Celebrating 35 Years With 35 Stories: Michelle, Jamez, & Dan
April 9, 2021
Our 35th annual home performance conference kicks off next week, which means we’re also nearing the end of our interview series. This week, we’ve got Q&As with Michelle Griffith of DeVere Weatherization & Construction Services, Jamez Staples of Renewable Energy Partners, Inc., and Dan Thomsen of Building Doctors, Inc.
This series highlights 35 amazing people who work in our industry by allowing them to tell their stories. Below we’ve got stories 27, 28, and 29.
Michelle Griffith
Owner
DeVere Weatherization & Construction Services
Q: How did you get into the home and building performance industry?
A: I started in the building industry in 2004 at DeVere Insulation. The company was a local family-owned insulation business that solely did residential new construction and commercial insulation only. I worked in all departments from production, billing, and project management from 2004 to 2007. In 2007, the industry took a major turn as we were heading to a recession. Hoping to help DeVere adapt, I started in a in house sales position and began to network. I met someone who conducted energy audits and thought it was interesting. Fast forwarding about 6 moths of research, I decided to become an energy auditor and connected with other auditors in the area. There was a huge need in the industry for a specialty insulation company to focus on energy efficiency and quality. DeVere Home Performance started in 2009 and we have a team of over 50 employees that specialize in energy efficiency and insulation services. We have received consecutive years of DOE Century Club awards from the utilities.
In 2018, I opened my own business called DeVere Weatherization and Construction Services. We are a full-service contractor that focuses on a whole-home approach to energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and HVAC. We work with residential, commercial, and government programs.
Q: What’s the greatest accomplishment in your career thus far?
A: My greatest accomplishment is to be able to see my team members in my company continue to grow their passion and expertise as leaders in the industry.
Jamez Staples
President
Renewable Energy Partners, Inc.
Q: How did you get into the home and building performance industry?
A: Being in the solar energy industry came as a result of wanting to create economic opportunities for people in my economically challenged community of North Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Acknowledging that climate change as a real threat, in order for mitigation strategies be successful, I knew it was going to take an “all hands on deck” approach. I started my company to be a with every intention of being a private sector partner that could and would employ people in the solar space. When I realized access to training was a major barrier, we pivoted to focus on making sure the training was available. Instead of just focusing on our sector of solar, we did an analysis of the clean energy space and of the adjacent areas and saw energy efficiency as huge space that more people needed to become aware of and trained in.
Instead of trying to run programs ourselves (colleagues and I), we secured one of the most transit oriented sites (a 22,000-square-foot building) in the city and forged ahead with the intent of using the property for the greater good. By bringing training and the appropriate training partners to the site, making the training much more accessible than the two-hour transit ride for energy related careers (if there was any public transit to get them there, in some cases there weren’t). The site could help to eliminate the wicked racial disparities in a host of categories.
The goal has been to replicate a program for career and technical education for youth so that they could have career awareness and training early. Another goal is that young people could become familiar with the industry get high school and college credits, while at the same time becoming workforce ready. In addition, we also wanted to afford the opportunities to adults looking to retool for a new career path. We sought/seek to replicate a program concept (a centralized career and technical education training center in Rochester called CTECH but with a clean energy spin).
To date, we have made significant progress. While it has taken a lot more time than one would have thought and a lot more opposition than one would have expected, we are moving forward with an inclusive strategy that has the propensity to help meet the intended goal of addressing climate change and poverty simultaneously.
Q: What’s the greatest accomplishment in your career thus far?
A: Keeping faith in humanity and staying the course against fierce opposition while recruiting a very strong and amazing network of partners who have been supportive through some of the most challenging times in my career and life.
Dan Thomsen
President
Building Doctors, Inc.
Q: How did you get into the home and building performance industry?
A: I used to flip homes in Los Angeles until the real estate crash of 2008. I found the home performance industry at a green convention when someone suggested I become an energy auditor; however, the instruction suggested becoming a home performance contractor instead. There was nobody really doing it in a big way here in Los Angeles so I jumped in with both feet and never looked back.
Q: What’s the best session you’ve attended at an industry conference and why?
A: My favorite session is not really a session but the networking events throughout the conference with folks from around the country doing the same work as we do. Asking questions of what works and does not for them. Seeing the friends I have made throughout the industry and the United States keeps me coming back each and every year.