Jerry Yudelson ’93

By UO Student Chelsea Fullmer

Green and sustainable building is growing globally and one of the main advocates for green building is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Jerry Yudelson, a MBA Lindquist College of Business graduate from 1993, was one of the ten original trainers for LEED in the United States in 2001. Besides actively promoting LEED, Yudelson has also written multiple books on green marketing, green building and water crises in cities, worked for California Governor Jerry Brown in solar power development, worked in environmental cleanup and waste management, and most recently opened his own company focusing on building design and green building strategy.

Besides graduating from the UO with a MBA in business administration, Yudelson earned an engineering degree from the California Institute of Technology and a master’s in water resources engineering from Harvard. Aside from a busy and demanding work schedule implementing his various degrees, Yudelson enjoys meditation, yoga, walking outdoors and writing poetry.

After the original Earth Day in the 1970’s struck Yudelson’s interest in the solar and wind energy, his interests began to expand into design and construction of buildings. Making the choice to come to UO helped expand his skills to later form his own business, Yudelson Associates.

“Going to business school at U of O made a lot of sense; I had been a business and management and marketing consultant and wanted to round out my skill set and knowledge base about how all facets of a business actually worked,” Yudelson said.

After copious amounts of jobs, experience and LEED training Yudelson moved to Arizona in 2006 to begin Yudelson Associates, located in Tucson. Yudelson Associates is a client-based business with its mission being “building the business of green building.” With more than 100 clients in their repertoire, Yudelson Associates advices on market entry strategies, green building, and sustainability practices.

“I decided to start the business because I wanted to work directly with decision makers in green building, corporate sustainability and sustainable urban design, and we have been able to do just that,” Yudelson said.

Besides building sustainable platforms for entities such as Ohio State University and shopping malls, Yudelson has been a keynote speaker for more than 60 conferences and events in 12 various countries since 2007 due to his books.

He is also still active in his work with LEED and training other professionals using the LEED certificate and model. In 2011, Yudelson was named and recognized to the first group of LEED Fellows by the US Green Building Council. He also recently completed the LEED certification of Gold, which is the second highest level, for a large corporate headquarters building in Tucson, Arizona.

Yudelson continues to work in the environmental and green building business while upholding LEED standards and advocating for a more sustainable way of life.

“Green building, sustainability and resilient design, in all their aspects, are a critical part of creating a living and livable future for all of us,” Yudelson said.

Click here for more information on Yudelson Associates.