Returning Guest: Sustainability Visionary Alicia Silva Villanueva on Greening Stadiums, Hospitality, and Resilience
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
Release Date: 01/28/2026
Building Communities That Last: Human Flourishing, Waste Audits, & the Future of Sustainability with Brian Bollinger
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Sustainability isn't just about reducing carbon or earning certifications — it's about creating places where people can thrive. In this episode, Brian Bollinger shares how green building, technology, AI, waste reduction, and thoughtful community design all work together to create healthier buildings, stronger businesses, and more resilient communities. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Brian Bollinger is a sustainability strategist, entrepreneur, and connector passionate about helping organizations build healthier, more efficient, and more...
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Carbon Neutral Concrete Starts with Collaboration: Education, Innovation & Building a More Resilient Future with Kerry Sutton
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
✅ The Green Impact Report Quick Take: Concrete is responsible for building nearly every community on earth—and it's also one of the biggest opportunities to reduce embodied carbon. In this episode, Kerry Sutton explains why the future isn't about finding one miracle material. It's about educating the entire industry, embracing innovation responsibly, and collaborating across every stakeholder to create resilient, lower-carbon infrastructure that lasts for generations. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Kerry Sutton, PE, LEED AP is the Executive Director of NEU: An ACI...
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Beyond Buildings: Scaling Climate Action Across the Built Environment with Vincent Martinez
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
💚 The Green Impact Report Quick take: The next chapter of sustainability isn't about making individual buildings slightly better — it's about redesigning entire communities. Vincent Martinez explains why the future of decarbonization depends on collaboration, adaptive reuse, electrification, and thinking beyond the building itself. 🫶 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Vincent Martinez is the President & CEO of Architecture 2030, where he has spent nearly two decades helping shape the global movement toward a carbon-neutral built environment. From launching...
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Sustainability Is Woven In, Not Handed Out: Making Green Building the Default with Dave Hubka
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
✅ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Dave Hubka has spent 20+ years turning "up to code" into "why would we settle for that?" — and his approach of building sustainability directly into the spec (instead of waiting for a client to ask) is a playbook every green building professional can steal. 🤝 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Dave Hubka is the Sustainability Practice Leader at EUA, where he lights the way for the firm's team to create healthier buildings for clients and the environment. His work starts with listening — collaborating closely with clients to uncover...
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Ken Rhee on Turning BIM Data Into a Living, Breathing Digital Twin
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Only 3% of people on a building project can actually open a BIM file — Ken Rhee is fixing that, and using AI and sensors to turn "as-built" data into real-time building intelligence that pays off in energy, insurance, and asset value. 🤩 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Ken Rhee Joined VIM Build in Atlanta, GA as President at the beginning of January, 2026. Co-founded Integral VIM, a BIM consulting company based in Shanghai in 2021, together with Arol Wolford ; currently developing VXBOS, a VIM-based 3D building operating software....
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Leading with Influence: FAIA, LEED Fellow Kirk Teske on Sustainability, Design Leadership, and Protecting What Matters
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: After 42 years at HKS, Kirk Teske reflects on a career that helped shape sustainable design at scale. From leading one of the earliest LEED pilot projects to influencing generations of architects, Kirk shares why responsible design, stakeholder engagement, and courageous leadership remain the foundation of a better built environment. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Kirk Teske is a retired architect, LEED Fellow, and former Global Director at HKS, where he spent more than four decades helping transform one of the world's leading design...
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Special Episode: Building Skema.ai - Why AI-Native Building Design Is About to Change Everything with Charlie Cichetti, Robin Bienfait & Jim Grady
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick Take: What happens when a LEED Fellow entrepreneur, a Fortune 500 technology executive (turn investor), and a startup growth strategist sit down to discuss the future of building design? You get an inside look at how AI is reshaping architecture, construction, ownership, and the economics of the built environment. In this special episode, Charlie Cichetti, Robin Bienfait, and Jim Grady explore why the next generation of buildings won't be designed from scratch — they'll be built from intelligence. 🎓 Meet the Innovators Charlie Cichetti Co-Founder &...
