As has become an annual tradition at Verdical Group, we’ve compiled a list of “buzzwords” that took center stage in the sustainability conversation this year. While they help us look back at where we’ve come from, many of them will continue to frame our conversations in the coming year as we work together to build a net zero future.
MORE VG STORIES
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that LEED v5 is currently in development this November at their Greenbuild Conference & Expo. Our team of experts shares their thoughts, insights, and guesses about what changes are in store here.
Architectural disobedience, like civil disobedience, means refusing to comply with the status quo as a form of peaceful protest. Verdical Group’s Founder & CEO Drew Shula spoke with Metropolis Magazine, who also covered our Net Zero 2022 Conference, about this idea and how he’s working to spearhead it.
“September’s Net Zero Conference felt like a long-awaited meeting of the green building minds,” USGBC’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Communications, and Advocacy Taryn Holowka wrote about her experience attending our 2022 Net Zero Conference. She shared her key takeaways as a speaker and attendee — read them here.
Our Staff Spotlight series has begun! Get to know our incredible team and learn more about the work they do to mitigate the climate crisis each day. We began this quarter with Chelsea Anderson (Senior Partnerships & Events Manager) and Teja Crawford (Energy Analyst). Stay tuned for more 1:1s with the experts!
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
642 Quarry is a two-building commercial campus located in San Carlos, CA. The project totals 410,072 square feet of life sciences office space.
Verdical Group is providing LEED v4 Core & Shell Project Management (BD+C Targeting Gold certification), Fitwel Feasibility Assessment, Fitwel Project Management (Targeting 1 Star certification), Commissioning (CALGreen Code, LEED Fundamental, LEED Enhanced), and Sustainability Consulting services.
WELCOME TO THE TEAM!
GRETCHEN RAINES
PEOPLE OPERATIONS MANAGER
Gretchen is Verdical Group’s resident People Operations Manager. She provides valuable support and resources to our team members by processing payroll, administering benefits, assisting with policy and procedure updates, ensuring compliance with employment laws, collaborating with the leadership team on recruitment and hiring needs, handling employee concerns, and organizing team-building events. She has nearly a decade of experience teaching Leadership, Training and Development, and HR Management courses, and has held leadership and management roles in many different organizations.
WENRUI LUO
COMMISSIONING ASSOCIATE
Wenrui is a Commissioning Associate at Verdical Group. He began as a construction management student at Purdue University. He went to Duke University for graduate school to study Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on risk and resilience in climate change. At Verdical Group, he focuses on commissioning, energy efficiency, and project management.
He is passionate about sustainability and energy efficiency and enjoys using problem-solving skills to tackle sustainability issues. In his free time, you can find him cooking Chinese cuisine or playing basketball or badminton.
MARIA ESPINOSA
COMMISSIONING ASSOCIATE
Maria is a Commissioning Associate at Verdical Group. She’s passionate about helping the environment and found that being a commissioning agent makes a huge impact on energy efficiency. Working on commissioning for projects pursuing LEED certification is a way for her to make the built environment a bit greener.
She got her university degree as an engineer in Energy and Sustainable Development from Universidad del Valle de Mexico. She has a master’s degree in Project Management and an expert title in Environmental Management from the European Open Business School.
CLAIRE BISSON
ASSOCIATE PROJECT MANAGER
Claire is an Associate Project Manager at Verdical Group. She works with the Project Management team on a variety of projects and is working toward achieving her LEED Green Associate credential.
Claire graduated from the University of Miami with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and a Marine Policy track. She is currently pursuing an M.S. in Engineering Management with a focus in Sustainability, Society, and Business at the University of Southern California. She has conducted research that was published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.
PARTNER NEWS & EVENTS
The International Living Future Institute invites you to Living Future 2023 in Washington, D.C., May 3-5, 2023.
The event will bring together key leaders and stakeholders from regenerative building, climate justice, materials health, and biophilic design and unite them under the theme Advocacy and Belonging. Early Bird tickets are now available at a discounted rate through December 31. VisitLivingFutureConference.org to register.
In these bi-weekly episodes, we explore how through understanding buildings, cities, and all the things that go into them, we can do better for the environment and all life on this planet.
