Global construction firm Skanska has restructured its U.S. Building Sustainability Team to better serve client and company goals, co-led by Steve Clem and Myrrh Caplan, who together bring decades of experience in the industry.
“Steve and Myrrh are central to our commitment to sustainability,” said Steve Stouthamer, executive vice president, project planning, Skanska USA Building. “As senior vice presidents, they’ll leverage Skanska’s global and domestic initiatives to protect our environment and ensure the resilience of the communities we build in. By harnessing their collective expertise, we can make significant strides toward our decarbonization goals while continuing to set the bar for sustainable industry practices.”
Skanska’s sustainability team, located throughout the country, will continue supporting Clem and Caplan with helping clients meet and exceed their sustainability goals, advancing industry and client outcomes through innovation and research, and identifying opportunities to create more value-add solutions.
Since joining Skanska as a project manager in 2005, Caplan has helped shape Skanska’s national approach to sustainable building. She established the company’s first national Green Construction program and chaired Skanska’s first National Green Council. Throughout the past decade, she has managed multiple initiatives including carbon lifecycle analysis and efforts that benefit clients and the industry. Caplan leads Skanska’s National Sustainability Team, made up of consultants and advisors.
Caplan was named a 2022 LEED Fellow by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), one of 20 professionals from around the world recognized for their work in advancing green building practices. To date, Caplan has advised on nearly 300 certified projects and projects seeking LEED, Living Building Challenge, Well, Envision and other certifications. In 2023, Caplan co-created the Associated General Contractors of America Task Force on Decarbonization and Carbon Reporting to address the challenges around reporting and reducing carbon emissions within construction. She sits on the board of mindfulMaterials, serves on several industry committees and participates in research with key partners.
Clem joined Skanska as a project engineer in 1997 and over the years, established himself as one of Skanska’s staunchest sustainability leaders. In his role, Clem is responsible for setting and achieving Skanska’s decarbonization goals in the United States and works with construction teams to identify sustainable procurement solutions for clients including the use of mass timber. Clem’s efforts to reduce the industry’s embodied carbon began over 15 years ago and he has been influencing procurement with the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3 Tool) since Skanska co-created and launched the tool in 2019. Clem has also authored multiple cost studies that demystify the adoption of environmentally preferable construction strategies.
Clem spearheaded Skanska’s early participation in the Living Building Challenge – first with the Living Building Challenge Financial Study and then with the Bertschi School project. He holds certifications from the US Green Building Council, International Living Future Institute, and OSHA, among other accrediting agencies. Clem is also president of the construction safety non-profit, SafeBuild Alliance, and sits on the board of Building Transparency, which manages the EC3 Tool.
