Chicago-based integrated design and delivery firm Wight & Company has hired sustainability expert John Mlade, LFA (Living Future Accredited), WELL AP and LEED Fellow, as senior project manager, sustainable and healthy environments.
“We are excited for John to join our sustainability practice at Wight & Company,” said Lois Vitt Sale, chief sustainability officer at Wight & Company. “He is a highly credentialed professional whose diverse skill set and experience broadens our competencies in delivering healthy, resource-efficient buildings in which people thrive.”
Mlade has nearly two decades of experience in sustainability consulting and research, and has served on more than a dozen national and local committees and boards throughout his career. He was a member of the City of Chicago Sustainable Development Policy Working Group, and is currently a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Health in Building Roundtable and the Health Product Declaration Collaborative technical committee. He also serves as a Living Building Challenge auditor on behalf of the International Living Future Institute (ILFI).
“I am thrilled to be a part of the sustainability team at Wight & Company, working with some of the most experienced and engaged green building and design professionals in the Midwest,” said Mlade. “Through Wight’s integrated approach, which takes projects from design through delivery, I now have the ability to make a greater impact on client projects at each stage of the process.”
Wight & Company has a long history of leadership in sustainable design and as an active contributor to the green building movement. The firm was a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council and among the first signatories of the AIA 2030 Commitment, which seeks to move the industry toward carbon-neutral buildings, developments and renovations by the year 2030. Most recently, the firm designed the first Passive House, net-zero recreational facility in the country, which it is constructing for the Plainfield Park District in Plainfield, Illinois. Wight & Company has completed more than 80 LEED-registered and certified projects, including the LEED Platinum-certified Sunset Ridge School in Northfield, Illinois.
Mlade’s experience spans commercial fit-outs through developer-driven, multi-use projects. Prior to joining Wight, he held senior roles at leading design, engineering and sustainability consulting firms. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; a master of science degree in construction management and green building from Colorado State University and an MBA from the University of Illinois, Chicago.
