Jason E. Turner -- Hillcrest, DC native, Anne Beers Elementary attendee, and UVA alumnus, is the Founder and CEO of Verdant DC, a locally based and certified business consultancy. Commissioner Turner is passionate in his belief that consumer conversion from fossil gas – especially in the automotive and construction space -- are most critical to stemming the impact of climate change.
In 2007, then DC mayor Adrian Fenty appointed Turner to his first “green job” – as Chief, Office of Planning and Capital Projects for DC Parks and Recreation (DPR), where he oversaw a $350 million citywide overhaul of facilities in all eight wards, including the city’s first synthetic turf athletic fields, and the new Wilson Pool. It was his work in the DC government that led to his passion for working to preserve the global environment for future generations.
In 2016, Jason started Verdant DC as a mechanism to drive innovation in industries that produce the most greenhouse gases: concrete production, and the auto sector in particular. In 2017, Verdant partnered with Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the DC Department of Energy and the Environment to organize the “Global Symposium on Concrete” in Washington, DC to devise strategies to reverse concrete’s role as the leading man-made cause of CO2 emissions.
Today, Commissioner Turner’s work is focused on the build out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the District of Columbia – the biggest investment in cities by the federal government since the New Deal. He believes green technology leads to jobs which can change the game – environmentally and financially – for DC’s most historically underserved communities, and as the Environmental Science appointee, is keenly interested in how innovation, especially in big cities, can reduce greenhouse gas.