Career Profiles

Leah Thompson

Sustainable Practices Coordinator

Operations Leadership

Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels

I am in charge of the Sustainable Practices Initiative at Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels, which includes Lucky 32 Restaurants in Cary, Lucky 32 in Greensboro, Green Valley Grill, O. Henry Hotel, Print Works Bistro and Proximity Hotel. This role has transformed greatly in the past 3 years. I started with the company 3 years ago with the main objective of completing our LEED documentation. As our involvement in LEED deepened, so did our realization that we needed to invest more time and effort into understanding how all of our actions have reactions and how to create a company that enthusiastically embraced sustainable practices. We determined that we needed to become the experts, so we bought all the books and I quickly started to educate myself on codes and standards needed to get LEED certification. This proved to be one of our biggest assets in making sure that we followed all the LEED criteria while designing and building the Proximity Hotel and Print Works Bistro.

Currently we are in an operational “training and follow up” role which includes setting up training for our staff, scheduling tours for our guests and continually searching out ways to improve our involvement in sustainable practices and diversity and inclusion both locally and globally. In our company, we all wear different “hats.” During my career here I have also served as an Executive Assistant to the President, Task Force Leader to open our new hotel and restaurant, Executive Housekeeper of the Proximity Hotel and currently I am an Operations Leader. By playing many different roles, I am able to find solutions that keep the primary focus on our guest and secondly on our staff.

As we train our staff about our Sustainable Practices Initiative and LEED, we are finding that many individuals come up with new and inventive ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and conserve. One great observation that we have made is that when incorporating sustainable practices into your operations or mission, it is important to never do anything that has a negative effect on the guests. Our hotels and restaurants are like living, breathing organisms and the guests are the oxygen we need to survive. In order to pursue a goal of sustainability, you must first determine the mission and value system for your organization and decide if your actions are in line with those values.