Sonia Punjabi

Sonia led the commercial new construction and major retrofits portfolio for the Building Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). She headed the research and development of industry-accepted national definitions, guidelines, and metrics for commercial Zero Energy buildings, campuses, portfolios, and communities. She directed the technical projects developed by national labs in the areas of New Construction and Major Retrofits, High Performance and Zero Energy Buildings, AEDG’s, AERG’s, and ISO 50001. In addition, Sonia also liaised with the building energy codes team and provided support for ASHRAE 189.1-Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings. Sonia has been an active contributor and influencer in the international building and environmental sustainability industry.

Prior to joining DOE, Sonia was Director of LEED International Technical Development at USGBC. As the Director of LEED International Technical Development, Sonia led the international expansion of the LEED brand and spearheaded the technical development of USGBC's LEED green building rating systems. Sonia has worked closely with Italy, India, and Canada to develop their green building initiatives and supported the LEED related work of CanadaGBC, GBC Italia and IndiaGBC.

Prior to joining USGBC in March 2005, Sonia worked as a Visiting Researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and has also worked as an Architect in India.