Craig Hanson is the Managing Director and Executive Vice President for Programs at World Resources Institute. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring WRI’s programs and centers catalyze the systemic transformations necessary for a just and sustainable transition to a net zero world.

While a program director at WRI from 2008-2022, Craig co-developed a number of leading initiatives, including Global Forest Watch, the Global Restoration Initiative, the Forest Legality Alliance, the Food Loss and Waste Protocol, Champions 12.3, the Better Buying Lab, Resource Watch, the Food and Land Use Coalition, Cities4Forests and the Ocean initiative. He was a co-author of the World Resources Report, Creating a Sustainable Food Future, and lead author on publications such as The Restoration Diagnostic and the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review.

When Craig joined WRI in 2002, he managed the Green Power Market Development Group, a coalition of a dozen Fortune 500 companies that helped pioneer corporate energy markets in the United States. This initiative won a U.S. EPA Innovation Award in 2004.

Craig spent five years as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in Chicago and Copenhagen. He holds a Masters degree in Environmental Change & Management from Oxford University. While at Oxford, he also earned a Master’s degree in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics with an emphasis on environmental economics while on a Rhodes Scholarship.