Ernest Tollerson
Chair
Ernest Tollerson is a seasoned environmental policy maker, sustainability expert, non-profit executive and journalist with a distinguished record of volunteer leadership.
Mr. Tollerson's 25-year journalism career included political reporting at the Philadelphia Inquirer, opinion journalism as the editor of the editorial pages of New York Newsday, and a stint at The New York Times, where he worked as a national correspondent, an editor on the Metro Desk and a member of the Times' Editorial Board.
Mr. Tollerson is also the former Director of Environmental Sustainability and Compliance at the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), where he led the work of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Sustainability and the MTA. That panel's final report provided a roadmap for environmentally sustainable business practices at the MTA, which is North America’s largest transportation network.
Mr. Tollerson served as a trustee of the Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF) from 2004 to 2013, including a three year term as board chair. He also served as NCF’s interim president and CEO from the summer of 2014 until November 2015. In that capacity he helped to reinvigorate NCF's focus on climate, inequality, and the intersection of those issues.
Mr. Tollerson currently serves on the boards of Environmental Advocates NY, the Regional Plan Association, the Hudson River Foundation, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the New-York Historical Society.