Brandie Townsend grew up on a dairy farm in western New York and knew the importance of environmental sustainability from a young age. She attended the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and received a master's degree in architecture. Fueled by a desire to build and create, it led her into various industries, but all of those industries included her original passion for sustainability. Her experience includes hospitality (InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott, and Rubicon Global), government (City of Atlanta), consulting, and starting recycling and waste removal businesses. Through her studies at SCAD, she learned the basics of building, but over time she has learned about the importance of green building – constructing and deconstructing buildings with the environment in mind.

The Construction and Demolition (C&D) industry has ...