The NYU Stern School of Business will establish a new Center for Sustainable Business in Jan. 2016. The new Center will be lead by Tensie Whelan, the current president of the Rainforest Alliance. Wheelman is also a leader in environmental activism and stewardship. The Center will help future and current business leaders to tackle environmental and human challenges they face in business and society today.
Whelan will serve as the director of the Center. He will partner with Stern faculty and leaders in business and civili society to develop new undergraduate, graduate and executive education courses that will emphasize real-world learning. The Center will also bring groups of companies from different sectors from all over the world together with stakeholders and experts to help to explore solutions for environmental and developmental challenges that they face.
Whelan is an NYU alumnus (BA ’80). She brings more than 20 years of experience working on local, national and international environmental and sustainability issues. In her role as president of the Rainforest Alliance, she built the organization up from a $4.5 million budget to $50 million. She has transformed the relationship between businesses and sustainability and has recruited more than 5,00 companies around the world to work with the organization.
“What’s remarkable about Tensie is not only her courage and conviction to imagine a world in which profit and principle can co-exist, but also her skill and will to transform that vision into action,” Peter Henry, dean of NYU Stern said in a press release.
Whelan also serves on the advisory boards of Social Accountability International, Sustainable Brands Advisory Board and Corporate Eco Forum and is the co-chair of the steering committee of the Sustainable Food Lab. She received her master’s degree in international communication from American University’s School of International Service and a bachelor’s degree in political science from New York University.