Amber Saxton
Program Manager – Assessment & Campus EfficienciesBiographical Info
Amber is a sustainability expert with 10+ years of experience who manages George Mason’s institutional assessments and data reporting like AASHE STARS, GHG inventories, surveys, mapping, etc. She advises campus stakeholders and peers on strategies to integrate sustainability into their operations, policy, contracts, standards, purchasing, data reporting, and planning.
Amber has provided strategic input, including evaluation criteria and performance metrics, as a committee member on university RFPs and contract negotiations worth $300+ million. She has secured $1.4+ million in funding for innovative sustainability projects and initiatives to pilot and refine new campus standards for sustainability and has presented on findings at national conferences and webinars. A task force she co-led with ABS earned Virginia’s Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award–Gold in 2022 for its results on circularity and single-use plastics elimination. As a former National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Board Member, in 2020 she also authored NWF’s Plastics Reduction Partner certification program.
Amber began her career as a research associate at the Alliance to Save Energy and has consulted for the U.S. government, international organizations, and Fortune 500 clients. She taught at George Mason and was faculty liaison for its Environment and Sustainability LLC. Recent certifications include UW’s Data Visualization (2024), UNH’s Carbon Footprinting (2023), and Harvard’s Executive Education in Sustainability Leadership (2021), and she was one of 18 selected nationally for NREL’s Executive Energy Leadership Academy (2021).
