BOMA/Suburban Chicago Features CenterPoint’s Director of ESG Lindy Schrik In Celebrating Women’s History Month

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Posted By Staff Writers On March 15, 2022 @ 11:22 am

BOMA (The Building Owners and Managers Association) of Suburban Chicago featured CenterPoint’s Director of ESG Lindy Schrik in celebrating Women’s History Month. Read what Lindy had to say about the importance of celebrating Women’s History Month and why companies need to elevate women into their leadership ranks.

In honor of National Women’s Month, we celebrate the contributions and achievements local women of commercial real estate have made. Today, we’d like you to meet current BOMA/Suburban Chicago board member Lindy Schrik.

What brought you to commercial real estate?
Over the past twenty years, I have served in various roles in the commercial real estate industry. I’ve been fortunate to be a real estate tax associate, design coordinator, property manager and now I’m Director of ESG for CenterPoint Properties. My entry into the asset management portion of my CRE career was somewhat by luck, which shows you never know what is around the corner. When I look back, coincidentally, some of the clients I worked for at KPMG were the same ones I also worked with as a property manager.

As Director of Environmental, Social & Governance for CenterPoint Properties, what are some of the challenges you face?
One of the most critical functions of my role is to evaluate my company’s ESG effort through GRESB, just as USGBC certifies a building’s LEED sustainability. Tracking environmental milestones takes a lot of time to attain data from tenants, especially in industrial real estate. It really is an all-hands-on-deck effort involving all divisions of our company. It’s critical to give teammates context and help them realize why their contributions to our ESG success are important and make such a difference to our company and the communities we serve. Additionally, the social and governance facets of ESG are just as important as the environmental responsibilities to CenterPoint, so it truly takes a team effort to accomplish our goals in all three areas. ESG can only be as good as the team a company assembles to work on it, and we have a great one here.

As a new member of the BOMA/Suburban Chicago Diversity and Inclusion Committee, why do you support this initiative?
I have always held strong DEI beliefs. I believe the more you can relate to people, the stronger relationships you can build, which makes collaboration, meeting goals and exceeding expectations not only feasible but enjoyable. My belief system has been formed and strengthened in many ways through international travel. I’ve been lucky enough to visit many places around the world. Whenever I visit someplace new, I enjoy immersing myself in a country’s culture to try and learn the people’s beliefs, customs, and traditions. I feel this broadens my internal horizons and views and opens more doors to discussions.

What does Women’s History Month mean to you?
I am truly thankful for my parents, who always made me feel I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. I look back at how things were in the 50s and before and realize how much the world has changed and yet how much further we need to advance. Women’s History Month provides an excellent opportunity to raise conversations that need to be heard and figure out the best way for women and our country to advance.

Why do we need more women in leadership?
We need more women in leadership to mentor the younger generation. If you don’t know something is possible, you can’t strive to reach it. Women, just like different cultures, bring diversity, which creates resilience. Organizations are finding having diversity from the top down brings a greater variety of viewpoints to bear for their benefit and have been better off for committing to letting more voices be heard.

About CenterPoint Properties: 

CenterPoint is an industrial real estate company made up of dedicated thinkers, innovators, and leaders with the creativity and know-how to tackle the industry’s toughest challenges. And it’s those kinds of problems – the delicate, the complex, the seemingly impossible — we relish most. Because with an agile team, substantial access to capital, and industry-leading expertise, those are exactly the kinds of problems we’re built to solve. For more information on CenterPoint Properties, visit centerpoint.com, follow @centerpointprop on Twitter or engage with us on LinkedIn.