Board of Directors

THIA CEO & Chairman

Brad Wiseman

THIA Standards Committee

Serving as the THIA’s Chairman of the Board of Directors and as its CEO, Brad Wiseman manages the internal workings of the THIA, drawing upon the talents he has developed during his 40 years of design experience as an electrical engineer and as an accomplished leader of ANSI standards development efforts in the telecommunications industry. Prior to being asked to assist in the re-launch of the THIA in early 2018, Brad took a keen interest in being involved in standards development for the tiny home industry. He addressed the crowd gathered at the THIA’s 2016 Action & Impact Conference in Colorado Springs, CO in early November of 2016, suggesting that the THIA should make it one of their prime objectives to become an ANSI Standards Developer for the tiny home industry.   Although Brad has no financial interests in the tiny home industry, he comes by his personal interest in tiny homes naturally. It was his grandparents who first sparked his interest in tiny homes, having built a playhouse for his mother and her older sister in their backyard. At approximately 120 square feet, it was quite literally a tiny home, with a finished interior, electricity, natural gas, lights, a kitchen with sink, dishes, and refrigerator, a living room, a bedroom, a front porch, locking front door, seven double-hung windows, 2 x 4 stud wall construction, wool batting insulation and composition shingles on the roof. It had everything but a bathroom. For scale, that’s Brad’s 5’ 2” grandmother sitting on the porch of that tiny gem.

President

Dan Fitzpatrick

Leading Tiny Home Advocate

THIA Vice President

Zack Giffin

Tiny House Nation Co-Host

Operation Tiny Home Spokesperson

Zack Giffin is a well-known advocate of the tiny house movement and host of the popular television show, Tiny House Nation (on A&E and Netflix). A home builder and carpenter by trade, Zack has worked his life around creating time for outdoor adventure, eventually turning his passion for backcountry skiing into a dream occupation. A longtime practitioner of simple living, Zack was naturally drawn to the Tiny House movement and in 2011 built his own tiny ski chalet on wheels. Now Zack has helped create over 120 original Tiny Homes and designing intelligent space-saving solutions has become a calling card of his work and reputation. Zack is also a board member of Operation Tiny Home, a national non-profit that helps create Tiny Home Villages for homeless Veterans around the country.

http://zackgiffin.com

https://www.operationtinyhome.org

Tiny Homes of Maine Principal & CEO

Corinne Watson

Leading Advocate behind Maine Tiny Home Laws

Corinne Watson is the Principal & CEO of Tiny Homes of Maine and has been drawing floor plans and sketching home designs on scraps of paper for as long as she can remember. Born and raised in Smyrna, Maine, she hails from small-town roots. As the daughter of a Verizon linewoman, Corinne learned at an early age that grit and determination can get you just about anywhere. That drive spurred her to be the first in her family to go to college.

Corinne attended the University of Southern Maine and completed a degree in electrical engineering with a concentration in microelectronics. She landed her first job out of college at Fairchild Semiconductor and then Smith & Wesson, where she learned the fundamentals of lean manufacturing, a process that eliminates waste.

 She returned to Southern Maine in 2012 to work as a process engineer at IDEXX. Corinne put her lean manufacturing expertise to work and began improving the manufacturing process and efficiencies of the company’s small animal and livestock analyzer units. Despite success at IDEXX, Corinne never felt fulfilled climbing the corporate ladder. She wanted to merge a passion for design and architecture with her manufacturing background into a purposeful business.

 “We have a major homelessness problem in Maine. My dream is to buy a field and fill it with tiny homes for people who have no home,” says Corinne. “I also wanted to build this business to address environmental concerns. A tiny home forces you to live a more conscious lifestyle. Everything has a purpose and everything has a place. You naturally waste less and live more simply.”

Experience Tiny Homes CEO

Lindsay Wood

THIA Outreach Director

Simblissity Tiny Homes Co-Founder

Byron Fears

THIA Treasurer

Tiny House Builder

Byron Fears is the co-founder, head creative, and designer of custom-built SimBLISSity Tiny Homes, located in Lyons, Colorado.  His love of tiny homes led him and his wife, Dot, to a path of building for, and ushering people towards, more sustainable, and size-appropriate lifestyles. Byron is an enthusiastic, multifaceted individual who has participated in many creative careers and is now totally captivated by “Changing the world one Tiny Home at a time!”

