Mr. Jonathan Lash
President, World Resource Institute

Jonathan Lash is president of the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to provide practical solutions to problems of environment and development. During the past 10 years under his leadership, WRI has pioneered the use of digital technologies to solve environmental problems, engaged the business community in helping to foster development that is sustainable, and created new mechanisms to empower civil society groups.

From 1993 until 1999, Lash served as co-chair of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, a group of U.S. government, business, labor, civil rights, and environmental leaders that developed visionary recommendations for strategies to promote sustainable development. At various times, he served as a member of advisory groups to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Trade Representative.

He has served with a broad range of national and international groups, including: the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's Round Table on Sustainable Development; the Tata Energy and Resources Institute (India); the Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (Japan); the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development; and the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (Japan). He is a member of the board of the Institute for Sustainable Communities, Population Action International, the Wallace Global Fund, and the Heinz Center.

Before joining WRI, Lash directed the environmental law and policy program of the Vermont Law School for two years. From 1987 to 1990, he headed the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, having served the previous two years as Vermont's Commissioner of Environmental Conservation. During his tenure in Vermont government, Lash helped write a score of innovative statutes on issues ranging from pollution prevention and solid waste management to protection of pristine streams. In 1990, before joining WRI, he was director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School for two years.

A former Peace Corps volunteer and a former federal prosecutor, Lash also worked as a senior staff attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) from 1978 to 1985, litigating on issues related to public lands, federal coal leasing, strip mining, energy conservation, and synthetic fuels.

Lash earned his baccalaureate degree from Harvard University and his masters and law degrees from the Catholic University of America.