Dr. Joseph Fiksel serves as Executive Director of the Sustainable and Resilient Economy program at The Ohio State University, and is a research faculty member in the Integrated Systems Engineering Department. He coordinates Ohio State’s collaboration with leading global companies, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations to develop new methods and tools for improving the sustainability and resilience of enterprises and supply chains. Joseph is recognized internationally as an expert on sustainable business practices, with over 25 years of experience in environmental risk management, product stewardship, supply chain management, and corporate responsibility. From 2010 to 2014 he served as the Special Assistant for Sustainability at the U.S. EPA, helping to incorporate sustainability and systems thinking into the agency’s research and development programs.

A native of Montreal, Joseph began his career at DuPont of Canada, and then joined Arthur D. Little, Inc., where he founded and led the Decision and Risk Management consulting group. Later, he served as Vice President for Life Cycle Management at Battelle, where he directed the Responsible Care® Product Stewardship program. His clients have included major multi-national companies in the automotive, electronics, consumer products, defense, chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, glass, cement, and electric power industries. He managed several major projects for the Global Environmental Management Initiative, a consortium of over 40 leading U.S. companies, to develop tools that capture the business value of environmental excellence and sustainability. He also directed a $2.5 million study of the global cement industry sponsored by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, leading to a sustainability action plan and goals announced in 2002.

Joseph has served on numerous advisory boards, including the U.S. Technical Advisory Group for ISO 14000 and the advisory boards for sustainable enterprise MBA programs at both University of Michigan and University of North Carolina. He was an officer and founding member of the Society for Risk Analysis, and has testified on health risk analysis issues before Congressional and White House committees. He has published over 100 refereed articles and several books, and is a frequent invited speaker at business and professional conferences. His most recent book, Design for Environment, 2nd Edition: A Guide to Sustainable Product Development, was published by McGraw-Hill in 2009. Joseph holds a bachelor’s degree from M.I.T., a doctorate in Operations Research from Stanford University, and an advanced degree in applied mathematics from La Sorbonne.