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Barbara Deutsch, FASLA, Among 15 Women Honored for Sustainability Leadership11-02-16 | News

Barbara Deutsch, FASLA, Among 15 Women Honored for Sustainability Leadership

Barbara Deutsch, FASLA, is the executive director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) (https://lafoundation.org). LAF, founded 50 years ago, supports the preservation, improvement and enhancement of the environment.

The third annual Women in Sustainability Leadership Awards (https://tinyurl.com/h7ykx2c) were presented in Los Angeles Oct. 4, on the eve of the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. The awards are a partnership of the U.S. Green Building Council, with support from MetroFlor Corp., Steelcase, L.A. Department of Water and Power and United Airlines.

Barbara Deutsch, FASLA, executive director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) was among the 15 select awardees. "I am so honored to be part of this group of such amazing and influential women who are moving the needle on sustainability from a wide range of strategies," said Deutsch." I am thankful to the women and men who have inspired and mentored me throughout my life to help me achieve in many ways."

Barbara earned a B.S. in commerce from the University of Virginia and worked in marking with IMB for 10 years before earning a Master's in landscape architecture from the University of Washington, followed by a Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Barbara became an associate director for BioRegional's OnePlanet Communities program in Washington, D.C., and served as senior director of Casey Trees, where she led the 2002 Street Tree Inventory, Citizen Forester program, and the 1425 K Street Green Roof Demonstration Project. She was the principal investigator for the award-winning EPA Grant "The Green Build-out Model: Quantifying the Stormwater Management Benefits of Trees and Green Roofs in Washington, D.C.", which has helped inform EPA's proposed new stormwater ruling and D.C.'s stormwater planning and programs.

As executive director of LAF she guides a number of initiatives: the Landscape Performance Series, online resources that show the value of landscapes, provide tools to quantify those benefits and make the case for sustainable landscape solutions; research collaborations that match LAF-funded faculty-student research teams with leading practitioners to document the benefits of high-performing landscape projects; and scholarships and fellowships, which include the annual Olmsted Scholars Program, which recognizes the top landscape architecture student from each accredited program in the U.S. and Canada, along with the jury-selected national award winners and finalists.

As seen in LASN magazine, November 2016.