The 2024 Sustainability Summit will take place in Minneapolis on June 4-5. Information on speakers will be provided here as soon as it's available.

Real estate sustainability experts came together for the 2023 NAR Sustainability Summit in Austin, Texas. Learn more about them below.

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Keynote Speaker

Andrew Winston

Global Thought Leader and Best-Selling Author on Strategy and Sustainability

Andrew Winston is a globally-recognized and widely read expert on megatrends and how to build companies that thrive by serving the world. He was selected for the Thinkers50 list of the top management thinkers in the world. His books on sustainability strategy have sold more than a quarter million copies in a dozen languages. Inc. Magazine included Andrew’s first book, Green to Gold, on its all-time list of 30 books that every manager should own. His book The Big Pivot was selected as one of the "Best Business Books" by Strategy+Business magazine. Andrew’s latest book, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More than They Take (co-authored with renowned CEO Paul Polman), is one of Financial Times’ Best Business Books of the Year. Net Positive has been called an "electrifying strategy for business success and unlike any other book you’ve read" by Merck Chairman Ken Frazier, a "wonderful rallying call" by Sir Richard Branson and "pure heresy" by Arianna Huffington.

Andrew has appeared in major media such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Time, BusinessWeek, New York Times, and CNBC. Andrew’s views on strategy have been sought after by the world’s leading companies, including 3M, DuPont, HP, J&J, Kimberly-Clark, Marriott, PepsiCo, PwC, Trane Technologies, and Unilever. He is a highly respected and dynamic speaker, reaching audiences of thousands at global executive meetings, and at high-profile events like TED, with an entertaining message of practical optimism: the world’s challenges are great, but business has the tools, resources, and creativity to build a thriving world. He received degrees in economics, business, and environmental management from Princeton, Columbia, and Yale.

This can’t-miss session will take place on Wednesday, September 13, 9-10 a.m. during the Sustainability Summit at the Hyatt Regency Austin.

Andrew Winston

Additional Speakers

Cynthia Adams

CEO and Co-Founder of Pearl Certification

Cynthia Adams

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Cynthia is CEO and Co-founder of Pearl Certification, an NAR REach company that provides third party certification of energy efficient and renewable energy features to increase equity value in the refinance or real estate transaction. Cynthia is also the co-founder of the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council, a twenty-five year veteran in energy efficiency and green construction, and an NAR Green designee.

Sandra Adomatis

2023 President-elect of the Appraisal Institute

Sandra Adomatis

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Sandra K Adomatis, SRA of Punta Gorda, Florida, is the 2023 President-elect of the Appraisal Institute. She will serve as the 2024 President. Adomatis is a real estate appraiser and consultant at Adomatis Appraisal Service in Punta Gorda. She is also an Appraisal Institute instructor, developer of seminars and courses, The Appraisal Journal author, contributor to textbooks and author of Residential Green Valuation Tools. Additionally, she is a national spokesperson to state and federal government agencies, energy organizations, REALTOR® groups, state coalitions, national and local homebuilder groups, and utility companies. Adomatis contributed to the 2011 Appraisal Institute Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum, and to the 2014 Appraisal Institute Commercial Green and Energy Efficient Addendum.

Wayne Beals

Managing Broker with The Beals Group at EXIT Strategy Realty

Wayne Beals

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I am a seasoned Real Estate Broker serving the Chicagoland Market area. With hundreds of referring clients and $100 Million+ in closed sales volume, I am well equipped to help my clients get the most out of their Real Estate transactions. I am one of very few brokers who has deep experience selling solar and high performance homes in the Chicagoland Market area.

I love the real estate business, our clients, and the communities we work in. I believe real estate transactions should be a transparent and simple experience that enhances the lives of our clients. My approach to the business is analytical, consultive and educational. I am in the business to build lasting professional relationships built on integrity, respect and trust with our clients and the community.

Professional Mission: To utilize my real estate skills in marketing, negotiation, and sustainable construction in the pursuit of providing my clients with the highest level of expert real estate advice and services. Always seeking to expand my professional experiences, I have a particular interest in sustainable development strategies that help communities thrive and better adapt for a low carbon future. I believe that sustainable development strategies are an economic opportunity for our communities and our clients and that we can transform our relationship with energy while maintaining economic growth.

