Christine Ervin

Christine Ervin has led innovative collaborations to accelerate green markets for more than 25 years. As the first President and CEO of the U.S. Green Buildings Council, she led its evolution from a start-up to become the highly influential coalition of industry leaders transforming the way buildings are designed, built and operated. Over her tenure, the Council launched and cemented the LEED rating system as the leading certification standard for green buildings. She also played a major role in launching the international Greenbuild conference and trade show which routinely attracts tens of thousands of attendees. Ervin received USGBC’s leadership award in 2004 and 2014.

As Assistant Secretary of Energy for President Clinton, Ervin directed $1 billion in annual investments for clean technologies. The office portfolio included the National Renewable Energy Laboratory at Golden, Colorado, and programs at several other national laboratories. During her tenure, she oversaw dozens of programs comprising the President’s Climate Change Action Plan. Other key initiatives included private sector partnerships to accelerate clean energy investments; a research roadmap on high-performance buildings; research on worker and health productivity; streamlining national appliance standards; Million Solar Roofs; and national centers for photovoltaic research and sustainable communities.

At the state level, she directed the highly respected Oregon Department of Energy and was the Assistant Director for Missouri’s statewide office of policy, planning, and budgeting. Previously, she conducted research at the Conservation Foundation/World Wildlife Fund focusing on energy policy, life cycle assessments and pollution prevention.

Ervin has served on numerous fiduciary and advisory boards for venture capital firms; start-up companies including WattzOn/Glynt.ai; national advocacy efforts; and sustainability certification programs. She was a founding member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Council based on her long-standing interest in embedding sustainability factors into financial reporting systems. Ervin is also passionate about boosting the role of women in leadership positions through such efforts as serving as Ambassador for the national C3E initiative (Clean Energy, Education, and Empowerment program).

Her consulting practice is based in Portland, Oregon.