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AI, Digital Infrastructure, & the Future of Decarbonization: Anya Eydman on Building Trust in the Energy Transition
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: AI, data centers, and digital infrastructure are transforming the built environment faster than most of us realize. In this episode, Anya Eydman explains why the future of decarbonization isn't just about technology—it's about trust, education, community engagement, and helping buildings become active participants in a cleaner, more resilient energy ecosystem. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion **Anya Eydman is a strategic advisor and community advocate working at the intersection of energy infrastructure, grid assets, and...
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Designing Schools That Heal, Inspire, and Perform Better: Human-Centered Sustainable Design with Bob Morris
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: What happens when sustainability stops being about buzzwords — and starts being about healthier kids, stronger schools, and lower operational costs? Architect Bob Morris breaks down how net-zero schools, biophilic design, and human-centered architecture are reshaping the future of education. 🙋 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion **Bob is an architect who specializes in the planning and design of K12 schools for EUA, a multi-disciplinary design firm with five office locations in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Georgia. Architecture,...
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From LEED to Decarbonization: Tanya Eagle's Blueprint for the Future of Sustainable Buildings
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
♻️ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Tanya Eagle has spent her career proving that sustainability isn’t a “nice to have” — it’s a smarter way to design, operate, and future-proof buildings. In this episode, the LEED Fellow and JLL sustainability leader shares why the future of green building is bigger than certifications and how decarbonization, wellness, resilience, and material health are converging into one holistic strategy. 🙋 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion With over sixteen years of experience leading sustainable design programs, Tanya is dedicated...
info_outline🧨 The Green Impact Report
Quick take:
Alicia Silva Villanueva is back! In this powerful follow-up episode, the renowned sustainability leader from Mexico shares lessons from greening iconic places like Estadio Azteca for the FIFA World Cup, redefining resilience in hospitality, and writing the playbook to inspire the next generation of changemakers.
😎 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion
Alicia Silva Villanueva is a LEED Fellow and founder of a Mexico City-based consultancy that's been shaping the future of green buildings in Latin America for over 17 years.
With 120+ LEED projects under her belt — from data centers to luxury resorts and World Cup stadiums — she brings deep insight, international perspective, and an infectious passion for sustainability.
She’s also the author of Leave the Gap, a new book about overcoming the barriers to meaningful impact.
🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building
In this episode, Alicia Silva Villanueva revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:
🎯 Key Insight #1: Turning a National Treasure Into a World Cup Sustainability Leader
- The Challenge: Transforming Estadio Azteca — Mexico’s beloved soccer stadium — into a green icon for FIFA 2026.
- The Solution: Achieving LEED Platinum for O+M and major renovation with a strong focus on water savings, circular economy, and community impact.
- ROI: One of the greenest stadiums in the tournament, inspiring staff, fans, and suppliers to level up their sustainability game.
🎯 Key Insight #2: Resilience as Business Continuity in Hospitality
- The Challenge: Coastal hotels and resorts in Cabo facing climate threats, water shortages, and energy insecurity.
- The Solution: Resilience screenings, climate value-at-risk modeling, and smart systems for energy and water efficiency.
- ROI: Reduced operational risk, stronger investor confidence, and long-term savings in high-risk zones.
🎯 Key Insight #3: Storytelling That Shifts the Sustainability Conversation
- The Challenge: Clients and teams seeing sustainability as too costly or complex.
- The Solution: Alicia’s new book, Leave the Gap, offers practical levers for overcoming resistance and sparking systemic change.
- ROI: Empowered consultants, clearer business cases, and a replicable framework for sustainable leadership.
🎙️ Sustainable Soundbite
“Sustainability is no longer about reputation — it’s about business continuity.”
– Alicia Silva Villanueva
🧩 Your Green Building Action Plan
Transform your next project with these steps:
- This Week: Identify one building in your portfolio that would benefit from a resilience screening. Start the conversation.
- This Quarter: Push one client to go beyond minimum certification requirements — challenge them to go for Platinum.
- This Year: Read Leave the Gap and apply at least one of Alicia’s levers to your practice or pitch.
🔗 Connect & Learn More
🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast
🗒 Read the transcript here
👩🏻💻 Connect with Alicia Silva Villanueva:
- website: revitalizaconsultores.com
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aliciasilvasynergy
🎧 Missed her first episode? 👉 Mexico City's LEED Pioneer – Alicia Silva
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