Meet The 2018 Award Winners

Jane Abernethy

Chief Sustainability Officer, Humanscale

After a decade of working as a product designer, Jane transitioned to Chief Sustainability Officer at Humanscale - a leading manufacturer of ergonomic products for the workplace. She is dedicated to developing the strategic vision for sustainability at Humanscale, leading Humanscale to be the first manufacturer to achieve the entire Living Product Challenge in 2016, which requires manufacturers to give back more than they use, truly changing manufacturing from not just reducing the harm it does, but actually being a part of the solution. Throughout this process, Jane figured out how to produce 105% of the energy required to manufacture their products with onsite renewable energy, she used 100% of production water from captured rainwater, 90% waste diversion and no Red List ingredients. Quite the feat, but Jane continues to demonstrate her commitment to the industry, all while being the mother of two children AND having an addiction to gummy bears.

Ranae Anderson

Global Sustainability Leader, Universal Fibers®

Ranae is responsible for developing and executing company-wide strategic sustainability initiatives across the globe for Universal Fibers. Ranae leads their third party certification commitments across three continents and works specifically with their Asia plant, which has achieved virtual zero waste to landfill in 2 years at 98%. With a true objective to create a culture of sustainability at Universal Fibers, Ranae developed a company wide training program to bring awareness to sustainability and leads programs to engage students and promote mentorship. With 8 out of 10 positions in manufacturing held by men, Ranae seeks to change this statistic through her leadership and management styles, as popular or unpopular as they may be.

“Culture cannot change without women being in the room.” That is the truth.

Jennifer Berthelot-Jelovic

Founder & CEO, A SustainAble Production (ASAP)

Jennifer is the Founder & CEO of A SustainAble Production (ASAP), a woman owned, full-service, global Equity, Sustainability and Wellness consulting firm. Jennifer is an expert in IWBI’s WELL Building Standard, Health-Safety Rating and WELL Portfolio program. Jennifer was one of the first WELL APs and WELL Faculty in the world and is a LEED Fellow, LEED Faculty, LEED AP (BD+C & Homes) and EcoDistricts AP. Jennifer has been instrumental in countless LEED and WELL Projects that were firsts of their kind. In 2019 Jennifer received the IWBI’s inaugural WELL AP of the Year Award.

Dr. Christine Bruckner

Director, M Moser Associates

Having lived and studied at numerous universities and countries across the globe, specifically receiving a Masters and Doctorate of Engineering in Architecture from the University of Tokyo, Dr. Bruckner has stayed true to her focus - “to create places for people within which they can meet and exceed their own potential.” As a Director at M Moser Associates, Dr. Bruckner is responsible for developing a global team of professionals who are committed to implementing architectural design which pushes the boundaries of current best practices and prioritizes human health and wellbeing. This team has helped Citi Hong Kong to implement the firm’s “Live Well” initiative - a project that achieved the highest Honor award from The American Institute of Architects (AIA) International Region. Dr. Bruckner has also co-founded Calexian, focusing on energy efficiency through integrated solutions for existing buildings in Hong Kong, and also co-founded the Southside Glass Recycling initiative there having saved over 500 tons of glass from landfill, and then successfully led the government to establish a program which officially took over the exact program they began. Dr. Bruckner has incredible examples of impacting lasting change, all while taking on tremendous mentorship roles for AIA Hong Kong, IR, and National.

Gina LaMotte

Founder, President, Chief Innovation Officer, EcoRise

Gina launched EcoRise in 2008 with 20 students in a single classroom in Austin, TX. EcoRise is a nonprofit social enterprise whose mission is to provide k-12 school programs that empower youth to tackle real world challenges in their communities by teaching environmental literacy, design, and innovation. Ten years later, EcoRise now serves more than 800 schools and 200,000 students across 30 states and 25 countries. Gina has launched regional hubs in several cities, created nationally recognized project-based classroom curricula, created a flagship k-12 bilingual Sustainable Intelligence program, and so much more, with over 16,000 students having developed capstone sustainability projects. Teachers report an 80-90% increase in students’ eco-literacy rate. Gina’s constant mentorship on a day to day basis doesn’t stop with EcoRise. Gina supports girls from many diverse backgrounds. Her mentorship work includes refugees, trauma survivors, service projects to the favelas in Rio, Tibetan refugee children in India, indigenous children in Guatemala, and more. She saw amazing young people who were hungry for a caring adult, one who would see their strengths and potential, and she helped give them an opportunity to step into their best selves. Gina is intent on defining her own playbook and serving as an example to other women who seek empowering and authentic models of female leadership. Throughout her travel, Gina has developed a deep love for Brazilian culture, having lived in Rio de Janeiro twice, which has led her to being a founding member of the musical ensemble, Seu Jacinto.

Yasmeen Lari

CEO, Heritage Foundation of Pakistan - and the first female architect of Pakistan

Yasmeen was the first female architect of Pakistan when she began her practice in 1964. While setting tremendous standards in a largely male dominated society, Yasmeen believes her greatest impact with women has been in the humanitarian field. Having worked in the humanitarian field since the 2005 Earthquake in pakistan, Yasmeen strives to create sustainable housing solutions for displaced populations. Yasmeen has continued to devise zero or low carbon footprint designs - some in response to the Great Flood of 2010, or the militancy area of Swat (home of Nobel Laureate Malala), or countrywide floods in both Swat and Upper Sindh. Yasmeen went to highly inaccessible desolate areas to take up humanitarian work and create building structures from nothing. Yasmeen has fought for many causes in her life, but the most trying periods was trying to create a regulatory body for architects and planners in Pakistan. However, against all of the odds, she managed to convince the government of the time and passed the formation of the regulatory body.

