Emelissa Baluyot Herness leads Supplier Decarbonization at Amazon, where she is working to turn one of the company’s biggest climate challenges, supply chain emissions, into collective action across one of the world’s largest supply chains, in support of The Climate Pledge - a commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. A CPA by training, Emelissa began her career at Deloitte and Aon before taking an unconventional turn into technology. At Amazon, she helped launch Prime Video globally, Amazon’s first live-streamed sports event, and voice experiences on Echo devices around the world. She later brought that builder’s mindset to Amazon’s emerging sustainability organization, helping shape early strategies spanning net-zero carbon, circularity, and environmental equity.
The thread connecting these chapters is a fascination with how ambitious ideas become real at scale. Today, she is particularly interested in what it takes to move from corporate commitments to collective action, and how companies can use their purchasing power, partnerships and influence to accelerate change beyond their own walls. She holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Outside of work, Emelissa and her husband are raising their three-year-old daughter in the Pacific Northwest, where they’re happiest exploring the mountains together through hiking, skiing and climbing.