Our People

Our team consists of some of the industry's leading experts in:

• Green building
• Building science
• Designing, building and selling high performance homes
• Mechanical and systems engineering
• Media development and production

We're proud to say that some of the industry's best building and media production experts and educators work with BKI. It’s our team’s experience that allows us to help our clients to build better homes, and better businesses.

Mark LaLiberte

Mark LaLiberte is a recognized industry trainer, author and consultant with more than two decades of experience. His focus is to help the building industry learn to build better homes and better businesses. Mark has a deep personal commitment to his work and strives to help his clients increase the performance of the homes that they build and translate those changes into business success.

In high demand, Mark reaches more than 8,000 builders in the U.S. a year through his private services, and has been a featured speaker at such events as the NAHB International Builders Show, PCBC, Sunbelt Builders Show, and JLC Live conferences. He was a co-creator of the Houses That Work™ program, an educational series provided by the Energy & Environmental Building Association (EEBA) which is based on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America Program, and has served in an advisory capacity on the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Program and the Minnesota Energy Code Advancement Project.  On an international scale, Mark has provided training to members of the Warsaw, Poland housing industry and the International Housing Symposium in Tokyo, Japan.

In addition to being the onscreen guide for BKI's Building Better Homes Series, Mark's media involvement includes his role as a spokesperson for the Ad Council’s Energy Hog Campaign, and appearances as an on-camera content expert in TLC's Home Pro and Home Savvy series and the PBS Hometime series.

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Steve Northway

As CEO, Steve Northway brings a strong combination of business savvy and hands-on construction expertise to the BKI team. With over two decades of experience in the construction industry, Steve has a proven track record of helping both residential and commercial clients to improve their business practices.

After co-founding Nor-Son Inc. in 1978, Steve's tenure there included roles as president, CFO and CEO. He helped grow the new company into a $50 million construction services firm featuring design-build, bid, and construction management delivery systems. Under his guidance, the company earned five National Construction Awards of Excellence and twelve National Safety Awards from the Associated Builders and Contractors. His firm was also named nine times as one of Qualified Remodeler Magazine's top 500 contractors in the United States.

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Jill Carey

Jill Carey is the Program Manager of BKI’s Training Services.  Jill brings 15 years of conference and event planning experience to the BKI team.  Jill is the expert when it comes to pairing the specific needs of our customers with the expertise of our trainers.  She manages the scheduling, contracts, session documentation and promotional materials for our trainers.

Jill has worked in the field of energy efficiency and program development since 1999. In this time, she successfully managed professional speakers and has worked with many exceptional individuals and organizations that share the vision of building better homes and communities, while respecting our resources and the environment.  As an enthusiast for enjoying life, Jill practices yoga, sails, hikes, cross country skis, gardens and can't get enough of the tropics.

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Edward VonThoma

As President of Building Knowledge Consulting, Ed advocates the house as a system approach to home design and construction, in accordance with building science principles.

With over 20 years of progressive construction project management experience, Ed VonThoma is a seasoned veteran of the building industry.  Ed has extensive expertise in the development of innovative single- and multi-family homes with a commitment to prove that better design creates value for the builder, and the homeowner.

Ed has served as the Energy & Environmental Building Association's Board President and as a member of the Minnesota Energy Code Advisory Committee.

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Patrick O'Malley

Patrick O'Malley is the Director of Operations with Building Knowledge Consulting. With ten years experience in building-related energy efficiency and quality control projects. His areas of expertise include research, diagnostics, testing, data monitoring, technical assistance, consultation and training.

Pat was project and technical manager for the Minnesota Department of Commerce energy code study Evaluating Minnesota Homes and as an outside contractor managed the Xcel Energy Premier Homes Program in Minnesota from 1996 to 2003.

At the local level, Pat works with Building Science Corporation in support of the Department of Energy’s Building America Program.  Activities include planning and energy analysis, builder site assistance, consultation, testing, commissioning and reporting for production builders. He has also delivered training and technical consultation services for the Building Association of Minnesota, the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, and the Energy & Environmental Building Association.

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Gord Cooke

For the past two decades, Gord Cooke has been an effective and passionate educator and advocate for better building practices, improved indoor air quality and energy efficiency. He has a unique talent of taking the complex issues of building science and breaking them into easily understood elements with practical real-world applications for all audiences.