Kimberly Lewis

Senior Vice President of Market Transformation and Development of North America, US Green Building Council

In 2001, Kimberly was one of the fortunate few to launch the USGBC’s very first Greenbuild Conference, which has lasted nearly two decades and still growing strong - with shows now in Europe, Mexico, India, and China. It has created a ripple effect for sustainability within the conference and meetings industry - focusing on the people and working for equity. As an agent of massive social change, Kimberly believes it is within her responsibility to lift everyone higher. As part of a leadership organization, Kimberly makes sure everyone is accounted for, which is why she also launched the Women in Green platform in 2012. Women in Green now takes place across the world, throughout the year, as a call to action for women everywhere. As a minister and preacher, Kimberly continues to lead with grace and power, focusing on those disenfranchised and guiding other females to be the best leaders they can be. Since 2008, Kimberly has secured over 580 full conference all expense paid scholarships (over $1M) to attend the conference for underserved and diverse young women and men from around the world. And has fundraised over $300k towards USGBC’s Project Haiti LEED Platinum orphanage. However, while Kimberly was on a passionate mission to move sustainability forward, she was not living a sustainable life herself. With complete determination, Kimberly has restructured her lifestyle for victory - having lost over 140 pounds- and now an avid crossfitter for life!

Sara Neff

SVP Sustainability, Kilroy Realty Corporation

Sara is in the midst of driving Kilroy to become the first real estate company in this hemisphere to commit to 100% carbon neutral operations by the end of 2020. As SVP of Sustainability, Sara is creating lasting change not just at Kilroy, but the entire real estate industry. Since Sara has been at Kilroy, they have reduced their energy use by 15% - many of these efficiency projects are run through the Kilroy Innovation Lab, which Sara also launched to help streamline clean tech pilots. Additionally, Sara will be finishing the installation of their entire onsite solar portfolio, over 5MW, in 2018. It is these and many other initiatives that will allow Kilroy Realty to become a carbon Neutral company, a huge feat in development that will truly change attitudes towards real estate forever.When Sara first started at Kilroy, there was no sustainability program at all - Sara asked every single person at Kilroy to change their perspective on sustainability and look what was accomplished. When Sara’s second daughter was born, she got a tattoo that reads, “And though she be but little, she is fierce.” She strives to deliver her fighting spirit to her daughters and everyone around her that may be undervalued in hopes to create real change. Some of these leadership qualities could be in thanks to her 20 years of doing improv and still performing!

Kimberly Pittel

Group Vice President of Sustainability, Environment, and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company

Kimberly drives Ford’s commitment to safety and sustainability deeper than ever before in all areas of the global business. Kimberly has instituted a company wide sustainability approach. Everyone from Finance and Marketing to Manufacturing and Product Development have identified positive impact actions to be made for further sustainable growth. With diversity and inclusion something Kimberly is very passionate about, she serves as the Executive Sponsor of the Ford Empowering Diverse Abilities organization, also know as FEDA. Ford partners with FEDA on many projects to implement ‘Inclusive Design” now - creating products that are accessible to and usable by as many people as reasonably possible. As one of the few women in an executive technical position at Ford Motor, Kimberly believes that it is her responsibility and privilege to share her knowledge and leverage her experiences to support others and eliminate inequalities.

Andrea Traber

Senior Principal US West Sustainability + Resilient Design Leader, Integral Group

Andrea joined Integral in 2013 to start and grow the sustainability consulting practice. Within Andrea’s first year, her strategic vision evolved to begin working on campus scale master planning and designing zero carbon campuses so that she can greatly influence the process to accelerate the rate of change. Additionally, Andrea has helped leverage their influence to develop a zero carbon policy, zero carbon codes, and energy transition plans at the city and state government scale.Because of Andrea, Integral is now developing the firm’s strategic plan for their now-GLOBAL consulting practice. Andrea has also co-founded the Women EmPowerment group in the San Francisco Bay area, and she co-introduced their first mentoring program with the People department at Integral. The industry average for women in engineering is roughly 11% and through some of Andrea’s initiatives, Integral is changing this - currently achieving 30% women in their US West region. Andrea embodies that strong leadership role pushing for a higher level of influence on their strategic vision, culture, and diversity. And in her free time, you might find her abstract painting.

Alicia Daniels Uhlig

Living Community Challenge and Policy Director, International Living Future Institute

Alicia is a licensed architect whose career has spanned continents and decades to effect lasting change; she worked in design studios: in a UNESCO world heritage site in Italy, in California with Van der Ryn Architects, in the US Virgin Islands, and most recently in Seattle Washington as Principal and Director of Sustainability at GGLO where she directly influenced 2,800 LEED certified affordable & market-rate housing units and she shaped Seattle’s sustainability through collaborative planning such as the Seattle Climate Action Plan and the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict in Seattle. Now she reaches an even broader audience through her role as Director of the Living Community Challenge + Policy at the Living Future Institute where the number of communities in the program have quadrupled in 2 ½ years. Alicia never questioned her right to enter the male-dominated field of architecture, even convincing her high school to change its policy and allow her to work half-time in an architecture firm during her junior year. That perseverance served her well in the daily battles she faces with changing the status quo and culture of a large organization to embrace sustainability at all levels. Alicia speaks Italian and has studied and worked in Italy for several years. While Alicia’s workplace environments have varied – from working in a CAVE during her time in Architect Pietro Laureano’s design studio – to now working in a LIVING BUILDING at the Bullitt Center – the sustainable design principles behind them are constant; as is her commitment to accelerating the creation of vibrant, healthy, sustainable communities.