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A Talented New Operations Associate Joins ISI’s Ranks

26-July-2024

Vannesa Weiss is one of the newest member of ISI’s team, supporting operations and human resources functions as an Operations Associate. Over just two months at ISI, she has become involved in many different facets of the organization. “I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with and getting to know this dedicated team committed to sustainability,” she highlighted recently. “I’ve been working to strengthen team efforts and enhance operational efficiencies, fostering an environment where everyone can excel.”

Vannesa started her sustainability journey from a young age, when she took lessons on the importance of recycling and protecting our planet to heart. She became passionate about reducing her carbon footprint and encouraging others around her to do the same.

As an Operations Associate Vannesa Weiss will work closely with Audrey Gorham and Sheila Newman, and provides CEO Anthony Kane with executive assistance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, as well as a Masters in Higher Education Administration from Florida International University (FIU). Vanessa worked for over a decade at FIU, helping students with their admissions, registration and financial assistance issues and providing support to employee training. Continue reading.

“Sustainability holds immense importance to me because our planet is our singular home, and its preservation guarantees a prosperous future for generations to come.”

 

A Leading Envision User Joins ISI

22-July-2024

Jennifer Ninete has joined ISI as Director of Engagement, with overall responsibility for communications, marketing, and business development. An Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) and ISI approved Envision Trainer, she has worked in the AEC industry for nearly 25 years.

Jennifer was previously a senior sustainability consultant and Professional Associate at HDR where she was the primary knowledge manager for the Envision framework, which included ENV SP training, leading a team conducting project verifications, and managing Envision projects. During that time, she worked on more than 50 projects using the Envision framework, including 25 verified projects such as the Historic Fourth Ward Park in Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City Streetcar in Kansas City, Missouri; and the Ship Canal Water Quality Project in Seattle, Washington. Continue reading.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to use my communications experience and Envision expertise to help ISI grow and evolve to positively impact even more infrastructure.”

 

President & CEO Anthony Kane Celebrates 10 Years at ISI

19-July-2024

Looking back on the collaboration and drive that shaped Envision

Currently with more than 170 verified projects, ISI’s Envision Framework is increasingly well recognized as a tool to improve sustainability performance on civil infrastructure projects of all types. Back in 2014, however, the prospects looked very different. Envision was a new venture, and the future was anything but certain.

In those years ISI had to take risks, rely on early supporters, and benefit from serendipity more than once, Kane recalled at a recent staff celebration marking his 10-year anniversary at ISI. Dozens of projects in every infrastructure sector are now using Envision to achieve their sustainability goals, he said, “So it is remarkable for me to think that when I joined, the number of completed projects was small enough that I knew all of the projects’ team members personally.”

Kane was a research associate at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in the early 2010s, joined ISI in 2014 as VP of Research and Development, and transitioned to Managing Director in 2016 before being named President & CEO. During the celebration, he was praised for his passion and his ability to support and lead Envision throughout its formative stages and beyond. One of the comments collected for the occasion, from long-time ENV SP Kari Hewitt, Chief Regeneration Officer and Partner at Planning Communities, LLC, captured the general sentiment well: “Your leadership and dedication to ISI and Envision is an inspiration to those who have the pleasure of working with you and is critical to the transformative impact that Envision is having throughout the world.”

ISI also benefitted enormously from the firms, agencies and individual champions who shared the vision. The willingness to sacrifice and to take a chance on something new — qualities held by Envision advocates and benefactors like Paul Zofnass, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD) and its faculty, ISI’s parent organizations ASCE, ACEC and APWA and their leadership, and ISI’s first board of directors — were absolutely critical to the success of Envision, noted Bill Bertera, ISI’s President & CEO when Anthony joined ISI.

The “magical confluence” of factors that led to Envision, as Kane calls it, feels only more exceptional with the passage of time. That a university research group (based at Harvard’s GSD) and a non-profit (ISI), both already well along in their own sustainable infrastructure initiatives, would agree to work together on a single initiative that eventually became Envision seems incredible now. But the collaboration, which also included ISI’s three parent organizations, was fueled by a desire to share efforts and make sacrifices for a greater good, Kane underscored.

ISI is many times its former size, and manages projects and initiatives that span the globe. But the starting point for that growth was Envision’s scrappy startup phase, which in retrospect offers a powerful lesson on how vision, collaboration, and perseverance created a path forward for sustainable infrastructure development.

“People took chances on ISI because there was something worth taking a chance on. People could see it, companies could see it, local governments and agencies could see it,” noted Bertera. “That was very important in giving us time to build the space to allow us to be successful over years. Anthony was so much a part of that.”