Mark B. Milstein

Biography

Mark Milstein is clinical professor of management and director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. He conducts applied research in and oversees the center's work on market and enterprise creation, business development, clean technology commercialization, and sustainable finance.

Milstein specializes in framing the world's social and environmental challenges as unmet market needs which can be addressed effectively by the private sector through innovation and entrepreneurship, thereby allowing companies to achieve financial success by creatively addressing problems such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, and poverty. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation the S.C. Johnson Foundation, SEvEN, the World Bank, the University of Queensland, and the Water Resources Institute. Over the past decade, Milstein has worked with more than 100 firms across a range of industries, including renewable energy and carbon markets, life sciences and sustainable agriculture, consumables, food and nutrition, health care, tourism and hospitality management, as well as finance and international development.

At Cornell, Milstein serves on the Academic Programs and Policies Committee (CAPP), the faculty advisory board of the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, the advisory board for Engaged Learning + Research, the Public Engagement Council, and the Senior Leadership Climate Action Group. His writings have appeared in Science, Academy of Management Executive, Sloan Management Review, PLOS-ONE, FACTS, Case Research Journal, Environmental Finance, and Value, as well as various edited books. Milstein is an award-winning author of several popular teaching cases, and he has taught strategy, innovation, and sustainable enterprise to undergraduates, MBAs, and executives in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Milstein's work and perspectives have been featured in the New York Times, MSNBC, CNBC, Forbes, The Guardian, and GreenBiz. He is a frequent speaker on the topics of strategy, organizational change, and innovation related to business and sustainability. He also consults with a number of multinational firms, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and NGOs. He currently serves on the board of directors of Livelihood Basix International and as a board member for Johnson & Johnson's Earthwards Program.

Milstein earned a BA in economics and Japanese from the University of Michigan. He later earned both an MBA in general management and an MS in natural resource policy from the University of Michigan's dual-degree corporate environmental management program. He received his PhD in strategic management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Recent Courses

• NBA 5979 - Environmental Finance & Impact Investing Practicum
• NBA 6380 - Finance and Sustainable Global Enterprise Colloquium
• NBA 6190 - Leaders in Sustainable Global Enterprise
• NBAB 6030 - Strategies for Sustainability
• NBA 6030 - Strategies for Sustainability
• NBA 6585 - Sustainable Global Enterprise in Practice
• NBA 6580 - Sustainable Global Enterprise Practicum Project

Academic Degrees

• PhD Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2004
• MS School of Natural Resources & Environment, University of Michigan, 1997
• MBA Business School, University of Michigan, 1997
• BA College of Literature, Science & Arts, University of Michigan, 1990