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Trent Preszler

Trent Preszler

  • Professor of Practice

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Faculty Area

Interdisciplinary Theme

Faculty Expertise

  • Environmental, Energy and Resource Economics and Policy
  • Sustainable Business
  • Farm and Agribusiness Management

Contact

Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

tlp24@cornell.edu

Cornell Directory Entry

Website

Biography

Trent Preszler teaches writing and project courses in the Grand Challenges Program and serves as Faculty Director of the Dyson Leadership Program. His research focuses on sustainable business practices within the agriculture and forestry sectors, and has been featured by The Wall Street Journal Magazine, The New York Times, Esquire, and CBS Sunday Morning.

In 2024, Preszler was awarded the Henry David Thoreau Foundation Faculty Grant in recognition of his visionary work to foster environmental leadership with undergraduate students as catalysts for change. As founding Director of the Thoreau Planetary Solutions Initiative at Cornell, he helps prepare students for careers at the intersection of business and the environment.

Before joining the Cornell faculty in 2022, Preszler was the CEO of Bedell Cellars, a sustainable vineyard and winery on Long Island, New York. During his 20-year career as a winery chief executive, he also served as Chairman of the Board for both the New York Wine & Grape Foundation and Wine America.

A South Dakota native, Preszler's first job out of college was a White House internship for President Bill Clinton. His memoir, LITTLE AND OFTEN, hit #1 on the Amazon books best sellers list and was a Best Book of 2021 in USA Today.

A documentary film about Preszler's life won an Emmy Award in 2017.

Selected Publications

Awards and Honors

  • 2024 Faculty Grant Award (2027) Henry David Thoreau Foundation

Recent Courses

  • AEM 2816 - Climate-Smart Agribusiness
  • AEM 1101 - Design Your Dyson
  • AEM 2815 - Forest Bioeconomy
  • AEM 4000 - Grand Challenges Project
  • AEM 3600 - Impact Learning: Field Study Prep Experience
  • AEM 3601 - Impact Learning: Project Reflection, Completion and Presentation
  • AEM 4940 - Undergraduate Special Topics in Applied Economics and Management

Academic Degrees

  • PhD Cornell University, 2012
  • MS Cornell University, 2002
  • Post-Graduate Diploma University of Edinburgh, 1999
  • BS Iowa State University, 1998

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