Sustainable Pittsburgh

2025 CEOS for Sustainability C-Suite Summit: How Regional Leaders Are Turning Risk Into Resilience

On November 19, Sustainable Pittsburgh and the CEOs for Sustainability network convened more than 150 executives, senior leaders, and sustainability practitioners for the 2025 CEOs for Sustainability C-Suite Summit at the National Aviary. This year’s Summit was proudly sponsored by CBRE, Duquesne Light Company, and the National Aviary, with additional support from The Efficiency Network. Together, these partners underscored a shared belief that sustainability is essential to the region’s economic future and that collaboration accelerates progress.

This belief was at the heart of this year’s theme, From Risk to Resilience: Sustainability as a Strategic Imperative. Throughout the morning, leaders spoke candidly about the pressures and uncertainty shaping their work, while also recognizing the significant opportunities emerging through innovation, strategic focus, and cross-sector partnership. Held in the Aviary’s LEED Gold Certified Garden Room, the Summit brought together perspectives from advanced manufacturing, energy, real estate, logistics, consulting, and healthcare, creating a dynamic look at how sustainability is shaping competitiveness and long-term regional growth.

Opening the Morning: Leadership, Vision, and Regional Commitment

Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Executive Director, Bhavini Patel, opened the Summit by emphasizing the importance of practical action, measurable progress, and meaningful partnerships. She encouraged attendees to move one priority from pilot to portfolio, share one meaningful metric, and form at least one connection that would accelerate progress beyond the Summit.

Attendees then viewed a short video featuring leaders from the CEOs for Sustainability network, highlighting how companies across the region are translating sustainability into daily practice and long-term business strategy.

Patel welcomed Mayor-Elect Corey O’Connor, who delivered one of his first major public remarks since the election. He spoke about the city’s commitment to sustainable economic development and emphasized the importance of public-private alignment in strengthening Pittsburgh’s long-term resilience and competitiveness.

Following the mayor elect, network co-chairs Kurt Lesker IV, president and CEO of Kurt J. Lesker Company, and Jana Lake, president and owner of 3R Sustainability, set the stage for the day. Lesker highlighted the power of peer leadership and cross-sector learning, while Lake encouraged attendees to focus on what matters most in a rapidly shifting policy and technology landscape.

Peer Circles: Sharing Tools, Breaking Down Barriers, Sparking New Insights

Randy Clark of The Efficiency Network welcomed participants to the Peer Circles, where small groups explored supply chain sustainability, financing projects, AI and innovation, circularity and waste reduction, employee engagement and culture, and sustainable investing. Facilitators from CEOs for Sustainability member companies guided each discussion, helping attendees compare approaches, ask questions, and surface emerging solutions.

Across the Peer Circles, several themes emerged. Leaders acknowledged the growing need to frame sustainability in terms of efficiency, cost stability, resilience, and risk reduction to build internal alignment. Conversations on financing and supply chains centered on navigating rising costs and regulatory expectations, while circularity discussions explored practical ways to reduce waste and recover materials. Employee engagement conversations emphasized the importance of culture building and recognition, and the innovation table highlighted how AI and emerging tools are reshaping forecasting, reporting, and operational decision making.

Participants shared templates, playbooks, and practical frameworks throughout the morning. You can find these shared resources at the bottom of this page.

Executive Panel: Setting Sustainability Priorities That Drive Strategy

Featured panelists:

Moderated by Bhavini Patel, the conversation examined how organizations identify the sustainability priorities that truly drive strategy in a complex and fast-changing environment.

Panelists emphasized that sustainability and resilience now shape core business decisions across every sector represented. They discussed how integrating sustainability into operations reduces waste and variability, strengthens reliability, and enhances long-term performance. The group highlighted the urgency of decarbonizing supply chains, the growing role of long-duration storage as demand increases from data centers and industrial users, and the importance of incorporating climate risk, solar deployment, and lower-carbon materials into how assets are planned and built. Together, their perspectives underscored that sustainability is no longer separate from strategy, but central to competitiveness and future readiness.

The panel also touched on navigating policy volatility, evolving customer expectations, and the need to stay ahead of growing disclosure requirements. Looking ahead, they pointed to opportunities in cleaner construction materials, distributed energy, long-duration storage, and technologies that improve grid stability and equity. The discussion reinforced a central message of the Summit: companies that measure what matters and embed sustainability into long-term strategy will be best positioned to lead.

Keynote: A Blueprint for Value Creation in a Complex Moment

After the morning sessions, attendees reconvened for the keynote delivered by Robert Bernard, chief sustainability officer at CBRE, introduced by Mamadou Balde, senior managing director and market leader for CBRE Greater Philadelphia.

Bernard began by acknowledging the headwinds companies face, from volatile energy markets to mounting infrastructure pressures. Yet he quickly reframed the moment, noting that beneath these challenges lies a powerful opportunity for organizations willing to navigate complexity with clarity.

He outlined CBRE’s approach, which uses data and AI-powered modeling tools to quantify the financial value of sustainability investments. By translating risks and opportunities into clear economic terms, leaders can shift conversations from obligation to strategy and make decisions that accelerate value creation at scale.

Turning to Western Pennsylvania, Bernard noted the region’s advantage as a low climate risk location, an increasingly important factor for companies making long-term investment decisions. At the same time, he was candid about the challenges ahead: sharp increases in PJM capacity prices, projected water rate hikes, and the need for a more coherent regional energy strategy. He encouraged leaders to build comprehensive energy policies within their organizations, leverage partnerships to optimize operations, and use data-driven tools to anticipate future pressures rather than react to them. Bernard closed with a clear message: regions that plan ahead and manage risk with discipline will be best positioned to attract investment and thrive.

Executive Lightning Round: Leadership in Action

Following the keynote, the Summit moved into the Executive Lightning Round, where leaders from across the CEOs for Sustainability network shared concise updates on the initiatives shaping their sustainability strategy for 2026. Presenters included Kurt Lesker IV; Justine Russo, director of sustainability and business intelligence at PITT OHIO; Holly Vogt, senior director of the UPMC Center for Sustainability; and Kevin Walker, president and CEO of Duquesne Light Company, together with Troy Geanopoulos, CEO of The Efficiency Network.

Their presentations highlighted a wide range of efforts, including waste reduction and renewable energy procurement, electrification, microgrid development, employee engagement, and long-term infrastructure modernization. Collectively, the Lightning Round offered a snapshot of real progress underway and reinforced the value of sharing lessons learned across sectors.

Closing Reflections and Aviary Tour

To close the program, Patel reflected on the energy and collaboration that carried through the morning. She noted that the insights shared throughout the Summit reflect a region not only responding to change, but actively preparing to lead. She encouraged attendees to stay connected, continue sharing ideas, and take at least one actionable step as they return to their organizations.

Attendees then joined expert guides for a tour of the National Aviary, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the facility’s conservation and sustainability work. The tour provided a fitting close to the Summit and space for continued conversations in a beautiful setting.

Explore the Full Photo Gallery

Shared Resources

Throughout the morning, participants shared templates, playbooks, and practical frameworks. Sustainable Pittsburgh has compiled these materials here for attendees to access, revisit, and apply in their work: