Pioneer in Business Sustainability and ASU Professor Joins National Board

WASHINGTON, DC – NEEF (the National Environmental Education Foundation) announced today the appointment of Dr. George Basile to its Board of Directors. Dr. Basile is a Professor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University (ASU), a Senior Sustainability Scientist in ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, and Affiliate Professor in the School of Public Affairs. He is also the Swedish Knowledge Foundation’s Distinguished International Guest Professor of Sustainability-Driven Innovation.

Dr. Basile’s work has reframed sustainability as a “decision space” and focuses on how to plan, lead, and act strategically for emerging sustainability opportunities and challenges. Dr. Basile has been the executive director of the ASU Decision Theater, a unique systems exploration and application center. He has also served as a faculty affiliate and advisor to The Sustainability Consortium, a global nonprofit organization working to transform the consumer goods industry by developing tools and strategies that address environmental, social and economic imperatives.

“Dr. Basile’s leadership in the field of sustainability within business and academic enterprises will be an asset for NEEF as we move into our next chapter engaging 300 million Americans to actively use environmental knowledge to ensure the well-being of the earth and its people.” said NEEF Board Chairman, Decker Anstrom. “Corporations employ 116 million Americans and reach even more customers,” Anstrom continued. “A core piece of achieving our vision will be creating partnerships with companies that are engaging their customers and employees in sustainability.” As a pioneer in sustainability, enterprise and innovation, Dr. Basile has engaged extensively with business, government, and local communities. He has run his own consultancy and served as executive vice-president and chief scientist for the international sustainability strategic think-tank, the Natural Step International. The Natural Step was awarded both the Blue Planet Prize and Gorbachev’s Green Cross Award for Global Leadership. As a senior consultant to Fortune 100 businesses and start-ups, Dr. Basile led some of the first largescale efforts on the integration of sustainability into business strategy and has published foundational works on strategic sustainability for enterprise. He has led efforts with senior teams at businesses such as the Home Depot, McDonalds, Nike, and Applied Materials. Dr. Basile holds a B.S. in Physics from University of California, Irvine and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from University of California, Berkeley. His publications include a three‐volume edited set The Business of Sustainability.