Ms. Bonny Bentzin, University of California, Los Angeles

As Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer at UCLA, Bonny is a key member of the leadership team for sustainability at UCLA, helping manage sustainability across the university and working to foster partnerships among academic, research, and operational departments to create a world class living laboratory for sustainability. Bonny began her career in higher education as the Assistant Director of the Office of Sustainability Initiatives and the Director of University Sustainability Practices at Arizona State University. She was instrumental in designing the overarching vision and executing the campus sustainability strategy for the university. Her role as the founding Director of University Sustainability Practices included an expansive project portfolio spanning all area of operations for the university’s four campuses, as well as working on community engagement, organizational change management, and the academic and research missions for the institution. She then served as the Director of Sustainability for GreenerU, a greater Boston area consulting firm focusing on the higher-ed sector in New England.

Prior to joining UCLA, Bonny was the Head of Sustainability and Project Integration for the Trust for Sustainable Development. She worked on Spirit Bay Developments, coordinating all sustainability aspects and planning key projects for a new town concept being developed in partnership with the Sc’ianew First Nation (Beecher Bay Band) near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. This work included successfully securing $540,000 in grant monies for an ocean thermal heating and cooling system for the town center. An experienced sustainability expert with a focus on developing and executing sustainability programs in the field of higher education and complex organizations, she has over 12 years of leadership, management, and consulting experience, both within large‐scale organizations and as an outside consultant.

Bonny has also worked closely with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) since the organization’s beginning in 2006. She planned and hosted the national conference, served on conference planning and continuing education committees, and served on its Board of Directors. She was an active contributor to the American College and University’s Presidents Climate Commitment from its establishment thru 2013. Bonny has been an invited speaker to organizations, institutions, and conferences throughout the United States and to the College of the Bahamas. She is a contributing author to a number of publications and is currently working on a number of resources and professional development workshops for sustainability officers.

In her personal life, Bonny was a member of the Junior League of Greater Boston, served as a volunteer and athlete for Community Rowing, Inc, and a volunteered for athletic event fundraisers for many non-profits. Her interests include (but aren’t limited to) rowing, paddle-boarding, kayaking, biking, cooking, foraging, gardening, camping and all types of travel. She is known as a hyper observer and problem solver and is happiest identifying underutilized resources and key opportunity areas, as well as convening stakeholders to identify and execute solutions in those areas.

Bonny holds a BS in Environmental Studies, self-designed major “Environmental Problem Solving using Planning” from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.