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Women in Real Estate 2020: Sara Neff Has Transformed Kilroy’s Mission
Sara Neff serves as Senior Vice President of Sustainability for Kilroy Realty Corporation in Los Angeles. She has successfully transformed the company’s mission since joining their team ten years ago.
The sustainability initiatives she has implemented have resulted in Kilroy being named the No. 1 publicly traded real estate company focusing on sustainability in North America by GRESB. Neff oversees all sustainability efforts at Kilroy such as solar and battery deal making, the implementation of energy and water efficiency throughout the existing and development portfolios and the integration of sustainability standards into annual financial reports.
She also oversaw the launch of the Kilroy Innovation Lab, which puts efforts into embracing and developing new technologies to improve the environmental performance of Kilroy’s assets to transition to a low carbon economy.
In 2020, Kilroy dramatically expanded its corporate social responsibility initiatives while continuing to raise the bar on its environmental programs, building on its momentum of becoming the largest North American REIT to establish carbon neutral operations by year-end 2020. Kilroy became the first U.S. REIT to complete a comprehensive analysis of the environmental and social impacts on the most critical components of its supply chain.
The company’s sustainability accomplishments are the result of Neff’s deep commitment to reduce the environmental and social impacts of KRC’s portfolio. That includes reducing energy consumption in its office portfolio by 1.8% and reducing water consumption by a 5.6%. She was also successful in getting 70% of Kilroy’s portfolio ENERGY STAR certified under the new, more rigorous ENERGY STAR scoring system, earning more Fitwel certifications than any non-government landlord, with 19 certifications across 43% of the portfolio, and increasing the company’s recycling diversion rate from 40.4% to 41.5%.
These are just a few of the reasons we chose Neff as one of the 2020 Women in Real Estate Award winners in California. Connect Media’s Women in Real Estate Awards honor the achievements and inspirational stories of women who have reached respected positions of leadership and play key mentorship roles for others.
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