Tommy Linstroth
Head of Sustainable Initiatives

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Melaver staff member since 2004

 

Tommy Linstroth’s career has spanned both the private, academic, and non-profit sectors in the Midwest, West and now the East coast, where he serves as the Director of Sustainability for Melaver, Inc, a third generation, family owned business working to become a vertically integrated, sustainable real estate firm. Mr. Linstroth is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Melaver’s sustainable vision. He develops sustainable property management practices for properties within the company’s portfolio, as well as managing development of new properties according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. To date, Mr. Linstroth is or has been involved with over 25 LEED projects, with numerous projects in the pipeline with a market value nearing a half billion dollars. These projects include the first building in the Southeast to be both LEED certified and in the National Register of Historic places, the first all-retail LEED shopping center in the nation, the first LEED McDonald’s restaurant, and Sustainable Fellwood, one of the largest green affordable housing developments in the nation which is part of the LEED for Neighborhood Developments pilot program and LEED for Homes. He also heads up the consultancy division of Melaver, Inc, advising clients across the country on sustainable development and organizational sustainability.

Mr. Linstroth is the founder and past-chairman of the United States Green Building Council – Savannah Chapter, and is Chair of the newly formed USGBC Georgia chapter. Mr. Linstroth develops programming for sustainable design issues within the area, and facilitates education, outreach and information sharing among the green building community. Mr. Linstroth also works to educate local officials on pertinent issues in green building, sustainability and recycling. He serves on the board of directors for the Georgia Conservation Voters and the Live Oak Public Libraries and on the Chatham Environmental Forum, the Mayor’s Healthy Savannah Initiative and the Creative Coast Advisory Board.
 
Mr. Linstroth graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.  He then earned his Masters in Science (MS) degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Charleston, with concentrations on sustainable development, environmental policy, and municipal greenhouse gas emissions.

He is a frequent speaker on green building throughout the country, and he co-authored the book Local Action: The New Paradigm in Climate Change Policy published in November 2007, and is a contributing author for The Green Building Bottom Line, published in November 2008. He is a frequent author for numerous journals and periodicals, and has a column in Sustainable Facilities magazine.  He  was the recipient of the 2006 Melaver Core Value Award for Ethical Behavior and is LEED 2.0 and 2.1 accredited. He currently resides in Savannah, Georgia.

View Educational Videos for Farmers Almanac TV:  FATV
 

Monthly Articles Written for in Sustainable Facility Magazine:  Columns

 

Why Savannah?  A Testimonial for The Creative Coast: TCA 

 

Favorite Quote:
“Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast…a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious an awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and theirs eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: You will outlive the bastards.” – Edward Abbey