Grant Austin is the Founder and President of the Institute of Green Professionals (IGP), the first global education and credentialing organization for sustainable development professionals and academics in the areas of architecture, engineering (a wide variety of engineering specialties), land-use planning, landscape architecture, real property valuation (residential and commercial), corporate social responsibility, accounting, and law. Mr. Austin is the lead researcher and course developer in cooperation with academics at Harvard University, Rice University, University of Pennsylvania, University of New Mexico, McGill University, Boston College School of Law, and College of Charleston. He is an adjunct professor of real estate at both Florida Atlantic University and University of St. Thomas, and is currently a Faculty member at Boston Architectural College.  Mr. Austin serves on the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors EU Advisory Group on Sustainable Property Investment and Management. Mr. Austin received a Hons. B.A (summa cum laude) from York University and a M.Sc. in Real Estate Appraisal from the Univeristy of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His professional designations are the MAI from the Appraisal Institute, the MMRS from the Market Research Society, the MRICS from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and PLE (Professional Land Economist). He has served on government, university and private advisory boards and many committees, both nationally and internationally. He is best known for being the originator of the theoretical link between the use of Contingent Valuation, real property valuation and land economics theory. Primary interests: Development of graduate-level education and research on sustainable development, interdisciplinary studies in sustainability, life-cycle property analysis with Building Information Modeling, and real property valuation.

Mr. Austin recommends:

1. The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance in the 21st Century, Edited by Karlson 'Charlie' Hargroves and Michael H. Smith, Earthscan, London, 2004.

2. American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau, Edited by Bill McGibben, The Library of America, 2008.

3. An Introduction to Sustainable Development, Peter P. Rogers, Kazi F. Jalal & John A. Boyd, Earthscan, 2008.