USGBC MA Chapter friend and Board member Chris Schaffner is a candidate for USGBC's Board of Directors

By Grey Lee

USGBC MA Chapter friend and Board member Chris Schaffner is a candidate for USGBC's Board of Directors. Chris has provided an overview of his intentions and reasons for seeking a seat designated for Sustainable Practice Leader: Engineer. Voting for the 2015 USGBC Board of Directors is ongoing, through October 30.

Friends and Colleagues:

I'd appreciate your consideration when you fill your ballot. 

The USGBC has come along way in the last two decades. 20 years ago, the USGBC was in its infancy, and green building was seen as a niche, practiced by only a very few. Today, a market transformation is in progress, as witnessed here in Boston’s Seaport District, where every one of the new buildings recently finished or under construction will be LEED Certified. That’s the impact that we, the members of the USGBC have had.  We succeeded in beginning a market transformation, a transformation that has brought green building practices into the mainstream. We’ve communicated the message that green buildings are not only good for the environment, they’re also good business, good for communities, and good for people. 

But our work is not finished – it has really barely begun. What do the next 20 years and beyond look like?  That is the question before us.  I want to help us, the members of the USGBC, plan and lead the next 20 years. That is why I'm running. 

With our many accomplishments, we face a few challenges. 

1) We’ve succeeded in making green buildings a desirable object. How do we make sure that they are available to everyone, everywhere? 

2) With our growth and power come new challenges, organizations and individuals who are threatened by our mission. How do we face these challenges?   

3) Our growth has also created vested interests within the green building movement. How do we challenge our friends to raise the bar, to improve what is working, and fix what is not?  

4) And finally, we must remember that the USGBC is a 501(c)(3) charity –we’re not a professional organization, and we’re not lobbyists. How do we go beyond just advancing the interests of our current members, and become a force for good everywhere, for everyone?

These questions need answers. I hope to help answer them.