Gord's building science training curricula covers the gamut from creating and delivering basic and advanced building science principles through managing indoor air quality to HVAC system design to an intensive sales training workshop. He has pioneered new training programs designed to assist builders in the sales and marketing of higher performing, energy efficient homes - helping builders more effectively tell their story to customers, increase their margins and sell more homes.

Gord has delivered sessions at such conferences as the NAHB’s International Builders Show, Energy Design Conference, JLC Live, West Coast Green and the National Green Building Conference and is an active Energy & Environmental Building Association (EEBA) board member and certified trainer. He authored the Build Comfort Program and provided instruction for both the Union and Enbridge Gas companies. Additionally Gord has authored and co-authored numerous white papers and research studies related to indoor air quality and home performance issues, contributes a monthly IAQ column to HPAC magazine, and is a certified R-2000 Design Evaluator and Trainer.

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Tony Graham

For the past eleven years Tony has been the director and a professor of Residential Building Technology at Yavapai College, in Prescott Arizona. In the past four years his RBT program has been awarded five Gold National Association of Home Builder’s Awards for Green Building and Energy Efficiency in both the custom and affordable house categories for moderate climate. He teaches students to design, manage, and build crafted, healthy, safe, comfortable, durable, environmentally responsible houses using appropriate, climate specific, materials, systems, and technologies. The program emphasizes applied building science principles incorporated into mainstream construction practices.

Tony is certified by the Energy & Environmental Building Association as a Master Builder, and as a National Trainer for the EEBA’s Houses That Work workshops. He also is an Environments For Living Diamond Certified builder. In a building career that has spanned 30+ years he has built, and/or helped to build, hundreds of houses throughout North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. He’s held general contractor licenses in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and currently for the past eleven years in Arizona. His company consults and builds select green custom homes when time permits.

In addition to presenting Houses that Work workshops in Arizona and New Mexico, on numerous occasions, he has presented to local and state organizations on energy efficiency, green building, applied building science, and healthy houses. He also has presented at the National Association of Home Builder’s International Builders' Show.

Tony has an insatiable desire to learn and teach so he is constantly researching and reading, and attends select building conferences, workshops, seminars and expositions as frequently as possible to stay current with cutting-edge building technologies. He constantly tells his students "never stop learning", "always prepare yourself for opportunities", and "what about the concept of making money and doing the right thing".

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Tex McLeod

During his professional tenure as an educator, innovator, and leader in the residential construction industry, Tex McLeod has evolved into one of Canada's leading presenters on energy, housing and indoor air quality. Tex is an international speaker delivering training across Canada and the US and recently traveled on behalf of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) International Training Team to South America, Europe and China.

Tex worked to develop training materials for a variety of clients including: CMHC, Ontario Hydro, SAWDAC, NRCan, Atlantic Homebuilders Training Board and Ontario First Nations Technical Services. His contribution to the Ontario First Nations Technical Services R-2000 program on housing and indoor air quality has taken him from coast to coast into over 40 different communities delivering over 200 workshops. Tex was part of the original team that put together the IAQ materials for Virginia Salares and has since become one of the lead trainers for the Let’s Clear the Air workshop as well as the three day Indoor Air Quality Investigators Course.

Tex has leant his leadership skills to non-profit organizations as a board member for the Energy & Environmental Building Association, and the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA) located in Washington, DC.

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Randy Nicklas

Randy is a mechanical engineer who concentrates on applied building science and sustainable construction technology. He is a founding member of the US Green Building Council and has been working extensively in energy efficient building technologies since the early 80's. Randy has been involved with more than 20,000 systems engineered buildings and has worked hands-on in all phases of construction from foundations to roofing, including designing, building, performance evaluation and testing.

As one of the first energy raters in the United States, Randy has performed more than 800 blower door tests and home energy ratings. He was involved with the design and construction of the initial American Lung Association Health Homes and the first US DOE Zero Energy Building in the Pacific Northwest. He has traveled throughout the United States and Canada for twenty years presenting seminars on building science and performance technologies to thousands of builders, architects, engineers and code officials. He takes an active role in the ICC code hearings, primarily working on advanced assemblies and code official education, as well as being an AIA-CES trainer and ICC LU presenter.

Randy has extensive experience in indoor air quality issues, ventilation solutions and moisture control strategies. He has been featured in Home and Garden TV series, presented at JLC Live conferences and numerous state HBA and code official conferences. He has served on the Energy & Environmental Building Association (EEBA) Board of Directors and was instrumental in developing the Three Day Builder’s Track offered at the annual EEBA National Conferences.

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