Lisa Sachs

BIOGRAPHY:

Lisa Sachs is the Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Since joining CCSI in 2008, she established and oversees CCSI’s robust and interdisciplinary research portfolio and advisory work on the alignment of investment law, investment practice, and investment policy with the sustainable development goals. She is a globally recognized expert in the ways that laws, policies and business practices shape global investment flows and affect sustainable development. She works with governments around the world, regional and international development organizations, financial institutions, companies, civil society organizations and academic centers to understand the inter-relations of investment flows and sustainable development, and to influence investment policies and practices to promote the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. 

She has developed and teaches highly acclaimed courses on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development and on Investment Law and Policy at Columbia and lectures at Universities and other global institutions. Her course has twice been ranked among the top 5 courses at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). She has served on World Economic Forum Global Future Councils and currently serves on several advisory boards, including of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights and the SDG Academy.

Before joining CCSI, she worked at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and at Amnesty USA, in both cases on shareholder engagement. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University, a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar and recipient of the Parker School Certificate in International and Comparative Law.