Overview
Sustainability experts accept national leadership positions in organizations empowering environmental stewardship.
As design professionals, Walter P Moore understands that addressing urgent environmental challenges requires cross-disciplinary collaboration, education, industry advocacy, the development of benchmarks, and innovative solutions. Evident not only in a creative and sustainable approach to projects and material solutions, but leaders also participate in active and vital roles within industry platforms. Several firm experts were recently appointed to national positions across industry-related organizations focused on fundamental change.
Walter P Moore’s Director of Sustainable Design, Dirk Kestner, was recently appointed to the Carbon Leadership Forum’s (CLF) Board of Directors. CLF accelerates the transformation of the building and infrastructure sector to radically reduce the embodied carbon emissions associated with materials and construction. For the past six years, Kestner has been an active member of CLF participating in both the CLF incubation committee and feature and thought leadership articles, speaking opportunities, and serves as Walter P Moore’s lead contact during the firm’s sponsorship of the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool.
“We have reached a critical point in the industry for embodied carbon,” says Kestner. “I would like to help grow the CLF and broaden its reach as the world becomes increasingly aware of the importance and urgency of addressing embodied carbon.”
Kelly Roberts, a Principal and Project Manager as well as an expert in structural sustainability with a focus on embodied carbon and building reuse, was appointed to U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Materials & Resources Technical Advisory Group. This group is charged with providing a consistent source of technical advice to LEED committees and working groups with respect to credit and prerequisite improvement and supporting tool development. A number of related committees also work on credit and prerequisite development based on their specific areas of expertise.
“I believe tackling embodied carbon is the most critical challenge structural engineers are facing at this moment in history,” says Roberts. “Because I have my hands in both new-building projects as well as sustainable design, I understand the balance between practical and aspirational, as I practice it on a day-to-day basis.”
Managing Principal, Charlie Penland, and Senior Principal, Lee Anne Dixon, were both recently appointed to the 2021-2024 Greenroads Board of Directors. The goal of the organization is to fundamentally change the way the world builds transportation projects. The Greenroads Board of Directors is responsible for the high-level strategic planning, governance, and direction of the organization.
Penland brings a long history of board experience, resilient civil engineering design, and collegiate teaching experience. “I enjoy working with national thought leaders on ways to imbed sustainability objectives into engineering design of transportation corridors to help create a better future,” adds Penland.
Dixon’s operational savvy and past experience with achieving Greenroads Silver certification for Bagby Street in Midtown Houston—the first Greenroads project in Texas and highest-rated at the time of certification in 2013—led to her personal investment in Greeenroads mission and objectives. “I began to first work with Greenroads staff in 2013 as we worked to create a state of the art corridor in Midtown Houston that would revitalize the way the residents, employees, and visitors engage with nature and flood protection elements in the street right-of-way,” says Dixon
