Speaker Info
Erin McDade
Senior Program Director, Architecture 2030
Erin McDade is Architecture 2030’s Senior Program Director. She leads Architecture 2030’s public policy and embodied carbon initiatives, a crucial part of which involves developing data-driven solutions for building sector decarbonization. Most recently she led the development of building-level, sector-wide decarbonization policy impact assessment models for each of the eleven municipal Zero Cities partners to support the development of city-specific policy roadmaps.
Erin studied architecture as an undergraduate at Smith College and holds a Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of Washington, where she focused on the intersection of buildings and the environment. In addition to her primary roles within the organization, Erin harnesses her background in design to ensure that Architecture 2030’s mission and project outcomes are represented and communicated globally using clear and compelling graphic design. After seven years of design reviews in architecture school followed by six years presenting Architecture 2030’s work at numerous conferences and events, she is also an accomplished public speaker, regularly representing Architecture 2030 and acting as a building sector decarbonization expert and advocate in public forums across the country.
Erin is a founding member and current co-chair of the Embodied Carbon Network, a former member of the Carbon Leadership Forum Advisory Board, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects 2030 Commitment Working Group. She is a proud resident of Bellingham, Washington and recently completed a 15-month tenure as a city council-appointed volunteer member of the Bellingham Climate Action Taskforce. She led the taskforce in the creation of a comprehensive, data-driven roadmap and set of policy recommendations for building sector decarbonization that respond to the city’s specific context, strengths, and challenges and which, if implemented, will help enable Bellingham to achieve its goal of carbon-neutrality by 2035.
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