USGBC Colorado hosted their sold-out Women in Green event on April 4 in downtown Denver, Colorado, in the historic Alliance Center building.

Women in Green is an annual event that USGBC has put on since 2012. The event celebrates and acknowledges the achievements of women in sustainability and has spread to an international audience.

Each year, the series has a new theme to reflect on, and in 2024 that theme is “Fresh Perspectives.” A fresh perspective involves reimagining familiar situations with a renewed approach.

The event began with an informative tour of the building for a small group followed by networking and a panel discussion.

The tour

The building now known as the Alliance Center was originally built in 1908. Since it came under Alliance Center ownership in 2006, the building has consistently prioritized eco-friendly design and renovation. The Alliance Center is a leader among buildings in downtown Denver, and it became the second building in the world to earn two LEED certifications in 2006. The fully electric building has since achieved LEED Gold recertification, become Colorado’s first LEED Platinum certified building in 2017, achieved WELL Health-Safety certification and, most recently, recertified LEED Silver for Building Operations and Maintenance.

The Alliance Center is a multitenant coworking space home to like-minded organizations working within the field of sustainability to address the climate crisis. It is also headquarters for the Alliance for Collective Action, a nonprofit working toward similar goals.

Innovative features that have supported certifications over the years include

A fully electric building with Energy Star-certified appliances and EV charging stations.
Trash, compost and a hard-to-recycle station in partnership with TerraCycle. The station is open to the public to help divert waste from landfills and takes items not traditionally accepted in recycling streams. The team has a 95% accuracy rate for sorting.
A biomimicry design and a focus on natural light, as well as certified low-VOC furniture.
LED lighting with occupancy sensors and air quality monitoring to maximize occupant health and comfort.

The building was also a USGBC Colorado Leadership Award Winner in 2023. Learn more about the Alliance Center and the mission of the Alliance for Collective Action.

Panel takeaways

The panel discussion was lively, and the room was packed with women and allies in the field who were excited to take away insights from our robust panel of speakers.

The moderator, Angie Fyfe, executive director of ICLEI USA, took a unique and engaging game-style approach to the panel discussion by throwing out five questions and giving each panelist one shot to answer any one question. Topics included advocating for yourself, planning for the future, encouraging growth among teams, facing gender bias and pivoting with grace.

A woman speaks into a microphone as other panelists look on.

The event panelists. Photo credit: Jeff Wong, City of Lakewood.

Panelist highlights

Panelists shared information about their professional journeys, leading to helpful takeaways.

Erin James, director, global corporate sustainability—social impact and business integration, Jacobs: James entered the workforce as a young woman who was excited to raise her hand and take on extra projects. However, she encountered stigma in the industry, and now, over 12 years later, she is still fighting that stigma. Although people have at times assumed she is a junior employee, James' current role is as director of social impact and business integration for Jacobs' global corporate sustainability team. According to James, mentors helped her throughout her career by ensuring she was in positions in which her strengths and skills were highlighted. This helped others adjust the way they perceived her to more appropriately reflect her position. Reflecting on her journey, she shared that it's important to stand up for yourself and understand that you've earned a seat at the table.
Mina McCollum, president and CEO, SynEnergy LLC: McCollum reflected on the importance of being strategic about your career goals and objectives, as well as developing a clear trajectory for the direction you want your career to follow. Building relationships with sponsors and mentors that know your value can help you grow on your journey. According to McCollum, it’s important for women to be part of the solution by building up one another and supporting each other instead of thinking, “There can only be one [woman] at the table.” She uses self-care techniques such as meditation and spa days to recenter so she can continue to help herself and others support these goals.
Amy Jiron, director of building decarbonization, Colorado Energy Office: As a leader, Jiron spoke to the importance of “pointing positive” to help teams and individuals succeed in the areas in which they’re most skilled and interested. Jiron explained that because work is hard and life can be just as difficult, it’s important to make sure people feel supported in what they're doing instead of feeling pushed into professional roles they’re not aligned with through corrective action plans or a change of roles. This requires meeting people where they’re at and "pointing positive" in the direction in which they can excel, instead of setting them off course.
Christie-Anne Edie, sustainability program manager and electric vehicle charging program leader, U.S. General Services Administration: Edie sees the development of remote work as a shift for the better. Hybrid and remote work allow more flexibility for employees who are parents or caretakers, or who have other responsibilities at home. Remote work allows employees to juggle both their work life and home life without having to choose one over the other. Remote work has also shifted the focus from biases based on how someone looks in person to prioritizing job skills, capabilities and project successes. This flexibility, combined with her positive self-talk and affirmations of “I can do it,” have helped propel Edie in the direction she wants to go and inspired her to mentor others to reach their potential in a similar manner.
Jeannie Renne-Malone, vice president, global sustainability, VF Corporation: Renne-Malone not only spoke about how she has pivoted in her sustainability roles over the course of her career, but also reflected on a beautiful example of pivoting business plans for greatest impact. In VF Corporation’s journey to reduce its environmental impact, the company took a unique approach at the time (2018) and decided to start with the source of all the “stuff” it manufactures. This included raw material extraction and associated agricultural practices. The company chose to focus on regenerative agriculture—a practice that helps replenish the health and vitality of the land while sequestering carbon from the atmosphere—and found a farmer already using these practices with whom to partner and use as a source for rubber. Over the years, this partnership has allowed farmers to multiply their cooperatives in the area and expand their economic diversity, and it has revitalized the land to be healthier and more vibrant and made the air more moist. It’s a partnership both parties benefit from and are proud of.

The panel discussion ended with a Q&A session with enthusiastic audience engagement.

To stay abreast of industry trends and be part of these educational and lively conversations, look for our upcoming forums in Colorado this year.

Learn more about Women in Green's 2024 theme and events

USGBC Colorado’s Women in Green 2024: "Fresh Perspectives"