Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) is pleased to announce Georgina Smit as its next Chief Executive Officer, effective May 2026. The announcement was made at GBCSA’s annual Green Building Convention in Cape Town, marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the organisation and South Africa’s green building industry.
Smit will succeed Lisa Reynolds, who has led the organisation since 2020. Under Reynolds’ leadership, GBCSA has solidified its position as the country’s leading authority on the green built environment which includes building certification, sustainability training, and advocacy for climate-resilience within this space.
Smit is an award-winning sustainability leader who obtained her undergraduate and Master’s degree (Phil Sustainable Development Management and Planning) from Stellenbosch University. During her ten years working with global consultancy Arup she pursued a further Master’s degree at Cambridge (UK).
Smit moves into the CEO role after more than five impactful years within the GBCSA as Head of Technical and Executive Director, where she has led certification, training, and research initiatives that drive measurable change across the property sector. A respected thought leader and regular speaker at industry events, Smit champions practical, locally relevant solutions that advance green building adoption.
André Theys, outgoing Chair of GBCSA, says: “As I reflect on this important transition for the GBCSA, I’m filled with deep appreciation and excitement for what lies ahead. Lisa has been a remarkable leader – steady, wise, and committed to greening the built environment. She took the reins at a challenging time and brought calm, created financial stability, and renewed confidence to the organisation.
“As Sun Tzu reminds us in The Art of War, ‘In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.’ Lisa saw opportunity where others might have seen only uncertainty, and her leadership turned challenge into stability and progress. Her legacy will continue to shape GBCSA’s path forward.”
Theys adds: “As the Board and I say thank you to Lisa, we warmly welcome Georgina into the role of CEO. She steps in at a time when we are ready to move from consolidation to growth, and to take the foundation that has been laid and push forward with energy, drive, execution, and ambition. Georgina has the passion and vision to scale our building certifications, expand our reach, and ensure GBCSA’s impact on the built environment continues to grow. With Georgina’s thoughtful and strategic leadership, we have every confidence that GBCSA will not only continue to grow but will lead with purpose, impact, and foresight.”
Reynolds expressed a strong confidence in the leadership transition: “Georgina is a person who recognises a need and she goes out and makes things happen – and she does it phenomenally well. Not only did she excel in her role as Head of Technical, but when we needed a champion for ESG and Sustainable Finance, she stepped up. As well as being a person of action, she also has a strategic view of what we are working towards, and is strongly positioned to take GBCSA to the next level. This is why she is the next Green Building Council CEO.”
Smit, who has been with the organisation since 2019, says: “I am grateful for the confidence the Board has shown in me and for the opportunity to continue building on Lisa’s incredible work over the past five years.”
“We have five years until the 2030 net zero deadline, and GBCSA’s next chapter will focus on making accessible tools available to businesses to ensure that their business strategies can integrate with climate goals. We are proud of the social impact we are having – the training that we provide is integral to the Just Energy Transition and is developing careers that will shape a climate-resilient future. On the certification side, we will work towards broadening our impact and bringing more of the unconverted on board. We want to grow our partnerships with government and private sector champions who recognise the value of what we do and how it contributes to a more resilient South Africa.”
The leadership transition, announced at the 18th annual Green Building Convention, reaffirms GBCSA’s commitment to driving the transformation of South Africa’s built environment toward greater sustainability, inclusivity, and climate resilience.