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Lance Pierce is the CEO of NetHope. Lance has a distinguished track record as a leader of organizations that have made a positive, measurable and widely recognized impact in sustainable development, corporate responsibility, sustainable investing and climate change.

His leadership roles over the past decade include President of CDP North America (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), the world’s largest platform for investors, corporations and cities to share data, manage performance and build action programs on climate change, clean energy, water stewardship, forests and sustainable supply chains. He developed and oversaw strategic initiatives and partnerships on behalf of CDP around the world with senior leadership at the United Nations, World Bank, and large corporate and government partners in Europe, Canada and the United States. During his tenure he more than doubled the size and presence of the North America organization. He also served as Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of leading investor and corporate sustainability organization, Ceres, where he oversaw policy, programs and strategic planning, launched signature program initiatives, and co-founded the $22 trillion Global Investor Coalition of the world’s largest asset owners and asset managers, which went on to actively support passage of the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement.

Lance has been an executive in corporate social responsibility as well as in the IT sector. In CSR and corporate public affairs, he served as Director, Corporate Issues Management for former Fortune 11 food and consumer goods company, Altria Group, providing strategic decision support for the company’s senior leadership on human rights, consumer and marketplace issues, and economic impact in supply chains. In the IT sector he was a consultant to global consumer brands developing digital products and strategies: first as Strategy Director and global account executive at Agency.com, an internationally award winning consultancy and at the time the world’s largest interactive agency; and later as President, Global Development for Asia- and UK-based IT and professional services firm, ADEC Innovations, where he was also Head of Sustainable Finance and UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) partnerships for the ADEC Foundation.

Lance began his career working with leading international organizations and the United Nations Development Programme as an advisor on strategic program development and South-South cooperation for better and more equitable stakeholder impact. He has worked directly in lower income communities in the United States and served internationally as a US Peace Corps volunteer.

Lance is a Senior Program Fellow at the Harvard Corporate Responsibility Initiative; Executive Advisor at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship; Senior Advisor in the Sustainable Finance Cluster, Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy; Council of Fellows member for Australia-based EverGreening Alliance, an umbrella organization of the largest development, conservation and agricultural organizations focused on land restoration, rural development, carbon drawdown and nature-based climate solutions; and a US board member of Helvetas, the oldest and largest international relief and development organization in Switzerland. He is a former board member of Ceres, serving alongside the CEOs of North America’s largest pension funds, US state treasurers and national environmental leaders, and a former Track Advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative. Lance is a co-author of Harvard Business School case studies on change management and executive leadership. He was tapped by leading HBS faculty to serve as the Launch Director for the startup phase of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, a university-wide interdisciplinary program for high-level global entrepreneurship in support of new philanthropic, social enterprise, impact investing and sustainability ventures.

Lance has been a speaker at The White House and on Capitol Hill, at high level industry, investor and civil society conferences, SXSW, World Economic Forum sanctioned events, and the UN framework climate negotiations, among others. He has appeared in global media including CNN, Fox, The Wall St Journal, The New York Times, CNBC, Fast Company, Forbes and others. He has an MA in Anthropology from New York University and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.