Puget Sound Education: Critical Care Meets Critical Compliance

June 23, 2026 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (PDT)

Description

Join us for Critical Care Meets Critical Compliance: Washington’s Building Performance Standards Explained on June 23rd from 2:00 - 3:30 PM via Zoom, a session specifically designed for healthcare facility and real estate managers navigating the complexities of the Washington Clean Buildings Performance Standard (CBPS). 

Our panel of experts includes hospital decarbonization scholar Heather Burpee, climate attorney Nicole DeNamur, and BPS policy specialist Faith DeBolt. They are joined by seasoned operational leaders Neil Burgheimer and Adam Thordarson, along with mechanical engineering leader Sierra Spitulski. 

The discussion will move beyond regulatory red tape to provide actionable roadmaps for aging infrastructure , clarify liability and strategies within leased healthcare spaces , and identify utility-based incentives and technical assistance to offset compliance costs. This conversation is a vital opportunity to transform energy mandates into strategic upgrades that enhance both grid reliability and long-term facility resilience.

Presenter Bios

Heather Burpee, AIA EDAC 

Heather Burpee is a nationally recognized scholar in building energy efficiency, decarbonization, and high performance buildings with an emphasis in healthcare facilities. Her work bridges research, practice, and education with collaboration between faculty, practitioners, and students. She leads major national research initiatives that develop roadmaps for achieving deep energy and resiliency goals and has experience working directly with design teams establishing and realizing performance-related goals. As part of her commitment to furthering knowledge in the arena of High Performance Buildings, she leads the development of professional education including ASHRAE/ASHE Decarbonize Hospital Buildings Guide, Targeting 100!, AIA Materials Matter, and AIA Getting to Zero. Heather is a Pacific Northwest native and received her Master of Architecture degree from the UW College of Built Environments and her undergraduate degree in biology from Whitman College.

Nicole DeNamur (she/her) - Climate Aligned Law
J.D., Hon. AIA, WELL AP and Faculty, LFA, Fitwel Ambassador, LEED Green Associate

Nicole is the owner of Climate Aligned Law, a climate-focused law firm. Her practice is grounded in a rare combination: deep technical fluency in sustainability and hands-on legal experience spanning the full arc of the built environment — from design and construction through development. This dual foundation shapes how she approaches client work, bringing both technical and legal dimensions into alignment to drive deeply sustainable outcomes while managing associated risks.

Nicole's work includes compliance with building performance standards, regulatory guidance, collaborative lease language, and practical solutions that align with climate and carbon-driven goals and metrics. She teaches sustainable development at the University of Washington and in 2021 was awarded Honorary Membership by the American Institute of Architects in Seattle. In 2022 she was named Educator of the Year by the International WELL Building Institute, and in 2023 she was honored as an Outstanding Voice of Pride by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Faith DeBolt

Faith DeBolt is CEO of [SBW Consulting]* and a mechanical engineer with more than 20 years of experience advancing energy efficiency and performance-based policy in the built environment. She is a recognized leader in Building Performance Standards (BPS), having led development of Energy Use Intensity and emissions targets for Washington’s Clean Buildings Performance Standard, Oregon’s large-building BPS, and Seattle’s Building Emissions Performance Standards.

Faith’s BPS work bridges policy design, technical and financial impact analysis, and facilitation of multi-stakeholder workgroups, giving her a practical perspective on how standards affect owners, operators, and capital planning. She has overseen studies translating BPS requirements into compliance costs and implementation pathways, with a focus on aligning standards with utility programs and real-world operations.

Earlier in her career, Faith led major whole building and custom project evaluations, including Energy Trust of Oregon’s Existing Buildings program and California Public Utilities Commission custom project portfolios, strengthening the empirical basis for her BPS and performance-tracking work. She has served on the Energy Trust of Oregon Evaluation Advisory Group and the Northwest Strategic Energy Management Collaborative Leadership Team and has presented extensively at ACEEE Summer Study and IEPEC on performance-based savings, non routine event adjustments, and BPS policy design. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Houston.

Neil Burgheimer

Neil Burgheimer is a Certified Healthcare Facilities Manager (CHFM) and U.S. Navy veteran with more than 21 years of engineering, operational, and leadership experience across acute care hospitals, mission critical environments, and submarine systems.

Adam Thordarson

Adam Thordarson’s career in facility management began at a climbing gym front desk, eventually leading him to serve as a Director of Facilities and a global contributor to the ISO 41000 standards-making body. A Certified Facility Manager (CFM) with credentials in Facility Management and Commercial Real Estate from the University of Washington, Adam has held prominent leadership roles as President of the IFMA Greater Seattle Chapter and a board member for the WSSHE Puget Sound Education Board. His extensive background in building national FM programs from the ground up provides him with a unique, hands-on perspective when managing complex, high-stakes environments.

In 2024, Adam founded Stage 2 Facility Management to offer comprehensive Integrated Facility Management solutions for critical facilities from healthcare to biotech to anything N+1 engineered. With a tech stack including Flowpath CMMS, Stage 2 FM streamlines vendor management, compliance, and daily operations to ensure maximum visibility and efficiency, allowing clients to focus entirely on their core missions. At the heart of his business is a "people first" philosophy, grounded in the belief that prioritizing human needs is the fundamental key to operational excellence and long-term facility success.

Sierra Spitulski

Sierra Spitulski is a mechanical engineering leader, serving as an Associate Principal and Healthcare Group Leader at P2S in Seattle. She manages an MEP+Cx healthcare team specializing in designing people-centered, energy-efficient healthcare spaces that keep patient care as the top priority. Whether leading projects or shaping standards through her volunteer efforts with ASHRAE, Sierra’s work is all about smart, sustainable design that makes a real impact in our most critical spaces.

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