The annual LCA Awards recognize individuals and organizations whose leadership efforts have advanced LCA and have made an impact in environmental sustainability.

Congratulations to our 2023 LCA Award Winners! Press Releass ACLCA 2023 Awards

Rita Schenck Lifetime Individual LCA Leadership Award (individual award)
Through the Rita Schenck Lifetime Individual LCA Leadership Award (individual award), we seek to identify a leader whose long-term active engagement in our community has had a significant, impact on the field and profession of LCA and life cycle thinking.  A Lifetime Achievement Award winner is a successful leader in an organization, industry, and in our community. Further, the Lifetime Award allows us to recognize a true pillar who will teach future generations by example. This award recognizes contributions over the entirety of a career, rather than, or in addition to, a single contribution.

Rising Star Award (individual award)
The LCA Rising Star award is intended to recognize an emerging leader in LCA and life cycle thinking who reflects ongoing and exceptional growth in contribution to the profession and increased levels of leadership and responsibility. Successful candidates will have not yet reached a senior-level position, but their track-record should reflect a strong potential for continued growth towards the highest levels of the profession.

LCA Leadership Awards  - Corporate, Government, Education, Student (individual or organization)
ACLCA Leadership Awards recognize the role of perceptive and forward-thinking individuals or organizations that have been instrumental in the advancement and application of LCA and life cycle thinking.

2023 ACLCA Awards Committee

Peter Arbuckle, USDA

Hassana Elzein, Sphera

Bill Flanagan, Aspire Sustainability

Connie Hensler, Interface

Carrie Pearson, Cargill

Tim Skone, NETL

LCA Award recipients for 2023 include:

Rita Schenck Lifetime Individual LCA Leadership Award: Christoph Koffler, Sphera

Over the last 17 years, Chris has worked on hundreds of Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprint projects across a wide variety of industry sectors, including but not limited to the automotive, metals & mining, building & construction, chemical, electronics, consumer goods, packaging, textile, and financial sectors, either in a project manager, quality assurance manager, or independent reviewer role.

Chris has published numerous papers in the field of Life Cycle Assessment and frequently provides his expertise in peer and critical reviews.

Chris is a board member at the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) and is a Co-Chair of the ACLCA Technical Committee. He has represented the U.S. and SETAC in the development of various LCA-related ISO standards and has taught Product Life Cycle Assessment at Yale’s School of the Environment and the Harvard Extension School.

Corporate LCA Leadership Award: Jason Pierce, Eastman Chemical Company

Jason is a chemical engineer and LCA-CP with over 25 years of experience in the chemicals, plastics, defense, and IT industries.  The most recent 15 years have been spent at Eastman where he played a foundational role in establishing, applying, and advancing LCA and life cycle thinking across the global corporation.  His current title is the Senior Technical Leader for LCA and Circular Economy at Eastman.  Additionally, Jason has been a significant LCA contributor and though leader in external endeavors within the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Together for Sustainability, American Chemistry Council, and the European Chemical Industry Council.  He leads the Mass Balance working group within ACLCA.  Outside of Eastman, Jason serves as an independent LCA consultant in private practice, performing LCA critical reviews for corporate clients.

Government Leadership in LCA Award: Troy Hawkins, Argonne National Labratory

Troy Hawkins is a Senior Scientist and leads the Fuels and Chemicals Group of the Systems Assessment Center. His research focus is on improving the environmental performance of energy and product systems, with particular focus on decarbonization, where he applies life cycle assessment and other quantitative systems analysis approaches to provide actionable insights. Troy Hawkins has evaluated the energy and environmental impacts of conventional and alternative transportation energy systems, electricity and biopower, plastics and chemicals, and industrial processes, and has developed new methods for life cycle assessment and environmentally-extended input output analysis. He contributes to the development of Argonne’s GREET (Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies) model for life cycle analysis of energy systems, products, and technologies.

