At an early age, James Connelly, 38, developed a passion for sustainability, environmental responsibility, and economic development. His passion has remained a guiding force in his career, through which Connelly continues to make an impact on a global scale.

Growing up on Spokane's South Hill, Connelly spent time studying the connection between environmental contaminants and community health. His early interest helped build the foundation for his latest role as CEO of My Green Lab Corp., a Spokane-based nonprofit focused on helping laboratories reduce their environmental impact. 

“I did a research project when I was in junior high on the legacy of toxic chemical pollution from mining in the Spokane region and the impact it’s having on public health,” says Connelly. “I knew that I wanted to do something to preserve the environment and also figure out a way that actually helps support economic development.”

My Green Lab was founded in 2013 in San Diego by a collection of academics who were fed up and frustrated with the environmental impact of research and wanted to do something about it, Connelly explains. The group came up with a certification tool called My Green Lab Certification, "that ended up getting adopted by AstraZeneca and a number of other major pharmaceutical companies, and it really started to scale.”

The company provides its globally-recognized My Green Lab Certification program aimed at cutting costs, improving efficiency, and embedding green practices in labs.

Connelly joined in 2019 as a board member and took over as CEO in 2021.

“My Green Lab’s mission is to build a global culture of sustainability and science, and we do that through education and awareness, as well as some certification tools,” he says.

To date, over 4,500 labs in 52 countries have gone through the My Green Lab Certification process.

“We work with 42 of the top 50 largest biotech and pharma companies around the world,” Connelly says.

Last year, under Connelly’s leadership, My Green Lab launched Impact Laboratory Services Inc., which does business as Impact Laboratories.

“We launched a for-profit subsidiary organization to act as the third-party certification partner and to provide the technology tools to help scale up the certification program and processes themselves,” he says.

Impact Laboratories recently secured $4.95 million in series A funding, with which the organization intends to improve its My Green Lab Certification program and scale its global marketing and business development efforts, the Journal previously reported.

Connelly says My Green Lab is “supercharged” by Impact Laboratories with venture capital that allows it to deploy the tools of a high-growth technology startup to scale up its program around the world.

“Our long-term vision is that all science is conducted in a way that benefits the health and well-being of people on the planet,” he says. “Ultimately, we want to cause and push a cultural transformation so that green labs become the norm across the entire industry, the same way that green buildings have.”

My Green Lab is a “delivery partner” for the United Nations-backed Race to Zero initiative, Connelly says, which means his organization educates, engages, and helps inspire companies to set net zero targets by 2025 and then hold them accountable by publishing an annual report measuring the biotech and pharma industry’s progress to zero carbon.

“We work kind of hand in hand with the UN in this specific industry sector to push for net zero,” Connelly says.

According to the United Nations website, net zero, put simply, means cutting carbon emissions to a small amount of residual emissions that can be absorbed and durably stored by nature and other carbon dioxide removal measures, leaving zero in the atmosphere.

Prior to joining My Green Lab, Connelly attended the University of Washington, where he studied architecture and international studies with a focus on international economics. He also learned how to speak, read, and write Mandarin, Chinese.

Following his time at UW, Connelly worked for The Boeing Co. for about a year before receiving a Fulbright Fellowship to research green building rating systems in Beijing, China, at Tsinghua University. He came back to the U.S. and worked for the International Living Future Institute for about eight years, which was involved in developing green building rating systems and tools around the world. 

Among the organization’s many projects, he notes, is the Catalyst Building, in Spokane’s University District.

Connelly also received a certificate in corporate sustainability management from Saïd Business School, at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.

Of his many accomplishments, Connelly says he’s most proud of the team and culture that he’s helped build at My Green Lab and Impact Laboratories.

“The culture and the community of passionate individuals that we’ve brought together to accomplish a goal is truly the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning,” he says, noting a global workforce that spans five different countries.

“We have eight employees in Spokane, as well as a ton of contractors, tech, legal, basically all of our consultants,” he says. 

Connelly's career has taken him full circle around the globe and back to Spokane, where he resides about 10 blocks from where he grew up on the South Hill.

My Green Lab and Impact Laboratories together have 32 employees, and Connelly says he expects to add 10 more by the end of next year as the organization continues to scale.

Looking ahead, Connelly says he hopes the science industry will inspire other industries.

“If science can show the world that you can actually achieve sustainable economic growth, while reducing your environmental footprint, that could inspire the rest of the world’s industries to follow suit,” he says.