Name: Kathy McGuire
Title: Manager, Sustainable Development
Organization: PGA National Resort & Spa
Years with Organization: Eight years
Primary responsibilities: “I set the goals for our sustainability efforts each year. I itemize the things I believe are achievable.”
Organization’s most significant sustainability-related accomplishment so far: “Minimizing waste has been our greatest achievement.”
Organization’s most significant sustainability-related challenge: “Energy use. This building was built in 1981. We have replaced just about everything you can replace.”
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA.—In recognition of her success in leading multiple sustainability efforts at the PGA National Resort & Spa—she helped save the property $350,000 in the last five years—Kathy McGuire was recently promoted to Manager, Sustainable Development.
Since joining the resort eight years ago, Kathy has been instrumental in leading efficiency efforts in the areas of energy management, water conservation and waste management. She recalls that when she first started working for the resort, she could only find one blue recycling bin on the property. Today, not only do public spaces have recycling bins but so do all guestrooms. A recycling team has been created and a Heroes for the Planet program has been launched to quarterly recognize associates who have been particularly helpful with recycling.
Between 2007 and 2009, the resort’s waste diversion rate was as high as 24 percent. It has since dropped to 8 percent but Kathy says a renewed effort recently has increased the diversion rate by two points. Recycling is monitored on at least a weekly basis and sometimes daily.
“We are taking a hard look at everything that we use that is disposable,” she says, citing initiatives such as purchasing washable melamine plates to replace plastic clamshell containers at the pool and buying canvas dry cleaning bags to replace their plastic counterparts. She adds that a waste audit revealed that food waste accounts for 40 percent of the resort’s waste stream. Kathy is currently examining options to dramatically reduce that waste.
Renovations Included Investments in Energy, Water Efficiency
A little more than a year ago, the resort, known for its five championship golf courses, completed a $100 million renovation. Kathy says part of that investment included new cooling towers and plant chiller equipment, new duct work, air handling systems, low-flow fixtures, light sensors and compact fluorescents.
This past October the resort officially launched its new Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) charging stations. Its parking lot was outfitted with three total charging stations—two Eaton Commercial Level II Chargers and one Eaton DC Level III Quick Charger.
In partnership with CSRware, Inc., the resort is tracking its energy and water consumption and waste generation.
Kathy’s goal is to obtain certification from the international GEO OnCourse program for the property’s golf courses. The courses are currently managed using integrated pest management best practices. All irrigation water is drawn from the lakes around the property and all vegetation is recycled.
Given the size of the resort and the challenge in getting so many busy people together for green team meetings, Kathy is currently focusing on just one area of operations with a green team—recycling.
Led Recycling Push at BellSouth
Prior to working at the PGA National Resort & Spa, Kathy worked at BellSouth Telecommunications, Florida, where she started the company’s first corporate recycling program. She also is the Principle for 3 Pillar Solutions, LLC, which assists the hospitality and tourism industry align sustainability with its core business objectives and values.
She is Harvard educated in corporate sustainability strategies and earned her LEED Green Associate credential from the Green Building Certification Institute in 2009. This recognizes her achievement and specialized knowledge of green building principles and the LEED Green Building Rating System. Kathy also has a Certificate in Management Studies from Solihull College, England, and has completed the course 7 Steps to Integration of the APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meetings Standards.
Kathy is the past co-chairperson of the Hospitality & Tourism Committee for the Palm Beach branch of the U.S Green Building Council, where she co-developed a Palm Beach County Green Destination Challenge. The purpose of this initiative was to rally the hospitality community to participate in a 10 percent energy, water and waste reduction challenge for 2012.
Memberships include the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Assn., Green Meeting Industry Council and the International Society of Sustainability Professionals. Kathy is actively engaged in the following forums: Sustainability Working Group, ASTM Green Meetings standard, Event Sustainability Practitioners.
When asked how long she has been interested in sustainability, Kathy said it all began when she was a child.
“We were poor growing up and we did not waste anything,” she says.
Go to the PGA National Resort & Spa.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
