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Scott Nadler

I am a mostly-retired strategy and sustainability consulant based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. While I still do some consulting and work-related writing, much of my time and energy is focused on volunteering and supporting important non-profit work, including:

My professional life

I spent over 50 years building, leading and turning around organizations and supporting senior executives in both the private and public sectors. My very mixed experience includes sustainability, environment, development, real estate, transportation, regulation, business-to-business (B2B) sales and customer service, and international collaboration.

I have been a (very) independent consultant since 2016. I've worked with a number of companies both in the US and Africa. I founded the Business Adaptation Project in both the US and Africa, helping business develop and share approaches for practical adaptation to physical climate changes. I also served as Senior Fellow with the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI).

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I spent 20 years with ERM (a global consulting firm) advising corporate leaders on how to integrate environment and sustainability issues into the business strategies and operations of their firms. I worked with companies in multiple sectors around the world including transportation, oil and gas, consumer goods, chemicals, health care, technology and manufacturing. I worked closely with senior EHS&S (environment, health, safety and sustainability) and business leaders to develop strategies, build senior management consensus, and implement those strategies effectively.

At ERM, I also served as part of the Senior Leadership Team:

  • As Global Director-Client Service from 2005-2008, I helped implement ERM’s second Private Equity financing and meet PE expectations. My day job focused on increasing collaboration and client satisfaction across disciplines, geography and culture. I worked extensively with clients, ERM teams and Business Unit management throughout North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Working directly for ERM’s CEO, I conducted over two dozen internal management assessments and/or interventions to improve Business Unit operations.
  • As Strategy Development Director from 2008-2010, I worked with senior leaders to get the company through and out of the recession and prepare for ERM’s successful third PE financing in 2011 (at 77% over the company’s 2005 value). Implementation of the strategy led to ERM’s fourth PE financing in 2015 (at 79% over the 2011 value).

I also helped companies share lessons learned, as Co-Chair of The Conference Board’s Chief EHS Officers’ Council; and leading ERM’s multi-company Business Integration Forums in the US, Europe and Asia from 1999 through 2007. I served on the Executive Committee (and later as part-time Program Director) of the US Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Before joining ERM, I spent fifteen years with Conrail, then a major freight railroad. I worked on the turn-around that transformed Conrail from a subsidized, government owned failure into a profitable, publicly-traded company operating in the private sector. I created, led or turned around a variety of different functions, including Regional Marketing, Industrial and Market Development, Real Estate Operations, and Environmental Quality.

Prior to Conrail, I spent five years with the State of Illinois. I served in the Governor’s Budget Bureau (under two governors from different parties); as Assistant Superintendent of Unclaimed Property (in the Department of Financial Institutions); and as Chief of the Bureau of Railroads (in the Department of Transportation).

I started out in politics, volunteering on a US Senate campaign, running headquarters operations for a mayoral campaign and spending the Watergate summer doing voter registration organizing in a hostile county. I graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in Government, focusing on coalition building across party lines.