Christi Graham
Founder & Executive Producer
Christi’s Full Bio
Ms. Graham is one of the most passionate and effective visionary leaders to emerge in the green building movement. Recognized nationally as an expert in green and healthy living, Ms. Graham has spent the past fifteen years as a pioneer successfully producing and directing numerous visionary events, programs, and organizations. After serving the early part of her career directing environmental non-profits, including founding the Green Resource Center of Berkeley, Ms. Graham chose to direct her considerable passion and talents to the residential green building arena. She launched this new direction as the founder and producer of the Bay Area's first Green Materials Showcase. After eight years under Christi's guidance, the Showcase became the largest annual green building tradeshow on the West Coast. Its success has given rise to West Coast Green.
Building on the past success of the Green Materials Showcase, Ms. Graham brings her skills, relationships, and experience toward the realization of full-scale market transformation at West Coast Green - the premier three-day event for the western region of the United States, focused specifically on residential green building.
Ms. Graham is also currently expanding the most prominent and established building tradeshow in the country to incorporate the green approach. For the first time in its 50-year history the Pacific Coast Building Conference (PCBC) will incorporate ‘green’ throughout its 2006 conference. Produced by Ms. Graham, PCBC’s green educational track, full-day conference, and green material displays represent an unprecedented milestone in the green building movement.
In addition to these independent events, Ms. Graham has also partnered with several renowned organizations in their efforts to broaden the green building movement. Ms. Graham played a key role in the United Nations’ historic World Environment Day, an event commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations. In partnership with the City of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment, Ms. Graham produced a series of successful green building presentations for this illustrious event. Held in the United States for the first time in its 33-year history, World Environment Day convened mayors and delegates from around the world. Many hailed Ms. Graham’s keynote Green Building address as the highest caliber presentation in the entire week-long series of events.
Business Owner
Ms. Graham is the Founder and President of Healthy Home Plans, a source for healthy and sustainable home plans designed by award-winning architects. Healthy Home Plans’ notable architects include Sarah Susanka, cultural visionary and celebrated author of The Not So Big House; Darrel DeBoer, named one of the 100 most influential designers by Metropolitan Home; and David Arkin, architect for the Real Goods Solar Living Center. Plans from Healthy Home Plans’ collection have been featured in the popular PBS series Hometime, and in national magazines such as Fine HomeBuilding, Sunset and Better Homes and Gardens.
Content Expert / Active Boards etc.
As an expert in healthy, green living, Ms. Graham has consulted and published widely on the subject. She is a contributing editor for Green Builder magazine, contributing author of the ADPSR’s Architectural Resource Guide and Her Home magazine, and co-author, editor and producer of Healthy Construction Guidelines: A step-by-step guide to building or remodeling a safe, healthy and non-toxic home. Interviews with Ms. Graham can be found in Environmental Design + Construction, Alternative Medicine, Organic Style and Smart HomeOwner Magazine. Additionally, Ms. Graham serves as the content developer of the Home Improvement section of KQED.org, the website for the San Francisco Bay Area’s radio and television national public broadcasting system. Ms. Graham holds an Environmental Home Inspector Certificate from the German-based International Institute of Bau-Biologie and Ecology.
Ms. Graham currently serves on the Board of Directors for Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), The Green Team Project, the Technical Advisory Council (TAC) for Green Home Guide, and Eco-Structure. She is also a founding participant of the CraigsList Foundation network of green event producers, and an active member of the Council of Publishing Home Designers and the American Indoor Air Quality Council.
Non-Profit Organization Founder & Developer
Ms. Graham also has extensive experience developing and implementing environmental education programs on local, national and international levels. Christi co-founded and directed the Green Resource Center in Berkeley, CA -- one of the first resource centers of its kind in the country that provides tools and resources for sustainable building and business. The Green Resource Center merged with Build It Green in 2005, broadening its mission and capacity to provide education for public agencies, production builders, and other groups. She directed Global Action Plan’s EcoTeam Program, coordinated the Sustainable Lifestyle Campaign of Santa Cruz County, and founded and directed the Green Team Program for Ecology Action. Ms. Graham was responsible for training the City of Santa Monica’s Environmental Programs Division and facilitated a collaborative outreach project between the North West Earth Institute and the Green Team Project, resulting in the expansion of the Green Team program into Boise, Idaho, and Wichita, Kansas.
Building on a Legacy
Ms. Graham’s passion for architecture and design has historic family roots. Her great-uncle, Chicago architect Ernest Graham—whose business, Graham, Anderson, Probst and White became one of the largest and most respected architecture firms during the turn of the century—was responsible for designing notable landmarks such as the Wrigley Building, Civic Opera Building, and Chicago Union Station. Today, Christi is honored to extend the family legacy by playing a part in the newest architectural revolution – the integration of aesthetic, environmental and health concerns into beautiful, healthy, and sustainable design.