Award category

Champion

Year released

2025

Champion of Community Engagement

High Performance Building Hubs as a concept are independent policy-neutral, implementation focused not-for profit initiatives that resource and support local implementation of energy efficient projects and best practices. When the need for trusted expertise and ground-level support was realized in St. Louis and Kansas City, local organizations and utilities joined together. A groundbreaking national partnership formed with the Building Energy Exchange in New York and the Institute for Market Transformation, parent of the Building Innovation Hub in Washington DC, in order to develop and launch the Building Energy Exchanges in St. Louis and Kansas City. Since this time, their capacity to draw attention and resources to the Midwest has grown and the Building Energy Resource Hub launched as a high-contributing partner in Chicago. 

With Executive Director, Malachi Rein, at the helm, the Building Energy Exchange St. Louis (BE-Ex STL) is a key resource hub dedicated to enhancing the energy efficiency of St. Louis' building stock. By connecting stakeholders with the necessary expertise, funding and skilled partners, BE-Ex STL supports building performance improvements at scale. An initiative of the Missouri Gateway Green Building Council (MGGBC), BE-Ex STL also supports the City of St. Louis' energy benchmarking and BPS policies, with backing from local and national partners, including Ameren Missouri and the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT).

Award category

Champion

Year released

2025

Champion of Energy Equity

Quinn Parker has over 16 years of experience working with utilities, regulatory bodies and government agencies to develop inclusive programs and equity metrics to drive accountability. Since founding Encolor in 2020, Quinn has delivered impactful training and facilitated workshops on operationalizing equity to several thousand participants, including many MEEA member organizations. Tiring of sitting in rooms where community priorities are discussed without community present, Quinn launched a nonprofit organization in 2024 called The Shared Space Project which helps organizations share space with communities they have underserved in the past. Quinn is a Certified Diversity Professional, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and has earned AESP's Member of the Year and GRIT Awards for her dedication to amplifying underrepresented voices in rooms where they have not yet been invited.
 

Award category

Champion

Year released

2024

The City of Cincinnati Office of Environment and Sustainability (OES) leads City government and the broader community in building a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient Cincinnati. Their notable energy efficiency initiative, WarmUp Cincy, stands out as a testament to their commitment to addressing the high energy burden experienced by Cincinnati residents. 

Award category

Champion

Year released

2023

A lawyer by trade, Kristol Simms is leading the charge to make energy efficiency more equitable. As Senior Director of Energy Efficiency & Regulatory Implementation at Ameren Illinois, Kristol designs and implements the company’s Market Development Initiative (MDI) to serve low- and moderate-income customers in a meaningful way. By removing financial barriers, the MDI aims to engage low- and moderate-income customers in energy efficiency, while providing opportunities to minority-owned businesses. 

The efforts of Kristol and her team are helping to improve quality of life by empowering residents and businesses in underserved communities to save energy and money. She also brings passion and valuable insight to industry organizations that promote energy efficiency.