Marina Badoian-Kriticos

Director of Strategic Initiatives and External Affairs, Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC)

2021 U.S. C3E Education & Advocacy Award Winner

Marina Badoian-Kriticos is the Director of Strategic Initiatives and External Affairs at the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), where she provides leadership and direction for organizational initiatives and special projects, fosters relationships with key stakeholders, and acts as a trusted advisor to clean energy programs across Texas and the nation. She also serves as Senior Program Advisor to the Texas Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Authority and as Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Energy Southcentral Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnership (TAP). She was promoted to her current position after nearly five years at HARC as a Research Scientist in Energy and Natural Resource Policy. Her research focuses on the intersection of energy, climate, resilience, natural resource policy and program adoption and implementation, and strategies that advance environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) integration and sustainability performance.

Prior to joining HARC, Badoian-Kriticos worked as City Energy Project Senior Advisor at the Institute for Market Transformation. In this role, she focused on expanding energy and water efficiency in the built environment and provided support and expertise to the City of Houston to develop programs and policies for a healthier and more prosperous city. Badoian-Kriticos also served as Sustainability Director for the International Facility Management Association, where she drove sustainability initiatives through a global organization and developed tools for market innovation.

Badoian-Kriticos serves as Co-Chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Houston Urban Resilience and Sustainability Committee. She is a Board Member of the U.S. Green Building Council Gulf Coast and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Council. She received her Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies from University of Houston–Downtown.

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Helping to Develop Sustainable Energy Policy Across Texas and Beyond

Marina Badoian-Kriticos began her career at an architecture firm, where she developed an interest in the built environment, specifically the opportunities for improved efficiency and sustainability. She learned to view buildings from multiple angles, looking both from a building-level perspective (e.g., its functionality) and from a systems perspective (e.g., an individual facility’s role in the urban environment).

Badoian-Kriticos then went to work for Houston’s downtown management district, an urban planning entity. The organization launched a sustainability group, bringing together architects, engineers, community leaders, and property owners and managers. Participating improved Badoian-Kriticos’ understanding of relevant policy and inspired her to think about ways to incentivize building owners to adopt greener practices.

Her career took a turn toward the global sphere when she joined the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), where she directed the international strategic and sustainability program. She learned about non-U.S. green building systems and discovered a common theme: energy. From IFMA, she returned to local government to work on Houston’s City Energy Project, where she helped develop programs and policies that would lead to a healthier and more prosperous city.

City Energy Project partners included HARC, who later invited Badoian-Kriticos to join the Center’s research team. Since then, Badoian-Kriticos has created a statewide network, driving the uptake of clean energy policies and technologies in urban centers and communities across Texas and beyond.

Badoian-Kriticos translates science and policy into direct actions that governments can take to address climate change. Since joining HARC, her key accomplishments have included contributing to Houston’s climate action and resilience plans. Working closely with colleagues, she provided technical advice and stakeholder engagement to develop a science-based, community-driven climate action plan for one of the largest cities in the United States, as well as supporting implementation of both plans.

“I work under a broad umbrella under which I get to do really cool stuff, such as looking at how we imbue sustainability across the board from a climate perspective, taking into account equity, economic, environmental and resilience impacts. I have been fortunate to have several mentors throughout my career who have helped me to think differently about my ambitions and goals, and inspired me to better the world. I am passionate about paying that forward.”

Badoian-Kriticos’ efforts to support sustainability extend beyond the HARC research group. She works with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnerships (CHP TAPs), serving as assistant director for the Upper-West region. She is also a senior advisor to the Texas Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Authority, which runs the PACE program. Her efforts have contributed to PACE policies in over 60 regions across Texas, structuring over $170 million in transactions.