Living sustainably has always been a core belief and practice of Mahesh Ramanujam. Growing up in India where much of the population around him faced economic and environmental hardships, Mahesh learned from a young age to make do and be grateful for what things he had and to give what he could to others so they could share in his resources. This is the philosophy that Mahesh brings to U.S. Green Building Council and Green Building Certification Inc. — maximize the resources you have today so there is abundance for many tomorrow.
Mahesh believes in the power of people to change the world for the better, and that true global market transformation can be achieved by working together to build healthier and more sustainable communities, where buildings perform at a higher level and human health and wellness is prioritized and enhanced.
In his dual roles as President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification, Inc. (GBCI), Mahesh leads and empowers hundreds of employees across the globe and thousands of volunteers across USGBC’s ever expanding community to help realize USGBC and GBCI’s mission and vision.
Mahesh brings a true passion for people, global sensibilities and strategy, and an entrepreneurial leadership approach to USGBC and GBCI’s rapidly expanding and diversifying teams, as well as their respective suites of best-in-class products and offerings. Mahesh has a wide range of expertise including organizational leadership, consensus building and negotiation, global business and market development, marketing and communications, technological innovation and enterprise platform development, and organizational excellence.
Before becoming CEO of USGBC, Mahesh served as USGBC’s Chief Operations Officer and as Chief Information Officer prior to that. Prior to joining GBCI in 2009, Mahesh was COO of Emergys Corp., a business technology-consulting firm that leverages emerging technologies to deliver business transformation to its clients. Over a period of 11 years, Mahesh successfully led various business transformation programs at IBM and Lenovo.
Mahesh currently sits on the Advisory Council of the International WELL Building Institute and the Board of Directors of GRESB. Mahesh graduated from India’s Annamalai University with a degree in Computer Engineering.