From June 15 – 19, 2010, members of the NC Triangle Chapter attended USGBC's bi-annual Chapter Leaders Retreat in Snow Bird, Utah. The event was attended by nearly 200 USGBC leaders including Chairs, Vice Chairs or Executive Directors from each of USGBC chapter as well as USGBC national staff, the Chapter Steering Committee, USGBC Board of Directors, and Emerging Professionals National Committee. NC Triangle Chapter Chair Bae-Won Koh attended on behalf of our Chapter as well as myself, though I was also attended as a member of the Emerging Professionals National Committee.

The retreat featured over 25 different sessions on various topics of interest to USGBC Chapters including developing a fundraising plan, transitioning from a working board to a strategic board, green school initiatives, how to engage youth in the Chapter, and improving the chair-executive director relationship.

While all the sessions were quite useful , there was one overriding message that really hit home for us after the retreat: USGBC is a 501c3 non-profit, mission driven organization devoted to making green buildings available to everyonewithin a generation. A lot of times we may get lost in the shuffle with the numerous professional organizations in our industry, but USGBC is really quite different.

For starters, we are mission driven and not membership driven. Now that doesn't mean we won't help our members by educating them so they can better advance the green building movement. It just means that it is also incredibly important that we engage our members in outreach and advocacy efforts to help make sure that everyone in our region of North Carolina has access to healthy, energy efficient buildings where they work, play and learn.