Renae Kezar is the VP Global Sustainability and Government Relations at Johnson Controls. Following graduation in 2003 from Purdue, Renae joined Avery Dennison in their Global Operations Leadership Development Program. With rotations in both Ohio and California, Renae graduated the program as a Six Sigma Blackbelt. After four years, Renae transitioned into marketing, managing a Global Business Development function for Home and Personal Care Packaging. From there, she served as Business Director of Avery Dennison's European Graphics Business Unit, spending several years living and working in Europe, based out of The Netherlands. In this role, Renae led a business transformation, managing a cross-functional team of sales, marketing, manufacturing, procurement, and R&D, ultimately turning the business around, achieving a growth rate double that of the industry and expanding profitability. On the return from Europe in 2015 is where Renae, yet again, found a career shift into Sustainability. At its infancy as a function, Renae was asked to lead the development of Avery Dennison's Corporate Sustainability Program, from designing and setting ESG targets, creating a global Sustainability Core Team and an Extended Leadership Team comprised of BU and Functional Leaders. In 2021, Johnson Controls recruited Renae as their Vice President Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs, with responsibility for the setting the vision and strategy to achieve both near term, 2025, and long-term sustainability targets, including achieving a Net Zero carbon by 2040. And while building a career, Renae received an MBA from Case Western Reserve University. She is married to her husband Brian, living in Moreland Hills, Ohio. They have five children, a graduate from Ohio University, an undergrad at The Ohio State University and three children in elementary school - Renae is crossing her fingers she gets at least one at Purdue so she can relive all the good times in West Lafayette!