Team IWBI shares what's on their minds for the year ahead, from what's next in our public health mission to where in the world WELL will pop up next
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / February 17, 2026 / "The best way to predict your future is to create it.' - Abraham Lincoln
As the global authority on transforming health and well-being in buildings, organizations and communities, IWBI's public health mission remains evergreen: a commitment to creating people-first places. As we embark on another year, exciting opportunities and milestones will impact how we activate our work and where we work.
What will impact our mission in 2026? How will our global community come together in new ways? Hear from our global team:
Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO
"This year's launch of One WELL, the next generation of the WELL Standard, is a significant evolution of our platform in ways that will accelerate the global adoption of people-first places at scale. The integrity of this work depends on the kind of strong, independent leadership that the IWBI Governance Council provides. These esteemed leaders in design, public health and business ensure the WELL Standard's continued relevance, rigor and impact worldwide. We are grateful for their ongoing commitment."
Prateek Khanna, Chief Operating Officer
"My prediction for 2026? Engaging with WELL and making meaningful progress on the journey will be smoother and faster than ever. As the market progresses from knowing about WELL to actively implementing it, we're focused on building better digital tools and strengthening our internal systems. Our aim is to use technology to make the WELL experience as simple and intuitive as possible-while maintaining the rigor and trust that define the world's leading health standard, across projects of any size and in any location."
Ann Marie Aguilar, Senior Vice President, EMEA
"The momentum from WELL reaching 105 million square meters (1.14 billion square feet) across the EMEA region is a powerful springboard for 2026. This year IWBI EMEA will shift from scale to depth-expanding WELL's footprint beyond landmark projects to become a baseline expectation for healthy, sustainable design across priority EMEA markets.
Our goal is to accelerate adoption in high-growth and underrepresented regions, embed WELL more firmly within architectural and design-led workflows, and position WELL as a practical delivery framework for ESG, net-zero and people-first outcomes across commercial, residential and mixed-use developments."
Dr. Whitney Austin Gray, Senior Vice President, Research
"In 2026, our 'Investing in Health Pays Back' campaign will continue to redefine the value proposition of wellness real estate by proving that investing in health-optimized environments delivers measurable returns-financially, socially and personally. As data accumulates linking built environments with reduced health costs, higher productivity, and enhanced tenant satisfaction, the industry will no longer ask if health pays back, but how much. This campaign will catalyze a shift where buildings are more than assets, but allies in human longevity and performance."
Jason Hartke, Head of Advocacy and secretariat of the Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air
"This will be the year the Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air, which represents the world's foremost alliance of global leaders united to advance healthy indoor air, comes together around a seminal undertaking: drafting a Global Framework for Action. Through this first-of-its-kind endeavor, the Commission is poised to chart a comprehensive roadmap across every pillar of market transformation, from public awareness and innovation to advocacy and policy, education and training, codes and standards and research and development. In doing so, it will also lay the foundation for more tailored and customized national blueprints that translate global consensus into country-level actionable guidance needed to accelerate progress."
Kimberly Lewis Inkumsah, Executive Vice President, Equity and Engagement
"As Audre Lorde taught us, "There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives." In our industry, this truth is undeniable: well-being without health equity is simply not well-being. The communities bearing the greatest burdens have been the ones capable of guiding their own transformation. This year demands that we invest in inclusive design not as charity, but as the competitive advantage and catalyst for systemic change that it truly is."
Jack Noonan, Senior Vice President, Head of Asia Pacific
"We are starting to see a significant shift in the understanding and definition of a high-performing building. An increasing focus on health resilience offers an opportunity for organizations across Asia Pacific to prioritize and verify indoor air quality. Importantly, this focus needs to go beyond compliance, and move toward a competitive differentiator; in the same way that energy performance changed the market in the early 2010s. We will see a proactive approach from partners to leverage air quality data, occupant survey and health data through certifications and ratings like WELL to demonstrate a tangible, measurable and verifiable commitment to well-being. This community will become the strongest advocates for driving market and regulatory change, and by positioning improved indoor air as a foundational element of a resilient, people-first building, we can deepen relationships and accelerate adoption across the region."
Karen Quintana, Senior Vice President, Digital Product
"2026 will finally be the year organizations feel confident and inspired to move from small pilot projects to adopting health strategies that work across their entire portfolios. Technology advancements like AI are helping teams move faster and handle much more data than before. WELL provides a clear framework that brings this information together into one scorecard, making it easier to understand progress and measure success. WELL at scale members are already showing how this approach works, and through partnerships with technology and sensor companies, we're aiming to make it even easier to build WELL into everyday tools and operations."
IWBI's Social Sustainability and Sustainable Finance Team
Kelly Worden, Vice President, Social Sustainability
"The real estate industry is experiencing a fundamental shift in how value is created and preserved. Access to capital increasingly hinges on building performance, and tenant preferences are directly impacting NOI (net operating income) - creating a stark divide between properties that excel at sustainability and those that don't. A growing body of evidence highlights that social factors - tenant satisfaction, community engagement - impact returns just as materially as environmental metrics. This new reality demands integrated sustainability strategy and reporting that measures environmental and social performance with equal rigor."
Minjia Yang, Vice President and Head of Sustainable Finance
"The fastest acceleration in sustainability is happening where regulation and capital intersect. As regulations and sustainable finance taxonomies increasingly recognize health, well-being and social sustainability-some explicitly referencing the WELL Standard-market expectations are shifting from the top down. Integrating WELL and people-centered performance indicators is amplifying green and sustainable finance, creating a powerful impact loop among policy, capital and practice."
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SOURCE: International WELL Building Institute (IWBI)
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/2026-outlook-what-to-watch-for-from-well-1138044
