Lou Leonard, Former World Wildlife Fund SVP for Climate and Energy, Joins Chatham University as Dean of the Falk School
Lou Leonard, JD
Lou Leonard, JD, will join Chatham University as Dean of the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment on August 1. Most recently serving as a Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute, Leonard worked for more than a decade as senior vice president for climate and energy at the World Wildlife Fund. At WWF, he was directly involved in negotiations leading to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, helped launch partnerships like the We Are Still In coalition, and built a multi-faceted climate team for one of the world’s largest civil society organizations.
“At this unprecedented time for our nation and the world, it is essential to explore the hard questions around the future we want and to demonstrate the solutions that will get us there,” said Leonard. “Supported by Chatham’s long-standing commitment to justice and Eden Hall’s shining example, the Falk School offers a vision for tomorrow and a place to cultivate the leaders who can build it. I’m excited to get started.”
A lawyer by training, Leonard has practiced and taught international and domestic energy and conservation law in both the government and private sectors. He served as special counsel to the Secretary of the Interior specializing in water law and Native American rights, where he was chief US negotiator for Congressionally-approved agreements bringing new water supplies and funding for tribal reservations.
Leonard also worked as a senior associate for Latham & Watkins, LLP, specializing in California natural resources and energy issues. In 2006, he accepted a Fulbright Senior Scholarship to teach law at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He previously served as a member of the boards of directors for the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, an innovative business trade association which he helped create, and the U.S. Climate Action Network, the largest network of US civil society organizations focused on the climate crisis.
A strong voice at the intersection of climate action and the growing mindfulness movement, Leonard co-founded One Earth Sangha, a hub of learning and connection for the growing community of teachers, practitioners and local activists leading the western Buddhist response to ecological and social crises. He earned his bachelor of arts from Georgetown University and his juris doctor from Boston College.
Chatham is one of the top universities in the world for the study of sustainability and its environmental commitments and initiatives. The Falk School of Sustainability & Environment is located on the world’s first campus built from the ground up for the study of sustainability—Eden Hall Campus. Offering degrees in sustainability and food studies, and an emphasis on systems thinking, Falk School students and faculty are helping to improve the health of people and the planet. Learn more at falk.chatham.edu.