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Gayathri Unnikrishnan is an impact strategist, designer and author of People Positive: Building the Human Dimension of Sustainability.

She is the founder and CEO of Liveable, where she helps organizations understand, improve and communicate how their buildings, products and operations affect people.

Previously, Gayathri led the development of WELL v2 and co-led the WELL Equity Rating at the International WELL Building Institute. WELL is now used across more than 4.6 billion square feet in over 125 countries. She also hosts the podcast Changing Tomorrow.

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Gayathri Unnikrishnan is an impact strategist, author and designer whose work focuses on how decisions shape people’s lives.

She is the founder and CEO of Liveable, a social sustainability practice that helps organizations understand, improve and communicate how their buildings, products and operations affect people. Her work spans strategy, impact measurement, product and procurement frameworks, and communications that can withstand scrutiny.

Before founding Liveable, Gayathri served as Vice President of Standard Development at the International WELL Building Institute. She led the development of WELL v2 and co-led the WELL Equity Rating, helping translate research on health and well-being into decisions about design, construction and operations. WELL is now used across more than 4.6 billion square feet in over 125 countries.

Her career has taken her through electrical engineering, manufacturing, product development, architectural lighting, standards and sustainability strategy. Across that work, she has continued to explore how ideas become institutional practice, how power shapes what gets measured and why some forms of change survive budgets and politics while others do not.

Gayathri is the author of People Positive: Building the Human Dimension of Sustainability, a practical guide for understanding and improving the human impact of our work. She is also the host of Changing Tomorrow, a podcast about the choices, compromises and unexpected turns behind meaningful change.

Gayathri has spoken and taught at institutions including Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. She is a Living Future Hero and serves on the executive board of the UN SMART Cables Joint Task Force.