Ash Awad
Ash Awad
McKinstry
With over 25 years of industry experience, Ash is responsible for evolving McKinstry’s vision and leadership for a variety of related initiatives aimed at innovation in the built environment and oversees McKinstry’s market development strategy. His extensive knowledge in the industry includes systems engineering, evaluation of sustainable ideas, development of alternative-financing solutions, and optimizing and securing utility incentives and grants. Ash earned his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree from the University of Washington. Ash is a registered professional engineer. In 2023, Ash was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to the Board of Trustees for Western Washington University. He also sits on the boards of Washington STEM and Climate Solutions and serves as a Deputy Director for the Washington Roundtable.
All Sessions by Ash Awad
Opening Plenary: Financing the Decarbonization of the Built Environment – Public, Private & Tax Credit Resources
Decarbonizing the built environment requires technical and operational innovation. Beyond that challenge is the financial investment necessary to implement this transformation at scale. This conference plenary will bring leading voices together to explain how public (federal, state, and local) and private financing are being structured to catalyze this transformation.
Accelerating the Pace of Deployment: The Road to Making Buildings Smart, Efficient & Carbon Free
The current pace of retrofitting commercial and institutional buildings across the United States is on a 300-year timeline. Almost no one believes that is acceptable. If the technology exists – and the Smart Buildings Exchange sessions that follow demonstrate this – and the financing of projects is increasingly accessible with Inflation Reduction Act and carbon market funds starting to flow, then why isn’t our pace of deployment faster? This moderated panel discussion brings together public and private sector senior leaders to describe how they challenged their organizations to move now on projects that made their infrastructure smarter and more efficient with lower carbon emissions. Is organizational leadership from the very top the key to solving the 300-year problem? Get motivated by this session to experience the technology and practice ideas for the three days of SBX 2023.
Plenary session – Senior Executives Discuss the Future of Energy Services and the Built Environment
Both the utility and real estate industries are undergoing change from market and regulatory forces. This moderated panel will discuss those changes and how senior executives view the new relationships between energy providers and the built environment.
Smarter Buildings and a Changing Utility – A Vision of the New World of Energy
The conference kicks off with a moderated discussion featuring senior thought leaders in the technology and utility sectors. Panelists include Mary Kipp, CEO of Puget Sound Energy, Debra Smith, CEO Seattle City Light, and Ed Schlect, CSO of Avista Utilities, Stephanie Greene of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Emmanuel Daniel of Microsoft. Moderated by Ash Awad, President and Chief Markets Officer of McKinstry, this panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the energy industry and how that affects the built environment. A new cleaner and more flexible electrical grid is coming. These changes will be facilitated in part by smart building technologies and practices built on the fast-growing power of cloud computing and information technology services. This is sure to be an exciting and informative discussion which will frame issues getting discussed throughout the subsequent two days of the conference.