WorldGBC is delighted to announce the appointment of an Interim CEO, Cristina Gamboa who will take over from Terri Wills, the current CEO whilst she goes on maternity leave for a year. Cristina will formally start as Interim CEO on 9 November 2018, spending the first week hosting the WorldGBC Board and Corporate Advisory Board meetings and attending Greebuild in Chicago. As a dual citizen of Colombia and the UK, Cristina will be relocating to be based in the London office by the end of November.

Cristina brings her outstanding leadership in the field of sustainability, climate change and green building initiatives as well as her experience of our global movement of GBCs, partners and members.  The Board selection Committee and the current CEO are excited to welcome Cristina given her impressive track record in the movement and experience in sustainable urbanism and construction, international partnerships, net zero, and affordable housing.

On her new appointment Cristina said:

“I’m very excited to be joining WorldGBC and look forward to working with the GBCs, global team, Board and partners to continue raising the profile and growing the influence of our global movement. Without a doubt, sustainable buildings and cities are one of the most effective solutions to climate change, and also a means to deliver on social justice and other environmental goals like reducing waste, preserving water resources and stopping biodiversity loss.”

For the last nine years, Cristina has been the incredible CEO of the Colombia Green Building Council (or Consejo Colombiano de Construcción Sostenible, CCCS). Under her leadership, CCCS has successfully positioned the sustainable urbanism and building movement in both the private and public sectors agenda; deployed an affordable housing certification programme; advised city officials of Bogotá and Medellin on how to improve water and energy efficiency regulations for new and existing building projects through the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) in partnership with World Resources Institute and WorldGBC; and advocated for the inclusion of the building and construction sector in the Colombian NDC commitments, amongst other achievements in the policy arena.

Cristina has also had extensive experience with WorldGBC as she was on our Board for five years, from July 2013 until June 2018.  During this period the Board approved the new WorldGBC Strategic Plan in 2015, which has led to its significant growth in influence and impact in the last few years. She was also the first Chair of the WorldGBC Americas Regional Network from July 2012 until March 2016.  Cristina will be the first leader of WorldGBC that comes from a developing country, and WorldGBC is excited about the potential to provide increasing levels of support to our GBCs, cities and governments in this part of the world under Cristina’s leadership in order to help achieve the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The current CEO, Terri Wills, will be on maternity leave for a full year, and is committed and excited to return in 2019. On Cristina’s appointment, Terri Wills said:

“I’m delighted that by making this interim appointment, WorldGBC can lead the way in creating a work environment and culture that encourages staff to balance work and life demands, setting an example to support women succeed in senior leadership roles by enabling them to focus on both work and family.”

Both Cristina and Terri will be working collaboratively on handover to ensure that there is a seamless leadership transition, to ensure that the sustainable building movement continues to grow in influence and local and global impact around the world.