NEWH - June 2007 - (Page 20)

NEWH T ALKS Small Steps Affect Big Change Therese Virserius lives the mantra think globally, act locally RECENTLYNEWH MAGAZINE SAT DOWN WITH GREATERNEW YORK CHAPTER PRESIDENT THERESE VIRSERIUS at Cipriani Dolci on the balcony of Grand Central Station. The goal of the evening was to talk about her recent successes, working on Las Vegas’ most anticipated project, and her rapidly expanding design firm. However, the always-gracious designer managed to sway the conversation to the benefits of NEWH, the greening of hospitality, the surprising energy efficient New York City, and her specific need for a manufacturer to come up with non-itchy wool. NEWH: What’s new with the Greater New York chapter? TV: We already had our Interface green design CEU event with [designer] David Oakley. That went very well, it was really well attended, about 70 people. NEWH: Is sustainability the No.1 priority on your chapter’s agenda this year? TV: It’s one of the priorities. If it’s not a CEU event, it’s something about sustainability. We also just recently established a sustainability chair on the board, which we didn’t have before. And we’ll have something with both Fabricut and Designtex on fabrics, how they produce their fabrics, and what type of LEED credits you can get from them. The majority of our events have been something about green. NEWH: Is that something you are spearheading? TV: Barabara Desmond [chapter vice president/administration] and I attended the NEWH leadership conference in Niagara Falls. And there we were listening to Jeanne Varney from Host Hotels, and Cliff Tuttle [from ForrestPerkins]. They do this great panel, “Is Sustainable Attainable?” And that sort of started us off. For me, and for where I come from, I’ve been thinking about it much longer. But I think here in the U.S., it really has accumulated, and rapidly so. I remember when I was at Jeffrey Beers, five years ago, when people came up and showed green products, that was 20 june 2007 www.newh.org tel 800.593.NEWH http://www.newh.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEWH - June 2007

NEWH - June 2007
Contents
Network Leaders
Chapter News
New Members
Save the Date
On the Scene
NEWH Talks: Therese Virserius
Scholarship: Icon of Industry
NEWH Sustainability Hospitality: Student Competition
Products: Cover it Up
Projects: Barbados Beauties
Lighting: Illumination Trends
Partner Profiles

NEWH - June 2007