Harvard Chan C-CHANGE Announces Strategic Advisory Board
The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE) is proud to announce the members of our new Strategic Advisory Board who will strengthen our shared mission to seek climate solutions that provide for a healthier and more just world. The Board brings together visionaries, innovators, and changemakers committed to building a healthy, climate-resilient world.
“For nearly three decades, our Center has served as a bridge between research and real-world solutions,” said Mary B. Rice, director of Harvard Chan C-CHANGE. “The insight, vision, and dedication of this remarkable group will continue to strengthen our mission at a moment when the world needs our work more than ever.”
Board members will provide strategic counsel to elevate the Center’s work, discuss areas of research, and advise on how to maximize public health impact across all sectors. They will work alongside the Center’s Scientific Advisory Council, a distinguished and diverse group of scientific experts who give feedback on research strategy, educational programming, and partnerships to help ensure the Center is working on relevant and time-sensitive solutions.
Meet the new Harvard Chan C-CHANGE Strategic Advisory Board:
Katherine States Burke MBA, MSc, is a lecturer, scholar, and strategic adviser at the Center for Human and Planetary Health within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. The Center is a hub for Stanford researchers, educators and students working on solutions at the intersection of health and the environment. Previously, Ms. Burke was Deputy Director of Stanford’s Center for Innovation in Global Health, where she led efforts in three focus areas: women’s leadership, planetary health, and initiatives aimed at vulnerable populations. She played a key role in creating and leading the inaugural “Women Leaders in Global Health” conference in 2017, sparking a global movement and an ongoing partnership between Stanford and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, Kathy began her career as a reporter, editor and publishing executive. She later pursued a longstanding interest in public health, earning a Master of Science in Global Health Sciences from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She also holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Kathy enjoys working at the interface of disciplines and sectors to address big social problems. An avid cyclist and cook, she lives in Woodside, California, with her husband and dog.
Pam Cheng is the Executive Vice President, Global Operations, IT & Chief Sustainability Officer, at AstraZeneca. Pam was appointed Executive Vice-President, Operations & Information Technology in June 2015 and assumed additional responsibility for the AstraZeneca Sustainability strategy and function in January 2023. Pam joined AstraZeneca after having spent 18 years with Merck/MSD in Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain and Commercial roles. Pam was the Head of Global Supply Chain Management & Logistics for Merck and led the transformation of Merck supply chains across the global supply network. Pam also held the role of President of MSD China, responsible for MSD’s entire business in China. Prior to joining Merck, Pam held various engineering and project management positions at Universal Oil Products, Union Carbide Corporation and GAF Chemicals. Pam holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in chemical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and an MBA in marketing from Pace University in New York. Pam serves as a Non-Executive Director of the Smiths Group plc Board and as a Trustee Member of the Board for Stevens Institute of Technology. Pam also serves as an Advisor to the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Board of Directors.
Craig Cogut Founder, Chairman & CEO, Pegasus Capital, has spent a career building successful investment businesses. Mr. Cogut founded Pegasus, a private equity fund, in 1995 and serves as its Chairman and CEO, and is a member of the management committee and the investment committee. Through Mr. Cogut’s leadership, Pegasus has focused on sectors influenced by global resource scarcity and the need to combat climate change, as well as on the growth in demands globally for human health and wellness, leading to Pegasus becoming the first U.S. private equity fund manager to be accredited by the Green Climate Fund. In 1990 Mr. Cogut co-founded and was one of the original partners at Apollo Advisors L.P., a position he held for six years preceding the creation of Pegasus. Mr. Cogut is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of PanTheryx. In addition, Mr. Cogut has been an active philanthropist in the fields of improving education, building civil society, and championing environmental and health issues. Mr. Cogut currently serves as Chairman of the finance advisory board of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet, a non-profit focused on leveraging private finance for public good to achieve sustainable development goals. Mr. Cogut is an alumnus of Brown University and Harvard Law School.
Wendy Gordon co-founded and was the original president of PIPs Rewards LLC, the wholly owned subsidiary of the nonprofit PIPs Education Fund. Together with a global team, Gordon co-created the PIPs Rewards mobile engagement platform to leverage the power of a rewards currency (called “Positive Impact Points” or “PIPs”), smart tools, and games to track and reward daily life choices that deliver personal and planetary benefits. The PIPs platform, which won a NYC BigApps prize sponsored by the NYC Economic Development Corporation, has been used by universities and nonprofit service organizations to recognize and reward 10s of 1000s of students, low income students in particular, for completing everyday positive impact actions. Some of the students were extrinsically rewarded with grants for school, others with gift cards, but all came away with a sense of their own intrinsic purpose and agency. Gordon stepped down in 2024; the new team is deploying the platform primarily for workforce development.
Previously, Gordon worked as a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, co-founded the Mothers & Others campaign with Meryl Streep, and developed the award-winning Green Guide, a bi-monthly publication which was acquired by National Geographic in 2007. She has co-authored numerous books, including the award-winning True Food: 8 Simple Steps to a Healthier You (National Geographic, 2009).
Gordon holds a B.S. in geological and geophysical sciences from Princeton University and an M.S. in environmental health sciences from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Rainforest Alliance, the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Family Fund, the C-CHANGE Strategic Advisory Board of the Harvard School of Public Health, the Board of Governors for the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School, and is an advisor to A Single Bite, a Catskill based nonprofit dedicated to educating and feeding our neighbors with real local food.
In her spare time, Gordon enjoys cross-country skiing, tennis, gardening, hiking, learning new things, and spending time with her family, which now includes five grandchildren.
