Meet the 2025 Planet Positive Awards Jurors

The METROPOLIS Planet Positive Awards are the largest awards program focused on sustainability, health, and well-being in the built environment.

With 58 categories spanning projects, products, innovation, and people, the 2025 Planet Positive Awards celebrate the meaningful progress being made toward a more sustainable and equitable future. Click here for the full list of 2025 categories.

Project entries will be judged on how effectively they mitigate environmental impact, advance social equity, tackle complex challenges with creativity, and integrate beauty, function, and community value. Product entries are assessed for their innovation, contribution to health and equity, use of sustainable materials and processes, and transparency through third-party certifications. Learn how to enter this year’s awards here.

Entries are reviewed by leading experts across the industry. This year, project winners will be selected by jurors from academia, nonprofits, and sustainability leadership, while product winners will be chosen by top specifiers and material experts driving sustainable design forward.

Interested in submitting for METROPOLIS’s 2025 Planet Positive Awards?

We’ll notify you when entries open, provide tips on application materials, and support you throughout your application process.

Carson Chan
MoMA / Director, the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment

Carson Chan is the inaugural Director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment, and a Curator in the Museum’s Department of Architecture and Design. He develops, leads, and implements the Ambasz Institute’s manifold research initiatives through a range of programs, including exhibitions, public lectures, conferences, seminars, and publications.

Before joining MoMA in 2021, he worked as an architecture writer, curator, and educator. In 2006 he cofounded PROGRAM, a Berlin-based project space and residency exploring architecture’s disciplinary boundaries through exhibitions. He co-curated the 4th Marrakech Biennale in 2012 and was Executive Curator of the 2013 Biennial of the Americas in Denver. He holds a bachelor of architecture from Cornell and a master’s of design studies from Harvard GSD. His doctoral research at Princeton examines postwar public aquariums alongside the rise of environmentalism as a social and intellectual movement. He is a founding editor of Current: Collective for Architecture History and Environment, an online platform centering the environment in architectural history.

Tanya Eagle
JLL / Director, Sustainable Buildings Team Lead

Tanya Eagle is a director and sustainable buildings team lead at JLL, where she helps clients drive meaningful change across the built environment. With more than 15 years of experience advancing sustainable design and programs, she brings deep expertise in material health, green building certifications, integrated design, and urban and environmental planning.

Prior to joining JLL, Tanya led sustainability standards at Perkins Eastman, served as a sustainability specialist at RTKL, and worked as a LEED certification reviewer for the Green Building Certification Institute. Her work is rooted in a belief that the built environment can promote well-being, environmental prosperity, and equity. She is passionate about translating big-picture sustainability goals into actionable strategies that deliver lasting impact.

Vivian Loftness
Carnegie Mellon University / University Professor, Paul Mellon Chair

Vivian Loftness is University Professor and Paul Mellon Chair at Carnegie Mellon University, with over 40 years of experience in building science research for industry and government. Formerly Head of Carnegie Mellon Architecture, she has edited the 2013 and 2020 Springer Encyclopedia on Sustainable Built Environments and authored books, reports, and chapters on climate, regionalism, environmental design, sustainability, and advanced building systems for the workplace of the future to enhance productivity, health, and the triple bottom line.

Loftness has served on over 25 boards, including the U.S. EPA’s National Advisory Council, DOE’s FEMAC, AIA, ILFI, and USGBC, and on 14 NAS panels. She has received numerous awards, including the Stars of Building Science recognition, AIA Pennsylvania’s Award of Distinction, and the USGBC “Sacred Tree” Award. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Architecture from MIT.

Melissa Berardi
CBRE / Project Management Director

Melissa Berardi is a director for CBRE Project Management’s Building Sustainability Consulting team, where she leads ESG strategy development and manages third-party certification processes across North America. She takes a multidisciplinary approach to align client goals with environmental and lifecycle impacts, guiding teams through the complexities of certifications such as LEED (V3 and V4), WELL, WELL Health-Safety Rating, Fitwel, Green Globes, BREEAM In-Use, and LEED Volume. Berardi provides technical oversight and strategic direction throughout each project phase to ensure sustainability goals are fully integrated and successfully implemented.

With nearly two decades of experience in architecture and engineering, Berardi has a deep understanding of sustainable design and construction. She has trained architects, building owners, and property managers on best practices and has delivered sustainability solutions across commercial, education, government, and financial sectors.

