Hemp-based insulation producer Hempitecture appoints Shawn Torbert as director of sales & business development; Torbert helped start up Philadelphia-based green building materials company Greenable, has a Master of Science in Sustainability Management

Hempitecture is excited to announce our newest addition to the team, Shawn Torbert, as our Director of Sales and Business Development! Shawn’s introduction to sustainable building design and construction began in 1979 when his family built a custom, wheelchair-accessible, passive solar home for his disabled brother on the northern New Jersey coast. Fascinated by the interconnected & interdependent synergistic circularity, predictable dependability, and raw sublimity of the coastal environment; Shawn took an early interest in biological architecture, natural cycles, systems, and ocean science. Throughout his childhood and high school years, he competed nationally as a swimmer, regionally as a competitive sailor, and locally as an oceanfront lifeguard. Those experiences and interests inevitably led Shawn to environmental activism as a way to address the water pollution, storm damage, and bio-habitat/biodiversity loss he saw at his local rivers, bays, and beaches.

After studying molecular & cell biology, philosophy, and writing at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, Shawn spent a decade in the medical device industry as a top-performing salesperson in the NYC and Philadelphia markets. Ultimately disenfranchised by the corruption and waste of the industry at that time; he left in 2007 to start up Philadelphia’s first green building material supply company, Greenable, Inc. Since then, he has maintained a strong focus on sustainable building materials, energy-efficient design & construction, Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Carbon buildings, building energy policy, climate action plans, and circular economy strategy in North America for multiple global and domestic corporations. He regularly lectures as a subject matter expert for municipal, state, & federal agencies, NGOs, academia, trade organizations, and community stakeholders. Shawn has published several articles on the built environment as the main driver to minimize the effects of climate change.

Shawn served on the Board of Directors of New York Passive House (NYPH) from 2014 to 2016 and co-founded the New Jersey Passive House (NJPH) Chapter of the Passive House Network (PHN). He is a Passive House Instructor at the Building Energy Exchange NYC and Passive House Trainer for the PHN.

Shawn holds a Master of Science degree in Sustainability Management from Columbia University in the City of New York, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Lehigh University. He is a LEED AP and a Certified Passive House Consultant/Designer (CPHC/D) accredited through the Passivhaus Institute in Darmstadt, Germany.

Shawn lives at the Jersey Shore and enjoys open water swimming, surfing, sailing, camping, and talking like a pirate with his partner and two middle school sons. They all volunteer regularly with Clean Ocean Action, Surfrider Foundation, and the local Scouts BSA troop to preserve, defend, and maintain the precious local coastal ecosystem for past, present, and future generations.