A local engineer was recognized Nov. 5 when the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced the fourth annual winners of the GreenGov Presidential Awards, which honor federal civilian and military personnel as well as agency teams, facilities, and programs that have taken innovative steps to reduce energy use and carbon pollution, curb waste, and save taxpayer money in Federal agency operations. At a White House ceremony, senior Administration officials recognized the eight award winners, including Seattle’s Jeanette Fiess, for exemplifying President Obama’s charge to lead by example and demonstrating extraordinary achievement in the pursuit of the President’s 2009 Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance (Executive Order 13514).
Jeanette Fiess, an electrical engineer working in Seattle for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division, was selected by the White House as this year’s winner in the Sustainability Hero category.
Under Fiess’ leadership, the USACE Northwestern Division has increased the number of employees with training in high-performance building standards by 70 percent. In 2012, Jeanette Fiess led the nationwide USACE effort to update the USACE Unified Facilities Guide specifications, which lacked critical sustainability requirements. USACE Headquarters has recommended that training developed by Fiess be included as part of their national training platform in future years. Fiess serves as the Northwestern Division program manager for sustainability and energy.
CEQ solicited nominations for the 2013 GreenGov Presidential awards from the Federal community earlier this year. A panel of judges that included Federal and national sustainability leaders reviewed the nominations and recommended the award finalists to the President.
Northwestern Division is one of nine U.S. Army Corps of Engineers divisions. The Northwestern Division is nearly 2,000 miles wide, enveloping 14 states and two of the country’s longest rivers – the Missouri and Columbia – which drain nearly one million square miles within its boundaries that stretch from Seattle, Wash., to St. Louis, Mo. Its civil works, military, and environmental programs surpass $3 billion annually.
Release no. 13-056