Jay Knott
Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer, Environmental Defense Fund
Sessions: Opening Plenary (Day 2, Morning)
Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer, Environmental Defense Fund
Sessions: Opening Plenary (Day 2, Morning)
Jay Knott is someone who “used to be a lot of things.” For starters, in college, he began his own catering company. At one point in his life, he played semi-professional basketball in Peru. At another point, Jay was nationally ranked in the top 10 obstacle racers within his age group.
Eight months ago, Jay joined the Environmental Defense Fund as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, where he oversees EDF’s global operations, buttressing its research, programs, and advocacy to save the planet.
Jay sees his goal as ensuring that all of the systems are effective and that they work together to form an operations systems for EDF that allows our scientists, lawyers, economists, and all the other people working at EDF to be more effective and have maximum impact.
Most recently, Jay spent almost 10 years as the Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer, to Abt Associates, a policy, research, and international development for-profit firm. Before that, Jay spent much of his career with the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he served in South America, Africa, and the Middle East.
Jay decided he wanted to work at EDF because of its mission, “particularly at a time when our planet is under such threat.”
Jay was born in the “deep south” but raised on the south side of Chicago. He attended Yale as undergraduate, where he majored in Political Economy and African Studies, and later went to law school at Penn.
In his spare time, Jay enjoys hiking with his wife and tending to their two rescue dogs.
Jay is based in Washington DC.
Eight months ago, Jay joined the Environmental Defense Fund as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, where he oversees EDF’s global operations, buttressing its research, programs, and advocacy to save the planet.
Jay sees his goal as ensuring that all of the systems are effective and that they work together to form an operations systems for EDF that allows our scientists, lawyers, economists, and all the other people working at EDF to be more effective and have maximum impact.
Most recently, Jay spent almost 10 years as the Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer, to Abt Associates, a policy, research, and international development for-profit firm. Before that, Jay spent much of his career with the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he served in South America, Africa, and the Middle East.
Jay decided he wanted to work at EDF because of its mission, “particularly at a time when our planet is under such threat.”
Jay was born in the “deep south” but raised on the south side of Chicago. He attended Yale as undergraduate, where he majored in Political Economy and African Studies, and later went to law school at Penn.
In his spare time, Jay enjoys hiking with his wife and tending to their two rescue dogs.
Jay is based in Washington DC.