Meet Dr. Steve Brauner

Presentation:

"So, You (Still) Want a Sustainable Career as an Environmental Professional? Let’s Talk…”

CLE Available

June 25th, 2026
12:15pm -1:00pm
Cafeteria

Abstract:

Most environmental professionals I’ve met have not been trained or coached to think about joy, capacity, or emotional well-being as core competencies. Instead, we are taught to seek logical, verifiable answers in our education, then push through constraints of budgets, schedules, and conflicting goals of those we work with in our professional career. In that context, the question is not whether we will experience stress and emotional complexity in our day-to-day work, but whether we can achieve “success” while sustaining what truly matters to us over the course of a career.

The technical challenges we face as environmental professionals almost always require sustained, long-term effort rather than short bursts of heroic push. This presentation suggests that creating and maintaining capacity across at least five domains—intellectual, physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial—offers a path toward a meaningful and sustainable professional life. In my experience, lack of capacity in one or more of these domains has eroded joy, led to outsized responses to feedback or interpersonal interactions, and ultimately resulted in heavy—or numb—emotional states. These outcomes are further amplified when events or interactions touch strongly held beliefs and values.

Ultimately, nurturing joy and deriving meaning from our work is not a luxury or indulgence; it is what allows us to remain engaged, effective, and nourished over the years and decades of an environmental career. Active participation will make this session richer and more meaningful—for you and your colleagues—so please be ready to lean in with your own experiences, challenges, and successes as we explore these topics together.

About your Presenter:

Dr. Steve Brauner is a registered professional engineer with decades of experience in project management, client development, site investigation, compliance matters, and the identification of creative solutions to environmental challenges. Dr. Brauner’s technical acumen is complemented by his exemplary skills in communication, organization, leadership, and collaboration. In his most recent endeavor, he is pursuing how to be a better leader, coach, mentor, and friend to those in the environmental profession while nurturing growth of the first office of Environmental Works, Inc. (EWI) in the Rocky Mountain region.