O'Brien360 staff photo from 2024 Company Retreat.
2025 DEI Report Summary
O’Brien360’s 2025 DEI Report outlines our ongoing efforts to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into every facet of our organization. The report is broken into four main sections:
- DEI Statement and vision, mission, and values
- Internal company policies and workplace culture
- External support of our community and industry partners
- Current DEI baseline and objectives for 2026
The primary goal of providing the DEI report and identified sections is to offer transparency, accountability, and track progress as O’Brien360 continues to embed facets of DEI into the organization. The four main sections were identified as areas of concentration to improve DEI organizationally. First, embedding DEI into our organization’s mission, vision, and values statement. Second, identifying internal company policies and workplace culture to relay our current level of understanding of how we support DEI internally. Third, identifying community and industry partners to support area wide growth and development around DEI. Fourth, summarizing our DEI baseline and objectives for the coming year, 2026. It is the hope of the DEI committee that by providing this report we provide O’Brien360 with a pathway for successful integration of inclusive business practices.
2024-2025 DEI Committee
In 2024, O’Brien360 formed its first DEI Committee to drive DEI strategy and engagement across the company. Over the past year and a half, these committee members have met regularly, researched DEI strategy best practices, and implemented DEI initiatives like our partnership with Cascadia College for our 2024 Staff Retreat and 2025 educational series, Foundations of Equity and Inclusion. The DEI Committee has also liaised with the ownership team to get approval for a variety of changes to the company vision, mission, values, and various policies. You can find the non-grammar approved changes formatted as such throughout this report.
Thank you to our 2024-2025 DEI Committee: Atlas Turner, Darby Harper, and Madison Kerst!
DEI Statement
At O'Brien360, we are committed to a sustainable future that supports the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the communities we serve. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of our business practices, consulting work, and organizational values. Within our own team, we foster a transparent, informed culture rooted in access, belonging, equity, and justice. We rely on the insights and contributions of our entire staff to drive progress, and we're guided and inspired by the leadership of DEI experts across our industry as we continue to grow. We believe in sharing our journey openly, including the data and feedback that shapes our actions, and the results of our progress. We recognize the challenges of this crucial work, and the importance of continual learning. We invite you to join us in building a more inclusive and equitable future.
Vision
Equitable advancement of the built environment toward positive life cycle impacts for current and future generations.
Mission
Integrate sustainable building expertise, thoughtful analysis, and a collaborative approach to catalyze positive outcomes for the local community and beyond.
Core Values
Collaboration
Inclusion
Performance
Quality
Respect
Service
Value
Our work demonstrates the positive impact that respect, collaboration, and inclusion have on providing quality service, good value, sustainable building performance, and other positive results for our projects. These core values also foster a company culture of belonging, guiding us through every step of our work.
Driving Equity, Inside and Out
Prior to the formation of the DEI committee, O’Brien360 developed several policies that formalized the company’s values and commitments related to DEI through the JUST label rating system. This first step led to internal updates in practices that benefit the organization to this day. The company has also demonstrated values of DEI in work with clients, industry colleagues, and local communities. The development of this report and contents after will provide insight into where O’Brien360 is now, and where they intend to be by the end of 2025.
Inside: Policies and Procedures
Inclusion
O'Brien360 is committed to cultivating, enhancing, and maintaining a culture of inclusion. We work to ensure that all employees feel welcomed, valued, respected, and heard. At O’Brien360, it is essential that each employee's unique value is known and appreciated and that our employees feel a sense of belonging. We recognize, embrace, and celebrate employee differences in age, citizenship status, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental abilities, political affiliation, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and other identities that make our employees unique, and which may impact their lived experience and/or affect what the company can do to support their success at work. We all have a responsibility to treat others with dignity, kindness, courtesy, and respect. We expect all employees to exhibit conduct that reflects inclusion during work functions on or off the worksite and all company-sponsored and participative events.
