Biography

I am currently Associate Professor of Sustainable Business at Rowan University. I also co-Direct the Rowan Center for Responsible Leadership housed in the Rohrer College of Business. I am proud to have developed and help supervise (with colleagues in the College of Business and School of Earth & Environment) a joint degree program offering students the opportunity to complete a BA in Environmental & Sustainability Studies alongside a Masters’ in Business Administration, because businesses are perhaps the most powerful tools we have to bring about sustainability goals.

My current research examines the role for markets and financial instruments in enacting environmental and sustainability goals. In particular, some colleagues and I are studying the potential for financial products called exchange-traded derivatives (e.g., futures contracts) to improve the performance of markets for recyclable materials in the US. This project, supported by the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection and undertaken in collaboration with industry partners, explores a new avenue for creating a viable, transparent, and active market for buying and selling recyclables.

Some of my other major projects to date have focused on the history and future of waste management in New Jersey. This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation's Science, Technology & Society Program. I have also conducted research looking at other aspects of environmental policy and governance in the US and around the world. I was previously the co-director of the "Cultivating the Environmental Humanities" project (2017-2020), made possible through the support of the Humanities Connections program at the National Endowment for the Humanities.

From January 2018 to September 2021 I served as Commissioner on the New Jersey Pinelands Commission where I was also a founding member of the Land Use, Climate Impacts, and Sustainability sub-committee. In July 2019 I was named Chair’s Designee to Pinelands Development Credit Bank, an institution facilitating the market-based transfer of development rights in the Pinelands in order to permanently protect sensitive ecosystems and landscapes.

• BA, Anthropology, College of William & Mary
• MS, Ph.D., Geography, Michigan State University
• MBA, Rowan University