Ryan Whisnant has over 15 years of experience building and leading new capabilities and systems for companies, financial institutions, and international organizations, including Microsoft, Cisco, UBS, TIAA-CREF, World Bank, UNDP, and USAID with an emphasis on environmental sustainability and technology. At SunGard, a $4.5 billion revenue Fortune 500 company with over 17,000 employees in 30 countries at the time, he was responsible for establishing the sustainability office, which included a number of efficiency, waste reduction, and employee engagement programs saving millions of dollars annually. Ryan has consulted and worked with companies and non-profits across a variety of sectors including technology, energy, finance, agriculture and oceans. His work has included developing sustainable investment strategies for pension funds, asset managers and private equity firms and designing and delivering training programs for large-scale U.S. energy utilities. Most recently, he built the professional services capability for PEMSEA, an intergovernmental organization based in the Philippines leading sustainable development of oceans across 14 countries in East Asia, working closely with international organizations such as UNDP and The World Bank.
Ryan holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University, and an MS in Natural Resources & Environment and MBA from the University of Michigan, where he focused on sustainable systems and organization development.
Ryan holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University, and an MS in Natural Resources & Environment and MBA from the University of Michigan, where he focused on sustainable systems and organization development.
Testimonials
"At KKR, we view the management of ESG issues as a way to build value, and Ryan's leadership and ability to partner with other teams at SunGard to strategically manage and measure the company's most material environmental impacts directly supported our efforts to improve both environmental and business performance of participating private equity portfolio companies through the KKR Green Portfolio Program.”
- Elizabeth Seeger, Principal, KKR
"Ryan played a critical role in operationalizing programs to drive results for one of our Fortune 500 portfolio companies. TPG takes an operational and functional approach to sustainability, striving to lessen waste, mitigate risk, improve social and environmental performance and create value through enhanced performance, investment returns, and customer and employee appeal. Ryan's unique set of capabilities enabled the company to develop a strategy, craft governance and targets, implement the right management systems, and execute across functions to achieve measurable results in a large, complex organization."
- Pat Tiernan, Senior Advisor, Field Operations Executive, TPG Capital
"Ryan was an essential part of helping to prepare a community of over 12,000 Microsoft employees for a major global product launch. From first conception of the strategy and programs through measuring successful outcomes, he was a trusted partner from start to finish. Ryan excelled at providing coherent structure to the programs and developing impactful communication platforms to engage a busy global technical community. I could consistently count on him to deliver efficient and outstanding results."
- Zaakera Stratman, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
- Elizabeth Seeger, Principal, KKR
"Ryan played a critical role in operationalizing programs to drive results for one of our Fortune 500 portfolio companies. TPG takes an operational and functional approach to sustainability, striving to lessen waste, mitigate risk, improve social and environmental performance and create value through enhanced performance, investment returns, and customer and employee appeal. Ryan's unique set of capabilities enabled the company to develop a strategy, craft governance and targets, implement the right management systems, and execute across functions to achieve measurable results in a large, complex organization."
- Pat Tiernan, Senior Advisor, Field Operations Executive, TPG Capital
"Ryan was an essential part of helping to prepare a community of over 12,000 Microsoft employees for a major global product launch. From first conception of the strategy and programs through measuring successful outcomes, he was a trusted partner from start to finish. Ryan excelled at providing coherent structure to the programs and developing impactful communication platforms to engage a busy global technical community. I could consistently count on him to deliver efficient and outstanding results."
- Zaakera Stratman, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft