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Anthony Cortese, President of Second Nature

Anthony D. Cortese, ScD is co-founder with U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and Teresa Heinz and President of Second Nature, a nonprofit organization with a mission to develop the national capacity to make healthy, just, and sustainable action a foundation of all learning and practice in higher education.

He is also a co-organizer of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment and co-founder of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. He is co-founder and co-coordinator of the Higher Education Association Sustainability Consortium and a consultant to higher education, industry and non-profit organizations on institutionalization of sustainability principles and programs.

Among his efforts, he is actively involved with the presidents and chancellors of colleges and universities and several higher education associations that represent presidents, trustees, business officers, facilities managers, planners, purchasing agents, housing officers, sports program administrators, student affairs officers to promote sustainable design, education, planning, operation, purchasing and community collaboration in higher education.

Dr. Cortese was formerly the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. He was the first Dean of Environmental Programs at Tufts University and founded the award-winning Tufts Environmental Literacy Institute in 1989 that helped integrate environmental and sustainability perspectives in over 175 courses. He also organized the effort that resulted in the internationally acclaimed Talloires Declaration of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future in 1990 now signed by over 365 presidents and chancellors in over 50 countries.

Dr. Cortese was a founding member of the board of directors of The Natural Step US and of the Environmental Business Council of New England. He is a trustee of Green Mountain College, Woodrow Wilson Fellow for higher education and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been a consultant to UNEP, a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board and the President's Council on Sustainable Development's Education Task Force. He has been actively engaged in climate change and other large system sustainability challenges for 25 years.

Dr. Cortese is a frequent presenter to a wide variety of professional audiences. His writing can be found in a wide spectrum of publications. His essays on Education for Sustainability serve as foundational reading for transforming the process and content of higher education.

Dr. Cortese has B.S. and M.S. Degrees from Tufts University in civil and environmental engineering, a Doctor of Science in Environmental Health from the Harvard School of Public Health and an honorary Doctor of Philosophy from Allegheny College.

Curriculum Vitae