Employee Engagement
O'Brien360 is committed to creating a workplace that fosters optimal conditions for all company members to give their best each day, feel committed to the company's goals and values, and be motivated to contribute to organizational success. We define engagement as the emotional commitment our employees have to the organization and its goals. To support employees in understanding how the company is fulfilling its purpose, we value and respect the voices of employees. We encourage employees to offer ideas and express views through their direct supervisor, their teams, organizational retreats, and annual meetings. Employee engagement is based on mutual trust, integrity, commitment, and communication between an organization and its employees. We believe that employee engagement increases successful business outcomes through organizational and individual performance, productivity, and well-being. We work to ensure that all employees are:
Included fully as a member of the team
Focused on clear goals
Trusted and empowered to succeed
Given regular and constructive feedback
Supported in developing new skills
Thanked and recognized for achievements, milestones, and exemplary performance
Equitable Compensation
O’Brien360 is committed to equitable pay, ensuring a living wage, pay scale equity, and gender pay equity for all employees. We set a minimum living wage using region-specific frameworks, such as the MIT Living Wage Calculator. We uphold pay scale equity by capping the highest-to-lowest pay ratio at 10:1, acknowledging merited differences without allowing excessive disparity. We recognize relationships beyond marital status and domestic partnership and offer benefits to committed partners. Additionally, we conduct annual gender pay audits to eliminate systemic bias, ensuring all employees performing similar or equally valuable work receive fair and equitable compensation.
Responsible Purchasing
O'Brien360 commits to equitable, local economic development through the procurement of products and services from small, local independent businesses. O'Brien360 uses its purchasing power to stimulate regional economic growth, create local employment, and build thriving communities. We have set a policy to purchase a minimum of 10% of all goods and services, as determined by total dollars spent, from small, local, independent businesses.
Outside: Industry, Community, and Clients
Just Label
O’Brien360 is committed to operational transparency via participation in the Just program administered by the International Living Future Institute whose mission is to cultivate a society that is socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative.
Just is a voluntary, self-evaluating, disclosure tool used across the built environment industry to facilitate accountability on a range of key social justice indicators. The Just label, a visual representation of the evaluation, summarizes for both internal and external audiences the company’s performance in these areas. It also serves as a guidepost, identifying areas where organizational growth may be needed to further a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion; deepen employee engagement; and improve employee retention. O’Brien360 first engaged with Just and obtained a Just 2.0 label in 2020, renewed our commitment and were recertified in 2023 and will be continuing our commitment by applying for the 3.0 label in 2025.
Local Communities
O’Brien360 commits to creating a workplace where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are represented and free of systemic barriers to receiving equal opportunities. This is why O’Brien360 has joined the Housing Development Consortium Racial Equity Commitment which aims to disrupt inequitable systems within community and affordable housing development by asking HDC members to commit to values and actional steps for racial equity. By joining a cohort of professionals in racial equity work, we hope to remain accountable to the goals represented in this report and ensure that we are approaching racial equity holistically by accounting for multiple perspectives that the cohort offers.
Local Indigenous Communities
O'Brien360 acknowledges that the buildings that help support our communities and cultural landscapes are on stolen Coast Salish land. We also acknowledge the profound disruption caused by colonization, which has hindered the continued stewardship and care of this land by its Indigenous peoples. We recognize our unique place as stewards of this great land in partnership with the Coast Salish people and beyond. As co-creators on this Earth, we offer this acknowledgement to remind ourselves and others of the history that brought us here today. Together we commit to taking action to address the injustices of colonization, by embracing our shared beliefs and collective responsibility to build more inclusive and just communities.
Local LGBTQ+ Communities
O’Brien360 is committed to creating a workplace where LGBTQ+ individuals are celebrated for who they are and can thrive without fear of discrimination or exclusion. We recognize that LGBTQ+ individuals have unique circumstances that often prevent equal opportunities for advancement, access to resources, and a sense of belonging. We strive to educate our workforce on LGBTQ+ issues, promote inclusive language, and ensure that our policies and practices reflect the diverse identities and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community. Our goal is to ensure that everyone, regardless of who they love or how they identify, feels seen, respected, and empowered to their fullest potential at every stage of life, and in every community.
Affordable Housing
O’Brien360 is deeply committed to supporting affordable housing initiatives that prioritize energy efficiency, sustainability, and equity. Through strategic partnerships and technical expertise, we’ve played a vital role in enhancing the resilience and performance of hundreds of affordable and supportive housing units across the region. From energy modeling and benchmarking, to supporting buildings’ pursuit of green building rating systems like LEED, partnering with affordable housing providers and supporting their work is part of what it means to work at O’Brien360. We are also proud to support these organizations in our annual charitable giving. In recent years we have donated to Community Roots Housing, Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), Imagine Housing, Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI), and more.
Principal David Reddy is particularly involved in supporting affordable housing in the region, serving the HDC Exemplary Buildings and HDC Decarbonize Affordable Housing Now committees. David has also spoken at various affordable housing focused conferences and events, such as: Housing Washington, HDC Leadership Development Survey Course, and HDC Policy Summit.
Housing Development Consortium Racial Equity Cohort
Along with a couple dozen other built environment organizations in King County, O’Brien360 is a participant in HDC’s first ever Racial Equity Cohort. With our industry peers and partners, we have committed to disrupt inequitable systems within community and affordable housing development by embracing the values listed below, and by implementing actionable steps for racial equity.
