Stephanie Foster, President of "Fostering Sustainability Inc.", works with independent schools and Colleges to help them understand how they can contribute to addressing global environmental challenges by integrating the principles of sustainable development into their facilities and operations, academics and community. Stephanie has over 20 years experience in strategic planning for environmental sustainability, policy development and project management, in academic, non-governmental, private and public sectors.
Stephanie is a “sustainability practitioner”, helping clients become “agents of change” in society’s transition to sustainability. Taking a systems approach to problem-solving and strategy development, Stephanie has exemplary skills in working across disciplines and in organizations experiencing change. Her history of project work demonstrates her expertise in developing and managing innovative environmental projects and working with a range of constituencies/stakeholders on implementation options.
Most recently, Stephanie worked as Executive Director of the Centre for Environment and Sustainability, at Upper Canada College in Toronto, Ontario. In this position she was responsible for leading the College’s initiative to become a “Green School for the 21st Century” and overseeing development of the College’s “Green School Master Plan”. UCC’s Green School initiative is a program aimed at addressing global environmental challenges both as an organization and through its students and staff with a program that integrates ecological literacy, the application of sustainable practices into everyday life at UCC, an environmental ethic, and broader outreach and education of these principles. For more information visit: http://www.ucc.on.ca/podium/default.aspx?t=7184
The Green School Master Plan included a multidisciplinary assessment of how the campus intersects with environmental systems and resources using the ecological footprint concept. The plan identified goals and objectives, key indicators, baseline and benchmarks in the following key areas: energy, water, materials, landscape, mobility and air. The energy section of the plan included a comprehensive plan for reducing the College’s carbon footprint by reducing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, using renewable energy and exploring options for becoming carbon neutral.
Previous to this Stephanie was Vice-President, Strategic Initiatives, at CH2MHILL Canada an environmental engineering firm. In this position, she was responsible for developing and managing the company’s sustainable development activities by integrating sustainability considerations into decision-making for project delivery, design and construction, human resources, marketing and internal greening. This included advising internal environmental professionals and engineers, and private and public sector clients on practical applications of sustainability principles.
