Chelsea Lamar (’09) always knew she would work in the environmental space. When she wasn’t outside physically, she explored it virtually through her two favorite PC games. In “Rock Doctor,” she discovered and identified different types of rocks; “Eco-Saurus” gave her a job as a recycling collector in the local dinosaur community.
Lamar has traded her environmental-themed video games for the real deal and now works as the vice president of global sustainability at AIT Worldwide Logistics, a global freight forwarder. She credits the experiences she had at Iowa State University with helping her find her path. She started as an environmental science major and secured several research assistant positions, contributing to projects on carbon respiration and bio-renewable resources.
“I was able to learn a lot throughout my time at ISU, including in lab internships working to research the effects of climate change on soils and the novel production of ethanol fuel,” says Lamar, a George Washington Carver Scholar. “It really provided a great starting point and introduction to many different topics related to sustainability.”
Lamar discovered that while sustainability remained her passion, research didn’t feel like the right vessel for pursuing it, and she switched her major to civil engineering. After her junior year, she interned for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, where she worked on energy and water conservation at an industrial meat processor. This was her first hands-on sustainability experience, and it set the trajectory for her career in applied sciences.
After graduation, Lamar spent a year as an efficiency and program specialist at Rebuilding Together San Francisco. But to move the needle in a meaningful way, she knew she had to climb the larger ladder. Lamar joined the corporate world in 2011 and has since run the gamut of sustainability-focused initiatives: she installed charging infrastructure for an entire fleet of electric delivery vehicles, successfully championed mass solar panel installation to create some of the most energy efficient warehouses in the U.S., and achieved year over year energy reductions in existing buildings via utility data management.
From managing energy efficiency consulting projects at Navigant to directing sustainability and facility asset programs at Reyes Holdings, Lamar has continued to expand her scope of leadership. But with more responsibility comes fewer opportunities to engage directly with the communities she’s serving. When asked how she reconciled the give and take, she shared her gratitude for her early, hyperlocal experiences, but also recognized the greater need for sweeping sustainability reform.
“I really enjoyed working locally, particularly earlier in my career when I worked in direct service with nonprofits — you are able to see the impact you are creating immediately. However, if you are at all familiar with or interested in the science of climate change, you know that we need to make huge changes and shifts in order to limit global warming. This has been a guiding mission in my work — going where I can make the most impact — which for me has been large corporations in hard-to-abate industries.”
Today, Lamar is focused on reducing AIT’s emissions through renewable energy purchases for its buildings and the use of renewable fuels for its fleet. She’s also partnering with AIT customers and carriers to roll out decarbonization projects like using sustainable marine fuel, sustainable aviation fuel, electric vehicles for commercial use (including semitractor- trailers), and renewable diesel and biodiesel.
Outside of work, Lamar finds joy and pride in cultivating a network of mentors, mentees, and peers who are as dedicated to the environment as she is. She volunteers regularly for the Illinois Green Alliance to keep her grounded and inspired as she continues to rise as a leader in ethical corporate citizenship.
In speaking with Lamar, it’s hard to imagine a more genial, easy-going VP. She imbues her words with a palpable sense of poise, humility, and most of all, hope.
“I am not always confident that we are doing enough, quickly enough,” she says. “But I like to think of myself as an impatient optimist — popularized by Bill and Melinda Gates — impatient for the world to get better, but optimistic that it will do so.”
And if there’s one thing she wants the Cyclone community to join her in, it’s saving the world.