Laurie Benner

Associate Vice President of Housing & Community Development, National Fair Housing Alliance

Laurie Benner

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As Associate Vice President of Housing and Community Development for the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), Laurie Benner is responsible for developing and managing national programs and partnerships designed to provide equitable access to fair and affordable housing opportunities. Laurie has decades of experience working in the housing and nonprofit space including recent work with the Maryland REALTORS® association and managing housing redevelopment in Baltimore City. She holds an MBA and lives in Maryland where she is active on many nonprofit boards

Carina Bracer

Director of Conservation Finance and Natural Climate Solutions, National Forest Foundation

Carina Bracer

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Carina joined the NFF in 2022 as Director of Conservation Finance and Natural Climate Solutions. Her team supports the organization's strategy and practices related to outcomes-focused partnerships and funding for projects and programs on our nation’s Forests and Grasslands.

Carina brings experience related to scaling quantifiable climate-related benefits across the land use sector, with expertise in voluntary carbon markets. Prior to her recent roles at Verra, Climate Focus and the Ecosystem Marketplace, Carina managed Forest Trend's Katoomba Group, fostering ecosystem service payment initiatives across Latin America, leveraging the water, carbon, and biodiversity values of natural landscapes.

Cullum Clark

Director, George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative & Adjunct Professor, SMU

Cullum Clark

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J.H. Cullum Clark is Director, Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative and an Adjunct Professor of Economics at SMU. Within the Economic Growth Initiative, he leads the Bush Institute’s work on domestic economic policy and economic growth. Before joining the Bush Institute and SMU, Clark worked in the investment industry for 25 years. He served as an equity analyst and portfolio manager at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (1993-96), as a portfolio manager at Warburg Pincus Asset Management (1996-2000), as President and Chief Investment Officer of Cimarron Global Investors, a Dallas-based hedge fund firm (2000-02), and as President of Prothro Clark Company, a Dallas family investment office (2002-18). Prior to entering the investment industry, he served for one year on the staff of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Clark fulfilled a lifelong goal by earning his Ph.D. in Economics at SMU in May 2017, and subsequently joined the faculty of SMU’s Department of Economics. His research has focused on monetary policy, fiscal policy, financial markets, economic geography, urban economics, modern economic history, and economic growth. He is the co-author of The Texas Triangle: An Emerging Power in the Global Economy, published in May 2021 by Texas A&M Press.

Clark's volunteer leadership activities include serving on the boards of Uplift Education, the Eugene McDermott Foundation, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Foundation for the Arts, as well as on the investment committee of SMU. He earned a B.A. in History from Yale University in 1989 and an A.M. in Political Science from Harvard University in 1993, in addition to his Ph.D. in 2017. After graduating from Yale he lived for one year in Japan. Clark and his wife Nita have three daughters: Lili, Annabel, and Charlotte.

Kent David

Senior Leader, Analytic Consulting, CoreLogic

Kent David

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Kent leads the Analytics Consulting Team at CoreLogic, responsible for providing insights into catastrophic risk insights and property analytics to the housing, financial services, municipal, utility, and insurance sectors. He has worked with the catastrophe risk management group at CoreLogic and its prior operating companies since 1987 with more than 30 years of experience in natural hazard analysis, modeling, and risk assessment for these sectors. The Analytics Consulting team specializes in the utilization of CoreLogic property characteristics, real estate analytics, and parcel data in solving problems needing cross functional and data-driven solutions. Post-earthquake survey, damage assessment, and client recovery efforts following significant earthquakes led Kent to study and apply catastrophe risk methodologies to the understanding of the impacts of catastrophes to the financial and real estate sectors. As CoreLogic has developed sophisticated tools to quantify climate and climate change-impacted risk, Kent has used these tools to assist clients in assessing and preparing for the risks associated with the future climate.

