Michelle Farrell, LEED AP, 29

EU Business Development/Sustainability Project Consultant, Integrated Environmental Solutions, Boston

Boston Architectural College, BS Design Studies, MS Architecture

Farrell was working as a designer at architecture firms for six years when she decided to take a course about 3-D building models and performance analysis. She learned how important it was to analyze sustainability performance of a building during the earliest stages of design, and thereafter, she became a stalwart proponent of the idea that “form follows function.” As a consultant for Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES), Farrell gave training sessions and offered technical support to clients across the country. She worked on daylight dimming strategies for prototype retail stores and software development projects inside IES to improve translation of 3-D models into analysis platforms. In 2010, Farrell was selected to become business development manager in Europe. This was an enormous challenge, as she would be alone in Switzerland with only remote support from the United Kingdom, and could only speak English. However, she quickly took charge of the situation and was able to learn international building codes and green rating systems, develop solutions customized to individual countries, and even learned to navigate through foreign cities in multiple languages. IES had no visible presence in Europe before Farrell entered the region; now, sales are increasing month-to-month, and she is making a name for her company while offering practical support to help clients reach their own goals. Farrell accomplished all this while completing her master’s thesis in architecture, and she has even found time to travel with her significant other, Henrik. The couple often spends their weekends snowboarding and skiing in the Swiss Alps and sipping a warm, spiced red wine called gluhwein at the chalets. Her position requires a lot of travel, which she loves, and she is open to tasting the local cuisines at any dining establishment, whether it’s traditional, modern, or street food.

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