Steve Glenn

Activist, Artist, Athlete, Buddhist, Connector, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Idea generator, Jewish, Single

Steve Glenn is the founder, Board Director, and former CEO of Plant Prefab. Plant is the first Certified B Corporation™ building technology company dedicated to sustainable design, materials, and operations. The company’s patented Plant Building System™ utilizes advanced digital modeling and fully customizable Plant Panels™ and Plant Modules™ to help architects, developers, general contractors, and individuals design and build multifamily and custom single-family homes 20 to 50 percent faster than site-based methods. The system provides better quality control, design flexibility, and time, cost, and material efficiency than traditional methods of offsite or on-site construction. Plant has a factory in Rialto, CA and is nearing completion on Tejon Ranch Hub, a fully automated solar powered facility capable of building over 1 million square feet of single and multifamily housing a year. With a mission to build a better world by design, Plant Prefab was the first housing prefabricator to announce a net zero goal and actually achieved carbon neutrality in their operations in 2020. Plant Prefab is backed by leading investors including Amazon, Asahi Kasei, Gerdau Paris Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and others. Previous to Plant, Glenn founded and was the CEO of LivingHomes, a design and development company focused on modern, prefabricated homes that combined world-class architecture with an unparalleled commitment to healthy and sustainable construction. The first LivingHome, designed by Ray Kappe, FAIA, was installed in eight hours. It became the first home ever to receive a LEED for Home Platinum rating. Twenty-eight LivingHomes have been or will soon be certified LEED Platinum and one LEED Gold, making the company one of the most experienced designers of homes at the highest level of LEED certification. LivingHomes have garnered significant industry recognition including the AIA’s top sustainable award, Architizer’s Jury and People Choice Awards, Green Builder Magazine’s Home of Year, Business 2.0 “World’s 11 Coolest Products”, Business Week’s “Architectural Wonders of the World”, and the Sustainable Quality Awards Grand Prize. LivingHomes are available in standard or customized configurations to builders, developers and individuals. Previously, Glenn worked with the William Jefferson Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and managed the development of a $220 million program in Mozambique, the first program CHAI launched in Africa. Glenn is founder and former Chairman and CEO of PeopleLink, a leading provider of enterprise ecommunity solutions, which raised $35 million from AT&T Ventures, GE, Goldman Sachs, idealab and others. Glenn was a founding partner of idealab, a business incubation firm that raised $1 billion and that founded or invested in a number of successful companies including GoTo/Overture (OVER), NetZero/United Online (UNTD), CitySearch (TMCS), Tickets.com (TKTS), eToys and CarsDirect. Glenn worked for Walt Disney Imagineering as co-director of the Virtual Reality Studio. Glenn co-founded Clearview Software, which was sold to Apple Computer where Glenn later served as a marketing specialist. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Brown University, studied Urban Planning at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and was a Coro Fellow. Glenn serves on the Advisory Board of Van Winkle Ventures, https://www.vanwickleventures.com/, and the WELLS Home Advisory Council, www.wellcertified.com . Glenn co-founded and chaired the Sustainable Business Council, and was a co-founder and former board member of Hope Street Group, www.hopestreetgroup.org and the Brown University Entrepreneur Forum, www.brownep.org. He has twice served as a Judge for the US Energy Department's Solar Decathlon competition, www.solardecathlon.gov . Glenn was named the Clean Tech CEO of the Year by Clean Tech Week; Environmental Entrepreneur of the Year by LA City Council/Faith2Green; and Greatest Person of the Day by Huffington Post. Glenn speaks regularly about sustainable design, prefabrication, and social entrepreneurship at conferences and universities including TED, TEDx, Greenbuild, TechHome Summit, Sun Valley Institute, Sustainable Brands, VerdeXchange, UCLA, MIT, Brown, Columbia, University of Oxford, USC, and University of Texas (Austin). Glenn holds two patents.

real estate redevelopment, Sustainable Design at all scales

We built a LivingHome at TED in 2012 and 2009 and I spoke at TEDU about it. Both were nervous highlights in my professional life. You can see both at www.livinghomes.net

DJing; photography; building Lego cities; biking; taking care of dogs, cats, and other household pets; setting people up with their mates.