Craig Foley

Chief Sustainability Officer, LAER Realty Partners

Craig Foley

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Craig Foley is a leading national voice on sustainability in the real estate industry. Craig's combination of real estate and energy management skills give him a unique perspective about sustainable energy solutions and subject matter expertise on greening the MLS, high-performance home valuation and marketing, and the impact of climate change on the real estate industry. He is a LEED Green Associate and the chief sustainability officer for LAER Realty Partners. As a real estate broker, he has sold several high-performance projects in and around Greater Boston. He is also the team co-founder of REthink39 Group. REthink39 is devoted to lowering the 39% of U.S. energy consumption attributed to the built environment and believes they can be part of a solution with every transaction closed. In 2023 Craig was named by RISMedia as a 2023 Newsmaker in the Trailblazers "Agents of Change" category.

Conn Fraser

Green Building and Sustainability Consultant Sr, Austin Energy

Conn Fraser

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Conn has been with Austin Energy Green Building for four years, primarily working with residential projects to achieve their sustainability goals and AEGB ratings. As the main AEGB representative for the Mueller Neighborhood, he collaborates with builders and architects from the design phase, through construction, and to close out. As part of the AEGB process, projects in Mueller address a variety of green building concerns such as energy efficiency, water efficiency, and sustainable material use.

Prior to AEGB, Conn worked as an Energy Specialist with the South Carolina Energy Office and an outreach coordinator with Americorps VISTA after graduating from SUNY-ESF with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Sustainable Construction.

Rod Helm

2023 Sustainability Advisory Group Chair and REALTOR® at Coldwell Banker Realty

2019 Region 08 - RVP Rod Helm

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Rod Helm (GRI, CRS), a REALTOR® from Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the 2023 Chair of the Sustainability Advisory Group. He has been a REALTOR® since 1991 and works for Coldwell Banker Realty located in Minneapolis, where he specializes in residential real estate.

At the national level, Rod served as the 2019 Region 8 Vice President and has had various committee and board roles over the years, most notable are multiple terms on the NAR Board of Directors, the Chair of Emerging Business and Technology Forum, and on NAR’s Professional Standards Committee.

He is a member of the Minnesota REALTORS® (MNR), where he received the award for Minnesota REALTOR® of the Year in 2015. In 2014, he served as the president of MNR. Rod has also served in multiple rolls over his volunteer career as committee chairs and director positions for both MNR and for his local association, Minneapolis Association of REALTORS® (MAR).

Rod is an active member in RPAC as well, both as a major investor and as a trustee for MN-RPAC. He has served multiple terms as the MN Major Investor Liaison for NAR and is member of RPACs Hall of Fame.

Rod holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is married to his wonderful wife, Jolene, and has two adult, children, Alexa (24) and Charlie (22).

Tracy Kasper

2023-2024 President, National Association of REALTORS®

Tracy Kasper

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Tracy Kasper (AHWD, C2EX, CIPS, CRS, GRI, SFR®), a REALTOR® from Nampa, Idaho, is the 2023-2024 National Association of REALTORS® President.

Tracy is the broker-owner of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Silverhawk Realty in the Boise Valley and a majority owner in two other Idaho real estate companies. With 30 years of experience in real estate, Tracy still lists and sells both residential and commercial real estate in addition to her broker-owner duties.

At the national level, Tracy has served on the NAR Board of Directors since 2016, and has chaired the 50th Anniversary of RPAC Implementation Group in 2018. She was a member of the Future of the REALTOR® Party Presidential Advisory Group (PAG) in 2017 and the RPAC State Fundraising Partnership Goal PAG in 2016.

Tracy has been a dedicated member of the Idaho Association of REALTORS® since 1997. She was honored to serve as their president in 2016 and was awarded REALTOR® of the Year that same year.

At the local level, Tracy belongs to five local Idaho associations. She is a past president of the Nampa Association of REALTORS®, and is a past REALTOR® of the Year for both the Nampa (2001) and Caldwell (2011) boards.

Tracy served for many years on her local chamber, was Chairman of the Board for the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce in 2009, and is a former Honorary Commander for the Idaho Air National Guard in Boise.

