Jonathan Burgess ’06 was recruited by a landscape architecture firm directly from his undergraduate studio in Rodman Hall. It was an auspicious start to a career that now has him traveling the globe as vice president of sustainability for The Spinnaker Group, a consulting company that provides green building and sustainable neighborhood assistance to real estate developers.

“We have completed more than 80 LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certified projects around the world,” he said. “Currently we are building multiple hotel and condo buildings in Miami and across the Caribbean, a veterans hospital in North Carolina, a big industrial office building in Kuwait, a data center in Costa Rica, and almost 200 other active projects worldwide,” said Burgess, who oversees a diverse team with expertise in everything from construction management and electrical engineering to landscape architecture and interior design.

While other consultants walk away from completed developments, Burgess’ enthusiasm for green building gives him a holistic approach to community design. As a LEED neighborhood development specialist, he focuses on social issues such as opportunity access and neighborhood bonding that can shape the long-term sustainability of a space. “Part of the challenge with successful redevelopment is re-empowering neighbors to help themselves and to find opportunities,” he said.

And his big idea is to take sustainable communities and buildings one step beyond simply reducing energy consumption or improving air quality. “I would like to do more good by creating buildings and communities that are restorative and regenerative in nature, that incorporate living systems for water, that produce net-zero waste, and that produce more energy than they consume,” he said.

To accomplish this, Burgess advocates for the Living Building Challenge, a philosophy aimed at change agents who want, as Burgess said, “to have a return on environment more than just a return on investment.”