“Any product that is used to construct the building, finish the building, or furnish the building is comprehended within our standard,” Wendy Vittori on Green Connections Radio
The green building sector is booming, and expected to grow to $433 billion by 2024, in efforts to combat climate change, since buildings comprise 40% of U.S. carbon emissions. But, as we wait for answers to what exactly caused the Champlain Towers in Surfside, Florida to collapse, we must ask: how do we know these materials are safe?
To find out, listen to Wendy Vittori, Executive Director of the Health Products Declaration Collaborative, which developed the Open Standard being used to publicly disclose what is actually in all building materials, in a consistent, reliable and transparent way.
You’ll learn:
- How they developed the Open Standard, and who decides
- What exactly the Open Standard tells us, and what it does not., and why
- How widely it’s used by the construction industry.
- How and how often it’s updated
- Plus, powerful career advice from this former Fortune 100 c-suite tech executive.
“Be honest with yourself… All of us have our strengths and weaknesses, and those weaknesses are just opportunities to be better. That’s all they are. And instead of sort of living with that, address it.”
Wendy Vittori on Green Connections Radio podcast
Read Joan’s Forbes article about how their standard might keep us safe, and her ones with the powerful career advice from Wendy here and here too.
You’ll also want to listen to:
- Elizabeth Thompson, US Green Building Council, on how innovative green building products are tested.
- Maria Blasé, President of Ingersoll Rand’s Buildings and Trucks Division on reducing their climate impact
- Laura Busse Dolan, Owner of Applied Imagination, building miniature buildings from plants, botanicals.
- Jessyca Henderson, American Institute of Architects, on the International Green Building Code
And read Joan’s other Forbes articles on the safety of green buildings in the face of Surfside here and here.
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Joan Michelson, MBA is a highly accomplished business leader and award-winning strategic social impact and ESG – environment, social, governance – leader, who drove breakthrough results at Chrysler (in EVs), American Express and Deloitte, small businesses, and government agencies. She is an instructor on ESG issues to professionals, leaders and board members across industries. Her specialties include leveraging ESG solutions and partnerships strategically for maximum benefit, helping organizations recruit innovative, diverse women, and helping these women thrive in their careers. She is based in the Washington D.C. area.
Joan is also an accomplished journalist who has worked with top media organizations and hosts and produces the acclaimed Electric Ladies podcast (formerly known as Green Connections Radio), about innovation and leadership in energy-, climate- and sustainability-related issues across industries, featuring women experts.
She writes regularly for Forbes on these issues and has also been in the Harvard Business Review, HuffPost, TheAtlantic.com, Greenbiz, The New Economy magazine (distributed at the World Economic Forum), New Thinking magazine, regional business journals; and various other media. She coproduced segments with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” ABC News, and “The Crusaders,” and television specials on NBC.
Joan has spent her career working in energy-sustainability-climate-ESG issues and in marketing communications, including as head of communications and co-leader of the sales and marketing team of Chrysler’s Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), driving “best year ever” growth and significantly accelerated the adoption of electric vehicles. Prior to GEM, she led marketing communications efforts to high-net-worth and high-visibility clients in management consulting-financial services companies Deloitte and American Express. She's a native of NYC and has a BA from UCLA, an MBA from Baruch College at City University of NY, and post-graduate studies at Harvard Business School, The New School and The Aspen Institute, among others. She has a Sustainability and ESG certification from Competent Boards.
