Susan Kaplan's work and passion is finding collaborative, sustainable
solutions to building/rebuilding better buildings, sites, communities and
cities. She founded BuildingWrx as the vehicle in 2011.
BuildingWrx provides consulting services for both private and public clients,
and has recently been working on projects at the Federal Bank, GSA and numerous
private owners and not-for profit organizations within NYC as part of the NYSERDA
New Construction Program.
Susan is the co-chair of the USGBC's Social Equity Working Group, which has
created some of the first pilot credits to address social equity in the built
environment. She is a past Chair of USGBC’s LEED Technical Committee as
well as of the Urban Green Council, the USGBC's NYC chapter.
Susan was previously the Director of Sustainable Development for Battery Park
City Authority, which created a new community in NYC from the ground up. Here
some of the first sustainable high-rise residential buildings in the country
were developed, changing forever the conception of what was possible in
high-rise design and construction. In total, over 5 million square feet of sustainable
buildings and open space were created, following stringent sustainability guidelines created by the Authority, as well as LEED requirements.
Ms. Kaplan has presented nationally and internationally on sustainability and
equity, as well as at numerous Greenbuild conferences. In Spring of 2018, she
will be presenting/moderating two panels on Social Equity, for the AIANY
Council on the Environment (COTE) and the Urban Green Council.
Ms. Kaplan is a LEED Fellow as well as a LEED Accredited Professional (BD+C).
She has degrees in Environmental Science and Landscape Architecture from
Syracuse University and the NYS School of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Ms. Kaplan lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, daughter, and cat.