Mahesh Ramanujam takes reins as U.S. Green Building Council President and CEO

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Board of Directors announced that Mahesh Ramanujam has completed the transition into his new role as president and CEO of USGBC, effective Nov. 4, 2016.

Ramanujam will also serve as president and CEO of USGBC’s sister organization, Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). Formerly USGBC’s COO, Ramanujam replaces Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC’s founding chair.

“Mahesh is a remarkable leader,” said Fedrizzi, who is now chairman and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute. “His strong business background, his demonstrated track record and his amazing gift for inspiring the best in those around him make him the perfect CEO for USGBC at this time in its history. His global vision and his strategic approach give all of us great confidence that he will guide the organization to much success in the coming years.”

Before joining USGBC, Ramanujam was COO for Emergys, a business transformation consulting firm in North Carolina. Prior to that position, he was a consultant to IBM, serving as part of the team that led business transformation initiatives, including the sale of IBM PC systems to Lenovo and its printer divisions to Ricoh.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.