The Team

Meet Our Team of Passionate Energy-Efficiency Advocates

Our experienced team of professionals is dedicated to helping you realize your home and/or business energy-efficiency goals. Meet the people who will work with you to make it happen.

GARY STEPS, Passive House Consultant, PMP, NGBS Verifier, LEED AP – Founder and Chief Visionary

Gary is the Founder and Chief Visionary of Butterfly Energy Works. His diverse skills, including physics, engineering, and project management, enable him to bring together ideas across many fields and industries. From this knowledge, he has developed a full breadth of techniques and technologies that deliver cost-effective, integrated energy solutions for homes and small businesses.

Gary spent 30 years with IBM in a broad range of information systems architectures and disciplines. He often worked in "bleeding edge" technologies and projects, while retaining and understanding the value of the mainstream. Parts of his IBM career included time in Aerospace, a Research and Development assignment in Germany, and five years in Biotech. Gary brings extensive experience in a broad range of systems and disciplines to every project in which he has been involved. He holds degrees in Physics and Applied Math, as well as a Master of Science in Project Management.

He has been recognized for his innovative solutions in complex situations, specializing in all types of integration. His unique skill sets have enabled him to combine diverse technologies to produce the best solution for a specific project. He invented and sold to customers through IBM several complex solutions to difficult issues.

Gary has been a long-standing member of the Washington University Medical School Human Studies Committee as a scientific voice. He holds a certification as an auditor form Building Performance Institute, Inc. (BPI). He is member of the St. Louis Chapter U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and was on the Steering Committee for the 2008 "Greening the Heartland" conference. He is a member of the St. Louis Home Builders Association - Custom Home Building Council. He also sits on the Technical Committee for the local USGBC chapter. He has recently been elected to the Board of the Passive House Alliance US.

He lives in our "Experiment Home" with his two canine "kids", Konan and Darby, and can often be seen foraging for mushrooms or working in his extensive garden.

Contact Gary at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

SUSAN TROWBRIDGE ADAMS - Administration

Susan moved to St. Louis in the spring of 2011 from Seattle, where she worked primarily in the not-for-profit sector, in residential facilities for homeless adults. Her life-long commitment to environmentally conscious and sustainable living brought her to Butterfly when she sought employment in Missouri. She manages the internal business details at Butterfly, handling schedules, phones, resources, correspondence, bookkeeping, research, and our monthly newsletter.

Susan has extensive experience with business and personal organization, personal management, and editing; she has worked with poets, memoirists, lyricists, screen-writers, small magazines, and novelists.

Susan has studied chemistry and has had a years-long involvement with theater. She is a committed advocate for social justice. She now pursues performance as a poet, author, and spoken word artist. She recently presented at the global “Hundred Thousand Poets for Change” event in St. Louis, and can be found on a mic somewhere in town at least once a week.

Contact Susan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

JEN LOUI, - LEED AP / Project Manager / Educator

Jen happily carries both a right-brained and left- brained background. She started her professional life out in the professional performance arena, balancing it with 15 years as an educator and program development specialist.

Jen also spent 10 years in the management of several well known St. Louis events, including First Night Saint Louis and The Saint Louis International Film Festival. She has worn the Project Manager hat for local corporate organizations, including Busch Creative and Riverstone Productions. This work included both local and National Events focusing on large scale presentations and video production.

Jen is a published writer, and has covered topics from green technologies to inner city schools. Her best known publication is The Pipers Chair, a compilation of tunes and folklore as told by Micho Russell – one of Irelands most loved musicians. Along with her work at Butterfly, she presently develops classroom curricula for High Schools all over the country, though the Green Education Foundation out of Boston

Jen is a published writer, and has covered topics from green technologies to inner city schools. Her best known publication is The Pipers Chair, a compilation of tunes and folklore as told by Micho Russell – one of Irelands most loved musicians. Along with her work at Butterfly, she presently develops classroom curricula for High Schools all over the country, though the Green Education Foundation out of Boston

Contact Jen at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

JIM VYKOPAL -BPI Certified Auditor, Architect

Jim is our resident expert on building sciences. He has served in varying capacities in the building inspection and consulting sectors. As both an architect and building inspector, he brings a wealth of all types of building knowledge to the Butterfly team and to our clients. He has held roles as architect, inspector, and company owner. His time in the Peace Corp offered him the opportunity to apply his skills in diverse cultures.

Jim holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Miami University and is a Retired Missouri Architect . He holds a certificate from the Building Performance Institute, Inc. (BPI) as an auditor, and is certified in both building and envelope analysis. He is a former (ASHI) Inspector through the American Society of Home Inspectors, and was an EIFS inspector through the Exterior Design Institute. He has served in a variety of roles for the St. Louis ASHI chapter, and the Confluence St. Louis Low Income Housing Implementation Committee.

He is a docent at The Frank Lloyd Wright house in Ebsworth Park. He has served on the City of Kirkwood Board of Zoning Adjustment and Appeals, Planning and Zoning Commission, Kirkwood Public Library Board, and Kirkwood-Webster YMCA Facilities Committee.

Contact Jim at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WADE PEARSON, Ph.D. – Research and Computer Modeling Specialist

Wade is the Research Specialist and an Energy Consultant at Butterfly. He brings years of research experience as well as a passion for energy efficiency and conservation. His meticulous attention to detail and "detective skills" are passed along to our clients and team members through the knowledge and expertise he shares. Wade also "drives" the energy modeling software program we use that allows for quantitative analysis of building performance.

Wade holds both a B.A. in Biology – with honors – and a PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Chicago. He has invested many years with the Washington University School of Medicine in a number of research capacities.

He is an accomplished contra dancer and fiddler and enjoys a wide variety of outdoor activities.

Contact Wade at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Polly Scott - MSCE, PE, LEED GA – Technical Representative for Community Outreach

Polly brings a wide range of skills and experience to her current work. She is a Professional Engineer with a Master of Civil Engineering specializing in construction engineering and management. Her other valuable experience includes: teaching at the university level, training Project Managers, and teaching dispute resolution for state governments.

Polly teaches project management professional classes and university engineering classes based on her experience in the field as a project manager herself, for Super Value and Cub Foods new store and remodeling projects, in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

She has spent time overseas in Poland, Australia, Bolivia, and most recently Estonia, where she guest lectured on Project Delivery Systems in the US and Dispute Resolution Techniques in the US.

Polly has worked with her miniature dachshund Sophie as a therapy dog for nursing homes. Currently, she volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, evaluating how well Habitat for Humanity owners use and sustain energy-saving construction measures, and she also volunteers with the USGBC, serving on the Higher Learning Advocacy Subcommittee.

Contact Polly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it