Want to know what gets Chris Ladner fired up? Composting systems. More specifically, composting systems installed in Arkansas’s correctional centers. It’s not the actual system itself that thrills him, but the way it serves as an ideal example of what makes his work so meaningful.

“This facility was pouring maybe two tons of food waste a day, plus water, down a concrete channel to send it all to a wastewater plant,” he says. “My engineers saw that and said ‘Hmmm, what’s going on here?’ Why not install composters?’ The facility just didn’t know any better—nor how much money it could save them that could then go to other necessary upgrades. That was just the way they had always done it.”

But that’s precisely the mission of Ladner’s energy services company, Entegrity, headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas: to complete high-level reviews of clients’ builds—largely existing buildings which range from a 5,000-square-foot Girls & Boys Club to a 4-million-square-foot office facility for a Fortune 500 Company—and determine a uniquely tailored set of solutions that result in massive energy savings. Of course, there’s the low-hanging fruit—the obvious solutions like switching all lighting over to more efficient LED bulbs or updating a dated HVAC system. But then there are the not-so-obvious ones, like the composters in the prisons. “My engineers leave no stone unturned to find solutions in unexpected places for our clients,” says the 54-year-old. “And when we do, it’s really energizing. That’s why I love what I do.”

“My engineers leave no stone unturned to find solutions in unexpected places for our clients. And when we do, it’s really energizing. That’s why I love what I do.”

Calling himself a “serial volunteer,” in addition to his work as a founding partner at Entegrity, Ladner has been involved in all sorts of local and national sustainability efforts, including helping to develop the local U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) chapter back in 2004–2005, serving as a commissioner on the Governor’s Commission on Global Warming in 2008, and as chairman of the Alternative Energy Commission, formed in 2009.

He was also a past consultant for the Clinton Climate Initiative, and he’s spoken on sustainable design and construction for various organizations and groups, including the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo. He’s also participated in various Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects including those for neighborhood development, commercial interiors, new construction, existing buildings, and homes. He helped develop LEED v2009 and was on the Energy and Atmosphere technical advisory group TAG from 2011–2015.

All these positions and postings haven’t gone unnoticed: In 2013, Ladner received the LEED Fellow distinction, the first LEED Fellow in his home state of Arkansas.

So how does a New Orleans–born kid who moved all over the place during his upbringing—from St. Croix to Bermuda to Chicago (his father worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture)—get to where he is today? He credits a lot to an early boss.

After earning a degree in industrial engineering from Iowa State in 1988 (“Go Cyclones,” he jokes), he went to work for the Arkansas franchise of Trane, the heating and air conditioning manufacturer, where he was a sales engineer (meaning he was involved with the design, installation, and support of HVAC equipment and controls).

“My boss at the time, Bill Harrison [now of Harrison Energy Partners], is just a quality human being,” he says. “He knew how to run a business, but was also flexible about my desire to do and learn different things. He was involved in the development of our local chapter of USGBC and encouraged me to get involved, too.” And that’s where Ladner realized that sustainable design and construction really resonated with him. “I found it fascinating. It was that fuel I needed to light that fire.”

Southwest Power Pool Corporate Headquarters was designed by Witsell Evans Rasco Architects and constructed by Nabholz Construction. Entegrity provided LEED consulting, fundamental and enhanced commissioning, indoor air quality testing, and daylight testing on the project. The facility earned LEED Gold in 2013.

Entegrity’s newly renovated headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, has earned LEED Zero Energy certification, making it the second building in the world and the first in the United States to earn the designation.

Entegrity provided services such as fundamental commissioning, enhanced commissioning, and building envelope commissioning to the University of Arkansas’s Jerry & Gene Jones Family Student-Athlete Success Center.

Once lit, that fire led to him starting up his own energy consulting firm in 2007: Viridian, which provided commissioning, energy modeling, energy audits, and building testing. This company would eventually evolve into Entegrity. “We were purely consulting at the time—you know, basically doing an audit of their building and handing them our findings,” says Ladner. While he loved seeking those unique solutions for his unique clients, what he didn’t love was when there was a lack of implementation. “We’d find all these great opportunities, then hand it off to our client in a binder. But then that binder would just go sit somewhere,” he says. “We were missing the execution piece.”

In 2008, Ladner connected with Matt Bell, another Little Rock local, who boasted more than 20 years in the construction industry. In 2013, the two joined forces, evolving Viridian into Entegrity, where, today, they both serve as founding partners. Since then, Entegrity has been recognized as Sustainable Business of the Year in 2012, ranked on Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing companies in America, and was nominated for Arkansas Business of the Year.

That’s a result of the company’s comprehensive approach: first, doing the audit—what Ladner calls “the discovery phase”—to determine what solutions would improve energy efficiency, then using their construction expertise to implement those upgrades.

“Operating as a singular entity that does it all, it simplifies the process for the clients,” says Ladner, “and it makes sure those solutions we worked so hard to determine get implemented.”

While a lot of their completed projects naturally center around the central and mid-to-south part of the country because of where they’re headquartered, Entegrity has worked on projects nationwide and internationally (including in the Cayman Islands). “We’ve worked on projects in over 40 states—300 of which were LEED Certified,” notes Ladner. The projects range from commercial to K–12 education and government to higher education, and are set in metropolitan cities, rural markets, and everything in between. As for their biggest annual savings for clients? It’s been as high as $18 million.

“I get excited about finding a unique solution,” says Ladner. “But when our clients see the savings—and start dreaming about what kinds of capital improvements those savings could go to—that’s when they get excited. Really excited.”

LEED Fellow: Chris Ladner