2022 Board of Directors Election

Vice President of Sustainability, STO Building Group

Jennifer Taranto brings more than 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate and construction industry. She joined Structure Tone in 2001, where she served as a superintendent and project manager before becoming STO Building Group’s Vice President of Sustainability.

As a passionate advocate for reducing the environmental impact of the built environment, Jennifer gets involved in the early stages of a project to define the client’s goals and help the project team create an internal roadmap to achieve them. With her guidance and expertise, organizations around the world have been able to improve their carbon footprints alongside people’s health and wellbeing while reducing the operating costs of facilities.

A recognized leader and frequent speaker, she has received International WELL Building Institute’s WELL community award in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Engineering from North Carolina State University.

What is your background in the green building industry?

Jennifer earned her LEED credential in 2006 and began training others, internally and externally to her company, on LEED exam prep. This experience introduced her to other like-minded local green building professional and culminated with Jennifer being a founder, alongside others, of the non-profit, Built Environment Plus (formerly USGBCMA), and the current vice-chair of the organization’s Board of Directors. Having worked on countless of LEED and WELL projects, her firsts include building the first LEED-CI Platinum project in London, the first WELL projects in New York State, Texas, and Dublin. She co-founded the national Sustainable Construction Leaders group and sits on its steering committee. In 2021 her participation on the WELL Performance Advisory helped launch the WELL Performance Rating. In 2022 she will contribute to the WELL Materials Advisory and the WELL Building Standard development. Her company, STO Building Group, is ranked #9 on ENR’s Top 100 Green Contractors.

List organizations in the building and/or environmental industries you are actively involved in:

• USGBC – (2016-present) USGBC Faculty
• IWBI – (2017-present) WELL Faculty, (2021) Performance Advisory, (2022) Materials Advisory
• CoreNet NYC – sustainability committee member
• CoreNet New England – membership committee member & DEI committee member
• Sustainable Construction Leaders (SCL) – co-founder, sit on steering committee (2018-present)
• Built Environment Plus – Membership Committee Chair (Nov 2007 – Feb 2010); Board Chair (Feb 2010 – Feb 2012); Board Vice-Chair (Aug 2012 – Feb 2013); Upper Northeast Regional Committee Member (Feb 2013 – Feb 2015); At Large Executive Committee Member (2020 – 2021), Community Committee board liaison (2021 -present), Women In Green Roundtable Board Liaison (2020-present), Board Vice-Chair (2021-present)

Briefly list your areas of expertise. For example; energy, renewable energy, water, indoor air quality, resiliency, health and wellness:

Sustainable construction practices/embodied carbon, Health and wellness in the built environment, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Describe any involvement and interactions with Built Environment Plus (USGBC MA) in the past five years:

• At Large Executive Committee Member (2020 – 2021)
• Community Committee board liaison (2021 -present)
• Women In Green Roundtable Board Liaison (2020-present)
• Board Vice-Chair (2021 – present)”

What will you bring to the Board of Directors?

I’m all-in for Built Environment Plus. I’ll provide continued leadership in these areas – growing community, the roundtables, developing sponsorship, running the everyday functions of BE+: budget, staff management and overall strategy to move the organization forward. I’m keen to utilize my growing professional network to grow the reach of the work that BE+ is doing and bring in people from other parts of the country to share best practices with our New England community.

A longtime member, I also carry institutional knowledge around relationships/partnerships held in the past and how they poise us for better collaboration in the future. I’ve always been and will continue to be a very hands-on, active board member. Our organization depends on, to a certain extent, volunteerism at all levels. I also commit my company’s resources, growing our sponsorship this year to the Bronze level, and will continue to invest my time as well.

Chief Program Officer, Mass Clean Energy Center

In my role as Chief Program Officer at the Mass Clean Energy Center, I oversee and help inform MassCEC’s technology and market development work in the buildings sector, including new construction and existing buildings, commercial and residential. Prior to that role, I conceived and managed many of MassCEC’s technology development programs. Before MassCEC, I worked at the city level, in Boston, on a variety of clean energy, sustainability, and green building program and policy initiatives. Throughout my career, I’ve focused my skills and energy on facilitating critical market transitions, at the intersection of leading edge technologies, early adopters, visionaries and funders, helping to inform and accelerate adoption of low carbon policy frameworks.

What is your background in the green building industry?

