Andrea Pinabell, LEED AP, is the CEO and Founder of AC Impact Advisors. Founded in 2022, AC Impact Advisors is a boutique advisory firm assisting businesses, academia, NGOs and private equity with cultivating and implementing holistic and sustainable purpose-driven strategies, partnerships and programs to drive organizational growth and impact.
Prior to AC Impact Advisors, Andrea was the President of Southface Institute, the second leader after its founder and Executive Director of 38 years. Since 1978 and as the oldest sustainability NGO in the Southeast, Southface has been a leader in sustainability advocacy, building technology, research, planning and operations to create a regenerative economy through resource efficiency, social equity and a healthy built environment for all.
Prior to Southface, Andrea was the Vice President of Sustainability and Global Citizenship at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. where she led the strategy, operations and integration for Starwood’s global sustainability programs and its related philanthropic efforts programs across ten brands (Westin, Sheraton, W, Le Méridien, St. Regis, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, Element, Tribute Portfolio and Luxury Collection, along with Starwood Vacation Ownership) and global footprint of nearly 1,500 hotels in over 100 countries. Before Starwood, she was the Director of the Sustainable Cities Institute & Sustainable Community Development Program Manager with The Home Depot Foundation (THDF). During this time, Ms. Pinabell led the launch of the Sustainable Cities Institute and was a core founding partner in the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. Prior to THDF, Ms. Pinabell led several consulting and commercial/industrial teams both within the US and internationally.
She is known for her purpose-driven and collaborative leadership style, is an engineer by education and brings over 25+ years of wide-ranging sustainable business and operations expertise. In addition, she sits on several nonprofit boards including 2030 Districts, Center for Responsible Travel and the Strategic Energy Institute at GA Tech. In addition, she has been honored with multiple awards including Most Notable Georgians (2020), Atlanta 500 Top Leaders, (2020 & 2021), USGBC Leadership Award (2019), and being inducted into the 2018 Energy Leader 75, recognizing some of the nation’s top energy leaders. Andrea is a Chemical Engineering graduate of Iowa State University and Business Sustainable Management Graduate of Cambridge University. An environmentalist at heart, she is an avid hiker, gardener and proud mother of a teenage son and a pup mom of a rescue lab mix.