Neil Hawkins

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT NEIL HAWKINS

I have dedicated my career to collaborating to define a positive and impactful role for business in global sustainable development and public policy. For 31 years, Neil was a key leader at Dow, ultimately serving as Chief Sustainability Officer and CVP, Environment, Health, & Safety for the last twelve years – part of the top leadership of the company. 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. He is widely recognized as one of the top sustainable business thought leaders in the world. After Dow, as President of Michigan’s Erb Family Foundation, a $350mm regional philanthropy, he focused over four years on improving regional arts, the Great Lakes ecosystem, promoting environmental justice, and founding the Sustainable Business Network of Detroit. He served as interim CEO and President of the World Environment Center, facilitating a merger with Wildlife Habitat Council expected to close in mid-2024. Currently, he is President of Michigan Sustainability Associates, LLC and Research Advisor/Instructor at Harvard University in the Master of Sustainability ALM program. Neil is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he has been appointed board director at many for-profit and non-profit sustainability, arts, and business organizations. Neil is a strategy advisor to CEOs and CSOs, member of the APCO International Advisory Council, and a past appointee to the IOC Olympic Sustainability Commission and the landmark Financial Stability Board Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which completely redefined the ESG investment landscape. Hawkins was awarded the 2012 C.K. Prahalad Award for Sustainability Leadership by an individual (Corporate Eco Forum). Neil graduated from Harvard University (TH Chan Public Health) with a Doctor of Science in Environmental Health Sciences and is also an alumnus of Georgia Tech (Health Physics/Nuclear Engineering).