From the time of his childhood in Swanville, Maine, where the nearest neighbors lived half a mile away, Drew Shula has always felt connected to nature and the seasons. That connection happens when you grow up cutting firewood, tapping maple trees for syrup and cultivating crops.

As a young man, Shula first left Maine for South Bend, Indiana, and the University of Notre Dame, where he studied architecture and philosophy. As Shula tells it, in 2005, when he graduated and moved to California, the university only offered one course on environmental design. Consequently, it took some time and several jobs before Shula definitively and decisively linked his architectural studies to green building.

What was the “aha moment” when you realized your future in building was “green”?

It was after I got my first professional job at a Los Angeles architecture firm called Jerde in 2007. They do large, mixed-use projects, like the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It was an incredible training ground and was where I first gained meaningful exposure to the building industry. Jerde also had a green team that met about once a month to discuss things like sustainability, waste reduction, using recycled products and things like that. Becoming part of that group was transformative. It’s where I first learned about LEED—and realized that I could combine my love for the environment with my interests in architecture and building.

Did you earn your LEED AP credential at Jerde?

Unfortunately, no. I love telling this story now that I’m a LEED Fellow, but I failed the LEED exam the first time I took it. Then the Great Recession hit and Jerde laid me off, along with 60% of its staff. There were massive layoffs everywhere. You couldn’t get a job in architecture for about two years. But it worked out to my benefit when I got picked up by Thomas Properties Group. The firm owned about 30 high-rise commercial office buildings around the country that they were certifying through the LEED volume program for existing buildings. That was my hands-on entry into the world of LEED. And I ended up taking the LEED exam again, a couple years after my first try, put in some real studying time, and passed it the second time around.

A man in a baseball cap and fleece smiles at the camera while event attendees confer in the background

Drew Shula, LEED AP BD+C and ID+C, LEED Fellow, founded Verdical Group and the Net Zero Conference. Photo courtesy of Verdical Group.

Did you then start Verdical Group? How did that come about?

I spent some time working with Jones Lang LaSalle, but started the Verdical Group shortly thereafter, in 2012. I’ve never had any outside investors, just bootstrapped it with a small personal savings account, but I did have my two-year-old daughter Acadia at home, and I figured that if I didn’t start a company then, I might never do it. I was about 30 and I had no clients, but I did have a solid blend of education and experience—and a willingness to hustle and put in as many all-nighters as I needed to, to get it off the ground. Plus, I had the motivation of a young family. I love the quote, “when your back’s against the wall, you find a way,” and there were many moments early on when it was just me in my garage in the middle of the night, figuring things out.

Tell us about the company.

Verdical Group is nearly 11 years old, with two profit centers. About two-thirds of our business involves consulting, largely for the building industry. We currently have projects in about 10 states and a handful of other countries. The other third of our revenue comes from events. We produce the annual Net Zero Conference, which I founded as a way to educate others in the green building community on the growing net zero movement.

A woman speaks at a podium in front of a conference audience, with a sign saying "Net Zero Conference" visible

Lakisha Ann Woods, CEO of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), keynoted the Net Zero Conference in fall 2022. Photo credit: Kyle Espeleta Photography.

What consulting services do you offer?

The mix includes certification work and project management. In terms of certifications, LEED is by far our largest offering, but we also provide WELL, Fitwel, Living Building Challenge and Envision certification consulting. Here in California, we work with the CALGreen code. Other project services include energy modeling, life cycle assessments, commissioning, daylight modeling and ESG consulting.

We work on all types of commercial buildings and large multifamily projects.

How is the staff organized?

We have five teams. Operations handles the business side, things like financials and HR. There’s also Marketing, Business Development and Events. The largest team is our Projects team, which has three subteams: Project Management handles anything involving rating systems; the Energy team tackles carbon reduction through energy modeling, daylight modeling and life cycle assessments; and our Commissioning experts ensure that all on-site building systems have been installed correctly and are operating as intended.

What about the Net Zero Conference?

We stumbled into it shortly after the company formed. We were still small; we didn’t have a lot of work, so we started exploring ways to drum up new business. We settled on creating our own event around the net zero movement which, at the time, still wasn’t that well understood. Our goal was to further engage with our clients and to connect with new people. We put together that first event quickly and had about 100 attendees. At the time, we thought that was great, a big success. So, we decided to do it again the next year, and 300 people came. At first, we didn’t know anything about event planning. We learned as we went. Eventually, we hired experienced events people who helped us grow it. Now we’re heading into our 10th year.

Where are you staging it?

The event has grown through the years, and we’re now at the largest venue in southern California, the Los Angeles Convention Center. The conference is on Sept. 14, with networking and other shoulder events happening around L.A. on the 13th. Attendance should be about 1,500 or more. We’ll have a great expo floor; parties, including our annual Trailblazer Awards Gala; and lots of notable speakers—whose names will soon be announced.

People walk and gather around booths in a large conference expo hall.

The expo hall at the Net Zero Conference features innovators in the sustainability community. Photo credit: Kyle Espeleta Photography.

Do you set goals for the event?

We’re working to help solve the climate crisis…the entire global economy is transitioning to zero carbon or carbon neutrality. And given how fast the sustainability industry is changing, the conference’s areas of focus get updated annually. For example, we started with a heavy focus on the built environment, but now feature a ton of content on ESG; materials; and even agriculture, tech and fashion—all spaces that the net zero conversation has moved into. At all times, the context is “how do these issues impact our climate?”

Given the work your company’s doing, what keeps you up at night?

Maybe two things. Apathy is one. There is so much bad climate news that it becomes easy for people to tune out. Thankfully, there are huge numbers of people entering the climate space—and working to make a difference.

My other concern is time. Given the scale of the climate crisis, how fast are we able to respond? We need to make massive changes globally and quickly. The longer it takes, the more devastating the impact. The good news here is that investments are being made—trillions of dollars. So, heads up, entrepreneurs: There are great business opportunities to be had. I’m happy to say that Verdical Group is well positioned to capitalize on the growth of the climate solutions economy in the years ahead.

Any final thoughts?

Recently, I was talking careers with an architect friend who’s also a father. And he said to me, "I really thought about what I wanted to do with my career so that I could look my kids in the eye, tell them what I do, and have them be proud of me and what I stand for." Those words resonated: to be able to look your kids in the eye and tell them that you did everything you could, that you tried your best to make the world better. Those kids—his, mine, yours—they are the future. And working to make a living, while creating a living future for them…well, that means more than anything to me.

Learn more about the Net Zero Conference

Q&A with Drew Shula, founder of the Net Zero Conference