Kara Hurst

Why you should listen

Kara Hurst leads Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon, covering multiple areas across the environmental and social sectors: renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, customer packaging experience, product sustainability, circular economy and waste reduction initiatives, social responsibility and responsible sourcing, sustainability science and innovation, and environmental compliance. 

Prior to joining Amazon, Hurst was CEO of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), a multi-sector group across academia, the retail industry and the public sector. TSC was named one of Scientific American's "Top Ten World Changing Ideas" of 2012. For 11 years before that, Hurst worked as vice president of BSR, where she built several global industry practices and led BSR's New York and Washington, DC offices, as well as the global partnership practice with governments, multi-laterals and foundations. Hurst also cofounded the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC, now the Responsible Business Alliance) and worked in Silicon Valley as executive director of the public-private venture OpenVoice, building out early teen channel content for AOL and others. In her early career, she held roles at the Children's Health Council, leading interdisciplinary educational and development programs, at the Urban Institute as a research lead in the public finance and housing division and in the offices of two elected officials -- Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco and the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in New York. Hurst holds a BA from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MPP from the University of California, Berkeley.