José Manuel Castillo
Cornell University / Chair of the Department of Architecture, Professor

José Castillo is chair of the department of architecture at Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, where he leads efforts to integrate design, research, and global urban issues into architectural education. His academic focus includes sustainable urbanism, housing, and infrastructure, and he has brought a strong international and socially engaged perspective to the department.

Castillo is also co-founder of Mexico City-based firm a|911, where he and Saidee Springall lead projects that merge architecture with equitable urban development across Latin America. a|911’s award-winning work emphasizes sustainability through resource-efficient design, public engagement, and long-term urban strategies. The firm has received the Holcim Bronze Medal for Sustainable Construction Latin America and the Audi Urban Future Award.

Drew Shula
Verdical Group / Founder and CEO

Drew Shula is a social entrepreneur and environmentalist, Founder & CEO of Verdical Group, a leading sustainability consulting firm specializing in green building certifications, engineering services, strategy, and events.

Verdical Group, a certified B Corporation and 1% for the Planet member, works with high-profile clients like NASA, Google, Johnson & Johnson, LAX, Meta, and Apple. Under his leadership, Verdical Group was nominated for a 2024 1% for the Planet Summit Award, won a 2023 Real Leaders Impact Award, and was a finalist for U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year in 2022. Drew is also the founder of the world’s largest annual net zero event, the Net Zero Conference and Trailblazer Awards.

Shula is a LEED Fellow and Living Future Hero. He frequently speaks on the building industry’s climate impact and net zero design and serves on several advisory boards, including USGBC-CA and Woodbury University.

Simona Fischer
MSR Design / Director of Sustainable Practice

As the director of sustainable practice at MSR Design in Minneapolis, Simona Fischer has developed key tools that positively impact the firm’s projects. These include the Sustainable Materials Action Packet, which sets thresholds for material decisions, and the MSR Design Sustainability Tracker, which tracks environmental impacts using the AIA Framework for Design Excellence.

Fischer’s tools are publicly available to foster industry-wide knowledge sharing. She is also deeply committed to knowledge exchange, collaborating with organizations like the Healthy Building Network, Carbon Leadership Forum, and International Living Future Institute. A dedicated advocate, Fischer co-chairs the Committee on the Environment (COTE) with AIA Minnesota, speaks to lawmakers, and has testified on building codes. She also helped launch a Minnesota version of the Materials Matter continuing education series.

Fischer’s leadership and technical expertise help develop solutions that promote the health of people and the planet, advancing sustainability in the built environment.

Jonsara Ruth
Healthy Materials Lab / Co-founder and Design Director

Jonsara Ruth is the co-founder and Design Director of the Healthy Materials Lab (HML) at Parsons School of Design, where she is also an Associate Professor and Founding Director of the MFA Interior Design program. At HML, she leads efforts to improve the health of underserved communities by transforming design and material practices. Through her teaching, research, and symposia, she fosters interdisciplinary dialogue on design’s impact on health and the environment.

A designer, artist, and founder of Salty Labs, Ruth has led creative teams to develop award-winning, environmentally friendly children’s furniture designed to improve indoor air quality and overall health. Her work focuses on elevating everyday human experiences, and her designs have been widely published.

Ruth serves on the boards of the Sustainable Furnishings Council and Mount Sinai’s Stakeholder Advisory Board for Community Engagement Core. She frequently lectures at industry and academic events. In 2022, she received the Women in Architecture Innovation Award from Architectural Record and co-edited Material Health: Design Frontiers, released in February 2023.

Mallory Taub
Gensler / Sustainability Director and Climate Action & Sustainability Leader

As a Sustainability Director and Climate Action & Sustainability Leader for Gensler’s Northeast region, Mallory Taub collaborates across disciplines to lead the development of sustainability strategies to improve the ecological and health impact of the built environment. Based in the firm’s New York office, she defines and implements synergistic sustainability frameworks at multiple scales, with progressive approaches to carbon, water, materials, waste, ecology, wellness, climate resilience, and circular systems. She played a key role in the development of the Gensler Product Sustainability (GPS) Standards, an open-source framework that streamlines material selection to reduce environmental impact in architectural interiors.

In 2019, Taub was selected as a Forefront Fellow at the Urban Design Forum, where she worked with industry and civic leaders on solutions to mitigate the impact of extreme heat on vulnerable communities in collaboration with the New York Mayor’s Office of Resiliency. In 2020, she was appointed to the Steering Committee for the Building Energy Exchange to advise on preparing for New York’s ground-breaking 2025 energy code requirements. Additionally, she contributes to the AIA NY Chapter through participating in the TORCH mentoring program and serving on its Committee on the Environment (COTE).