Byron’s experience living Tiny in vans, sailboats, and RV’s, and his decades of extensive building and remodeling experience combine to create beautiful, space-efficient yet comfortable Tiny Homes on Wheels.  Byron understands that choosing to live in a Tiny Home is not a tiny thing, but is a serious commitment; he can offer helpful advice, even counseling.  He loves to be a “voice of reason” to make your dreams of Tiny living a happy and successful reality.  He has a refreshing and exciting approach to living and reminds everyone, “You don’t need to be a Monk to live Tiny.”

He always strives to prove that “Not all Tinys are created equal!” and takes great pride in building sustainable Tiny Homes to help support sustainable lifestyles in hopes of a sustainable future for the Plant Earth.

Byron has been a tiny home advocate for many years.  He has built over 30 Tinys to date and pledges to support his Clients beyond the building of their Tiny Homes.  He has spoken with many Planning Departments and has helped to resolve disputes with County officials and Tiny Home dwellers.  He recently was implemental in helping the Town of Lyons create and pass an Ordinance the legalizes living in Tiny Homes On Wheels in Lyons, Colorado.

Byron has years of experience building Tinys and has a substantial understanding of how to build a high-quality Tiny Home that will safely serve the occupants well being and safety.  He is part of a team that is attempting to set safe building standards in the world of Tiny Houses. He is not easily intimidated by State, County, or local building and enforcement officials.  He understands most sides of the issues surrounding living in “un-permitted” dwellings and enjoys being a “Voice Of Reason” when working with “officials”

Additionally, Byron has been consulting with many Tiny builders and is sought after for his extensive knowledge of Tiny construction. He has a good understanding of how to help steer DIY’ers towards building a safe Tiny.

https://www.simblissitytinyhomes.com

California Tiny House CEO & tinyEDU Founder

Nick Mosley

Rebuilding Green Executive Director

Genny Crane

Leading Advocate behind San Diego MTH Zoning

Genny Crane is the Executive Director of ReBuilding Green, 501(C)(3), was founded in 1978 and recently enhanced its mission by advocating to reimagine affordable housing solutions through tiny homes, tiny home zones, and tiny home communities.

“ReBuilding Green seeks to partner with like-minded individuals and entities to answer the cry of a discouraged society that lacks affordable housing options while bringing back the quality of life utilizing the solutions that fabulous tiny homes offer.”

One of the biggest achievements Genny Crane accomplished with the support of THIA President Dan Fitzpatrick was to lead a team of advocates to encourage the City of San Diego to approve Movable Tiny Homes in backyards of single-family homes. And they did! San Diego is home to 1.4 million residents and with this win, the city just got more options to offering affordable and accessible housing.

https://movabletinyhomes.com

Movable Roots Co-Founder

Mike Cheatam

National Builder’s Committee Co-Chair

Tiny House Builder

Mike Cheatham is the co-owner and co-founder of Movable Roots. He has worked in the residential home building industry for 20 plus years. His introduction to swinging a hammer came at an early age by tagging along with his father’s family-owned remodel business.  After the market collapse in 2008, Mike stepped away from the construction industry to pursue a new challenge building functional fitness work out equipment and helping design functional fitness gym locations. In 2016 Mike and his wife Nikki stumbled across the tiny home industry while looking to go tiny themselves.  In 2017 Mike and his brother John partnered to create Movable Roots.  Their goal has been to bring a high-quality customer experience along with producing high-quality homes with second to none customer service.

Mike has also been instrumental in lobbying to change the local zoning ordinances within Brevard County FL to help tiny homes become a legal option and is working on expanding these changes whenever possible throughout the State of Florida.

https://www.movableroots.com

Tiny House Expedition Co-Founder

Alexis Stephens

Communications Committee

Tiny Home Dweller, Filmmaker & Educator

Alexis Stephens is a well-respected tiny house movement ambassador and advocate. She is the co-founder of Tiny House Expedition, a traveling tiny house documentary and community education project. In 2014, she and her partner, Christian Parsons, built their own movable tiny house. Since then, they have been on a mission to inspire others to redefine home and rethink housing through educational events, resource sharing, and thought-provoking storytelling.

