Mighty Buildings Podcast featuring Basil Starr

Lindsay was one of the first 40 staff members at the U.S. Green Building Council, working to develop consensus about what the LEED rating system would become. She then earned an MS from the University of California at Berkeley in Architecture, with a focus on Building Science, and spent five years as a building science researcher at the UC Berkeley Center for the Built Environment. 

Lindsay is a climate entrepreneur, experienced in launching and growing innovative businesses from being part Google's Green team to being her own entrepreneur and later co-founded a smart buildings start-up called Comfy, which got acquired by Siemens. She was also the first Global Head of Sustainability and Impact at WeWork, where she built the corporate sustainability team and programs from scratch.

As the current CEO of the International Living Future Institute, Lindsay Baker is the organization’s chief strategist, charged with delivering on its mission to lead the transformation toward a civilization that is socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative. 

Prior to that he spent twelve years on the Pasadena City Council, including a term as Mayor. Rick has been recognized as one of “America's Public Officials of the Year” by Governing Magazine and one of the "Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers" by Government Technology Magazine. He has won numerous awards for municipal management excellence and urban planning leadership. 

Shawn is also responsible for the business product stewardship program and leads a team of passionate product stewards to enable the business commitment to product stewardship.

An expert in sustainability with over a decade of experience in business sustainability programs, Dr. Hunter previously led the development of Dow's 2025 Sustainability goals and has a background in product sustainability, Life Cycle Assessment, green chemistry, and R&D.  Dr. Hunter holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering, with a master’s concentration in environmental sustainability, from the University of Michigan, where he serves as an Adjunct Professor in Chemical Engineering.

Chris has substantive international experience having lived in North America, Europe, and Asia and works with GlobeScan clients in all regions of the world. He is a member of Walgreens' Corporate Responsibility Advisory Board, The Test of Corporate Purpose Advisory Board, and the Multinational Subcommittee of B Lab’s Standards Advisory Council. He is also the Chair of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, and is the author of the new book, All In: The Future of Business Leadership.

Paul is an authority on green building and the application of technology in the real estate, design, engineering and construction industries. He began his career as a sustainability consultant in 2000. 

In support of his work with clients, he founded 3 greentech companies: ecologic3 and ecoScorecard which were acquired in 2010.  He has consulted on over $50 billion of real estate, design and construction projects in his career.  Paul is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Masters of Engineering.

The Urban Us platform includes the Urban Us community - a resource for urbantech focused founders, investors, partners and customers; URBAN-X, funded by MINI, is a program that supports early stage teams with company building and fundraising with seed and series A graduation rates exceeding benchmark programs such as YCombinator; Urban Us affiliates include Perl Street which helps finance hardware startups; and Urban Gateway which supports startups in business development in Asia. 

The Urban Us portfolio includes nearly 90 investments, many in NYC but spanning the globe, such as Bowery Farming, One Concern, Cove Tool, Future Motion, Blocpower, Near Space Labs, Seamlessdocs (acquired by Kofile), Evolve Energy (acquired by Octopus Energy), Versatile, Toggle, and Revivn. Before Urban Us, the operating team had three exits as operators and managed investments at First Round Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup. The team has taught urbantech courses at the University of Chicago and teaches the Urban Us business case study at Harvard Business School. 

Her background as an architect, city planner, urban designer, real estate developer, community development strategist, publisher, and instigator gives her a rich understanding of how cities work, how urban neighborhoods can be revitalized, what policies are needed to do it, and the unique marketing that creates the buzz needed for regeneration. You can learn more about Small Change at https://www.smallchange.co/ or listen to her podcast at https://evepicker.com/.

Aaron is the Founder and Executive Director of unCommon Construction - a New Orleans-based nonprofit that uses the build process to empower youth to lead the workforce after high school or college. Through unCommon Construction apprenticeship program, high school students apply to join a diverse team to earn hourly pay and school credit for building a house in a semester. With the revenue from each project, unCommon Construction matches apprentices' paychecks with an Equity Award Scholarship, which they can use for further education, industry certifications, or tools needed for a full time job. To learn and get involved, visit www.unCommonConstruction.org