Environmental Change and Security: A Look Back and Ahead With the Founder

For 20 years, the Environmental Change and Security Program has brought together a wide range of communities that do not always interact with one another to create new connections and discuss some of the most critical challenges facing the world today. We recently spoke with the program’s founding director, P.J. Simmons, and asked him to provide both a history lesson and a look forward.

About P.J. Simmons

P.J. Simmons is Chair of the Corporate Eco Forum and has worked for nearly two decades as a trusted sustainability analyst, strategist, and bridge-builder. After serving as a researcher on environmental affairs at the National Security Council (1993-1994), he founded and directed the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change & Security Program, the Carnegie Endowment’s Managing Global Issues program, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s U.S. in the World program. He also directed the strategy practice at Saatchi & Saatchi S, where he advised companies on corporate-wide sustainability strategies in the electric utility, consumer goods, pharmaceutical, and publishing sectors. He twice served as the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Deputy Chair for Energy & Climate Change and remains an advisor to CGI on energy and environmental affairs.