VP of Sustainability & Design Management, The Durst Organization
Sydney Mainster serves as VP of Sustainability and Design Management at the Durst Organization, one of the oldest family-run commercial and residential real estate companies in New York City. She brings over 17 years of professional and academic sustainability, architecture, design, and construction experience to support Durst’s vision for sustainability in ground-up development projects, existing building renovations, and building operations.
Sydney works strategically to implement sustainability guidelines, set targets, and maximize tenant engagement. She defines and refines design and construction sustainability criteria utilizing data from current green building rating systems, health research and chemical red lists; and sustainability best practices in energy, water, indoor environmental quality, and cradle-to-cradle product manufacturing, use, and disposal. Sydney works to achieve outcomes on current building projects, but also to improve environmental standards and innovation in the industry at large.
In 2023 & 2024, Sydney was recognized as a Notable Leader in Sustainability by Crain’s New York. Sydney is a current board member of the Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex), of the New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) and is a past chair of the Advisory Council for the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Art and Design. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from UC Berkeley and a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
