Community Champion: Richard Piacentini

COMMUNITY CHAMPION:

RICHARD PIACENTINI

By Jim Rogal

PITTSBURGH HAS A HISTORY OF BEING HOME TO RENOWNED PEOPLE WHO HELPED CHANGE THE WORLD. In the late 1800s there were industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie and George Westinghouse. In the last several decades there have been Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine; Rachel Carson, author of The Silent Spring, which opened the world’s eyes to the life-threatening dangers of pollution; Thomas Starzl, who revolutionized organ transplant surgery; and Fred Rogers, a pioneer in the use of television as a tool for early childhood development.

Today, there is Richard Piacentini. Wait, who? Richard Piacentini, the President and CEO of Phipps Conservatory. And yes, he’s on that prestigious list.

Over the last three decades, Piacentini has transformed Phipps from a tired, old, rundown, neglected afterthought owned by the city into a privately operated complex that is the leading institution in the world for environmental practice, standards, and health for the 21st century. Need proof? Piacentini has led the efforts that opened the world’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Development) certified visitors center in a public garden; the world’s first LEED greenhouse; the Tropical Forest Conservatory, among the most energy-efficient conservatories on the

planet; the Nature Lab, a certified energy-efficient modular classroom for schools; the WELL Platinum certified Exhibit Staging Center; and the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, a net-zero energy and water facility that is the only building in the world to meet the Living Building Challenge.

That’s a lot to digest, and it’s perhaps indecipherable for many, but, simply put, Piacentini has been at the forefront of the global effort to, in his words, “try to restore a healthy and sustainable living environment for the world—before it’s too late.” And Piacentini practices what he preaches in his personal life as well. He has converted his residence in Squirrel Hill into a net-zero home, which means it generates more energy that it uses, it captures and treats all stormwater on site, and it’s built to the highest levels of efficiency and environmental health.

Piacentini grew up in New York and earned a BS and an MBA in Pharmacy. In fact, he is still a registered pharmacist. But while he was working as a pharmacist at the Washington, D.C., Children’s Hospital, he developed an interest in Japanese bonsai trees. Before long, he was off to greener pastures— literally. He went back to school, earned an MS in Botany, worked for the National Arboretum in D.C., and then was hired to run the Seattle Rhododendron Garden.

In 1993, the City of Pittsburgh spun off management of the glass house to “Phipps Conservatory, Inc.”through a public-private lease agreement and hired a horticulturist to begin designing upcoming flower shows. In July of 1994, the Board authorized hiring Piacentini as the first Executive Director. When he got here, he said, “Phipps was in pretty bad shape.”There were empty flower beds, plastic-covered rows of soil, and worse. Attendance was at a low point,and among those who did come, “In my first summer here people asked for their money back,” he said.

A decade later, Phipps wasknown around the world, and Piacentini was rightfully recognized as a global leader.

And so it began—a Master Plan to begin thetransformation process; the raising of mostly localmoney, including foundation funding and RADgrants to pay for the renovations; the start of thebuilding and re-building process. A decade later,Phipps was known around the world, and Piacentiniwas rightfully recognized as a global leader in theinterconnected fields of sustainable land use, energyefficiency, and environmental health.

in the environmental health movement. These days, much of Piacentini’s focus is on raising youth education and awareness.

“Phipps has been here for more than 100 years, so we have to keep rethinking and planning and doing for the next 100 years,” he said. “People keep looking for government to solve this problem, which is a top-down focus. But we have to build a bottom-up focus.” Easier said than done, but Piacentini believes that the opportunity lies with the between 500 million and 600 million visitors to museums around the world. “That’s where we need to build a ground swell of support,” he said. And that’s where Phipps leads not only by example, but also through its global outreach programs.

“We want Phipps to exemplify what good looks like,” he said. “We see everything as being connected. The reason for our success is that we think regeneratively, which means we approach everything we do as all part of one thing, all part of nature. The planet is our constituent just as much our visitors, our donors, our staff, and our community are.”

Complicated and difficult as it all might seem, Piacentini’s motivation to succeed is simple: “I feel like I should do something and can do something to change how we live.”

Credit: Denmarsh Photography, Inc.

In the last several years, Phipps has begun exporting its knowledge around the globe. Piacentini has overseen the development of outreach efforts such as the Homegrown Program, which teaches “sustainable land care for people in their own backyards,” he says. There is also the Studio Phipps consulting program, which helps other institutions throughout the world achieve the standards set by Phipps. Then there’s the international Youth Climate Advisory Committee, as well as a Youth Toolkit that offers practical ways for young people to be involved