Supporting Industries with Infrastructure to Accelerate Collective Progress
For more than a decade, our founder, Annie Bevan, and the SMS Collaborative team have helped shape the standards, initiatives, and collaborations advancing sustainability across industries.
SMSC has supported organizations, industries, and communities that make sustainable action possible. Through leadership roles, advisory work, and hands-on participation, our work has supported the acceleration of co-created standards, tools, and movements needed to accelerate change.
Some examples of this market leading work can be found here:
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
SMS Collaborative has contributed to the evolution of green building standards through active engagement with the U.S. Green Building Council and the broader LEED ecosystem.
As a previous member of the MR TAG from 2014-2017, our CEO, contracted with the USGBC to work closely with USGBC staff and the volunteer community to co-create the Materials and Resources section of LEEDv4.1 with a goal to unlock some of the more challenging materials issues at the time.
LEED v4.1 was released in the beginning of 2019, and is in process of being replaced with the LEED v5 rating system in May of 2026.
ACT Environmental Impact Label
After meeting the founding CEO of My Green Lab and learning the sheer impacts of energy usage, waste, and water of labs and laboratory products, and that no standard existed to evaluate the multi-attribute impacts of laboratory products, SMS Collaborative partnered with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, My Green Lab (MGL), to support the development and advancement of the ACT Environmental Impact Label, a first-of-its-kind eco-label for the life science industry.
SMS Collaborative was the first auditor of the ACT program, and supported the programs growth phases from infancy to what it is today, a leading ecolabel/standard in the life science industry helping biotech and pharma organizations alike analyze their supply chain for impact to accelerate the achievement of their ESG goals, as well as ensure manufacturer claims are authentic and in alignment with the ACT 2.0 standard.
As ACT 2.0 evolved, as well as the evolution of My Green Lab, and with the launch of their sister company, Impact Labs, SMS Collaborative launched Verico, a wholly owned subsidiary of SMS Collaborative. Verico remains the leading auditor of the ACT program today.
Accelerating Verification to Reduce Impact in Schools
In collaboration with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Collaborative for High Performing Schools (CHPS), and an understanding of the opportunity to leverage this leading green building certification for K-12 schools to help schools mitigate their environmental and human health impact on school children by enhancing their learning environment. SMS Collaborative’s staff leveraged our expertise in the development of third-party auditing processes to accelerate verifying projects to meet the CHPS project criteria. SMS Collaborative was an early auditor to the CHPS project program, supporting the certification of numerous schools in their achievement of the CHPS rating system. We conducted this work in collaboration with ReVision Architecture 2017-2019.
Living Product 50
In 2012, with the launch of LEED v4, there was a consolidated industry outreach by the A&D community to key building product manufacturers, communicating that if BPMs did not invest in EPDs or HPDs, their products would not be specified. After receiving these letters, many of the leading manufacturers acted to support their customers' requests and invested in these transparency documents. SMS Collaborative provided support to many of the early leaders and adopters of these transparency reports in obtaining them.
However, after finding that many fellow building product manufacturers and customers were having trouble quantifying the return on investment for their investment in sustainability, SMS Collaborative contracted to support the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Living Future, in accelerating a manufacturer collaborative response to the A&D industry through their Living Product 50 group. In short, “Thank you for asking for these documents; however, we need to see that sustainability matters when it comes time for specification and procurement.” This letter campaign elevated the need for further collaboration between AEC and manufacturers as partners when it came to communicating and evaluating the impact of building products, and to reward those manufacturers that have invested in understanding or, even better, those that have reduced their impact.
The letter was signed by over 80+ Building Product Manufacturers, with a manufacturing business impact of over 1 Trillion Dollars. As a result, the AIA Materials Pledge became a known response, the first written definition of a common language for sustainable building products (5 Impacts).
mindful MATERIALS
As the LP50 movement advanced as well as the ratification of the AIA Materials Pledge formally by AIA in 2018, there was a need to bring the built environment community to one place to accelerate collective conversations, voices, and action.
Prior to 2020, mindful MATERIALS (mM) operated as a volunteer-led community focused on making it easier to identify products with sustainability documentation, first through an HKS-created binder-based labeling system and, at the time, a first-of-its-kind digital library.
In 2020, SMS Collaborative was engaged to help transition mM from a volunteer-driven initiative into a formal 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. From 2020–2025, SMS Collaborative provided dedicated staffing across key roles and, in close collaboration with the mM community, contractors, and Board, supported the co-creation of the Common Materials Framework (CMF), the vision for an interconnected data ecosystem, and the CMF Implementation Toolkit.
Together, this work helped establish mM as a leading global convener driving more informed, impactful decision-making around sustainable materials.
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Bergmeyer+
After connecting with the CEO of Bergmeyer and gaining insight into the significant waste generated by the retail industry, particularly through store fixtures, SMS Collaborative partnered to co-create Bergmeyer+, a forward-looking program designed to reduce the impacts of retail environments.
Bergmeyer+ starts at a foundational level, helping retailers align their purpose and mission with their store design and sustainability goals. The program empowers organizations to adopt more responsible procurement and design practices, reimagining the future of retail as one where sustainability moves beyond a buzzword to become a transformative force for good.
Industry Committees and Advisory Roles
Members of the SMS Collaborative team contribute their expertise through participation in industry committees and advisory groups supporting the development of standards, programs, and collaborative initiatives.
HPDC Technical Committee
The HPDC Technical Committee helps maintain the integrity and evolution of the Health Product Declaration (HPD) standard. The committee interprets, refines, and expands the HPD framework, ensuring the tool continues to support transparent and credible reporting of product ingredients. Rebecca Backer, Managing Director of Verico, serves on the Technical Committee.
HPDC Technical Committee: Third Party Programs
This technical subgroup manages the credentialing and methodology for independent review and verification of Health Product Declarations, helping ensure consistent and credible third-party assessment of completed HPDs. Rebecca Backer, Managing Director of Verico, contributes to this work as a member of the subgroup.
WELL Materials Concept Advisory
This advisory group helps guide the WELL Building Standard in addressing chemical exposure risks through material ingredient screening, emissions restrictions, transparency tools, and worker protection protocols. Annie Bevan, Founder and CEO of SMS Collaborative, is a member of the advisory group.
MIT Alumni for Climate Action
MIT Alumni for Climate Action is a nonpartisan network of alumni and affiliates working to communicate the urgency of climate change and support science-based solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Victoria Owens, Managing Director of Parallel, contributes to this effort through her participation in the network.
Living Future Material Health TAG
The Material Health Technical Advisory Group identifies and synthesizes research on chemicals of concern in the built environment and guides updates to the Living Future Red List, advancing industry dialogue on material health. Luke Dias, Sr. Project Manager at Parallel, serves on the advisory group.
MGL ACT v2 Steering Committee
The ACT Environmental Impact Label revision process was guided by experts from academia, manufacturing, sustainability, and procurement. Participation in the steering committee helped shape the next evolution of the ACT ecolabel and its role in advancing environmental transparency in the life sciences industry. Rebecca Backer, Managing Director of Verico, is a member of the steering committee.
iMasons Climate Accord Working Group
The Equipment Working Group evaluated embodied carbon calculation methodologies for data centers and data center equipment, developing case studies and contributing findings to the 2025 Maturity Model Report. The report provides guidance for data center builders and owners on advancing sustainability, increasing transparency, and shaping demand for lower-impact products. Luke Dias, Sr. Project Manager at Parallel, contributed to this effort as a member of the working group.