Core Staff Bios

Our team has the expertise and experience to catalyze your vision. Contact us today for assistance.

Terry Miller - Green Building Coordinator
Terry Miller has worked and studied in environmental management for four years. He has been with the Office of Sustainable Development for two years, coordinating research, policy, events in the G/Rated Green Building Program. Prior to working at OSD, Terry worked in a variety of environmental disciplines ranging from native landscaping to biological surveying and also earned his masters degree in environmental management from the Yale School of the Environment. Terry currently coordinates G/Rated program activities, leads policy and program development, and manages the City’s Green Investment Fund.

Greg Acker - Architect
Greg Acker has been designing buildings that incorporate passive-solar design with resource efficiency and low toxic construction since 1979. His award-winning work includes educational, commercial, ecotourism and resort, multi-family and single-family residential buildings. Between 1990 and 1995, Acker owned a construction company focused exclusively on resource and energy-efficient design-build projects. Most recently, he was an environmental design consultant to PGE's Earth Advantage Program and a sustainable design consultant for Ecotrust's award winning Natural Capital Center in Portland. Presently Acker provides technical assistance and training for the G/Rated program and is an adjunct architecture professor at the University of Oregon's Portland Center.

Mike O'Brien - Green Building Specialist
Mike O'Brien comes to G/Rated from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. His most recent project at the Alliance 'betterbricks.com,' a website and outreach campaign to promote awareness of the health and productivity advantages of high efficiency buildings. He helped create Portland General Electric's Earth Advantage program, which has sparked numerous green buildings and homes throughout the city. He and Greg Acker worked together on the HERE Today house, Portland's first demonstration green home. O'Brien is regionally recognized as an authority on residential energy efficiency and indoor air quality. O'Brien provides technical assistance and training for the G/Rated program.

Stephanie Swanson - Communications Manager
Stephanie Swanson has more than thirteen years of journalism and corporate communication experience in a variety of industries, including energy, financial, food and beverage and telecommunications. She was an Emmy-award winning journalist at CNN prior to moving to Portland in 1994. In Portland she worked at KPTV-12 and Cole and Weber/Red Cell, an integrated marketing firm where she helped create and promote betterbricks.com, a web-based tool for energy efficient building practices. Swanson oversees the Office of Sustainable Development communication programs to help Portland residents, businesses and the community at large understand the short and long-term benefits of working and living more sustainably.