John Tobin-de la Puente

Biography

Dr. Tobin is a tropical ecologist and a corporate lawyer with over two decades of private sector experience, having worked in the international finance industry for much of his career. After twelve years of corporate legal practice in the area of emerging markets finance, while actively providing counsel on environmental conservation matters on a pro bono basis, he turned his full attention towards the growing area of corporate sustainability, becoming Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainability at Credit Suisse. In this position, he pioneered a variety of initiatives and policies aimed at improving environmental and social risk management in the banking industry and addressing the growing demand for sustainable investment products and services. In 2016, he left the private sector for a faculty position at Cornell University, where he now teaches sustainable finance, corporate sustainability, and related topics to undergraduates and graduate students in business and public affairs. His research focuses on the use of financial tools to achieve socially beneficial outcomes in the areas of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. In addition, he actively engages with industry and civil society to develop financial solutions to sustainability problems, including as chair of the board of directors of IUCN-US and as co-founder of the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC). Dr. Tobin has extensive leadership and governance experience at the board level, particularly with entities in the areas of environment, science, and education.

Selected Publications

• Karolyi, G. Andrew; Tobin-de la Puente, John. "Biodiversity finance: A call for research into financing nature"Financial Management. 52.2 (2023): 231-251
• The Little Book of Investing in Nature: A simple guide to financing life on Earth, Ed. John Tobin-de la Puente, Ed. A. Mitchell. Global Canopy. (2021): 224pp
• Deutz, Andrew; Heal, Geoffrey; Niu, Rose; Swanson, Eric; Townshend, Terry; et al. "Financing Nature: Closing the Global Biodiversity Financing Gap". The Paulson Institute, The Nature Conservancy, and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. (2020): 258 pp
• Rodewald, A.D.; Arcese, P.; Tobin-de la Puente, John; Sayer, J.; Hawkins, F.; et al. "Innovative finance for conservation: roles for ecologists and practitioners"Issues in Ecology. 22 (2020): 1-35

Recent Courses

• AEM 5990 - Applied Economics and Management Exchange Program
• AEM 5300 - CEMS Block Seminar
• AEM 2555 - Corporate Sustainability
• AEM 4000 - Grand Challenges Project
• AEM 4940/AEM 6940 - Undergraduate Special Topics in Applied Economics and Management

Academic Degrees

• PhD Harvard University, 1995
• JD Harvard University, 1995
• BS University of California, Los Angeles, 1986