Theresa Lehman

Theresa Lehman, director of sustainable services, leads Miron Construction Co., Inc.’s sustainability initiatives. She has dedicated her entire career to sustainable practice, and working to “lead by example to demonstrate the benefits of the triple bottom line (people, planet and payback) through education, corporate culture and practical construction solutions.”

Theresa’s role is to educate Miron’s employees, clients, and design/build partners, to help clients understand what sustainability means to their organization and help design teams integrate clients’ sustainable goals into the design and construction of their projects, and to integrate sustainability into Miron’s corporate culture.

She knows and understands the requirements of the LEED rating systems inside out, and can clearly communicate the requirements to all of the stakeholders on a project enabling the team to integrate design strategies, materials, systems and equipment into the design of a building, at any stage of design, such that the building is able to seek LEED certification. In other words, while some professionals understand the LEED “requirements”, Theresa knows how they apply and more importantly when they apply to suit the specific sustainable goals of clients.

Over the last sixteen years, Theresa has worked on more than 80 projects seeking LEED certification utilizing many of the LEED green building rating systems. She has successfully lead the LEED certification process for projects in the commercial, retail, healthcare, K-12 education, higher education, religious, manufacturing, industrial, and government markets that have successfully been awarded Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum LEED certifications.

Her portfolio of LEED certified projects boast many “firsts” such as the first LEED certified project for the state of Wisconsin, the first LEED certified NICU in Wisconsin, the first Platinum LEED certified public K-12 project in the world, the first LEED certified projects for many organizations, K-12 schools, and private colleges, piloted the only K-12 school in the LEED v4 beta program, and the first zero-net energy Platinum LEED certified project to earn an Innovation credit to successfully demonstrate zero-net energy, carbon neutrality.

Every one of these projects has had unique and difficult challenges that Theresa has helped the team embrace and resolve. The owners and/or tenants of these projects are pleased with the results that far exceeded their expectations, and now clearly understand and appreciate the triple bottom line benefits of sustainability. She sets the bar high when pursuing sustainable opportunities and she inspires the team to deliver even more.

Theresa has a passion for sustainability, and nothing motivates her more than knowing that her work makes a difference. Her favorite project is the Lake Mills Elementary School. As a result of the integrative process that holistically engaged all of the stakeholders, the project that piloted the LEED v4 Beta Program earned Platinum LEED certification. But more impressively, the metrics were benchmarked for five years prior to the students moving into their high-performance, healthy twenty-first century learning environment, and were measured since occupancy. The results are amazing! Asthma and allergy incident rates declined 75%, average sick days declined 8%, the number of incidents of communicable diseases decreased from 136 to 32 (425%), and test scores increased. The evidence is clear; people are a product of their environment, and high-performance, healthy environments make a difference.

Consequently, Theresa firmly believes WELL, an evidence-based system that places the health and wellbeing of people at the center of design, will push sustainability to the next level. As a result, she was invited to participate in the 2014 WELL inaugural symposium on health, wellness, and the built environment at Cleveland Clinic and was one of the few selected to attend Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment’s Building for Health: Research and Applications to Drive Decisions for the Built Environment course.

Theresa has an eloquent way of educating people by sharing her success stories, which aligns with USGBC’s mission. Since 2006 Theresa has been a LEED Faculty™ member and recently became one of 23 WELL Faculty world-wide. She is a great mentor – and continues to play a critical role in educating the industry professionals, building owners, tenants, facility managers and building occupants. As one of the key driving forces of many organizations adopting LEED, she has become an advisor, a teacher, and a resource for Miron, our design/build partners, our clients, trade organizations and the community in general.

She is a guest presenter at local K-12 schools, technical colleges and universities, and has presented at national conferences for USGBC (Greenbuild) and the Center for Green School at USGBC’s National Green Schools Conference.

Locally Theresa has presented at many organizational conferences including AIA, ASHRAE, ACEC and others. She has been the keynote speaker at a Girls in Engineering, Math and Science (GEMS) event, has participated in Smart Girls Rock and other GEMS events, and has hosted STEM events at Miron. In 2012 Theresa voluntarily taught a six-week “Go Green” class at the local Boys & Girls Club.

As an active member of USGBC, Theresa has voluntarily served on numerous committees and working groups since the early 2000’s, including the original LEED Curriculum Committee who developed the LEED education framework and workshops. Theresa has taught numerous LEED workshops throughout the US and as far away as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. She has also instructed several webinars USGBC’s @Education subscription platform.

As an active Advocacy Committee member, Theresa represents Wisconsin as an advocate for government policy and has testified to the US Congress and Sensate on several occasions. In 2009, USGBC selected Theresa to represent USGBC at the World Climate Summit in Mexico.

Identified by USGBC as a Subject Matter Expert in the early 2000’s, Theresa has been on GBCI’s development and review team for the LEED AP BD+C, ID+C and LEED Green Associate exams and the WELL AP exam.

Locally, she serves on USGBC-Wisconsin’s Green Schools and Advocacy Committees, is an advisory board member of Fox Valley Technical College’s Construction Management Program and U.W. Stout’s Masters in Construction Management Program, was appointed by Governor Walker to the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (WEEB), was on the Board of Directors for the Neenah-Menasha YMCA.

She has co-authored and published articles in many trade magazines, has had projects featured in numerous publications, and is quoted on a regular basis for many periodicals including newspapers, magazines, and industry newsletters.

Theresa is recognized for her sustainable leadership. In 2013 she was named to Engineering News Record (ENR) Midwest’s Top 20 Under 40, in which she was honored in the January 27, 2014 edition of ENR Midwest. One of her greatest honors was being named by USGBC to the 2012 class of LEED Fellows, the building industry’s most prestigious professional designation. She is the youngest among the world’s most distinguished green building professionals to be selected as a LEED Fellow. And, most recently she was personally named in Rick Fedrizzi, CEO & Founding Chairman’s book, “Green Think – How Profit Can Save the Planet.” Her experience working with the Lake Mills Area School District on their sustainable journey is shared for nine pages.