Keeping an Eye on Tomorrow with Sodexo’s Sustainability Coordinator
By Kerry Noone, Marketing Communications Manager

Christian Ryan Downing, Sodexo Sustainability Coordinator at Western Kentucky University and and Al Allen, President, Education Facilities Services

Sodexo is committed to developing and implementing new and more effective ways to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water, promote responsible waste management, and reduce the use of toxic chemicals. One way we are able live up to this commitment is by hiring skilled professionals into sustainability roles to help facilities measure and lower their carbon footprint. These professionals not only manage facility-wide recycling and energy conservation programs, they also are educating their colleagues on the values of various green initiatives and promoting sustainable development on site and in the surrounding communities.

Because of the work we do in partnership with our clients, we are able help our clients pursue environmental excellence in their facilities. We are able to not only help our clients understand the importance of measuring and lowering their carbon footprint, we also are able to build community consensus and communicate the importance of sustainability to present and future generations. "This is the most rewarding job that I could ever possibly imagine, and I can't imagine doing anything different. I think there are plenty of people, especially college-age people, who feel the same way that I do. It's forefront in their minds. It's very important to them. They want to change the world, and we have the power to do it," says Christian Ryan Downing, Sodexo Sustainability Coordinator at Western Kentucky University.

For more information about this type of "green job” at Sodexo, listen to our podcast featuring Christian and Al Allen, President, Education Facilities Services at Sodexo here.