From verification and Envision development to outreach and more, Melissa Peneycad will leave behind an impressive legacy at ISI. Left: at the site of a future Envision project in Montreal, in 2019; right: with a group of Italian ENV SPs (and ICMQ staff) during a verifier training session in Milan in 2019.

ISI has some important news to share about one of our incredible team members. We’re saying goodbye to a long-standing colleague who has been an integral part of ISI’s journey, contributing immensely to our organization’s growth and success. Our managing director, Melissa Peneycad, is moving on from ISI to pursue new professional opportunities. Melissa has been with ISI for seven years, and for three years before that, she was an active member in the ISI/Envision community. She put the first Canadian projects through verification, trained more than 100 people within her organization on the use of Envision, verified projects, and contributed to the development of several credits within Envision v3.

Clockwise from top: presenting an Envision Gold award to the British Columbia Institute of Technology for their North Campus Infrastructure Project; a meeting of the Envision Review Board in Denver, CO; preparing to present Envision to the UN, at the Palace of Nations; and attending an ISI staff retreat in Puerto Rico.

We would like to take this opportunity to reflect on some of Melissa’s many contributions to ISI and the Envision community, in her roles as verification director and, more recently, managing director.

During her time at ISI, Melissa took the project verification program to new heights, by developing its processes, policies, several guidance documents, applicant resources, and more. She introduced new verifier hiring procedures and contracting arrangements and began establishing a verifier ‘community of practice’.

Even more impressively, Melissa personally verified 70 infrastructure projects across the agriculture, energy, transportation, solid waste, and water/wastewater sectors, and oversaw the verifications of dozens of additional projects. Today, the verification program boasts more than 300 participating projects, representing more than $200 billion in sustainable development.

Melissa also led the way in building a robust external communications function at ISI and has contributed immensely to ISI’s strategic direction and organizational culture. Those in our industry—from consultants to contractors to infrastructure owners and others—who have had the opportunity to work with Melissa, learn from her, and hear her speak passionately about sustainable, resilient, and equitable infrastructure know the incredible value of her expertise and leadership.

In March 2022, Melissa was instrumental in launching Envision Canada—a formal partnership between the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and ISI to advance sustainable infrastructure practices. She, along with the Envision Canada program manager at CSCE and members of its Board have been working closely to improve awareness and uptake of Envision, build capacity, and encourage innovation.

In 2019, Melissa moderated a panel on mobilizing the financial community to invest in sustainable PPPs and infrastructure at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Right: the CSCE 2022 Conference keynote in Whistler, BC.

Melissa has an amazing ability to connect with people and establish deep and lasting relationships. Her influence and reach are truly global as she has forged relationships with individuals and organizations across the US, Canada, and internationally. During her time at ISI, she was seconded to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to facilitate the development of a framework to evaluate public-private partnerships (PPPs) and infrastructure projects for their contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It’s no surprise to us that her work with the UNECE—not to mention her exceptional contributions to ISI—led to the exciting next step she’ll be taking in her professional journey. She will be re-entering the consulting world, working first for the UN to help lay the ‘groundwork’ for the sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure.

“We will miss Melissa tremendously,” says ISI’s president and CEO Anthony Kane, “but we’re not saying goodbye, as we know she will remain a huge supporter of ISI, a strong advocate for Envision, and an active member of this community. We look forward to seeing Melissa rise in her career and, through her passion for sustainability and her leadership, continue to elevate the work we’re all doing to achieve a more sustainable world.”

The new Quick Turnaround (QTA) facility at the Portland International Airport (PDX) opened in March 2018 and recently earned the ENVISION^® Gold rating for sustainable infrastructure. This $67 million facility improves rental car processing operations, making it quick and easy for airport travelers to rent clean, fueled cars ready for use. The QTA facility is the first large infrastructure project completed as part of a suite of capital projects at PDX geared towards modernizing the airport’s infrastructure to meet the growing needs of airport travelers, employees, and tenants.

The QTA facility is three times the size of the previous rental car facility, providing employees with more efficient workspace. During peak demand, 220 rental car employees can work efficiently to clean and fuel 430 cars per hour, making the whole system of processing rental cars much faster.

To learn more about this project, read about it in our Project Awards Directory

We are excited to be sharing our 2021 webinar lineup.  Registration is FREE and each webinar qualifies toward education hours for your ENV SP credential maintenance. This year we are focusing on communications, community sustainability and resilience, and Envision applications and implementation. We have it all!

Review each webinar and keep this e-mail handy for future reference. We hope you are as thrilled as we are about the 2021 schedule.

August Webinar—Denver Water Envisions a Sustainable Future through its Northwater Treatment Plant
Presented by Catherine McIntosh (CDM Smith); Lauren Suer (Jacobs); Sananda Mukherjee (AECOM)

Denver Water is building a new, state-of-the-art drinking water facility on a 183-acre site next to Ralston Reservoir, north of Golden in Jefferson County. The Northwater Treatment Plant will be capable of treating up to 75 million gallons of water a day when it is operational in 2024. The new facility provides critical updates to an aging 80-year-old system that is reaching the end of its lifespan. One of the main objectives was sustainability and the executive sponsors tasked the team with achieving the goal of the Project site becoming Envision Gold verified. The presentation will explain the advanced new technology and the benefits for community by building a new cost-effective water treatment plant (WTP) and repurposing the existing Moffat facility for water distribution. Register

October Webinar — Pathway to Envision for Central San

Wednesday, October 20, 2021
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Eastern
Presented by Jennifer Ninete, HDR and Justin Waples, Central Contra Costa Sanitary District

When it comes to sustainability and resiliency, organizations often “talk-the-talk,” but can find it more difficult to “walk-the-walk.” It can be intimidating to decide where to start and how to implement a broad sustainability program across a large organization.

This webinar will summarize the process that Central Contra Costa Sanitary District in California (Central San) used Envision, working with HDR, to evaluate the agency’s project approach related to sustainability. The assessment explored how Central San’s approach and policies aligned with Envision, revealed opportunities to for improvement, and identified how the agency could best use Envision to meet their short- and long-term sustainability and resiliency goals. The goal of the presentation is the convey a “roadmap” for others to use if they are considering ways to more holistically integrate sustainability, specifically the Envision framework, into their organization. Register

December Webinar — Managing Sustainability and Resilience in Developing Communities

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

1:00 – 2:00 pm Eastern
Presented by Fariborz Tehrani, California State University, Fresno and Denise Nelson, Environmental Engineer & Planner

Sustainable built environment has been the major focus in academic and industrial fields. The rise in climate-related disasters, constant challenges in energy sector, and substantial shift in consumer’s conscious toward conservation of natural resources are the major forces behind sustainable engineering. Further, many professional bodies have developed guidelines and specifications, such as Envision, to implement sustainable practices and rate their impacts. Becoming familiar with common sustainable practices and comfortable with implementation of more innovative materials and techniques in civil engineering design promotes analytical procedures to develop a context-sensitive design. This webinar aims to address challenges in the implementation of sustainable engineering solutions in developing communities and regions. Discussions include resources, funding, technology, and community involvements as main obstacles to such implementation and offers best practices for planning and design stages of built infrastructures. Register

Each month, ISI spotlights an ISI member organization. In August, we profiled the Berkley Group. Please review their accomplishments and check out the wonderful projects they are working on.