GWCCA hires sustainability coordinator

The Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) has hired Tim Trefzer, Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP), as the first sustainability coordinator of the facilities.


In this position, Trefzer will coordinate a unified sustainability strategy for the GWCCA campus, which includes the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park, addressing energy and water conservation, recycling, promoting public transportation and staff, and customer education.

Before accepting the position with the GWCCA, Trefzer worked as a LEED project manager for Sustainable Options, green building consultants headquartered in Atlanta. At Sustainable Options, Trefzer gained experience with evaluating and documenting the feasibility of existing buildings seeking LEED certification for Existing Buildings Operations & Maintenance (EBOM).

He completed over a dozen LEED certification projects, including the gold certification of Two Premier Plaza in Atlanta under the LEED EB: OM rating system and the silver certification of NorthPort Logistics Center in Jacksonville under LEED Core and Shell. Trefzer is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council-Atlanta Branch and is on the Emerging Professionals committee.

He has been published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle for evaluating market trends in the greening of commercial real estate and has done several industry presentations on the benefits of LEED certification. He is a graduate of Florida State University.

“We’ve come a long way but feel that Tim will take us to another level in reaching our sustainability goals,” said Patrick Skaggs, GWCC assistant general manager. “He’s a welcome addition to the GWCCA Green Team which is committed to improving our campus’ environmental impact over the long-term.”

As sustainability coordinator, Trefzer will develop and implement plans for reaching sustainability goals and objectives for the campus. Additionally, he will work with customers to help them green their events and will also provide recycling assistance to exhibitors and attendees. His background will also enable the GWCCA to provide sustainability education to its staff and to work towards LEED certification of the GWCC.

In FY 2010, the GWCC recycled 54 tons of single-stream waste, including plastic, paper, aluminum and glass, baled and recycled 49 tons of corrugated board, composted 290 tons of food waste, recycled six tons of cooking oil, recycled 1,500 pallets and reduced electrical consumption by 5.7 million kWh. During two different events in the past year alone, the GWCC achieved an overall diversion rate of 64-65 percent.