Lead the Change with Graduate Programs in Sustainability

Renay Loper

Bard MBA Courses:
Personal Leadership Development
Leading Change in Organizations
Capstone Advisor

Renay is a Clinical Faculty in Organizational Leadership for the Bard MBA in Sustainability, where she focuses on JEDI Transformation in the workplace. Previously, she was the Vice President of Program Innovation at PYXERA Global where she served on the Executive Leadership Team, led five country offices, drove the development of new business and programs, co-led the organization's work on inclusive circular cities, and advised corporate clients on their social impact strategies. Renay also led the organization’s ARC (Antiracist Collective) initiatives, which included internal and external efforts toward dismantling unjust systems. To this end, Renay created Rhetoric to Action, a series of conversations to bridge sectors toward collective action around social and racial justice.

Prior to PYXERA Global, Renay led the grassroots exchange and education grant portfolio at the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, and has served in a variety of leadership roles in higher education, nonprofit, and business prior to that. Renay is an avid speaker and facilitator, has authored and edited numerous publications, including a resource journal, Student Affairs Professionals Cultivating Campus Climates Inclusive of International Students (Jossey Bass). Renay serves on the board of directors of nonprofits including Community Change, Harpswell Foundation, and Girl Rising.

Laura Gitman

Bard MBA Courses:
NYCLab Sustainability Conulting
Strategy for Sustainability

Laura is Chief Operating Officer at BSR, a global nonprofit business network dedicated to sustainability. Laura spearheads the New York office, working with multinational companies across a range of industry sectors and sustainability issues. She also serves on BSR’s Executive Committee and oversees global membership strategy and services. She runs senior-level sustainability strategy workshops and multi-stakeholder forums, and has published reports on environmental, social, and governance integration in mainstream investing. Laura facilitated the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, growing the initiative from 15 to more than 50 electronics companies and previously worked for Deloitte Consulting and also managed a community development project in Ecuador, and developed the business strategy for a startup in the biotechnology sector in Chile. BS Cornell University, MBA, Stanford University.

Randy Strickland

Bard MBA Courses:
ImpactLab: Defining the Future of Finance

Randy Strickland is a Director for Cornerstone Capital Group, a financial services firm offering investment advisory, research, and strategic consulting services in the field of Sustainable Investment. He is responsible for supporting the firm's investment advisory clients in the areas of investment policy planning, environmental, social and governance (ESG) and impact investing integration, and investment manager and strategy selection. He brings over 20 years of experience in the asset management arena. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Randy served as a Sustainable Investment Specialist at Sentinel Investments, as well as at City National Bank of New Jersey, ImpactAssets, Principal Global Investors, Commonfund and TIAA. BS Cornell University, MA, New York University.

Gautam Sethi

Bard GPS Courses:
Natural Resource & Environmental Economics
Statistics and Econometrics
Economics for Decision Making

As an economist and a statistician, Gautam places very strong emphasis on conveying the core conceptual ideas of both these disciplines in simple terms. His current research is based on the socio-ecological synthesis (SES) framework. This includes attempts to identify the drivers of slow loris over-hunting in Vietnam; and to develop a household level index of vulnerability in order to identify water scarcity stressors that adversely impact household well being in East Africa, in order to develop cogent policy solutions to mitigate, and perhaps reverse, current trends.B.A., University of Delhi; M.A., Delhi School of Economics; M. Phil., Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Ph. D., University of California, Berkeley.

Jen Phillips

Bard CEP Courses:
Climate Change and Agroecology
Food Policy
Environmental Science 1 & 2

Jen is an agronomist and soil scientist. She was formerly a researcher at the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction, Columbia University, and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. She has expertise in the impact of climate change and variability on farming systems, communication and perception of climate information for farm management, and sustainable farming systems.  She has worked with farmers in eastern and southern Africa and New York State on climate risk management, adaptation to climate change, and sustainability in the face of extreme climate events. Current interests include pasture-based livestock systems, carbon storage and management in agroecosystems, and rhizosphere processes. Articles in Agricultural Systems, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Climatology, and International Journal of Climatology; and several book chapters. Jen holds  a B.S. from Hunter College;  and M.S., Ph.D. degrees in Soil, Crop, and Atmosphere Science, Cornell University.

Scott Kellogg

Bard CEP Courses:
Foundations of Environmental Education