events: 10/01/2008

1 Oct 2008 McKinney Headquarters in Durham, NC

McKinney VP Office Services Manager Renee Jarvis led a panel discussion at "The Business of Living & Working Green,” an event sponsored by Chix in Business and hosted by McKinney. Based in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, Chix in Business, Inc. is a non-profit, dues-based grassroots organization of women business owners that provides member support and education through relationship building, resource sharing, discussions and presentations, mentoring and community outreach.

"We don't claim to be green experts," said Jarvis who leads a team dedicated to providing employees and clients the services they need to have a great working day at McKinney. "We began our green effort with first looking at our employees and what they could not only learn and benefit from but also what they could contribute as consumers and green advocates. Together we have carefully identified initiatives that make sense for McKinney and the environment."

In addition to converting to all recyclable paper products and constantly seeking efficiencies for energy reductions around the agency, Jarvis pointed to the McKinney headquarters as its best "green" statement. "Instead of building new, we moved into 100-year-old vintage factory space," she said. "We repurposed furniture out of local industrial artifacts. Many of the materials used in the creation of our space are recycled such as sheet metal, cork flooring and carpet squares. We love it. And we all feel we are just getting started."

Spoken like a true green pioneer.