Biography
Tensie Whelan,
Clinical Professor for Business and Society; Director, NYU Stern School of Business’s Center for Sustainable Business; Former President, Rainforest Alliance.
Tensie Whelan (NYU ‘80), Clinical Professor for Business and Society, is the founder and Director of NYU Stern School of Business’s Center for Sustainable Business, where she brings 25 years of experience working on sustainability issues. As President of the Rainforest Alliance, she built the organization from a $4.5 million to $50 million budget, transforming the engagement of business with sustainability, recruiting 5,000 companies in more than 60 countries. Her previous work included serving as Executive Director of the New York League of Conservation Voters, Vice President of the National Audubon Society, and Managing Editor of Ambio, a journal of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Tensie has served on numerous corporate advisory boards for companies such as Unilever and Nespresso and currently serves on the advisory boards of ESG investing firms, Arabesque and Inherent Group. She is an Advisor to the Future Economy Project for Harvard Business Review. Tensie was awarded the Stern Faculty Excellence Award in 2020.
