John Farrell joined the Board in 2025. He is a passionate supporter of higher education institutions and their impact on society. It is a powerful tool for fostering respect for differing perspectives because it broadens understanding and nurtures empathy.
John is an experienced leader in the development and implementation of business strategy and transformation programs across a broad array of industry sectors. He applies his three decades of experience in strategy, finance, management of large global organizations, and enterprise-level risk (ERM) optimization to help companies develop and drive forward-thinking and profitable sustainable change. John’s work has a proven track record of improved performance in a rapidly evolving commercial and regulatory landscape.
John is the principal of Future Thinking LLC. After leading large-scale transformations at KPMG LLP and Fortune 500 clients, he now partners with executive teams and boards to integrate the opportunities of sustainability and climate change into core strategic objectives and leadership development programs.
He has led large-scale digital transformations to modernize business models and help organizations navigate tremendous technological and competitive changes through innovative leadership.
John’s early career assignments were in public accounting centered around financial statement auditing and internal control reviews of large global public companies.
John recently completed a Master of Science at Columbia University’s Climate School, centered on the implications of climate change and biodiversity loss: including applied learning of climate science and systems, climate risk and scenario analysis, greenhouse gas protocols, energy systems, the hydrologic cycle and related international laws, governance, and global standards / regulatory reporting requirements. He is also a Certified Public Accountant, with a Master of Science in Accounting and an MBA in Finance.