Louis Leonard

Lou Leonard, JD, is the inaugural dean of the School of Climate, Environment, and Society at Clark University. Launched in 2025, the school pairs Clark’s historic strengths in geography, economics and global development with new interdisciplinary programs. He has served in government, private sector, higher education, and civil society for over 25 years, advancing environment and climate action. For over a decade, Leonard served as senior vice president for climate change at World Wildlife Fund, advancing the Paris Climate Agreement and helping launch initiatives like the We Are Still In coalition.

Leonard previously served as special counsel to the US Secretary of the Interior supporting Native American water rights. He worked as senior associate for Latham & Watkins, specializing in energy and has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Dar es Salaam and a visiting scholar at the Environmental Law Institute. He was a founding board director for the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance, a business trade association, and board director of the U.S. Climate Action Network, co-founder of One Earth Sangha, focused at the intersection of mindfulness and emotional dimensions of ecological and social crises.

He earned his bachelor’s from Georgetown University and juris doctor from Boston College.