Most recently, I conceived and co-developed the Mass Clean Energy Center’s Triple Decker Design Challenge, an effort to surface cost effective, replicable, scalable approaches to “electrofitting” the region’s iconic three family dwelling. I’ve also played a role in shaping other high performance building programs at MassCEC and contributed to state level building decarbonization policy development. During my time at Boston City government, I co-developed the city’s green affordable housing standard and related educational programming and support resources. Prior to that experience, I oversaw development of the Green Roundtable’s NEXUS green building resource center in downtown Boston. Perhaps most relevant, I am pursuing a multi-phase/year decarbonization effort in my two family home in Roxbury.

List organizations in the building and/or environmental industries you are actively involved in:

I am a sitting Built Environment Plus board member (unspecified seat) and member.

Briefly list your areas of expertise. For example; energy, renewable energy, water, indoor air quality, resiliency, health and wellness:

In my role as Chief Program Officer at the Mass Clean Energy Center, I oversee our technology and market development work in the buildings, transportation, and energy sectors. I also launched MassCEC’s energy resilience programming and oversaw our water innovation efforts. As such, I enjoy broad exposure to wide array of clean energy, high performance material, resilience, smart building, water innovation, workforce training, clean transportation, grid modernization, energy efficiency, and industrial decarbonization technologies and related markets, among others. In addition, I am proud of the work we have done to focus even more of our resources on historically disadvantaged populations and environmental justice communities.

Describe any involvement and interactions with Built Environment Plus (USGBC MA) in the past five years:

I am a sitting board member (unspecified seat) and participated in USGBC MA events prior to becoming a board member.

What will you bring to the Board of Directors?

Many of the challenges we face today, from the on-going pandemic, to climate change, to environmental degradation – are impacted by the choices made by those who design, build, and finance the built environment, where we spend over 85% of our time. Though buildings are more human, climate, and environmentally friendly than they were a decade ago, each year, innovators, early adopters, advocates, and bold visionaries push practitioners outside our comfort zone and nudge industry standards a bit higher.

Built Environment Plus must continue to give voice to these thought and action leaders, whether they’re challenging our assumptions regarding the limits of building electrification, demanding healthier buildings, or asking how we can bring more diverse voices to critical dialogues shaping the future of the built environment. I am committed to ensuring that BE+’s Roundtables, annual and special events, educational resources and training continue to represent the best in our industry.

Director of Sustainable Development, Millennium Partners Boston

As the Director of Sustainable Development for Millennium Partners Boston, I lead our high-performance, healthy building and technology efforts at Winthrop Center, a transformative 1.8 million square foot mixed-use project in downtown Boston. Winthrop Center will be the largest commercial office Passive House project in the world at over 800,000 sf and will also integrate WELL Certified Gold, LEED Platinum and WIRED Plattinum. I started at MP Boston in 2012 and restored the historic Burnham Building, the former Filene’s Building, in Downtown Crossing overseeing all aspects of that development and integration with our Tenants. I previously worked at Lend Lease for fifteen (15) years, managing and overseeing a wide range of projects from high-rise to restorations and renovations. I received my Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University.

What is your background in the green building industry?

Passionate advocate for all efforts to decarbonize our building stock and share those lessons. I have managed all our high-performance, sustainability and healthy building efforts for the Boston office. Manage all aspects of our Passive House design and implementation, including visiting the Passive House Institute in Darmstadt to understand and learn more about bringing this rigorous energy efficiency standard to a new building typology (commercial office) at a large scale. Working with our design team and consultants to manage our certifications including WELL certification, LEED and Passive House.

List organizations in the building and/or environmental industries you are actively involved in:

I have been involved in the USGBC, IWBI and PHN and have helped promote high-performance and healthy building efforts at PHN conferences (plenary speaker), Getting to Zero forums and other conferences across the region.

Briefly list your areas of expertise. For example; energy, renewable energy, water, indoor air quality, resiliency, health and wellness:

Decarbonization, energy, health and wellness, indoor air quality

Describe any involvement and interactions with Built Environment Plus (USGBC MA) in the past five years:

It has been a true pleasure to serve with the industry’s finest on the Board of Directors of Built Environment Plus since 2019.

What will you bring to the Board of Directors?

We have witnessed a sea change in the commercial real estate industry over the past 20 months: the pandemic has highlighted the need for healthy buildings, our climate crisis begs for significant changes and innovation in all industries, not just the built environment and the way we interact with technology has changed so drastically; we have seen how this technology can help our sustainability goals. I hope to bring the community a unique perspective on how these emerging innovations in design and building technologies can be a new way forward for all projects in our industry. I want to share my experiences so that others in the industry can take this knowledge and create new innovations that will further aide future development teams and project. As a coach and mentor to many Boston youth in all neighborhoods of Boston, my work in helping to shape and change the future of the built environment aligns with how I hope we may all positively influence our younger generation.

