Anthony D. Cortese
Anthony D. Cortese, ScD is President of Second Nature, a nonprofit organization with a mission to catalyze a worldwide effort to make healthy, just, and environmentally sustainable action a foundation of all learning and practice in higher education. He is the Co-Coordinator of the Higher Education Associations' Sustainability Consortium. Dr. Cortese is also a co-founder of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Dr. Cortese was formerly the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. He was the first dean of environmental programs at Tufts University and spear-headed the award-winning Tufts Environmental Institute in 1989 and the internationally acclaimed Talloires Declaration of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future in 1990. Dr. Cortese is a founding and current member of the board of directors of The Natural Step US. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Cortese was founding member of the Environmental Business Council of England. He has served on numerous boards, and has also been a consultant to UNEP, a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board and the President's Council on Sustainable Development's Education Task Force. Among his many awards and recognition, he has received the Christopher Columbus Celebrate Discovery Legacy Award in 2002 and is also a founding member of the US Board of Councilors for the China - US Center for Sustainable Development. He is an author of numerous articles and papers and is a frequent consultant to higher education and business. Dr. Cortese has B.S. And M.S. Degrees from Tufts University in civil and environmental engineering and a Doctor of Science in Environmental Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.