Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer, Amazon—in conversation with Dean Ann Harrison and Dean David Ackerly.
Speaker: Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer, Amazon
Kara Hurst leads Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon. Utilizing Amazon's scale, speed and innovation, the Sustainability organization includes teams executing the work of The Climate Pledge; Sustainable Operations; Sustainability Science and Innovation; Social Responsibility and responsible supply chain management; Circular Economy; Sustainable Products, packaging and shopping; Sustainability Technology; Sustainable Transportation; and social and environmental external engagement and policy setting. Prior to joining Amazon, Kara was CEO of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), a multi-sector group across academia, the retail industry and the public sector. TSC was named one of Scientific American's "Top Ten World Changing Ideas" of 2012. For eleven years before that, Hurst worked as Vice President of BSR, where she built several global industry practices and lead BSR's NY and DC offices, as well as the global partnership practice with governments, multi-laterals and foundations. Hurst also co-founded of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC, now the Responsible Business Alliance) and worked in Silicon Valley as Executive Director of the public-private venture OpenVoice, building out early teen channel content for AOL and others. In her early career, she held roles at the Children’s Health Council, leading interdisciplinary educational and development programs, at the Urban Institute as a Research lead in the public finance and housing division, and worked in the offices of two elected officials – Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco and in New York for the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY). Kara holds a BA from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MPP from the University of California, Berkeley.
