Even what has worked in the past can be a liability moving forward. A lauded futurist, Elena has been tracking the trends shifting the operating environment and the opportunities the create for individuals, organizations, and industries.

What does transformational change demand that continual improvement does not? How do we orchestrate behavior change around the most stubborn problems and measure the impact? Elena’s research and practice in catalyzing measurable, accountable transformation at project, organization, and industry level span 20+ years.

We’re increasingly accountable not only for where our attention goes but for what it ultimately achieves; whether it makes a measurable difference or merely subsidizes unhealthy dependencies. How do we measure impact? How do we reconcile the P&L with the value of laughing new industries, breaking cycles of poverty, or abating greenhouse gases?

Elena has helped shape the sustainability movement for 20+ years. Not only has she helped established four Green Building Councils and take the Living Future Institute internationally, but she has influenced regulation, policy, strategy, debate, and the very definition of sustainability — pushing it towards regeneration — across five continents.

Renewable energy is now a tradable commodity. The future of energy is interactive. How do we de-carbonize the existing grid while decentralizing it for resilience? How do we activate self-interest to accelerate the transition to the clean-energy future, leveraging blockchain technology where it is best suited?

Where carbon or light pollution had made 'sustainability’ abstract or even irrelevant for most, health and wellbeing can finally activate self-interest in demanding better. An ardent advocate for healthy spaces as a human right, Elena is on the Board of Greenbuild’s Global Health & Wellness Summit (2d term) and the Global Health Equity Advisory.

If leadership is taking people where they need to go, then what will it take to define the coming decades? If leaders are defined by their decisions, then how do we decide amidst a cacophony of data? How do we tap into our unique experience to fuel our path? And how do we do a job that, if done right, is thankless?