When Mia Brondum and I started the USGBC Northern California Rising Leaders Committee as co-chairs in 2017, we envisioned this group offering an impactful space for new or young leaders to explore, develop and hone their leadership skills through educational and networking events.

2019 was our most successful year yet: We gained 14 dedicated new members, who found us most often through committee member referral, word of mouth or by attending one of our events. In addition, our committee defined six annual goals, around which we focused the quarterly event program development, and it’s safe to say we delivered. We’re already looking forward to 2020 and what the Rising Leaders will bring!

Here's a review of all we accomplished this past year:

Q1: Volunteer Appreciation Celebration

Hosted at the local coworking lounge Covo, the Rising Leaders and Impact committees joined forces to celebrate volunteer contributions throughout the local Northern California community during National Volunteer Week. More than 30 sustainability professionals attended the Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, where Integral Group Managing Principal and LEED Fellow Andrea Traber spoke as keynote. Traber offered inspiration amid the stark reality of the local challenges that climate change presents for Northern California. In addition, three committee members shared their perspectives on what volunteering means to them.

Q2: Knowing Your Sustainability Story

The second quarterly event, Knowing Your Sustainability Story, is still being discussed among the attendees, as it provided a solid blueprint for sustainability storytelling techniques. Salesforce’s Head of Built Environment, Amanda von Almen, who is also the Rising Leaders Northern California Board Champion, led the group through the art of storytelling, how to gather sustainability allies and how to empower them to share your message and vision. The room was full, with more than 20 attendees who were either swiftly taking notes or just fascinated by the simple yet powerful advice and actions being offered.

The four main takeaways were:

Continuity: Frame the conversation.
Know your audience and levers.
Do work through others.
Inspire to act.

Q3: 181 Fremont Water Reuse Tour

181 Fremont Tower in San Francisco, California, is home to the Bay Area’s first-of-its-kind on-site water reuse system, a membrane bioreactor greywater system. Twenty Rising Leaders and Northern California community members were lucky enough to tour the award-winning, structurally resilient building, see the system firsthand, and learn about the technology and regulatory process.

The building owner, Jay Paul Company, shared the project's journey to on-site water reuse and the motivations behind pursuing such an innovative strategy. The building itself is projected to save a whopping 1.4 million gallons of water annually, supporting the building’s quest to achieve LEED Platinum certification. Thank you to Urban Fabrick, who assisted in the tour and coordination of the event.

Q4: Greenbuild 2019 and the Rising Leaders Committee holiday gathering

A few of the Rising Leaders attended Greenbuild in Atlanta, Georgia, this past November. They converged at the conference’s Expo Hall for the emerging professionals meetup, to learn about what other emerging professionals committees are doing across the nation.

To celebrate the committee’s hard work and as a farewell to 2019, members gathered one last time to share laughs in the holiday spirit by ice skating at San Francisco’s Union Square. The rain held up, allowing us to send well wishes to all during the holidays and to share a meal to end the evening.

Reflecting on the year as we close, Mia and I would like to extend our gratitude to the entire Rising Leaders committee—our events would not have been possible without their input, planning and volunteer time. The committee and events are all volunteer-based, and it takes a visionary team to make it happen. The same is true for the USGBC Northern California community and its director, Melanie Colburn, whose input and assistance played a tremendous part in our 2019 successes.

Two new Rising Leaders co-chairs will take the stage in 2020, and we are very excited to see what their fresh ideas and mindset will bring to the committee and to the USGBC community. We hope you will welcome new co-chairs Liz Anderson and Chloe Eitzer with open arms.

See upcoming USGBC Northern California events

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Highlights of 2019 from the USGBC Northern California Rising Leaders Committee