Chicago—During GreenBuild 2017, Rochelle Routman, Metroflor Corporation’s chief sustainability officer, spearheaded the formation of the Women in Sustainability Leadership Award (WSLA) Alumnae Group. The newly formed group comprises past winners of gb&d magazine’s top annual accolade, which recognizes women making a difference in the world through sustainability.
The alumnae group is meant to extend the impact of the WSLA by creating a formal network to enable the women to collaborate, specifically through mentorship. By empowering even more women to lead, WSLA Alumnae Group is leveraging its collective knowledge, power and experience to cultivate the next generation of sustainability leaders.
“The members of the Alumnae Group are passionate and accomplished women who are true visionaries,” Routman said. “They are also well organized and committed. Together, we have tremendous hope and excitement around the prospect of mentoring others in the sustainability field and helping them succeed in their chosen role. This is truly a global effort, as we now have alumnae members representing several nations.”
The inaugural WSLA Alumnae Summit will be held November 13 in Chicago, coinciding with GreenBuild as well as the fifth annual WSLA celebration, during which the 2018 class will be honored. A service project is also planned for the alumnae prior to the 2018 awards reception.
Several committees have already accomplished important steps toward achieving WSLA Alumnae Group’s mission statement: To advance sustainability by empowering women to lead. Communication platforms, including a Facebook site, have been set in place on social media and through a database of all WSLA alumnae to enable information sharing about job, career and mentoring opportunities.
Additionally, the USGBC (Los Angeles chapter) has agreed to be the WSLA Alumnae Group’s fiscal sponsor, which will provide the 501(c)3 framework needed to attract donations, foundation grants and other funding sources including corporate outreach.
“We remain committed to connecting the most powerful women at the forefront of sustainability through our WSLA network,” saidLaura Heidenreich, gb&d president. “The WSLA Alumnae Group will be a strategic asset for us to continue to recognize each other and keep pushing each other to stay the course.”
The WSLA Alumnae Group encourages worthy candidates to be nominated for this year’s WSLA Award by the July 20 deadline. The award, now in its fifth year, is judged by gb&d magazine, members of the WSLA Alumnae Group and leadership at the USGBC.