Reflecting on his years of leadership, sustainability, and the evolution of mindful MATERIALS in shaping a better future.
In the world of sustainable building materials, few voices like Tim Conway's carry the weight of experience and passion. As he approaches his 30th year with Shaw, Tim’s career embodies the evolution of sustainability in the design and manufacturing industries. From his early days in Portland, Oregon — when conversations about LEED and transparency were just beginning — to his pivotal role in developing mindful MATERIALS, Tim’s journey has been one of constant learning, collaboration, and a steadfast commitment to progress.
In this conversation, honoring his contributions to mindful MATERIALS as part of our 10th-anniversary celebration, Tim reflects on the milestones that have shaped his career, the role of community in driving change, and his hopes for the future of the materials industry. His insights underscore the importance of shared values, the power of simplifying complex challenges, and the inspiration he finds in the people working alongside him to create a more sustainable world.
Q: Please share a little about your journey and how you became involved with mindful MATERIALS.
Tim: This coming year marks my 30th anniversary with Shaw — a milestone that makes me reflect on how much has changed. When I started three decades ago, there was no VP of Sustainability at Shaw, and sustainability wasn’t a widely recognized concept in our industry. My journey into this field began when I was assigned to work in Portland, Oregon, around the same time that the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and LEED were gaining traction. The A+D community in Portland started asking me questions that were different, more thoughtful, and deeply rooted in values. Those conversations sparked something in me, and I became deeply invested in the principles of sustainability and their role in shaping our careers and the world around us.
I was fortunate to work for the right company, but even more so to learn from the right design professionals in Portland. They placed me on this path and helped shape my understanding of how sustainability intersects with building materials. The more I learned, the more I realized I couldn’t unlearn it. Conversations with these design leaders revealed how critical material ingredients are to human health and well-being, how much waste the built environment generates, and how closely our building materials are tied to the fight against climate change. These truths became impossible to ignore, and they sparked my passion for sustainability and reinforced its importance in my role.
This passion also brought me to mindful MATERIALS. As LEED evolved to emphasize transparency through product declarations like Cradle to Cradle, HPDs, and EPDs, I traveled the country engaging with design leaders to understand how they approached these challenges. Along the way, I connected with Kirk Teske and Nancy Hulsey at HKS, and together, we recognized the need for a unified strategy to simplify the work for manufacturers, design firms, and the entire industry. That’s when the idea for mindful MATERIALS took shape.
About ten years ago, we brought together design leaders from major firms nationwide to meet in Chicago. On that day, we collectively agreed that this was a challenge we could tackle together. It was the starting point for what mindful MATERIALS has become today—a collaborative effort to simplify and amplify sustainable building materials across the industry. Looking back, I feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of that pivotal moment. I remain inspired by how far we’ve advanced sustainability through shared effort and vision.
Q: What first sparked your interest in sustainability within the building materials industry?
Tim: As I reflect on where we’ve been, where we are, and where I hope we’re going, what keeps me engaged with mindful MATERIALS is, without a doubt, the people. Manufacturers are creating the right products, and I firmly believe mindful MATERIALS has the potential to simplify the process through initiatives like the materials "Easy Button" or the Common Materials Framework. But what truly fuels my passion and keeps me invested is the incredible community that has grown around mindful MATERIALS.
If it’s true that we’re better together, then mindful MATERIALS exemplifies that ideal. It’s created multipliers — passionate advocates — in markets across the country. Everywhere I work and travel, I meet people who are aware of mindful MATERIALS and eager to participate and contribute. That’s what gives me the greatest confidence in our work: mindful MATERIALS has become a vibrant, connected community that’s continuously expanding and strengthening our collective impact.
What inspires me most is how this community has grown and continues to make our circles bigger. It’s a testament to what’s possible when we come together with a shared vision, and I’m excited to see how we will keep growing and evolving as a collective force for positive change.
Q: Can you describe a project or achievement with mindful MATERIALS you’re particularly proud of?
Tim: What I love about mindful MATERIALS is how it serves as an open invitation for anyone who wants to get involved but doesn’t know where to start. When I’m working in smaller or mid-sized markets, I often meet A+D firms or customers who are eager to engage in sustainability but feel overwhelmed or unsure of their first step. mindful MATERIALS provides that starting point — the bridge helps them jump in and begin making a difference.
Not all design firms have sustainability leaders or dedicated librarians to craft these strategies, and that’s where mindful MATERIALS really shines. It levels the playing field, making this work accessible to everyone. One of the things I’m most proud of is how it has brought people together—no matter their resources or starting points — and empowered them to take meaningful action. In my conversations with customers nationwide, I’ve seen firsthand how mindful MATERIALS is inspiring and enabling more people to join this important movement.
Q: How do you see the materials industry evolving in the next few years, and what role would you like mindful MATERIALS to play in that evolution?
Tim: When I think about the work we’ve done at Shaw and Patcraft — documenting Cradle to Cradle materials, eliminating Red List ingredients, and achieving significant reductions in global warming potential — it’s clear we’ve tackled some heavy, complex challenges. We’ve done the hard work, but what we’re talking about here isn’t just about theory; it’s about making sustainability practical and actionable.
The manufacturers that can take this work and make it the easiest to implement in practice are the ones who will drive real progress. That’s where I see the role of mindful MATERIALS today—it started as a way to bring people together around shared values, and now, with the data we have, it’s about simplifying the process. It’s about creating a smoother interaction between manufacturers and design professionals and making it easier for design professionals to engage with their clients. The goal is to make sustainable decisions not just possible but effortless—decisions rooted in the shared values we all have around creating a better, more sustainable future.
Q: Who or what inspires you in your work toward sustainability?
Tim: I feel incredibly fortunate to be in a position where my personal values align seamlessly with my professional life. For me, there’s no need to think about work-life balance in the traditional sense because my values remain constant across both spheres. As sustainability leaders, we’re privileged to have careers that reflect our deepest beliefs, and that’s something I never take for granted.
What inspires me most, though, are the people I get to work with. It’s not just my colleagues at Shaw or our customers—it’s the broader population we’re striving to impact through our work. Every day, I’m motivated by the idea of translating these shared values into meaningful action, collaborating with incredible people to create real change for the communities and the world we serve. This connection between values, purpose, and people drives me and reminds me why this work matters so much.
Q: What advice would you give to someone starting in the sustainable materials space?
Tim: I would try to get good at this a little bit at a time. Don't try to solve every problem all at once. One, don't go it alone. Find peers. I always believe that if you want to learn, a teacher will appear. The more you engage with others in the sustainability community, the more your knowledge will grow, and so will your network. Building these connections is invaluable.
Second, don’t get caught up chasing acronyms like HPDs, EPDs, or C2Cs. Instead, focus on the bigger picture—the impacts you’re trying to create. Don’t chase LEED points; chase meaningful outcomes. Start by identifying the impact you want to achieve, and then work backward to make informed decisions about the building materials you choose.
So, to sum it up: take it one step at a time, don’t go it alone, and start with the end in mind. These principles will help you make real, measurable progress.
Q: As we celebrate mindful MATERIALS’ 10th anniversary, what are your hopes for the next decade of progress?
Tim: That mindful MATERIALS is just the norm. The same as how LEED has become a way that we design buildings. That mindful MATERIALS becomes a normal way of practice in our industry today. It's not a sustainability thing, it's not a global warming potential thing, it's not a material health thing. It's just the norm for how materials are manufactured and buildings are designed, and it just becomes good design.
Connect with Tim → https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-conway-83253978/
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