Dive Brief:

• The co-founder and CEO and the U.S. Green Building Council has announced he will resign at the end of next year.

• Rick Fedrizzi, 60, is widely regarded as a driving force behind green building worldwide. He founded the U.S. Green Building Council in 1993 with environmental attorney Michael Italiano and real estate developer David Gottfried to promote sustainability in construction.

• His announcement came a year and a half before his retirement, he said, so the council will have time to find and transition to a replacement before Fedrizzi leaves. He told The Syracuse Post-Standard he plans to serve on corporate boards as a green building expert.

Dive Insight:

The nonprofit USGBC and its Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification program for green buildings is recognized internationally for its leadership in environmentally friendly building and construction practices.

Approximately 30,000 buildings around the world have qualified for LEED certification.

“I never could have imagined the sweeping global impact the organization would have, the wide-ranging work that could be accomplished, the dramatic change in our industry that we would lead, the scale of the innovation we would spark or the number of lives we would touch,” Fedrizzi said in a statement. “It’s been a humbling and gratifying experience.”