Racial Equity Cohort Values
Participating in collective efforts to support each other and hold each other accountable in this work
Learning and addressing the different levels of racism so we can take action to dismantle those inequities
Working towards ensuring that our staff and leadership are diverse, equitable, inclusive, and representative of the communities we serve
Choosing to advance racial equity within the next year by implementing specific goal(s), action(s) and accountability measure(s)
O’Brien360 Racial Equity Cohort Goals
Publish our company DEI Statement and 2025 DEI Report by September 1st, 2025. This includes the implementation of our staff-determined DEI objectives.
Develop and implement an employee satisfaction survey by January 1st, 2026.
Compile, analyze, and report on survey results in Q1 2026, including implementation of any necessary actions identified.
2026 Objectives and Baseline
Thanks to the engagement of all O’Brien360 staff in our 2024 and 2025 DEI activities, we have committed to the following DEI objectives for 2026. We are committing to deeper integration of DEI in strategic planning; more actively promoting and supporting volunteering; tracking our efforts in equitable purchasing; and expanding our charitable giving and pro-bono activities to support local BIPOC and LGTBQ+ communities.
Strategic Planning
Baseline
O’Brien360 formalized its approach to DEI in late 2023 by soliciting staff to apply for an internal DEI Committee. By early 2024, we formed our Committee and engaged in research and education to create a blueprint for a structured DEI strategy across the entire company. Building on the company legacy of leadership in education, we commenced a Foundations of Equity and Inclusion learning series, taught by the women- and BIPOC-led Office of Inclusion, Advocacy, and Community at Cascadia College. In 2025, we will continue this educational series with the team at Cascadia. We are a member of the Seattle Housing Development Consortium’s (HDC’s) 2025 Racial Equity Commitment Early Adopter Cohort.
2026 Objective
Incorporate DEI into company and team strategic planning for 2026.
Volunteering
Community Volunteering
Baseline
O’Brien360 encourages staff volunteering by providing eight hours of paid volunteer time per staff per year. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, O’Brien360 hosted company-sponsored volunteering events, such as “adopting” affordable housing units with Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC). Adopting an apartment includes purchasing all the household items needed for a new permanent supportive housing unit and setting up that unit to welcome the new residents to their home.
Staff Volunteering (2022–2024)
2024: 36 total hours, 6 hours per person, 27% staff participation
2023: 27 total hours, 4.5 hours per person, 29% staff participation
2022: 16.25 total hours, 4 hours per person, 21% staff participation
2026 Objective
Increase total volunteer time by sponsoring a company volunteering opportunity in 2026. Identify an opportunity that supports local BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ communities. Identify and track volunteer opportunities with affordable housing, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC organizations and share them within the company to encourage staff to use their volunteer hours, in groups, if they choose. Report on volunteering participation in the quarterly staff meeting presentation.
Pro-Bono Training
Baseline
Kathleen O’Brien founded O’Brien & Company in 1991, bringing her background in teaching and journalism to the emerging field of green building. She focused on industry education and growth through case studies, articles, workshops, conferences, and demonstration projects.
O’Brien & Company played a leading role in shaping green building standards, co-founding Build A Better Kitsap—a precursor to Built Green—and leading the USGBC’s first committee to develop LEED for Homes. In the late 1990s, the firm co-created the Sustainable Building Advisor (SBA) certificate program, which trained hundreds of early AEC professionals and expanded to multiple colleges. As LEED gained prominence, the company became a key provider of exam prep courses, widely used during ARRA-funded workforce retraining efforts.
Since merging with 360 Analytics in 2019, O’Brien360 has continued to support the built environment with a strong focus on affordable housing. O’Brien360’s pro bono contributions include service on the Washington State Energy Code Technical Advisory Group, chairing the ASHRAE Standard 209 subcommittee, and ongoing technical support to organizations such as DESC, LIHI, and other mission-driven affordable housing developers.
Looking ahead to 2025, O’Brien360 plans to expand workforce training in existing building audits, building performance compliance, and commissioning—helping prepare trades professionals to meet evolving climate and housing goals.
2026 Objective
Offer annual training to build capacity in historically excluded communities for sustainable building, building performance, and/or commissioning work. This training may be in partnership with existing programs providing education in these areas, such as the Building Operators Training from NEEC, and will be offered for free.
For 2026, O’Brien360 will offer LEED Green Associate training. Training will include mentorship from O’Brien360 staff as available to support trainees in taking the Green Associate exam after training concludes.
