Denis Blackburne, CFO of sustainable property management company Melaver, Inc.to speak at Georgia Economic Developers Association conference

(SAVANNAH)“ Denis Blackburne, Chief Financial Officer of Melaver, Inc., will be a speaker at the Georgia Economic Developers Association 2007 Spring Conference at the Brasstown Valley Resort in Young Harris, Georgia May 23.

Blackburne will be part of a panel discussing "œBuilding Green: Understanding LEED for Commercial Buildings."� Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is the internationally-recognized standard for high performance, low water and energy use buildings awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The panelists will also discuss how their organizations initially became interested in sustainable building design and construction and whether it was difficult to convince others in their organizations about that vision. They will also talk about how they persuade clients, customers or partners to do green or LEED projects, and how to have discussions with customers or partners about the triple bottom line - social, environmental, and financial.

GEDA's mission is to provide and promote networking and professional development opportunities and to shape economic development public policy. It is the leading professional association dedicated to enhancing Georgia's economic vitality.

As CFO of Melaver, Inc., Blackburne brings a wealth of financial and business expertise to Melaver, along with an international background in complex financial transactions. He does all the things one would expect of a company's CFO: he is responsible for the ongoing management of the company's financial division and oversees overall financial strategic planning, as well as relations with the financial community, investors, and shareholders. With Martin Melaver and Colin Coyne, Denis is a third member of Melaver's Senior Management Group, coordinating the efforts of brokerage services, while contributing actively to the visioning and implementation of Melaver, Inc's growth strategies.

Blackburne's unique ability to understand all business aspects of a transaction, including market and sustainable implications, brings uncommon strength to the CFO function. Before joining the Melaver team, he spent more than 20 years in senior financial positions with both publicly traded companies and family owned businesses. He has served as VP Finance for the Tetra Laval / Tetra Pak Group in Switzerland, Singapore and Chicago, and as a high level financial analyst with DuPont de Nemours in Geneva and London, and as a financial manager with Dow Chemical.

Blackburne graduated from Geneva University majoring in Business Administration and Marketing. He received his MBA from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

In 2007, Blackburne was newly elected to the Board of Directors of Southface Energy Institute in Atlanta. In Savannah, he serves on the Finance Committee of the American Red Cross and the Loan Committee of the Small Business Assistance Corp., and is a board member of the CFO Controller's Council. He is on the Board of Trustees and Assistant Treasurer of the Historic Savannah Foundation. Denis has been a featured speaker at conferences on the value of triple bottom line accounting and reporting practices. He is LEED 2.1 accredited.

Melaver, Inc. is a third-generation, family-owned business based in Savannah, Georgia. The company recently received the Business of the Year award from Buy Local of Savannah for its local commitment to designing environmentally responsible projects. The company developed one of the first LEED certified buildings in the U.S. that is also on the National Historic Register. It has also developed the first all-retail LEED shopping center in the country, Abercorn Common, including the first LEED McDonald's in the U.S. Contact: (912) 236-0781
www.melaver.com

For more information about Georgia Economic Developers Association, visit
http://www.geda.org