2024 Southwestern Ontario Housing Summit – Digital Program Guide

Siloni Waraich, Chief Research Officer, Home Construction Regulatory Authority

Siloni Waraich joined the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) in September 2023, as the inaugural Chief Research Officer. She has been active in our industry for almost 20 years; as a champion of industry partnerships through her work with Tarion and the OBOA. In her current role, Siloni is responsible for developing the HCRA’s Research & Education Program, by bringing together expertise from diverse perspectives across our industry, forming partnerships, and ensuring that Ontario’s new home owners and licensed builders have access to timely and relevant educational resources.

Joe Innocente, Technical Manager, Owens Corning

Joe Innocente is the Technical Manager for Owens Corning.  Joe is a Building Science Specialist with over 20 years of experience in the Building Materials Industry.  He has extensive experience in both Residential and Commercial construction.  Understanding that it is systems that create the right assembly to build energy and cost-effective solutions. Joe is a member of numerous organization that promote building better.

Jamie Yolkowskie, Manager of Codes and Standards, Doug Tarry Homes

Jamie is a Subject Matter Expert with over 40 years in the residential home construction industry which include 18 years as a Municipal Building Inspector.  With numerous industry certifications, including CBCO, (Certified building Code Official), and Health and Safety credentials he is passionate about creating living spaces that are safe, healthy, energy efficient and with a low operating and embodied Carbon.

Pat Daniels, Chair, OHBA Technical Committee + General Manager Construction Operations, Glenview Homes

Pat Daniels, General Manager of Construction Operations at Glenview Homes, in the residential construction industry close to 30 years.  Former Chair of the Builder Trade Council for GOHBA, Current GOHBA President, member of the OHBA Board of Directors and CHBA Board of Directors, and Chair of the OHBA Technical Committee, pat is heavily involved in the association and forwarding the interests of members across the province. Pat has participated in many task groups, including, but limited too, the Tarion’s CPG Guidelines, the amalgamation of Building Code, and the High-Performance Guideline task group.

Angelo DiCicco, Manager of Building Services & Chief Building Official, City of St. Thomas

I am currently the Manager of Building Services and Chief Building Official for the City of St. Thomas. I have over 25 Years experience in the construction industry with 21 of those enforcing the Ontario Building Code. I am aslo the Director for Region E for the Ontario Building Officials Association.

Hailey Quiquero, Technical Manager, WoodWorks Ontario

Hailey is a structural engineer and has focused her career specializing in sustainable architecture and the advancement of timber building systems. Hailey spent several years of her career in research on the behaviour and fire safety of mass timber, as a structural designer with Entuitive in Toronto, and working to develop affordable housing products built of high-performance timber panels, contributing to the successful completion of several turnkey housing projects with Assembly Corp. (previously R-Hauz)

In her current role as a Technical Manager for the Canadian Wood Council’s WoodWorks program, Hailey works with the team to aid project teams with technical support and to bring resources and education to industry stakeholders, advocating for the successful implementation of a beautiful and sustainable building material in our built environment.

Steven Street, Executive Director, WoodWorks Ontario

As a long-time industry advocate, Steven has spent more than 20 years developing domestic markets for wood products by creating new opportunities, driving change, and expanding the acceptance of wood structural systems in Canada. His 14 years with the Canadian Wood Council’s WoodWorks initiative have imbued his work with a deep understanding of wood design, materials, supply, and off-site prefabrication.

In his current role, he works with a dynamic team, bringing value and new opportunities to the program’s partners. With many high-profile projects moving wood construction into the mainstream, knowledge transfer and market acceptance have never been more important to the wood industry. His approach to market transformation harnesses the power of collaboration, practitioner education, and specific project support.

Steven is an active board member of the Ontario Structural Wood Association, and sits on RESCON’s technical council, assisting with technical knowledge transfer pertaining to wood structural systems, code issues around wood use, and helping develop strategies needed build a low-carbon Ontario.

David Stanton, Building Science Engineer, RDH Building Science

David is a Building Science Engineer in RDH Building Science’s Toronto office. David’s exposure to mass timber projects started with the Brock Commons project in BC as a coop student and then with the Catalyst building in Spokane, WA—a 4-storey mass timber building for Eastern Washington University—when he started working full-time in the Building Science field. Since moving back to Toronto, David has continued to work on large scale mass timber projects, including the Lawson Center for Sustainability and the Academic Wood Tower projects at UofT.

Michael Leach, Vice President Sales, Element5 Limited Partnerships

Michael has a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from McMaster University and a professional engineering designation in the province of Ontario. Michael spent the early part of his sales career in the lighting and epoxy coatings industries. Following this, he gained experience in the water industry, with a specific focus on UV treatment technology with Trojan Technologies. His experience at Trojan spanned 15 years in various sales and business development roles and included two years of international work in partnership with Wartsila in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Michael moved to the steel building industry with Steelway Building Systems in 2014 as Vice President of Sales, and then to the role of Vice President of Business Development in 2017. In 2021, Michael became part of the Element5 team as Vice President of Sales, which includes oversight of the project management, sales, marketing and estimating teams. 

Alan Shaw, Director of Building Services, City of London

Alan has over 25 years as a Building Official in the Province of Ontario.  This includes his appointments as Director of Building for the City of Toronto, City of Hamilton and his current position in the City of London. Alan is a former President of the Ontario Building Officials Association and sits on the board of directors for the Alliance of Canadian Building Officials Associations. Alan’s work includes, having participated on numerous working groups with organizations such as the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Ontario Home Builders Association, Tarion,  and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. In 2012 Alan participated in the Eliot Lake Commission of Inquiry where he provided testimony on enforcement of Building Code as an expert in the field.   His passion is in building meaningful relationships with different stakeholders to address the ever-changing needs of the Development Industry

Peder Madsen, Vice President, CCR Building Solutions

Michael Piper, Association Professor of Urban Design and Architecture, UofT / ReHousing

Michael Piper is an Associate Professor of urban design and architecture at the University of Toronto. His research and teaching focus on the analysis and design of physical space to impact policy change for Northern American suburbs. He is a co-director, with Janna Levitt from LGA, of ReHousing, a research initiative that explores how to convert single-family homes into multi-unit housing. The team, including project manager Samantha Eby, is working to impact policy change for small apartments and multiplexes in low rise neighborhoods.

Brendan Charters, Development Manager, Eurodale Design + Build

20+ years designing and building additions, renovation and custom homes for the discerning homeowner. A grizzled industry veteran, who along with his business partner Jim Cunningham, recognized the continuing demise of the housing situation in the GTA and started investing in creating low rise multi-unit housing as a means to create a longer term residual income stream. Now uses about half the time helping to create additional housing as both an investment vehicle, but also as a solution for residents of the City seeking to intensify their own properties.

Terry Kuipers, Chief Building Official, Town of Minto

Terry has been a Building Official for 24 years and has served as the Director of Building and Planning Services (CBO) with the Town of Minto for the past 21 years. In addition to this position, he is also appointed as the Zoning Administrator, By-law Enforcement Officer and Municipal Prosecutor.

In addition to this, Terry also sits on the Board of Directors with the Ontario Building Official’s Association as a Director at Large, with his main portfolio as the Chair of the Education Committee. With the release of the 2024 Ontario Building Code, he is heavily involved with updating the numerous OBC Courses that the OBOA has as well as to create new Training and 2012/2024 Code Bridging courses. In his spare time, Terry has been an Instructor for the OBOA for the past 13 years and typically teaches several OBC courses per year.