Jeff Gowdy
Adjunct Professor of Management
Research Interests/Areas of Expertise
Strategy and Environmental Management
Subject Areas
Ethics & Social Responsibility, Strategy and Business Economics
Biography
Biography
Jeff Gowdy is a globally recognized leader and practitioner in sustainability and ESG, particularly in the areas of strategy, GHG emissions and science-based targets, reporting, goal setting, and materiality. He serves on the Board of the One Eleuthera Foundation (OEF) and teaches at Vanderbilt University. For the past twenty-two years, he has led projects across all aspects of environmental, social and governance issues. He is a frequent speaker and writer, e.g. Sustainable Brands, GreenBiz. He graduated with academic honors from both the University of Virginia with a BS in Systems Engineering and Vanderbilt University with an MBA in strategy.Awards & Accomplishments
Jeff’s firm, J. Gowdy Consulting, has won multiple awards for its innovative work.
Consulting
Jeff has led hundreds of sustainability projects since 2002, including work on well-known projects such as GE’s Ecomagination launch, Walmart’s Sustainable Value Networks launch, and General Mills & Kellogg’s Science Based Targets. Other interesting projects: sustainability audit of Bonnaroo, GHG inventory for an NFL team, an LCA of insect-based protein, partnership assessment of African business schools for Vanderbilt, and an energy/climate plan for a Bahamian island.
Impact
As a third-party
consulting, he worked for GreenOrder on the launch of GE’s Ecoimagination and
for BluSkye on the rollout of Walmart’s Sustainability Value Networks. These
efforts are considered the first two landmark corporate sustainability
initiatives in the United States.
Leadership
Jeff serves on the
Technical Advisory Group for the CDP Science Based Targets project, the
Sustainability Context group, and the GreenBiz Intelligence Panel. He is a
frequent speaker who has made presentations for the UN Environment Programme,
World Resources Institute, and the UN Global Compact. He writes for
Sustainable Brands, The Guardian, GreenBiz, and Triple Pundit.
Teaching
Jeff teaches in the Owen MBA, Owen Executive, and Wond’ry programs at Vanderbilt ('09-present). He has guest lectured at Clemson, Auckland Business School, Vanderbilt Peabody College.
Jeff participates in the Sustainability Context Group and GreenBiz Intelligence Panel.
On A Personal Note...
An avid backpacker, Jeff
has hiked a majority of the Appalachian Trail.
Research Interests
Jeff manages PivotGoals.com, a project and companion database for Andrew Winston's book The Big Pivot, for which he also provided first-draft edits.
Education
MBA, Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, 2006
BS, University of Virginia, 1997
Phone
615-752-9329