Ms. Kessler is President of HJKessler Associates, a sustainable design, LEED, energy efficiency and commissioning consulting services firm founded in 2003.  She is also a Principal with Upfront Regenerative Design.  With over 30 years’ experience in sustainable design and energy efficiency, she specializes in the use of an integrative design approach and has had a leading role on over 80 LEED projects.  Projects include higher education, K-12 schools, hotels, office, commercial interiors, municipal, healthcare, museum and many other project types. 

Ms. Kessler is a former Board member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Illinois Chapter, co-directed its education programs and was a voting member of the national LEED for Commercial Interiors Core Committee.  She is past co-chair of the AIA Chicago Committee on the Environment, chaired the Energy Code Committee, which created Chicago’s first energy code, and was a voting member on the ASHRAE committee that created Guideline 0 – The Building Commissioning Process. 

Ms. Kessler is a frequent speaker and author on sustainability topics and regularly teaches various courses, including “Systems Thinking for Sustainable Design” and “Sustainability in Construction” at Northwestern University.

Ms. Kessler has received numerous awards, including the USGBC Illinois Chapter Natural Leaders “Intent to Matter” award as well as its Chapter Leader award, AIA Illinois’ R. Buckminster Fuller Award for Social Good, the inaugural Illinois Real Estate Journal Women in Real Estate “Impact award” and Alumnus of the Year, The University of Arizona Honors College.  She is a member of the inaugural class of LEED Fellows and was recognized as a Notable Woman in Design and Construction by Crain’s Chicago Business in 2021 and Notable Leader in Sustainability in 2022.