WELL to Be Led by USGBC Founder Rick Fedrizzi

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has announced that Rick Fedrizzi will become its CEO in November 2016 and will immediately take the role of board chairman. IWBI runs the WELL Building Standard, a rating system for buildings that’s focused on human health and well-being.

The move helps cement a strong relationship between the WELL Building Standard, run by IWBI, and the LEED Rating System, run by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Fedrizzi is currently CEO and founding chairman of USGBC, and he announced his intention to leave USGBC in 2015. WELL certification is administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), a sister organization to USGBC.

USGBC and IWBI promote each other’s systems as complementary. While LEED has a number of design requirements focused on promoting human health, WELL takes these further and into greater detail. LEED covers wider-ranging issues in buildings, such as energy and water use, that are not addressed in WELL.

According to Fedrizzi, the move has the blessing of the USGBC board, which has already picked current USGBC COO, Mahesh Ramanujam, to succeed Fedrizzi.

“I can’t think of a person better suited to lead this process than Rick,” said IWBI founder Paul Scialla in a press release. “His management experience and global vision will be huge assets to IWBI, and we couldn’t be more excited to have him.”

“Our buildings and communities should help humans thrive,” said Fedrizzi. “Sustainability plus health is a powerful lens through which to view the world, and WELL has approached this goal in a similar way to how we developed the LEED green building program.” He added, “Leveraging the strengths of both USGBC and IWBI will advance a much-needed change in the improvement of the wellness and quality of life of our families, friends, and colleagues through a healthier, more sustainable built environment.”

According to IWBI, WELL has enrolled more than 200 building projects in 17 countries since being introduced in October 2014. Some of those projects are certified under the WELL pilot; the first certification under v1 of the standard was the TD Bank Group’s office in Toronto, which was certified WELL Gold in May 2016.