Rachel Hodgdon
CEO
IWBI
Rachel Hodgdon is CEO of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI),
a public benefit corporation with a mission to improve human health and well-being through the built environment.
Rachel came to IWBI after nearly a decade at the U.S. Green Building Council, where she served as Senior Vice President of Knowledge and was Founding Director of the Center for Green Schools. Under her direction, the Center mobilized $275B+ investments in LEED certified educational facilities, deployed over 750,000 volunteers in 73 countries to transform schools on every continent, and published 1,000+ pages of technical guides and original research. At USGBC, her dynamic leadership helped convene international corporations, globally recognized institutions, and government entities to achieve putting every student in a green school within this generation.
In 2016, as IWBI’s Chief Product Officer, Rachel expanded the WELL Building Standard to address all building types, as well as whole districts and communities. Becoming President in 2018, she led the effort to bring a new version of WELL to market, shaped IWBI’s research and education platforms to accelerate market transformation, and developed the WELL Portfolio program and IWBI Membership platform. Rachel leads an incredibly talented team doing business in more than 50 countries that includes market development and salespeople, dedicated coaching contacts, researchers, and subject matter experts who develop and evolve the WELL Building Standard.
A widely sought after expert and inspiring speaker, Rachel’s game-changing contributions to sustainable building have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, FOX News, and CNN, as well as in leading industry publications including Fast Company, Metropolis, Grist, and GreenBIZ.
Rachel received the 2012 World Green Building Council’s Chairman’s Award and was honored by Martha Stewart’s Whole Living Magazine as an eco- heroine in 2011. Rachel joined the Garrison Institute’s Board of Directors in 2015 and became Co-chair in 2018 with founder, Jonathan Rose. Rachel is a member of Urban Land Institute’s Advisory for health and social equity and the Walgreens CSR Advisory Council.
Rachel is a frequent guest lecturer and instructor at the Harvard School
of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment and
has lectured at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, the
University of Connecticut School of Business, and Tufts University and other
institutions.