Hilari brings decades of experience in public administration and nonprofit leadership to her role as Vice President for Cities at the U.S. Green Building Council. Based in Tucson, Arizona, Hilari has dedicated her career to advancing urban sustainability and community resilience, focused on work with city, town and county governments.

Hilari served as the first sustainability director for Frederick County, Maryland and was an early member of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. She led the development of the nation’s first framework and certification program for city-scale sustainability, the STAR Community Rating System. She later integrated STAR into the LEED for Cities & Communities program at USGBC, which is now deployed globally. Most recently, she served as liaison to the inaugural LEED Cities & Communities Working Group at USGBC. The group’s efforts inspired the first-ever consensus body for cities and communities in the LEED governance structure.

Hilari is passionate that her work improves the lives of people and the health of the planet. She is a systems-thinker guided by the triple bottom line of sustainability practice. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy from Unity College of Maine and a Master of Arts in Geography with an emphasis in Community Planning from Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff.

She represents USGBC on the Board of the Emerald Cities Collaborative and holds the CC-P, Climate Change Professional accreditation from the Association of Climate Change Officers.