Nancy Kohout
Principal | Mechanical Engineer
Nancy Kohout is a Chicago Principal and MEP Leader in the Building Environments Group with 25+ years of experience. She is dedicated to advancing decarbonization and high鈥憄erformance building systems.
Nancy drives innovative engineering system strategies across multiple sectors including Science and Technology, Higher Education, Healthcare, and Commercial, and currently serves as Illinois ASHRAE president. She is a member of ASHRAE鈥檚 Center of Excellence for Building Decarbonization and a voting member of ASHRAE Technical Committee 6.8, where she helps shape industry standards for geothermal and heat recovery technologies. She is chair of ASHRAE鈥檚 2027 Building Decarbonization Conference (serving on the steering committee for 2025 and 2026). In addition, Nancy founded the Women in ASHRAE Leadership Symposium which exceeded fundraising and attendance goals in 2024 and is now a yearly conference.
Nancy also contributed to national climate action through her work with the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 Better Climate Challenge, advising major healthcare, public sector, and multifamily real estate portfolio owners on achieving ambitious emissions鈥憆eduction goals. Nancy is a frequent public speaker and thought leader and is passionate about decarbonization, championing leadership development, and elevating diverse voices within the engineering community.