Maria Atkinson is Group Head of Sustainability for Lend Lease based in Sydney.
In 2010, she was appointed to the role of Managing Director for Lend Lease’s consulting business Sustainability Solutions, and is an internationally-recognized expert in green building and sustainability.
She studied Environmental Biology, and Aquatic Biology and Coastline Protection at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is also a graduate of the Executive Development Program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Maria Atkinson is a co-founder and founding CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia, of which she is now a Life Fellow. She is a member of the City of Sydney Design Advisory Committee; the Australian Government Department of Climate Change; the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Climate Adaptation Flagship Stakeholder Advisory Group; and Director of the St James Ethics Foundation.
She is a member of its Climate Change Think Tank, a Director of the United States Green Building Council, and a member of the US Studies Centre Council of Advisors. She was the Chair of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative until July 2011, and a member of the Singapore Building and Construction Authority’s International Panel of Experts for Sustainability in the Built Environment from 2007 until 2009.
During 2008 she chaired the discussion about the Future of Sustainable Construction at the World Economic Forum inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai, and spoke at the THINK 08 conference in London. Maria Atkinson was also a delegate to former prime minister Rudd’s Australia 2020 Summit in the Sustainability and Climate Change stream.
Maria Atkinson was a member of the Global Holcim Awards jury 2012.
[Last updated: 23-Mar-12]