Ben Stapleton

Executive Director at USGBC California

Advisor

Ben Stapleton is a recognized sustainability leader with a focus on building teams and designing programs to deliver impactful results. As Executive Director for USGBC California, his work focuses on coordinating an ecosystem leveraging the built environment to help make California a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable place for all. His development and delivery of a portfolio of community engagement and education focused programming have centered on climate justice, high-performance buildings, occupant health, corporate sustainability, and regional resilience, fostering a sense of connection and shared purpose.

Ben has been named a lifetime Senior Fellow for USC’s Marshall Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL), which honors exceptional leaders for their commitment to the fields of social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, nonprofit management, and sustainability.

Previously, he launched and then managed the internationally recognized regional epicenter for sustainability in Downtown L.A., the La Kretz Innovation Campus, while leading operations, finance, and major program initiatives for the LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI). He is a recipient of JLL's distinctive Da Vinci Award for Innovation, the Net Zero Conference’s Trailblazer Award for Industry Leadership, the L.A. Business Council's Community Impact Award, and CoStar’s Power Broker designation in the Los Angeles market.

Ben serves on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery, and is a frequent speaker, moderator and sustainability expert for media. Ben holds a MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business and a BA degree in Economics from UCLA. He is a LEED AP O+M, ENV SP, and WELL AP certified green building nerd driven by a connection to nature while being inspired by the people around him.