Linda Sorrento, LEED Fellow, FASID, IIDA
Principal Sustainable Practice
Sorrento Consulting, LLC
Design Industry Strategist, Interior Environments Advisor
A deep concern for how interior environments affect human health and performance has informed every facet of Linda Sorrento’s career as an interior designer, educator and promoter of environmental design. After a 40+ years career, it is important to Linda that professionals have the knowledge, tools and foresight to make sustainable, healthy and responsible decisions for building occupants. She recently launched the National Academy of Environmental Design (NAED) as its inaugural Executive Director (Emerita) convening a diverse coalition of design professions providing the thought leadership for healthy, safe and flourishing communities. Today, her work includes subject matter expertise for the U.S. GSA Sustainable Facilities Tool, which identifies and prioritizes cost-effective healthy building strategies for improved building performance. She was a contributor to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Center for Green Schools “Green Classroom Professional Certificate” for K-12 teachers to create healthy sustainable classrooms.
Linda was the Senior Director Education Partnerships at the USGBC where she initiated and maintained strategic relationships with leading industry organizations to advance the Council’s mission of market transformation through high-quality green building education. Under her direction, USGBC launched REGREEN® residential remodeling guidelines in partnership with American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), the Green Jobs and Greenbuild® Scholarship initiatives. Linda joined the USGBC in 2004 as its inaugural Director of LEED for Commercial Interiors. In this role, she shepherded LEED-CI through its journey from pilot launch to adoption.
Prior to USGBC, Linda practiced as a corporate interior designer for 29 years, cultivating a wide-ranging experience with major corporate clients. She was a former assistant professor at George Washington University and Northern Virginia Community College where her teaching and research focused on human behavior and environmental design.
Linda is active serving the design community as a past member of the ASID National Board of Directors, Marymount University and Northern Virginia Community College advisory boards. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Healthy Building Network and the AIA’s Materials Knowledge Working Group as immediate past co-chair and thought-leader. Linda has received numerous honors including fellowship in ASID, recipient of the ASID 2013 Nancy Vincent McClelland Merit Award and USGBC LEED Fellow. She holds a BFA in interior design from Syracuse University and a MA in interior design from Marymount University.