Leaving with a sense of accomplishment through collaboration, guided by our bold vision

There's no easy way to say this, so I'll get right to it: After 12 transformational years at USGBC and GBCI, I am ready for my next opportunity. I will be leaving the organization in the coming months.

Without a doubt, now is the time to step boldly into my next chapter, a chapter dedicated to carrying on the important work of improving the health of our planet and its people like?never before. Over?the?past few years,?I?was?proud to?lead with an open and authentic heart, and put the?values of this community?first.?I am grateful to have received these blessings considering all that has transpired in the last?21?months.

Recently a friend shared this quote with me: "Without things to overcome, you don't become much of a person, do you?" I also believe that rings true for organizations, too.

Thanks to the tremendous partnership of everyone at USGBC, GBCI, and Arc, we have overcome big and small institutional challenges, and we all have become better at what we do, and the organization is stronger than ever. Our collective actions truly bring me a sense of joy, including some of the following:

• We put people first — at the center of everything we did, every product we built, every improvement we made, and every strategy we took.
• We are more intentional about the words we use and the stories we tell so we authentically connect with people all over the world.
• We follow a roadmap for getting to a place where buildings do less harm, to no harm, and then to where buildings are regenerative and give back more than they take.
• We walk the walk of equity, encouraging and empowering people, projects, and organizations at all scales to incorporate equity into every aspect of decision-making, policy and governance, and implementation.

There are also a host of accomplishments that our collaboration made possible, from which I — and we — learned and grew. As I close this chapter, I'd like to celebrate a few:

• We returned USGBC and GBCI to financial health for the first time in years, with hard work and sacrifice.
• We strengthened LEED as the leading global brand, with registration, certification, and recertification square footage and credential holder numbers growing over the last 12 years. And we now have LEED projects in 182 countries and territories supported by local capacity. I am especially proud that nearly one-third of these projects are now international.
• And we did not stop there. We also expanded LEED from a single building concept to cities and communities. Today, 273 global cities and communities are actively engaging, impacting 136.6 million people.
• Don't forget that we delivered LEED v4.1, in just 14 months! We gained back the trust of the market and even turned around the adoption of LEED v4.?
• We leaned into the innovative, disruptive, and forward-looking vision of Arc. The harder it got, the stronger our efforts became, and the result is over 21,000 projects in 135 countries reporting their energy, water, waste, transportation, and human experience performance in Arc, powering LEED for buildings, communities, and cities.
• We inspired and educated in new and innovative ways, like spinning off our Greenbuild show and launching USGBC Live, where we convened the global USGBC community and engaged leaders to shape the future of LEED, with over 200 hours of on-demand global content created in just 2021 alone — all while adding a new revenue line for the organization amidst a pandemic.?
• We shifted our executive strategic communication messaging paradigm, inspiring millions worldwide and allowing us to meet people where they are by appealing to their culture, and developing a deep bench of inspiring speakers, presenters, and influencers.
• We made our membership program a source of strength and stability, growing membership revenues and keeping our membership retention steady by changing our structure from one that felt transactional to customers, to one where they feel we are partners!
• We engaged with our USGBC Community, bringing those chapters who wanted to join us on board, working with them to unify and streamline our approaches, and freeing them from fundraising responsibilities. And key to this was bringing our chapter leaders on to our own staff — many of the Market Transformation & Development team members we rely on were part of this effort. We also nurtured and strengthened partnerships with our aligned chapters and other nonprofits that advance our mission.

And there are so many more accomplishments that we, together, made possible: from the Center for Green Schools, to our advocacy and marketing successes, to our data and market intelligence operations, from the evolution of our boards and committees, our international operations, our global technology platforms — and the list goes on.

I am so grateful to leave with a sense of accomplishment through collaboration, guided by our new vision: Healthy people in healthy places equals a healthy economy.

All of this combined with our focus during the pandemic of making sure we were ready to serve the community so that they could safely and confidently go back inside when they felt it was time, confirms to me that it is time. Therefore, I have set my last day as President and CEO to be October 31. My tenure — though at times exhausting — is full of things to be very proud of, thanks to a truly remarkable staff and community.

As for my next steps? Well, it's no secret that my motivation goes beyond net zero. I believe in my core that now is the time for me to focus on net positive. And so that is what I plan to do. I am certain our paths will closely align, and intersect, and I look forward to working with you all again, in a new capacity.