Lora-Marie Bernard
Executive Director

LORA-MARIE BERNARD 

Lora-Marie Bernard is the Executive Director of the U.S. Green Building Council-Texas Gulf Coast Chapter, which is serving Texas along the coastline from Louisiana to Corpus Christi. Her perspective on the built environment is based on community development and preservation, social justice, and environmental impact. She believes green built environments are cornerstones that can improve and impact all other community indicators.

She is a former journalist who received national recognition for a commitment to investigative environmental reporting that led to community awareness and change. She has been honored by the National Newspaper Association, the Associated Press Managing Editors Association and the Texas Press Association. She has also been recognized several times for her public affairs and business reporting by the prestigious Dallas Press Club and has been a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for social reporting.

She was a school district communications director in an at-risk district where several publications and special events that she directed were rated exemplary and best in the category by the National School Public Relations Association and the Texas School Public Relations Association.

She is also an experienced non-profit community organizer and collaborator and has organized successful non-profits from scratch. She was an integral part of a team that earned the Time Warner National Preservation Award for the protection of historically significant homes in an African-American neighborhood. The team was later recognized by former First Lady Laura Bush under the Preserve America initiative at the White House.

She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Texas and a certification in non-profit management from Duke University. She is earning her master's degree in Non-Profit & Association Management from the University of Maryland.

CHAPTER COORIDINATOR

Randi Reigel randi@usgbchouston.org

CHAPTER ADMINISTRATOR

Weltonia Harris weltonia@usgbchouston.org

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Samantha Serna samantha@usgbchouston.org