Tracy and her husband, Mike, have seven grown children, four of whom are married. And between them, they have 6 grandchildren. In her spare time, Tracy has helped to raise more than $500,000 for a variety of youth charities in the Boise Valley.

Kerry Langley

Vice President/Senior Loan Officer & HERS Associate, PrimeLending, a Plains Capital Company

Kerry Langley

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Kerry Langley is a 38-year veteran of the mortgage banking industry. Having personally negotiated over $1.8 billion in residential mortgage loans, Mr. Langley is a successful seasoned professional. In 2008, in response to a request from the Earthcraft House program in Atlanta, Ga., to develop financing programs specifically to support the value proposition of newly built, Earthcraft House certified high performance homes in the Atlanta market, Mr. Langley developed a suite of proprietary software programs to tackle this task. The programs, known as TCO-flex, TCO-Magic, and HomeBuck$, develops financial models that illustrate for home buyers using an analysis strategy that is based on a holistic total cost of ownership (TCO) including optimized mortgage structures and recurring operating expenses vs. solely being based on price, interest rate, and monthly payment.

Jessica Lautz

Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research, National Association of REALTORS®

Dr. Jessica Lautz

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Dr. Jessica Lautz is Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research at the National Association of REALTORS®. The core of her research focuses on analyzing trends for both NAR members and housing consumers. Through the management of surveys, focus groups, and data analysis, she presents new and innovative ways to showcase results. She effectively utilizes Research data to educate and impact policymakers on the state of the housing market and discusses research findings in major media outlets and international presentations. In 2021, Dr. Lautz was named one of Housing Wire’s Women of Influence, a list representing 100 of the most influential women in leadership in the housing industry. In 2022 and 2023, Dr. Lautz was named a RISMedia Newsmaker in the Influencer and the Crusader categories, respectively. She also volunteers at Nottingham Trent University as an industry fellow mentoring real estate graduate students.

John Rosshirt

2023 NAR Sustainability Advisory Group Vice Chair and Broker at Stanberry REALTORS®

John Rosshirt

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John has been watching real estate markets professionally for 33 years. His perspective includes being an active sales agent, designated broker/co-owner of Stanberry REALTORS®, President of the Austin Board of REALTORS®, Regional Vice President of Texas REALTORS®, member of NAR GREEN Resource Council Advisory Board, and Chair of the NAR Smart Growth Advisory Board. He is the current Vice Chair of the NAR Sustainability Advisory Group and the Vice Chair of the Texas REALTORS® Public Policy Committee on Infrastructure. He has also taught the National Association’s smart growth class in 34 cities in 17 states.

John has lived in Southwest Austin since marrying Sharon in 1985. They have four grown sons, a lovely daughter-in-law, and two incredible grandkids. He loves them all. He lives just outside the Austin city limits on five acres to accommodate his wife’s love of animals, organic gardening, and other growing things. Besides real estate, John has a passion for movies and World Cup soccer

John Saxon

Chief of Staff, Howard Hughes Corporation

John Saxon

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John Saxon is Chief of Staff for Howard Hughes, a role in which he serves as a key advisor to the Chief Executive Officer. In his role, John works closely with the Executive Team to help execute the company’s strategic priorities and oversees a variety of company-wide initiatives that aim to provide enhanced insight into the overall business.

Previously, John was Head of Investor Relations for Howard Hughes, where he oversaw and maintained relationships with current and prospective investors. Prior to joining Howard Hughes in 2020, John was a senior analyst at Energy Alloys, a Blackstone-owned oil and gas company based in The Woodlands. Prior to that, he was a senior analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York.

Todd Shipman

Immediate Past Chair, NAR Sustainability Advisory Group, and Associate Broker at Lakes Sotheby’s International Realty.

Todd Shipman

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Todd is a connector of people and ideas. He sees the world as it could be and takes the risk to step into the unknown. Todd can vision how the collaboration between people, ideas, and change can evolve into something better for individuals, organizations, and the human capital within. As a REALTOR®, thought leader, and startup CEO, he is committed to the business of organized real estate.

