Consulting for Sustainability Solutions Capstone

Neil Hawkins has dedicated his career to defining a positive and impactful role for business in global sustainable development and public policy. For 31 years, he led at Dow, ultimately serving as Chief Sustainability Officer and Chief Vice President of Environment, Health, and Safety for the last twelve years. There, he was the architect of the breakthrough valuing nature collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and he integrated environment and social considerations into the core of the Dow's business strategy and public reporting. After Dow, as President of Erb Family Foundation, a $350 million Michigan philanthropy, he focused over four years on improving the Great Lakes ecosystem, supporting environmental justice and founding the Sustainable Business Network of Detroit. He served as interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the World Environment Center, facilitating a potential merger with Wildlife Habitat Council expected to close in mid-2024. Currently, he is President of Michigan Sustainability Associates, LLC and research advisor and instructor at Harvard Extension School in the master of sustainability program. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been appointed board director at many for-profit and nonprofit sustainability, arts, and business organizations. He is a strategy advisor to CEOs and chief sustainability officers (CSOs), member of the APCO International Advisory Council, and a past appointee to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sustainability Commission and the landmark Financial Stability Board Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which completely redefined the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment landscape. Hawkins was awarded the 2012 CK Prahalad Award for Sustainability Leadership by Corporate Eco Forum. He graduated from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health with a doctor of science in environmental health and is an alumnus of Georgia Institute of Technology.