Equitable Spending
Direct Charitable Giving
Baseline
O'Brien360 supports charitable causes within the communities where we operate and regions where financial assistance can significantly alleviate human suffering.
O'Brien360 donates a minimum of 3% of net profits to registered charitable or not-for-profit organizations annually. We make charitable contributions to registered nonprofit, nongovernmental, civic, or educational organizations that demonstrate evidence of social and environmental impact, financial soundness, and the capacity to implement initiatives and evaluate their success. The organization, program, or project must align with our corporate social responsibility priorities, including a clear focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. We often engage our employees and leverage their expertise, knowledge, and passion to inform our charitable giving.
A high priority for our company charitable giving is supporting local affordable housing organizations. Here are the partners we are proud to have supported in the past:
2026 Objective
Maintain the high level of annual direct company giving by exceeding 3% of net profits donated. Expand charitable giving organization recipients to include organizations adjacent to the provision of affordable housing, for example, programs that support tenant services or emergency homelessness relief. Also expand charitable giving to local Indigenous communities and LGBTQ+ organizations, see below.
Priority Local Indigenous Communities and LGBTQ+ Organizations
The following local indigenous and LGBTQ+ Community organizations were evaluated using our organizational donation evaluation tool. The organization donation evaluation tool focuses on key criteria aligned with O’Brien360’s DEI values and strategic priorities. An organization is selected by achieving an 80% based on our scoring criteria where the max score available is 13.
Evaluation Criteria:
Location: Is the organization located in the Seattle Area? Yes (1), No (0) — 0–1 points
Relevance: Are they somehow related to the built environment? Yes (1), No (0) — 0–1 points
Support Services Relevance: Do they provide support in one of these areas: Housing, Affordability, Advocacy, Community Services? Yes (1), No (0) — 0–1 points
Connection: Do they have some connection to our work? Yes (1), No (0) — 0–1 points
Depth of Service: No Housing Services (0), Indirect or Limited (1), Direct Housing Development or Long-Term Solutions (2) — 0–2 points
Population: General Population (0), Serves at least 1 relevant group (1), Exclusively Serves a Priority Group (2) — 0–2 points
Capacity & Maturity: Newly Formed (0), Modest Track Record (1), Strong Operational History (2) — 0–2 points
Leadership: Not Community Led (0), Mixed Leadership (1), Community-led (e.g. indigenous-led, LGBTQ-led) (2) — 0–2 points
Equity & Justice: Does the org explicitly center equity, justice, or decolonization in its mission or work? No or unclear (0), Yes (1) — 0–1 point
Max Score: 13 points; 80% or better = 10.4 points
Organizations added for year-end charitable giving:
Chief Seattle Club
Seattle Indian Health Board
United Indians of All Tribes Foundation
Mother Nation
Lavender Rights Project
See Appendix A for the Organizational Donation Evaluation Table which details full scoring across 16 different organizations reviewed for year-end charitable giving.
Company Match Charitable Giving
Baseline
O’Brien360 also encourages charitable giving by our employees and provides a yearly match of up to $250 per employee.
Company Match Historical Data (2022–2024):
2024: $2,725 total, $209 per person, 59% staff participation
2023: $2,879 total, $240 per person, 57% staff participation
2022: $3,307 total, $236 per person, 73% staff participation
2026 Objective
Increase the number of staff participating in donation matching program by sending a quarterly reminder about the matching program and highlighting organizations that received donations in the quarterly staff meeting presentation.
Responsible Purchasing
Baseline
In accordance with our Responsible Purchasing Policy, O’Brien360 is committed to equitable, local economic development by prioritizing the procurement of at least 10% of all goods and services from small, local, independent businesses.
2026 Objective
Beginning in 2026, track and report on Responsible Purchasing commitment as outlined above.
Conclusion
At O’Brien360, our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is not a standalone initiative—it is deeply integrated into every aspect of our work, culture, and values. This 2025 DEI Report reflects our continued journey toward a more just and inclusive future, both within our organization and in the communities we serve. From forming our first DEI Committee to embedding equity into strategic planning, volunteering, charitable giving, and procurement, we’ve laid the groundwork for measurable, lasting change. We recognize that building an inclusive workplace and contributing to equitable outcomes in the built environment requires constant learning, accountability, and collaboration. As we look ahead, we remain dedicated to expanding our impact, elevating underrepresented voices, and aligning our business practices with the principles of social justice. We thank our team, partners, and community collaborators for their essential roles in this work—and we invite all who share these values to join us in shaping a more inclusive and resilient future.