Todd served on the Strategic Planning Committee in 2022 at The National Association of REALTORS® and also as 2014 Chair. He worked to deliver The ReThink Experience, Think2020, The NAR Danger Report, and implemented a three-year strategic plan. He served as Chair/Vice Chair of the 2018/2022 Sustainability Advisory Group, and his group delivered a set of strategic priorities to the NAR Leadership Team, to be implemented across the organization and the industry. As 2022/2018 Chair of Northstar Multiple Listings Service of Minnesota, he has recently completed a CEO search. He co-founded PicketFence.com, where he bootstrapped and coordinated a start-up team to launch into the proptech space.

Todd has 27 years of experience bringing together smart enthusiastic property owners and buyers. He never underestimates the power, knowledge, and skill required to project manage a successful real estate transaction. With 500+ successful transactions, he still focuses on working with each client personally, listening to the client’s needs and wants and giving them the benefit of his 27 years of experience

Billy Stanbery

Research Professor, Colorado School of Mines

Billy Stanbery

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Dr. Billy J. Stanbery is currently a Professor of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. His research focuses on transformative semiconductor process technology intensification, innovative materials, device architectures, and tools suitable for the large-scale manufacture of thin film photovoltaics and econometric modeling of their potential financial viability and market impact.

Since beginning his career in photovoltaics research in 1978 at the University of Washington while working at the Boeing Company, he has researched photovoltaics in a wide variety of materials systems including organics, silicon, copper indium selenide, III-V’s, and set the world record in 4-terminal thin film tandem cell efficiency in 1990, which stood for 17 years.

He is an innovator holding 23 U.S. patents, an entrepreneur, and has served as president of both the Texas Solar Energy Industry Association and Texas Renewable Energy Industry Alliance, as well as on advisory boards for both the Bay Area PV and Durable Module Materials Consortia. Dr. Stanbery holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida

Todd Usher

President & Visionary of Addison Homes

Todd Usher

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While pursuing his first career in technology development and sales in the chemical industry, Todd Usher began renovating houses on the side -- and became more and more interested in construction industry best practices and sustainable building standards. By the time he founded Addison Homes in 2002, the well-defined quality system he had developed over the years, coupled with his commitment to sustainable principles, formed the cornerstone of the company. Todd was the first builder in the U.S. to earn NAHB's Master Certified Green Professional designation, and in 2002 Addison Homes was the only company in South Carolina to build all its homes to high-performance standards including the U.S. Department of Energy's Zero Energy Ready Home.

In 2022, Todd received his PhD in Planning, Design & the Built Environment from Clemson University. He also holds a Masters in Construction Science, an MBA, and a BS in Packaging Science, all from Clemson.

Todd is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experience with others in person, on social media and as an adjunct faculty member at Clemson, teaching courses in the Construction, Development, and Planning department.

Jennifer Wauhob

2023 VP of Association Affairs, National Association of REALTORS®

Jennifer Wauhob

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Jennifer Wauhob is the 2023 Vice President of Association Affairs, National Association of REALTORS®.

Wauhob has worked in the real estate markets of West Houston and Katy, Texas, for more than a decade and today leads a team of seven agents for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene in Houston. Wauhob was last year’s Chairman of the Houston Association of REALTORS®, representing over 50,000 NAR members at the local level.

Wauhob has been recognized as a “5-Star REALTOR®” by Texas Magazine for five consecutive years. A graduate of Texas Tech University, Wauhob is also an “Emerald Elite Award” recipient for Better Homes and Gardens, ranking her in the top 2% of agents in the national brand.

In 2014, the Houston Association of REALTORS® named Wauhob one of its “Top 20 Under 40 Rising Stars in Real Estate,” and she was soon after listed as one of “11 REALTORS® to Watch” by the Texas Association of REALTORS®.

Kristen Weida

Association Executive, Bloomington Board of REALTORS®

Kristen Weida

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Kristen Weida is an Association Executive at the Bloomington Board of REALTORS® in Bloomington, Indiana. She has a passion for influencing change, especially by advocating for the underserved and championing social justice issues. As an AE, Kristen enjoys teaching REALTORS® how to use their social capital to positively impact their communities. Kristen is a mom of two young adult boys and enjoys camping and outdoor recreation in her free time.