To align with our strategic plan, we are seeking the representation of experts from a variety of sectors involved in the design, construction, and operation of our built environment. BE+ currently has 16 Board members.  Six of those seats are reserved for one representative from each of these professions; Engineer, Architect, Contractor, Developer, Building Owner, with an additional seat reserved for the Emerging Professional Representative.  The remaining seats are unspecified.  BE+ seeks a diversity of perspective from its Directors across professions, areas of expertise/interest, as well as gender, age, race, and ethnicity. 

Positions Available in 2022:

In 2022 there are a total of 6 unspecified Board of Director seats and 1 contractor seat open for candidates.

There is one incumbent running for the contractor seat

• Jenn Taranto, STO Building Group

There are 2 incumbent Directors seeking reelection for the unspecified seats:

• Brad Mahoney, MP Boston
• Galen Nelson, MassCEC

BE+ has identified these priority professional categories for new board members and encourages people from these fields to be nominated:

• Building Operations & Maintenance (energy)
• Construction
• Community Development
• Government (policy)

In addition to specific sectors in the field of design, construction, and operation of our built environment, the board is looking for expertise in specific areas:

• Development/Fundraising
• Finance
• Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)
• Legal
  

A BE+ Board Member…

• Has knowledge of BE+ mission, goals, and objectives and is able to promote them effectively; 
• Has the experience and influence needed by BE+ and/or can also represent one or more professions and priority areas to help balance the Board’s membership;
• Has showcased leadership skills in their community and can use their experience to successfully work with the rest of the Board and its committees; 
• Is capable of being an active public representative of the organization and can successfully include others in the work of BE+; 
• Is a member in good standing of BE+. Double-check your membership status by visiting the BE+ Join It membership profile by clicking the blue MEMBERSHIP button in the upper right-hand corner of our website’s menu. 

The Board as a whole cannot have more than two Directors from the same company or organization at a time. A board member should expect to commit an average of 3-6 hours a month. Monthly commitment may vary based on initiatives, committee work, and events.

Board members are expected to… 

• Review financial statements and the budget and to otherwise help the board fulfill its fiduciary responsibilities; 
• Familiarize themselves with bylaws and other organizational documents; 
• Attend at minimum fifty percent of board meetings per year either in person or virtually;
• Read board materials in advance of monthly board meetings and to come prepared to ask questions and participate in discussions.
• Currently the board meets once per month virtually or in person;
• Serve on one or more committees of the board and actively participate in committee work. Current committees include; Education, Community Building, Governance, and Advocacy;
• Be an active community member of Built Environment Plus
• Secure a minimum of $1500 necessary for BE+ to achieve its mission, whether from the Board member’s own organization, from personal contributions or in using personal relationships and connections to actively recruit sponsorships and memberships. Alternatives to actual monetary contributions include supporting efforts to bring in monetary resources (such as teaching courses, participating in panels, etc.).
• Responsibly represent the organization to their respective communities and advocate for BE+’s mission, programs, and services as appropriate.
• Support initiatives and events, panels, etc. to further the organization’s mission.  These may include efforts around DEI, elections, educational programming, advocacy efforts, etc. This is an active and engaged Board.

Each board member is required to vote and have an informed decision after a thorough assessment of an issue. Specific tasks which will need groundwork and a vote by Board members include:

• Decisions on policies, goals, objectives, and priorities;
• Collaboration with other Board members and staff in the process, updates, and approval of specific strategies and objectives;
• Nominate and vote officers for the BE+ Board;
• Oversee and evaluate the strength and success of the projects and programs and make sure that these projects and programs are reaching the appropriate goals needed by the organization;
• Approve and oversee operation, property, and equipment budgets;
• Facilitate selection, employment, and evaluation of the Executive Director;
• Support the Executive Director in fulfilling their job duties;
• Review and update the Strategic Plan as required.

BE+ seeks an experienced green industry professional who has connections and the ability to bring new members/sponsors to the organization. We seek a board leader to help cultivate the board’s leadership role in support of staff as part of a broader commitment to increase awareness about the importance of our mission, influence public policy, and expand our reach. Preference for candidates who have prior board member experience.