NZA 8 | 2026 EVENTS
Pilot Scoping & Flight Planning
July 29, 2026
9a–10:30a Pacific
Virtual (Zoom)
This working session combined the NZA Pilot Scoping Workshop with the Flight Plans Best Practices Guide. Along with Colin Mangham, Senior Advisors Kevin Powell and Sebastian Muñoz walked through designing, pricing, and delivering a pilot, covering customer identification, value proposition validation, site selection, financial and legal considerations, and post-pilot next steps.
California: State of Sustainability
July 23, 2026
9a–10a Pacific
Virtual (Zoom)
Kicking off USGBC-CA's Cohort 8 work group series, this session provided a state-of-the-state overview from CEO Ben Stapleton on the policy, market, and technical landscape shaping California's built environment. Topics include embodied carbon policy (AB 2446, SB 253, SB 261), Building Performance Standards, electrification, workforce development, and where NZA companies can plug into the state's advocacy and market-connection efforts.
Finding Your Woods
August 5, 2026
9a–10:30a Pacific
Virtual (Zoom)
A Fresh Look at Business Models and Grow-to-Market Strategy.
Cities are habitat. And like pilot opportunities, the paths through them are rarely lit as well as we would like, if at all. This is an unconventional working session on navigating the California market and finding where to set up camp. Colin Mangham unpacks the three things he carries on every entrepreneurial expedition: precision optics (Biomimicry for Business), food for thought (Bamboo Bento Boxing), and a map of the terrain (Grow to Market strategy).
Sustainability ROI
August 12, 2026
9a–10:30a Pacific
Virtual (Zoom)
The Business Case for Green Buildings That a CFO Will Love
Every green building pitch eventually lands on a CFO's desk. Bob Willard, founder of Sustainability Advantage, shows how to make that case in the language finance already uses. Drawing on guidance from the A4S CFO Leadership Network, he covers what belongs in a capital request beyond payback and IRR: monetized savings, revenue upside, lower cost of capital, higher asset value, and the quantified risks of inaction. Includes his free Sustainability ROI Workbook.
COMPLETE
Storytelling
August 18, 2026
9a–10:30a Pacific
Virtual (Zoom)
Tom White returns to lead Cohort 8 through a single-session version of his signature storytelling workshop. New this year: a smart template Tom piloted at the International Business School, Brazil, that auto-builds each founder's pitch story from a dozen questions about their venture they already know the answers to. After a short walkthrough, companies spend time working through the questions while Tom coaches live, company by company, closing with a read-aloud of each completed story to the group. The output also sets up a future five-minute pitch deck session, if the cohort wants to take it that far.
Pulse Check & Forward Progress
August 28, 2026
9a–10a Pacific
Virtual (Zoom)
The session served as an informal office hours check-in to orient cohort members on the next program phase. The primary focus was transitioning from curriculum and visioning sessions into active market-facing work: populating the Google Drive dashboard, securing USGBC-CA memberships, and preparing for pilot introductions and Flight Manual profiles.
UPCOMING
Alumni Roundtable
September 30, 2026
9a-10:45a Pacific
Virtual (Zoom Link in Invite)
OPTIONAL
Carbon FWD
September 17, 2026
Session Time TBA
In-Person | Los Angeles
Carbon Forward: Towards LA28 is California's premier event for embodied carbon, materials, and sustainable construction, held September 17 at La Kretz Innovation Campus, HQ of USGBC California. Framed around the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the summit brings together architects, engineers, developers, manufacturers, and policymakers for sessions on low-carbon concrete, steel, and mass timber, procurement strategy, and circular construction, plus the release of a first-of-its-kind regional assessment of lower-carbon concrete suppliers.
Select NZA companies will participate in an innovation panel. Exhibition spaces available to NZA cohort for $1,000 ($500 off the public $1,500).
Net Zero Conference
October 8, 2026
Session Time TBA
In-Person | Los Angeles
The 13th Annual Net Zero Conference is Southern California’s flagship event for climate leadership and the built environment, held October 8 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The conference brings together leaders across design, construction, policy, and industry for keynote presentations, educational sessions, and an expo showcasing the latest innovations in sustainable buildings and decarbonization.
Select NZA companies will participate in an innovation panel. Discounted exhibit spaces are available, and all NZA companies receive complimentary Expo Hall passes.