Group. He has been a REALTOR® since 1991 and works for Coldwell Banker Realty located in Minneapolis, where he specializes in residential real estate.

At the national level, Rod served as the 2019 Region 8 Vice President and has had various committee and board roles over the years, most notable are multiple terms on the NAR Board of Directors, the Chair of Emerging Business and Technology Forum, and on NAR’s Professional Standards Committee.

He is a member of the Minnesota REALTORS® (MNR), where he received the award for Minnesota REALTOR® of the Year in 2015. In 2014, he served as the president of MNR. Rod has also served in multiple rolls over his volunteer career as committee chairs and director positions for both MNR and for his local association, Minneapolis Association of REALTORS® (MAR).

Rod is an active member in RPAC as well, both as a major investor and as a trustee for MN-RPAC. He has served multiple terms as the MN Major Investor Liaison for NAR and is member of RPACs Hall of Fame.

Rod holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is married to his wonderful wife, Jolene, and has two adult, children, Alexa (24) and Charlie (22).

Dr. Jessica Lautz is Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research at the National Association of REALTORS®. The core of her research focuses on analyzing trends for both NAR members and housing consumers. Through the management of surveys, focus groups, and data analysis, she presents new and innovative ways to showcase results. She effectively utilizes Research data to educate and impact policymakers on the state of the housing market and discusses research findings in major media outlets and international presentations. In 2021, Dr. Lautz was named one of Housing Wire’s Women of Influence, a list representing 100 of the most influential women in leadership in the housing industry. In 2022 and 2023, Dr. Lautz was named a RISMedia Newsmaker in the Influencer and the Crusader categories, respectively. She also volunteers at Nottingham Trent University as an industry fellow mentoring real estate graduate students.

John has been watching real estate markets professionally for 33 years. His perspective includes being an active sales agent, designated broker/co-owner of Stanberry REALTORS®, President of the Austin Board of REALTORS®, Regional Vice President of Texas REALTORS®, member of NAR GREEN Resource Council Advisory Board, and Chair of the NAR Smart Growth Advisory Board. He is the current Vice Chair of the NAR Sustainability Advisory Group and the Vice Chair of the Texas REALTORS® Public Policy Committee on Infrastructure. He has also taught the National Association’s smart growth class in 34 cities in 17 states.

John has lived in Southwest Austin since marrying Sharon in 1985. They have four grown sons, a lovely daughter-in-law, and two incredible grandkids. He loves them all. He lives just outside the Austin city limits on five acres to accommodate his wife’s love of animals, organic gardening, and other growing things. Besides real estate, John has a passion for movies and World Cup soccer

Dr. Billy J. Stanbery is currently a Professor of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. His research focuses on transformative semiconductor process technology intensification, innovative materials, device architectures, and tools suitable for the large-scale manufacture of thin film photovoltaics and econometric modeling of their potential financial viability and market impact.

Since beginning his career in photovoltaics research in 1978 at the University of Washington while working at the Boeing Company, he has researched photovoltaics in a wide variety of materials systems including organics, silicon, copper indium selenide, III-V’s, and set the world record in 4-terminal thin film tandem cell efficiency in 1990, which stood for 17 years.

He is an innovator holding 23 U.S. patents, an entrepreneur, and has served as president of both the Texas Solar Energy Industry Association and Texas Renewable Energy Industry Alliance, as well as on advisory boards for both the Bay Area PV and Durable Module Materials Consortia. Dr. Stanbery holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida

While pursuing his first career in technology development and sales in the chemical industry, Todd Usher began renovating houses on the side -- and became more and more interested in construction industry best practices and sustainable building standards. By the time he founded Addison Homes in 2002, the well-defined quality system he had developed over the years, coupled with his commitment to sustainable principles, formed the cornerstone of the company. Todd was the first builder in the U.S. to earn NAHB's Master Certified Green Professional designation, and in 2002 Addison Homes was the only company in South Carolina to build all its homes to high-performance standards including the U.S. Department of Energy's Zero Energy Ready Home.

In 2022, Todd received his PhD in Planning, Design & the Built Environment from Clemson University. He also holds a Masters in Construction Science, an MBA, and a BS in Packaging Science, all from Clemson.

Todd is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experience with others in person, on social media and as an adjunct faculty member at Clemson, teaching courses in the Construction, Development, and Planning department.