Pacific West Associates President

Chuck Ballard

THIA Standards Committee

Pacific West Tiny Homes Vice President

Alex Ontiveros

Movable Tiny House Certification Expert

Pacific West Tiny Homes, Inc. is a subsidiary of Pacific West Associates, Inc. which is an accredited third-party agency that has been recognized in the industry for over 30 years. PWA is composed of licensed electrical, mechanical, structural, and forensic engineers. The evaluation and certification staff meet the requirements of the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) E699-16, which​ is for agencies involved in testing, quality assurance, and evaluating of manufactured building components. ASTM E541-10 is the previous standard that has now been withdrawn.

Services include DIY Built, Manufactured Built, and Consultations.

https://www.pacificwesttinyhomes.com

 

Tiny House Dweller, Advocate, Author

Shorty Robbins

Florida Tiny House Advocacy Leader

Shorty Robbins has been a Parks and Recreation professional serving several different municipalities in Florida for over 30 years.  For most of those years, her hobby has been living history, specifically portraying the lives of the women and children who kept the home fires burning during Florida’s pioneer period, especially during the Civil War.  This hobby nicely tied together Shorty’s interests in history, camping, sewing and utilizing those beautiful parks.

Over time, the Living History set-up expanded to several tents, flys, a trailer full of carpets and furniture, and took over 6 hours to assemble.  Shorty’s interest in tiny houses was sparked when her daughter-in-law (also a living historian) showed her a photo of Jay Shafer’s “Tumbleweed” and suggested it would be easier to build one of those than haul around all this stuff.

Originally meant only to be a “shell” to take to events instead of setting up a tent, Shorty’s tiny house has become so much more than that.  As a result of her research and “the build” itself, Shorty has been drawn into the tiny house movement as a practical and affordable way to live.  Shorty’s Victorian Tiny House is a functioning mobile historical exhibit, telling the story of life in the late 19th century, and a modern-day home with all the amenities.  With the help of a few friends on “heavy lifting days” and no prior construction experience, Shorty has built the house by herself using SIPS technology, from 90% recycled and re-purposed materials.  Shorty travels with her tiny house “Nawaka” to living history events and tiny house workshops and festivals, as well as school and environmental teaching opportunities. She’s currently working on tiny house advocacy in Florida and writing a book, “Building Passion” about women DIY Tiny House Builders. When she’s not on the road, she lives full-time in Nawaka in St. Johns, Florida.

ICC Off-Site Modular Construction Committee Chair

David R. Tompos

American Tiny House Association President

Kevin Polk

Bildsworth International Founder

Barbara Reilly

Tiny Home Inspection Leader

Barbara Reilly is passionate about cultivating potential in others.  Whatever her role—representing Fortune 50 corporations or leading thousands of volunteers for non-profits—her enthusiasm is contagious.

While serving as Vice President of a multi-county school food pantry program in Central Florida, she was pursued for her fundraising skills to provide Tiny Houses for the under-served in her community.  In 2015, Barbara accepted the role of Vice President and co-founded a new 501(c)(3) non-profit, NOAH—National Organization of Alternative Housing, Inc. (NOAH)   Within days though, it became evident to her the challenge of giving away a Tiny House was exponentially complicated, especially because the structures were not recognized as permissible dwellings.  This void in the market created the need for minimum safe construction practices paired with voluntary builder compliance and would be essential for the long-term success of the rapidly evolving industry.  The first Tiny House inspection and certification service was launched later in 2015—Noah certified (NOAH Holding Corp., established 2016.)  As co-founder, managing partner, and corporate officer, Barbara developed and implemented the company’s uniquely robust systematic processes and authored the intellectual property creating a strong brand.

Barbara has been an advocate in the industry beyond construction compliance.  She cultivated a dynamic relationship with Foremost Insurance Group Underwriting which ultimately lead to eligibility for comprehensive coverage for Tiny Homes.  Barbara’s devotion to bringing traditional lending to the Tiny Home industry has fostered many great relationships with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, and several top ten financial institutions nationwide.  She believes we’re a frog’s hair away from real money for real people to really buy affordable, sustainable, and resilient Tiny Homes.

Barbara is a speaker at Tiny House events and represents our industry at the state and local government levels.  She is also the American Tiny House Association Chapter Leader for both Alabama and Georgia, and a member of the United Tiny House Association.

Barbara is known for her leadership strength in seeking alternative ways to progress forward and introducing completely new ways of decision-making in many industries.  In 2017, Barbara founded the next generation of Tiny Home services, Bildsworth International, now the world’s premier Tiny Home Inspection, Certification, Data Indexing, and Appraisal services firm—Empowering Trust in the Tiny Home Industry!

 

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