Julie Herman

For Julie Herman, executive director of the Colorado Green Building Guild, it’s all about making a difference.

“Influencing policy and code updates — that’s one of the most satisfying and fulfilling achievements we have,” she said. “To give input at a practical level, and then to total up all the greenhouse-gas emissions we’re avoiding. To educate builders and contractors about how they can do their jobs more effectively, help the environment and save money.”

The guild — which until this year was called the Boulder Green Building Guild — is a nonprofit trade organization that advances the craft of environmentally responsible and sustainable building through education, networking, lobbying, market development and member resources.

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“Sustainability is the meeting of economic, social and environmental goals,” Herman said. “It’s really a great nexus point for the feeling that you can achieve those goals.”

Herman earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s in landscape architecture and planning from the University of Colorado-Denver. Her career has included consulting and project management for the Colorado Scenic Byways project, PlaceMatters.com and the Sustainable Futures Society, managing the air-quality program for the city of Boulder’s Office of Environmental Affairs, and helping plan rural projects through CU-Boulder’s Colorado Center for Community Development.

But Herman took an unlikely path to the helm of the Green Building Guild.

“It just so happened,” she said, “that I saw the ad for an executive director while I was working to make sure my kids’ school was as green as possible.”