JLL appoints Erin Meezan as Chief Sustainability Officer

CHICAGO, Sept. 28, 2022 – JLL (NYSE: JLL) announced today the appointment of Erin Meezan as the firm’s new Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) effective October 1 reporting to Guy Grainger, global Head of Sustainability Services & ESG. She will be responsible for growing JLL’s sustainability program, continuing its reputation as a purpose-led organization and its commitment to playing a leading role in sustainable real estate operations. Meezan succeeds Richard Batten, upon his retirement.

Meezan joins JLL with more than 19 years of sustainability experience. In her role as Chief Sustainability Officer at Interface, Inc., she led and surpassed company goals to achieve carbon neutrality across all product lines, developed its strategy to achieve a carbon-negative enterprise by 2040 and achieved early success in its 25-year sustainability mission to have no environmental impact by 2020.

“We welcome Erin as the new Chief Sustainability Officer who will build on the work JLL Is unlocking for climate action in built environments, leading us towards our goal of shaping the future of real estate for a better world,” said Grainger.

"JLL is a leader in the real estate industry, establishing ambitious net zero carbon and alternative energy goals and helping clients reach theirs,” said Meezan. “I am looking forward to helping JLL achieve its ambitious goals, and throughout our progress at JLL, showing the pathway for the rest of the industry and our clients to follow.”

Meezan has a Masters in Environmental Law and a Juris Doctorate from Vermont Law School, and a Bachelors of Arts from Michigan State University. She is a founding member of the advisory board for the Sustainable Entrepreneurship MBS program at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business and a guest faculty member for the Executive Education for Sustainable Leadership Program at Harvard University.

Batten took on the CSO role in January 2017, having focused on advising investor clients on commercial property. In addition to his role as CSO, Batten is an advisor on the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Net Zero Expert Advisory Group, and sits on the Bloomberg Green Council, previously representing JLL’s efforts to drive climate action in the built environment.

“I want to thank Richard for his contributions over the last five years as an invaluable leader helping transform the way our company and our clients view sustainability, embedding it as a key pillar of our business,” said Grainger.

Batten was recognized in March 2022 as #5 of the Top 10 CSOs of global organizations by Sustainability Magazine and won the IR Magazine 2022 ESG Integration Award for Best ESG by a senior management team. He also created and now manages the HUGE Partnership to educate children in Uganda and founded the JLL Property Triathlon, raising nearly $5 million for local charities in the UK.