BOSTON–Nutter Chair Paul J. Ayoub was appointed to serve as a co-chair of the 2021 IWBI Health Equity Advisory by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). Ayoub joins a select group of leading industry professionals who will help address health inequities in buildings, businesses, and communities around the world.
“I look forward to working alongside global leaders on how to make healthier places available and accessible to all individuals,” said Ayoub. “The Advisory’s mission to promote equitable access to healthier places by addressing the needs or marginalized and underrepresented populations around the world dovetails with my dedication to prioritizing equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout my career.”
Over the course of 2021, Ayoub and the Advisory will identify strategic opportunities to make healthier places available and accessible to all individuals, no matter their identity, location, background, or level of ability. With the aim to support equitable access to health as its outcome, and diversity and inclusion as the ways to achieve this goal, the Advisory will recommend key metrics and indicators for measuring and evaluating progress; identify considerations for promoting health equity at the organizational level; and provide expertise on the localization of strategies across regions and sectors.
Ayoub is a partner in Nutter’s Real Estate Department and Nonprofit and Social Impact practice group. In recognition for his leadership in the face of extraordinary challenges and proven record of driving meaningful results in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in the Boston business community, the Boston Business Journal named Ayoub to its Power 50 for 2020: Extraordinary Year, Extraordinary People. He co-chaired the firm’s COVID-19 Task Force, which identified and solved for business and people issues related to the pandemic.
He is chair emeritus and a member of the Executive Committee of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. He is also a member and past president of the board of directors of the Real Estate Finance Association. During his terms as a leader of the Chamber and REFA boards, both organizations increased their programming and policy advocacy with respect to issues impacting women and people of color, and both boards were transformed to become meaningfully more diverse.
As an initial Steering Committee member of Small Business Strong, Ayoub supported the launch and development of this nonprofit created to assist minority- and women-owned small businesses, without cost, in navigating the pandemic’s devasting impact, and continues to serve in this capacity as SBS passes its one-year anniversary having served almost 1,500 companies. Ayoub also currently serves on the Board of Incorporators of the Boston Local Development Corporation and served on the Mayor’s Reopening Advisory Board for the City of Boston during the peak of COVID-19.
In addition, Ayoub serves on the national board of directors of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. He is currently the vice-chair of the St. Jude Board of Governors and previously served as chair of the ALSAC board.
