Jeffrey Potent

BIOGRAPHY:

Jeffrey Potent developed and teaches the graduate course in corporate sustainability at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and, formally, taught courses in systems theory, natural capital valuation, and sustainable agriculture at the Columbia Earth Institute.  He serves on the faculty steering committee for the Columbia Climate School, Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems Network and co-leads its Local Food Systems Research Hub.  He advises graduate students and student teams on sustainability projects, co-chairs the Columbia University Seminar Series on Sustainable Finance, and serves on several non-profit and impact investment boards.  He also consults and speaks publicly on corporate and agricultural sustainability and water quality.

Mr. Potent formerly led corporate partnerships for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Water in Washington DC. Before this position, he served as EPA/US Department of Agriculture (USDA) liaison, facilitating collaboration among land grant universities, EPA, USDA, industry associations and other governmental agencies and academic institutions. He established a regional component of the USDA National Integrated Water Quality Program, serving as regional director and member of the program's national leadership team. Earlier in his career, Mr. Potent led an energy and environmental engineering consulting practice,