Sustainability in the age of constraints and uncertainty: How sustainability becomes a business asset and not a liability
Join CoreNet NorCal for an insightful discussion on Sustainability in the Age of Constraints and Uncertainty: how sustainability becomes an asset not a liability. We’ll provide an update on key climate legislation and disclosure rules in California - useful to many members and their companies - followed by a roundtable discussion on how some of our members are shifting the conversation on sustainability to drive business value.
Host/Panel Facilitator
Robin Bass at Google
Panelists:
Christopher Kubala at Google
Jacob Arlein at Stok
Sophia Beavis at Okta
Cristal Ortiz at LinkedIn
Venue: Google: 1 Market Street, San Francisco
Schedule: Registration: 3:30p // Program: 4:00p // Reception: 5:00p
Cost: Member: $35.00 // Non-Member End User: $60.00 // Non-Member Service Provider: $85.00
Facilitator/Host Bio
Robin Bass, Sustainability Partnerships, Google
Robin leads sustainability partnerships for the built environment at Google. Her team drives business value through outcomes for net zero and nature positive in the global campuses and communities that Google calls home. Prior to working with Google, Robin was an architect focused on building sustainability and has worked on sustainable building projects all over the world. She is a mom, daughter, wife, sister and enjoys roller skating as a low carbon mode of transportation and time machine to her 12-year-old self.
Panelist Bios
Christopher Kubala, Workplace Services Program Lead - Space, Google
Christopher entered the corporate real estate field in 2007 when he joined the M&A team of a large financial institution working on move management efforts. He has also run global programs reducing real estate occupancy, installing energy management systems at retail locations, and redesigned end to end processes for initiative management at various financial services companies.
He earned the Masters of Corporate Real Estate designation from CoreNet Global in 2015, and has since joined the faculty of the program, earning Top Rated Faculty honors for the past seven years, teaching both ESG and Finance classes. Christopher served on the board of the Carolinas Chapter of CoreNet for three years before relocating to the west coast and joining Google. Christopher is responsible for Move Management and Furniture Reconfiguration for Google’s San Francisco Bay Area buildings and campuses.
He is now a director at large of the Northern California Chapter of CoreNet Global.
His scope currently includes the oversight of Google’s in-house furniture warehouse, allowing the company to reclaim and reuse furniture and other key building operational materials.
Cristal Ortiz, Director Workplace Sustainability & Engineering, LinkedIn
Cristal Ortiz is the Director of Workplace Sustainability and Engineering (S&E) at LinkedIn, where she sets and implements program standards across real estate, design and build, and operations to drive progress against LinkedIn’s corporate commitments and reporting. With a background in mechanical engineering and experience spanning aerospace, defense, academia, energy, and tech, she leads sustainability initiatives that enhance both business performance and environmental impact. Under her leadership, LinkedIn creates workplaces that prioritize people and planet while setting industry benchmarks for efficiency and data-driven decision-making.
Jacob Arlein, CEO, STOK
Jake is a Principal and CEO at Stok, having guided over 200 million sq. ft. of buildings to improve operational and financial performance. Leveraging the expertise of an ever-expanding team of high-performance real estate consultants, Jake is tasked with growing Stok's impact regionally, nationally and internationally.
An expert across all rating systems, Jake has managed over 100 LEED projects and has led many of California’s largest and most iconic buildings to heightened levels of performance and efficiency.
He is passionate about proving the value of sustainable real estate decisions, helping Stok’s clients invest wisely.
He has also helped to develop Stok's unique and nature-inspired organizational structure that champions autonomy and self-management.
Sophia Beavis, Senior Manager Design, Construction, and Sustainability, Okta
With over eight years of experience in sustainability and climate action, Sophia leads the global workplace design, strategy and sustainability team at Okta, a leading provider of identity and access management solutions. Her mission is to align Okta's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals with its business strategy and operations, and to create a positive impact on the planet and its people.