Elias R.

Elias is a Costa Rican Architect and Builder, LEED AP BD+C, Member of the International Chapter of the America Institute of Architects and a member of the Costa Rica, Panama and Bolivia Green Building Councils. With more than 18 years of experience in the construction Industry, 16+ years of teaching Architecture and also Directing the UACA School of Architecture in Costa Rica. Over the course of his career, Elias has designed, built and partnered in several types of projects, that range from housing to Hydro Power plants. He has spent the last five years of his career in Training professionals all over North, Central and South America in Countries such as United States, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Bolivia and Argentina, with the sole purpose of making LEED’s importance known all over the continent. He was in charge of translating the whole LEED Green Associate and LEED AP Classes to Spanish, when the first tests were done in other language than English. Since then, he got Certified as an official trainer and has taught more than 35 LEED classes with a passing rate of 100% on LEED V4. He has been a speaker in several sustainability congresses and symposiums, with themes that range from basic sustainability, to LEED, EDGE, Living Building Challenge, Biomimicry, and The health implications of artificial lighting on the human Body. As an instructor, Elias is registered instructor at the AIA, CRGBC, Everblue Institute and USGBC and is affiliated with several other training organizations, he has conducted formal and certification courses on Corporate Sustainability Strategies. In addition to that, he has represented Costa Rica in several World Green Building meetings, held every year during Greenbuild Congress. Elias has a very strong academic background as he studied in Costa Rica, United States, Canada and Italy. As a member of the CFIA Costa Rica Architects Board, he has developed more than 100,000 square meters of construction since 2001. Elias has been involved in teaching LEED for free in technical High schools with the goal of having the youngest accredited LEED professionals in the world. He is the actual president of Tekna Project Development. His teaching style is very graphical and interactive, making the students participate a lot during the class and most of all, making the course very intuitive through conversation and storytelling rather than lecturing. Born April 16 1975, San Jose, Costa Rica Studies: Universidad Veritas, Architecture Bachelor degree 1993-1995 UACA Studium Generale Architecture Bachelor Degree 1995-1997 Universidad Veritas, Architecture License degree 1997-1998 Member of the Costa Rican, Panama and Bolivia Green Building Councils Partner of Tekna Constructores Member f the Costa Rican Board of Architects, CFIA: since April 26, 2001 Reg. CFIA: A-10826 Architecture Professor at UACA since 2006 until 2018 Member of USGBC (US Green Building Council since 2011, LEED Green Associate) Accredited as LEED AP BD+C since 2013 Sustainability Professor at UACA since 2012 Certified LEED Green Associate y LEED BD+C in English and Spanish by Everblue Institute since 2013. (Only certified LEED in Spanish teacher in Latin America and Caribbean) Translator of the LEED GA and LEED AP BD+C – AP O+M Classes from English to Spanish, versions 3 and 4. Edge Expert & Auditor since 2018 Has Taught more than 50 Sustainability, Building Technology, Edge and LEED Training Classes with a passing rate over 95% of the students that have taken the exam in Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina and Saudi Arabia.