Every year, Seattle building owners and property managers turn to one place when they have questions about energy benchmarking: the Smart Buildings Center’s Benchmarking Help Desk. Behind that resource are two Building Potential staff members, Jessica Cherry and Shino Severson, who provide the technical assistance that keeps building owners on track with the City of Seattle’s Energy Benchmarking ordinance.

Shino Severson: Leading Technical Support

Shino has worked in green building and sustainability since 2008, beginning her career as a Project Assistant at a Seattle-based green building consulting firm, where she supported LEED, ENERGY STAR, and Built Green projects. Today, as a Senior Project Manager at Building Potential, she serves as the Lead Technical Support for the City of Seattle’s Energy Benchmarking Program.

With deep expertise in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and energy benchmarking, Shino helps building owners and managers navigate the often-complex process of understanding their energy data and meeting the City’s reporting requirements. As the lead for the Benchmarking Help Desk, she manages day-to-day technical support, helping customers troubleshoot issues, resolve data discrepancies, and successfully comply with Seattle’s energy benchmarking requirements.

Shino is also a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor and holds a degree in Coastal and Marine Policy from the University of Rhode Island. Her education sparked a broader interest in sustainability and environmental stewardship that has carried throughout her career. What began with a focus on environmental policy and sustainable resource management evolved into a career in green building, energy efficiency, and building performance where she now helps Seattle building owners turn energy data into meaningful action.

Jessica Cherry: Technical and Programmatic Support

Jessica joined Building Potential in 2019 and has supported a variety of programs in roles spanning program coordination, customer support, and technical assistance. In her current role as Project Manager, she provides technical and programmatic support for the City of Seattle’s Energy Benchmarking Program, working alongside Shino to help building owners and property managers navigate the benchmarking process. Her technical support includes assisting customers with ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, property use types, gross floor area discrepancies, compliance questions, and other common benchmarking challenges. She also contributes to the day-to-day administration and coordination of the program, including maintaining resources, supporting outreach and virtual appointments, and helping improve processes and guidance for building professionals.

Jessica also works extensively with Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy customers to establish automatic energy data exchanges and troubleshoot issues with meters and utility data. She helps customers resolve data issues, successfully transfer utility information into ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, properly report their benchmarking data to the City of Seattle, and address other issues that can arise throughout the benchmarking process. She also provides support for the Oregon State Benchmarking Helpdesk and the Clean Buildings Performance Standard Helpdesk, in addition to her primary work supporting the City of Seattle program.

Why Benchmarking Technical Assistance Matters

Energy benchmarking with ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager can seem like a heavy lift, especially for building owners tackling it for the first time. The Smart Buildings Center’s Benchmarking Help Desk exists to close that gap: offering virtual appointments and resources that walk building owners through the entire process, from understanding what benchmarking is and why it matters, to interpreting results and turning them into concrete energy-saving action.

Jessica and Shino’s work on the Help Desk is a good example of what technical assistance looks like in practice: one-on-one troubleshooting that turns a regulatory requirement into a genuine opportunity for building owners to understand and improve their energy performance.

Building owners with benchmarking questions can schedule a virtual appointment or explore the full range of benchmarking resources through the Smart Buildings Center.