Prior to joining Argonne he worked as a consultant providing environmental and economic assessment for clients in the private and government sectors, led life cycle assessment research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and worked as a researcher in the Industrial Ecology Programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He holds a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Physics from the University of Michigan.

Education LCA Leadership Award: Anna-Marie Boulay, CIRAIG - Polytechnique Montreal

 Prof. Boulay is Associate professor at Polytechnique Montreal, in Canada and Deputy General Director of the International Research Consortium on Life Cycle Analysis and Sustainable Transition of the CIRAIG, an international research partnership spreading between Polytechnique Montreal and UQAM in Canada; and EPFL and HES-SO in Switzerland. She was first known for her role in directing the WULCA working group and building consensus into achieving a harmonized method for assessing water use in LCA, leading to the AWARE method. She is a co-founder and co-chair of the MarILCA (Marine Impacts in LCA) international working group supported by UNEP Life Cycle Initiative and FSLCI, leading the development of metrics to assess impacts for plastic emissions to the environment. She holds the Canadian Research Chair on Impacts of plastic in the environment and she recently concluded 10 years as Canadian Chair for ISO TC207/SC5 on Life Cycle Assessment. Her work is captured in over 60 publications, in journals including Environmental Science and Technology, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Industrial Ecology and others.

Throughout her journey, Prof. Boulay has spearheaded the development of important emerging metrics in LCA, namely water footprint metrics and metrics to assess impacts for plastic emissions in the environment. She has also been a key contributor to several international initiatives, where she has collaborated with colleagues to build consensus over methods– a much needed ingredient for consolidating advances in our field. For anyone who has had the opportunity of working with her in the past, Prof. Boulay stands out for her analytical skills, collaborative outlook, go-getter attitude, kindness and legendary wit.

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Student LCA Leadership Award: Reid Maynard, Mechanical Engineering PhD. Student, Colorado State University

Reid is a PhD student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University, where he works in Dr. Jason Quinn’s Sustainability Research Laboratory. He is also a trainee in the Interdisciplinary Training, Education and Research in Food-Energy-Water Systems (InTERFEWS) NSF-NRT program at CSU. His research utilizes life cycle assessment to model the sustainability of emerging agricultural production systems and technologies. In addition to his academic work, Reid was an intern at Aspire Sustainability, developing end-of-life models to provide greater detail and accuracy in future projects.

Reid is passionate about sustainability work as a way to serve his community and communities around the world. He has been a student member of ACLCA since 2022 and currently volunteers with the Student Committee leadership team. Outside of work, you can find him enjoying a book on the bus or jogging along the local river trail.

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Rising Star Award: Heather Dylla, Construction Partners

Heather's vision, positive spirit, and unwavering commitment to sustainability and ACLCA over the years make her a true star in our community.

Everyone who knows Heather knows her passion for sustainability and her ability to inspire and motivate those around her. Even when surrounded by skeptics, industries resistant to change, and technical challenges, her determination never wavers. She always finds new, creative ways to find a common language with stakeholders and bring everyone on a sustainability journey. As a leader of the Sustainable Pavements program in the US DOT, she helped create a national dialogue on pavement sustainability and develop tools and guidance that positioned the Federal Highway Administration as the key leader of decarbonization under the Biden-Harris administration. Her work was also pivotal for the success of the Climate Challenge, the nationwide initiative in which infrastructure agencies from 25 states committed to using LCAs and EPDs. Climate Challenge was highlighted by the White House as a national example of climate action.

In her ACLCA work, Heather led the team that developed the PCR Open Standard, which was referenced by the EPA to support the national guidance. Timely development of this standard enabled ACLCA to shape and inform the new Buy Clean policies across the USA. What started as a sector-specific idea under the Sustainable Pavements Program has now grown into a key policy tool thanks to Heather's vision and leadership. 

Heather's leadership has led to meaningful change and pushed the boundaries of what's possible in a challenging industry. Her ability to bridge gaps, influence change, and champion sustainability is remarkable and she continues to be a true friend and mentor to everyone she encounters.