Theresa L. Parsley, Assistant Secretary for Facilities Programs

Biography

Theresa began her career with the State of California, Air Resources Board (ARB) in April of 1980. While with the ARB she managed a number of project areas including contracts, procurement, property, reprographics, and mail and shipping and receiving services, among other activities. As part of her facilities responsibilities, she managed a portfolio of 250,000 square feet of office building, scientific laboratories, and sophisticated automotive testing and shop operations, Statewide. She oversaw the retrofit of a five story, 150,000 square foot office building, and the relocation of ARB’s 500 Sacramento headquarters employees into their new consolidated building.

Theresa worked for the ARB as the Business Management Branch Chief until 1995, when she assumed responsibilities as Cal/EPA’s Tenant Coordinator and Project Manager for the design and construction of its 950,000 square foot Headquarters Building, housing more than 3,000 employees from six State boards, departments, and offices within Cal/EPA. Through the leadership of Cal/EPA and Theresa’s tenacity, this project was at the forefront of the fight to change standard building approaches within the State of California, conducting the first-ever State green building camp and moving beyond the stagnant standard building specifications applied to the lease. In April of 2001, Theresa was appointed the Assistant Secretary for Facilities Programs within the Office of the Secretary for Environmental Protection. Among other things, her responsibilities include acting in a coordinative role to establish and implement on-going green building and sustainable operations policies, working with her partners in Property Management in moving the tenant organizations forward in their support of actions taken to achieve LEED EB certification, in quantifying and registering its Statewide Greenhouse Gases as a charter member of the California Climate Action Registry, and in developing Cal/EPA’s Environmental Management System, moving toward ISO 14001 certification.

Along with Thomas Properties Group, Theresa ensures that the Cal/EPA Headquarters Building sustainability efforts continue to improve upon the original design. Facility based changes since construction was completed include installation of specific energy and water conservation measures and features (free-cooling systems, lighting power conditioning, waterless urinals, landscape rain sensors, drip irrigation systems, to name a few.), installation of video-teleconferencing features (to increase face-to-face contact with partners and constituents without added travel), etc. The Cal/EPA Headquarters Building has received numerous awards for its green design and programs including the California Construction Links Excellence in Engineering Award (1999), the APWA Public Project of the Year Award (2002), the Design Build Institute of America’s Best Public Project Over $15 Million Excellence Award (2002), the BOMA Building of the Year Earth Award – Local (2002, 2003), and Regional (2002, 2003), and International (2003), the Sacramento Transportation Management Association’s Clean Air Commitment Project of the Year Award (2002), and the ACT NOW Organizational Leadership in Transportation Programs Award (2002). The Building is a USEPA Energy Star Facility, scoring 96 of a possible 100 points, making it the most energy efficient high-rise facility in the Nation. The Cal/EPA HQ Building is currently certified under the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Existing Building program, at the platinum level. This is the highest level attainable, and the Cal/EPA HQ building is the first high rise in the Nation to achieve that rating.

Theresa was born in Louisville KY, raised in Sacramento, and has been married to her high school sweetheart, Harold Holmes, for nearly 25 years. She has three children who, along with her husband, are the center of her life. Theresa is not a world traveler, doesn’t engage in extreme sports or risky activities (with the exception of a short stint with motorcycles and airplanes in her youth…), and isn’t an accomplished athlete, artist or academician, but still manages to live a full, challenging, growth-inducing, active, satisfying and successful life in Rocklin, California.

Executive Management Biographies