Green Builder Media CEO Sara Gutterman interviews Jay McKenzie, the company's new head of builder partnerships, about his 25 years helping builders market and sell new homes and why he sees a major opportunity in green building. McKenzie outlines how COGNITION smart data, Cognition Academy training, and carbon offset consulting can be knit together into programs for builder partners.
00:00:12:00 - 00:00:22:18
Sara Gutterman: I'm Sarah Gutman, CEO of Green Builder Media, and I'm here today with Jay McKenzie, new head of builder partnerships for Green Builder Media. Welcome aboard Jay.
00:00:22:20 - 00:00:24:17
Jay McKenzie: Thank you Sarah. Delighted to be here.
00:00:24:18 - 00:00:40:28
Sara Gutterman: We are so happy to have you on our team. You are a seasoned building industry professional. Tell me a little bit about your past experience that makes you uniquely suited to lead our builder partnerships.
00:00:41:01 - 00:01:13:20
Jay McKenzie: Well thank you Sarah. 2025, interestingly, is my 25th year helping builders across the nation market and sell new homes. And it's a passion for me. In the 14 years at Zonda and where I worked on New Home Source and our team helped literally 1200 builders coast to coast. Also in my checkered past, I spent six years leading a national network of homebuyer guides for new home buyers, and prior to that, I served as publisher professional builder, where I met a guy named Craig Cole from Greenville Media.
00:01:13:22 - 00:01:25:25
Jay McKenzie: And that was my first foray to because a professional builder, we partnered with Bale and the Energy Value Awards NHP on the Best in American Living awards, and the awards building is in my blood.
00:01:25:27 - 00:01:56:07
Sara Gutterman: Wonderful. And for those who aren't familiar with Craig Cole, he is our publisher and has been with us for nearly our entire 20 years of the life of Green Builder Media and is just an incredibly valuable team member. So, Jane, we are excited to have you as a part of our team, not only because of your vast experience, but because of the substantial opportunity that we have right now to really grow our builder services.
00:01:56:08 - 00:02:23:19
Sara Gutterman: As you well know, we're now working with builders on everything from exciting vision house demonstration projects to helping them develop and enhance and refine strategies for everything from decarbonization to corporate sustainability initiatives, to just enhancing the sustainability and performance and health and connectivity of their homes. Tell me why you're excited about this opportunity. What do you see as the white space?
00:02:23:22 - 00:02:39:16
Jay McKenzie: Oh, the first thing I'd like to say to is, as much as I've been following Green Builder Media as a fan for many years, it was transformative to go through the timeline of the 20 year history of Green Builder media. And as much as I thought I'd been paying attention to a couple of things, I went, wow, I didn't know that.
00:02:39:18 - 00:03:12:02
Jay McKenzie: So the short answer is, I believe in the mission of the company. And as someone who believes in new homebuyer research, I also recognize that the most dominant generations coming up to become home buyers today care deeply and passionately about the built environment and about the issues of green and sustainable and resilient housing. And I also think, frankly, that on a societal level, for all of us, there's nothing more urgent, no more important work than we can do than to help builders and buyers create a better built environment.
00:03:12:05 - 00:03:33:03
Sara Gutterman: That's wonderful. And fortunately, all of our cognition smart data corroborates what you just said about that from the consumer market for more sustainable homes, particularly those younger generations. So how do you think that ring builder media and now you in this new role can best serve our builder partners?
00:03:33:05 - 00:04:11:02
Jay McKenzie: Well, common thread in my career has been data driven marketing based on ascertained insights of the consumer. So I think it all starts with cognition, smart data, with the real time rich data to understand consumer perceptions and needs and desires as they shift dramatically. So I think it starts with the smart data. I'm also really excited about Cognition Academy and the state of the art learning management system, which allows us to deliver all the buzzwords mobile first, cloud based training of builders and trade partners even in the field, minus the Wi-Fi connection with rich interactive content measurement results, testing and quizzes.
00:04:11:02 - 00:04:36:08
Jay McKenzie: And the student can even send a video showing their accomplishments. So I think the smart data is a foundation of it all. The training is so vital, so that builders are able to articulate green and sustainable features and share that. And I also think this opportunity to take that story further, with robust content from the award winning team at Green Builder Media, in model homes, in sales centers and design centers.
00:04:36:10 - 00:05:01:26
Jay McKenzie: And last but not least, I'm excited about the carbon offsets, Sarah, that you're personally leading. And I know that one of the things I think our builders need the most is guidance to knit it all together. So I think the consulting from you and the other readers of Green Builder Media can knit these disparate elements into a really compelling and beautifully built program for each builder.
00:05:01:29 - 00:05:15:16
Sara Gutterman: Wonderful. Well, thank you, J. As you know, we are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year in 2025. So here's to a fun and successful and very sustainable next 20 years. We're glad to have you on the team.