Deb has more than 30 years of experience in the commercial real estate, energy efficiency, sustainability, marketing, and education arenas. She provides strategy and guidance to clients, employing market-based strategies to enhance financial and environmental performance. Deb was integral in the design and implementation of EPA’S ENERGY STAR program and has been an active consultant since the program’s inception as Green Lights in the early 1990s.  

Deb has expanded her role to also become the Chief Sustainability Officer of Legence. She continues to lead RE Tech Advisors and guides the sustainability efforts among the legion of Legence companies – representing over $1.2 billion in annual revenue and over 4,000 employees – to inspire and lead our craftspeople and clients to integrate sustainability as a standard business practice. 

Andrea joins RE Tech with nearly 30 years of experience in the private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors all focused on sustainability and the environment. Prior to joining RE Tech, Andrea headed an independent consulting firm where she advised businesses, academia, and private equity on implementing and integrating holistic and sustainable purpose-driven strategies, partnerships, and programs to drive organization growth, reduce risk and improve impact. She has held executive leadership roles focused on strategy, operations, and innovation with a focus on sustainability and philanthropy in hospitality, real estate, and retail industries, among others.

Andrea sits on several nonprofit boards including 2030 Districts, Center for Responsible Travel, the Strategic Energy Institute, and the Center of Sustainable Business at Georgia Tech University, where she also recently served as a Distinguished Executive Fellow. In her role at RE Tech, Andrea will focus on RE Tech’s strategic growth which includes strategic partnerships, innovation, new products, and services, as well as M&A.

Andrea earned her BS ChE in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University and has a Business Sustainable Management Certificate from the University of Cambridge. She will be based in the Atlanta, GA metropolitan area.

RE Tech Advisors is pleased to announce that Fernando Arias has joined our firm as the new Vice President of Shared Services.

Before joining RE Tech, Fernando was the Director of Sustainability at a nationally ranked construction firm based in the Washington, DC, area. During his tenure, he spearheaded the firm’s LEED Construction Administration and its innovative corporate GHG Inventory and Embodied Carbon Programs. Under his leadership, the firm rose to prominence as the second-leading Green Builder in the nation, boasting over 520 LEED and green-building certified, net-zero projects encompassing more than 1.2 billion square feet of new construction and renovations.

An architect by training, Fernando has cultivated a 20+ year career spanning architecture, operations, sustainability, and construction. He has lent his expertise to government, non-profit, and private sector stakeholders with a focus on healthy design strategies at the Health in Buildings Roundtable at the National Institutes of Health, nurtured strategic relationships at the Clinton Global Initiative, honed his architectural skills for seven years in NYC and Los Angeles, contributed to the NYC Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, and honorably served in both the US Army and Navy. Currently, he holds the esteemed position of co-chair for the U.S. General Services Administration’s Green Building Advisory Committee as a GSA Administrator Appointee and sits on the USGBC LEED Steering Committee as a board appointee.

In his role at RE Tech, Fernando will lead the delivery of the company’s ESG and climate services, aiming to unlock value and mitigate risks for CRE and public-sector clients. He will also strategically transform the Shared Services Team to heighten client satisfaction and achieve key financial objectives. Additionally, he will mentor and oversee staff members’ career advancement and training, ensuring that RE Tech’s services are at the forefront of a constantly evolving ESG landscape. A tireless advocate for sustainability, Fernando will guide project teams in crafting real-world solutions that are both time-efficient and budget-conscious. He will keep a pulse on emerging industry trends, facilitating agile adjustments to the company’s strategic offerings.

Fernando’s position stands at the crossroads where innovation meets practical implementation. Working closely with the VPs of Client Success and Growth, he will fine-tune processes and make invaluable contributions to business development. What distinguishes Fernando is his unparalleled knack for synthesizing disparate elements. Whether streamlining team structures, incubating innovative services, or fostering third-party partnerships, he is the glue that unifies people and strategies for maximum impact. All his endeavors are galvanized by an unwavering commitment to cultivating a synergy that meets and exceeds client expectations, catapulting RE Tech toward a sustainable future.

Fernando earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and holds dual Master’s Degrees from Columbia University: one in Architecture & Urban Design and another specializing in Public Administration, focusing on Environmental Science and Policy. He will be based out of RE Tech’s headquarters office in McLean, VA.

Tema has been with RE Tech for over a decade and now serves as Head of ESG Programs. In that role, she leads a seasoned team of professionals who advise clients on improving the performance of buildings and real estate portfolios. Her responsibilities include strategically advising clients on the development, implementation, and reporting of their ESG programs. Since 2011, Tema has managed over 400 GRESB – the global ESG benchmark for real assets – submissions on behalf of the firm’s global roster of clients. In 2019, she spearheaded a partnership with GRESB to pilot a new ESG Data Quality Standard and Quality metric designed to ensure the quality and accuracy of sustainability data in commercial real estate assets.  

 Tema holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.  

Chang is a Senior Director of the Climate and Energy team and has over ten years of consulting experience focused on ESG for Commercial Real Estate. In his current role, he focuses on developing innovative tools, processes, platforms, and programs to help decarbonize the built environment as well as identify, evaluate, and mitigate physical and transition risks due to climate change. Chang has also developed new methodologies to calculate emissions reductions for diversified portfolios and has created asset-level decarbonization processes. He has benchmarked and analyzed property-level key performance indicators for over 3,000 commercial buildings worldwide.