Introducing NESEA's 2022 Strategic Plan
A Message from NESEA's Board Chair
Strategic planning is an essential habit of a healthy, flourishing organization. It is an opportunity and an obligation to reflect on where we’ve been and to craft a vision of where we want to go. This is the case in times that are turbulent and fraught with uncertainty as well as those that are tranquil and secure. Our times are nothing if not turbulent and uncertain.
The world feels much more perilous than it did when the board of directors adopted our previous strategic plan in 2017. A once-in-a-century global pandemic has revealed how deeply interwoven we are and how dangerously divided. The climate crisis feels increasingly urgent and intractable. Our democratic norms and institutions seem much more fragile. And while we have confronted structural injustices at the root of our country, in many ways, these, too, seem as intractable as ever.
It would be easy to despair. At many points over the past few years, I have despaired. Through it all, no organization has countered my despair as effectively as NESEA. This extraordinary community has lifted me up, kept me going, and given me hope for the future.
I humbly submit that NESEA has never been more relevant than right now. Not only are we at the forefront of decarbonizing the building sector—the exigency of which would be hard to overstate—we are also a vibrant and effective learning community, connecting the dots between sustainability and justice, and pushing ourselves towards greater equity and inclusivity. In the next five years we can and must model the future we envision—and in doing so, nourish our faith that, despite so much evidence to the contrary, a vibrant and resilient built environment that furthers climate justice and equity through connection and community is in fact achievable.
You can read NESEA's new 2022 Strategic Plan here.
Onward,
Rachel White, NESEA Board Chair
The NESEA Board and Staff are incredibly grateful to the members of the Strategic Plan Working Group:
Matt Root* (Working Group Chair)
Matthew Broderick
Stuart Brodsky
Laura Humphrey
Mira Lieman-Sifry
Daphany Sanchez*
Jodi Smits Anderson*
Danny Veerkamp
*2021 NESEA Board Member
Our Mission
NESEA advances sustainability practices in the built environment by cultivating a cross-disciplinary community where practitioners are encouraged to share, collaborate and learn.
Rachel White is CEO of Byggmeister Design/Build, a nearly 40 year-old residential remodeling company that is striving to serve as an exemplary steward of homes and to prepare them to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Rachel has been affiliated with Byggmeister since 2008, when she hired the firm to renovate her house. What started as an effort to reduce the energy and carbon footprint of her own home became her life’s work. Prior to joining Byggmeister Rachel taught modern Jewish history to adult learners. She holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Brown University and a BA in...
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