Sonja Persram, President, Sustainable Alternatives Consulting
Sonja Persram, BSc., MBA, LEED® AP, is President of Sustainable Alternatives Consulting Inc., providing green building policy, research and implementation consulting services to government, NGOs and the private sector. Ms. Persram analyzed Local Improvement Charges (LICs) and other financing mechanisms, identified LIC program best practices to optimize sustainability, and facilitated Ontario LIC regulatory change for a project she managed for the David Suzuki Foundation. She developed a broad multi-sectoral collaboration in Canada and the US to support this work– including 28 participating Ontario municipalities and 22 more who were interested. Ms. Persram has consulted on LIC program design to Nova Scotia and Halifax Regional Municipality; supported the City of Toronto in considering the LIC concept; and consulted on regulatory barriers to green buildings for CMHC and for a Cascadia Region Green Building Council project.
Ms. Persram is project manager of a new LIC ICI and district energy initiative with H. Robert (Bob) Bach, P.Eng., Project Manager for Sustainable Buildings Canada under whose auspices the study is being conducted.