Emi LaFountain is the Sustainability Strategy Manager for the West Coast at Turner Construction Company. As a seasoned professional in sustainable construction, Emi brings a robust background in construction operations and finance to her role. She is a specialist in managing jobsite carbon and water, reducing embodied carbon, and sourcing sustainable wood, making her a key player in advancing sustainable practices within the industry. Emi’s expertise and dedication to environmental stewardship are instrumental in driving Turner Construction’s commitment to sustainability, particularly in the areas of carbon reduction and resource efficiency on jobsites.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Can you please provide a brief overview of your professional background and experience in the industry?
As a Sustainability Strategy Manager at Turner Construction, my role is to identify Turner’s pathway to decarbonizing its operations, both on the jobsite and within the supply chain. Aside from having started her career in field operations and cost management, I have also held corporate positions as Turner’s Embodied Carbon Program Manager and Jobsite Carbon Program Manager, where I worked to define the contractor’s role in standardizing jobsite sustainability practices. I am a founding member of the Bay Area Sustainable Construction Leaders group. I recently graduated from the University of Cambridge studying corporate sustainability.
Tell us about Turner Construction Company and its mission.
At Turner, our vision is to be the highest-value provider of global construction services and technical expertise while we make a difference in the lives of people, customers, the community, and the environment. We are ENR’s largest general contractor and have been the biggest builder of green buildings for the past 16 years.
What strategies do you employ to ensure that Turner Construction Company remains competitive in the market?
We are often approached by clients for complex scopes that require high levels of expertise with logistics and procurement strategies. Some of our differentiators include our in-house engineering review group (Turner Engineering Group), our direct procurement group (SourceBlue), as well as our self-performed operations; all of which help keep costs low and ensure a level of quality our clients demand. But increasingly, our commitment to ESG, which started as a grassroots movement and has now become a core part of our business strategy, has become yet another differentiator with our clients and design partners. We find that many of the firms we work with share similar values and want to increase the sustainability of the job, and we always look forward to partnering with those organizations that also want to drive down our industry’s carbon footprint.
How do you foster a culture of innovation and adaptability within your organization, considering the rapidly changing landscape of the business industry?
Much of the sustainable building movement came from organic, efforts movements within our business units. It started with folks lobbying for dishwashers instead of disposables in their offices, or pushing for temporary LED lights on jobsites instead of the metal halide fixtures we used to see. But increasingly, it became clear that relying on volunteers to make scalable change at the pace we need to address climate change was not a sustainable model, which is why we’ve staffed our various regions with full-time sustainability experts as well as sustainability program managers at the headquarters level. And while this staffing is important and necessary to support our long-term program, we need to recognize that the grassroots sustainability advocates are a huge force to be leveraged, and their efficacy as a network can be amplified when coupled with public recognition and the right platform.
How do you prioritize customer satisfaction and ensure that the company provides exceptional service to its clients?
From a sustainability perspective, where we offer a unique leg up is that we are highly attuned to the importance of integration of sustainability goals with the preconstruction process. An example could be that a client wants to explore low-carbon concrete but isn’t sure what an appropriate baseline is. We make it a point to connect with our subcontractor market in advance of these goals being set so we can advise on what project requirements can be put in at no additional cost versus have a discussion on what costs the client might expect to see at more rigorous reduction goals.
What steps do you take to attract and retain top talent in the industry, and how do you encourage professional growth and development within your organization?
We have found that, increasingly, young, bright students coming out of school are eager to join organizations that have strong environmental stewardship programs; so to be the largest green builder in the United States and to have as rigorous of a sustainability program as we do makes us an attractive employer to many of these young hires that are increasingly purpose-driven. And for those individuals that join our industry but aren’t necessarily on the sustainability ‘track,’ I always like to remind those folks that they can be just as effective changemakers by joining their core job functions with their passions.
As Sustainability Strategy Manager at Turner Construction Company, what is your overall vision for the company’s future, and how do you plan to achieve it?
My vision for our company’s future is the same as its current ESG targets, my favorite of which being our target to be Net Zero scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by the year 2040. Realizing this future will require significant changes to how we design our buildings and interact with our visitors. It will also require us to support the development of innovative technologies that help us solve the climate crisis, like zero-carbon cements.
What advice would you give to aspiring leaders or individuals looking to join the industry?
To be an effective change agent in sustainability, it is necessary to learn the inner workings of the industry you are trying to change. This allows one to better understand the different levers for change within that industry, as well as be a more effective communicator with the professionals you are trying to bring along with you.
To know more, please visit: http://www.turnerconstruction.com
