Fay Yachetti

In 2020, Fay Yachetti decided to change career paths.

She had spent the previous six years excelling as a human resources professional for the Guelph, Ont.-based Skyline Group. During that time, she progressed from the role of intern to HR manager.

Shifting away from HR, she became Skyline’s sustainability manager. But Yachetti did not just accept a new position. She also launched the firm’s sustainability team, along with a new way of thinking and doing business.

“Sustainability has long been an integral part of Skyline’s operations and business plans, even before the introduction of a formal Sustainability team, but Fay has taken our efforts to new levels and is helping to shape the future direction of Skyline,” said a Skyline executive who nominated Yachetti for her Next Gen Award.

“Under her leadership, sustainability at Skyline is more focused, meaningful, effective, and aligned with what we stand for as a business. She has transformed our sustainability efforts into a formalized package, with objectives that are quantifiable, measurable, and impactful; she has also led the mobilization of all our stakeholders toward actioning and meeting these objectives, ensuring that they are engaged and inspiring them to make sustainable changes in their own lives.”

Those were not exactly simple tasks given Skyline’s size and desire to acquire clean-energy assets throughout Canada. The management, development and investment company operates in about 160 communities across the country.

Skyline’s 50,000-plus stakeholders include about 1,000 employees along with investors, tenants, trustees, suppliers, business partners, and community partners.

“Fay facilitates Skyline’s many sustainability initiatives and drives them to their desired outcomes by empowering each of our stakeholders to effect meaningful positive change and recognize their responsibility to their communities, to the environment, and to one another,” said her Next Gen Award nominator.

“In her role, Fay endeavours to expand Skyline’s sustainability measures nationally so that Skyline is further effecting positive change in each of its communities across Canada. She ensures that sustainability is factored into everyday decision-making across each of Skyline’s companies and that Skyline is positioned as a positive influencer among its industry peers.”

According to the nominator, Yachetti tackled her role head-on from the outset. In 2021, she launched Skyline’s annual sustainability report, establishing a way to communicate the company’s sustainability vision clearly to all parties affected by it, ensuring that they are up to date on the efforts and helping garner buy-in.

“She helps ensure that sustainability is factored into everyday decision-making and that Skyline is positioned as a positive influencer among its industry peers while, very importantly, walking the walk,” said the nominator.

Internally, Yachetti also created a permanent sustainability taskforce to help manage inputs and objectives from areas of Skyline, and ensure that each entity is informed, engaged with, and included in, the firm’s sustainability planning.

“Now, all areas of Skyline have a voice in our sustainability efforts,” said her Next Gen Award nominator.

Among her accomplishments, Yachetti has:

• Served as a key organizer, and one of the top fundraisers, for the Coldest Night of the Year initiative, raising $150,317 for charities across Canada;

• Facilitated the collection of 33,808.97 pounds of food and $55,506.59 in monetary donations through Skyline’s annual Spring Hope Food Drive; 

• Co-ordinated the raising of $210,000 for Integrated Youth Services (IYS) networks in five provinces, through the Skyline’s 19th Annual Charity Golf Classic tournament and accompanying Driving Positive Change video campaign, whereby the company donated professionally produced videos to each IYS network;

• Arranged a partnership between Skyline and Bell Canada, whereby Bell produced videos for IYS networks in the remaining provinces and territories, as part of its 2024 Let’s Talk campaign for mental health;

• Developed an e-waste collection program covering about 22,000 residential buildings across Canada; and,

• Led the donation of an additional $400,000 to initiatives across Canada, for causes such as homelessness, food insecurity, mental health challenges, and more.

She has also introduced nationwide staff sustainability training, developed and launched an internal corporate donation policy; and launched Professionals for Good at Skyline, a program which, in partnership with Givesome, connects charities in need of specific skillsets with talented volunteers.

On the environmental sustainability front, Yachetti submitted Skyline’s three REITs to the Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets (GRESB) in 2023.

“This assessment is a huge undertaking; it will help us attain powerful insight into future sustainability opportunities and risks for our real estate investment funds and ensure that they are operating sustainably against a globally recognized benchmark,” said her NexGen Award nominator.

Outside of her sustainability director role, Yachetti is a facilitator of Skyline’s internal leadership development program, which she helped create and develop. The program is designed to create a pool of future Skyline leaders whose management style reflects and supports a culture of service.

The future leaders pool is created through a combination of coursework and problem-solving, and relationship-building exercises. Now in its fifth year, the program has graduated 24 employees with another cohort set to graduate later this year.

Yachetti has also been honoured for her own leadership. In 2023, she was promoted to sustainability director. And, the Guelph Chamber of Commerce recently selected her as its 2024 Young Professional of the Year.