Former Executive Director, VERGE
San Rafael, CA, USA
Shana Rappaport’s life and career are dedicated to accelerating solutions to climate progress and creating a more ecologically thriving, socially just world.
Over the last 12 years, in her role as SVP of Climate Tech and Executive Director of VERGE with GreenBiz, Shana helped build and scale VERGE into the leading climate tech event accelerating solutions to the most pressing challenges of our time. VERGE is the center of gravity for the climate community — convening thousands of leaders from business, government, solution providers and startups — working together to accelerate systemic solutions to the climate crisis and ensure a just transition to a clean economy.
Shana previously served as the Director of Education for Bioneers, and as a nationally recognized community leader and organizer during her time as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Southern California.
Outside of her work with GreenBiz, Shana is a sought after public speaker, moderator and facilitator around sustainability and systems change. She served as Board Chair for Project Drawdown and the Buckminster Fuller Institute, and is a trained leader of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. She also served as Associate Editor of the book, “Evolving Leadership for Collective Wellbeing: Lessons for Implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals”.
Offer
An essential component of my theory of change is that we need to dissolve silos, deepen cohesion and engender collective action. I have devoted much of my life and career to convening cross-industry, cross-sector communities around climate progress. I can offer expertise around: - Climate tech — after spending the last 12 years building and leading the largest climate tech solutions event in North America - Convenings — both intimate and at scale - Design and facilitation — towards focused and transformational goals - Intersectional and systemic approaches to environmental and social progress - Writing and performing songs that anchor hope in a more ecologically thriving, socially just world!
NEED
I am in an exciting liminal moment professionally, having stepped down this year from my 12-year career building and leading VERGE. While I don't have any specific needs, I'm readying myself for my next professional chapter, and am open to mission, vision and values aligned opportunities to contribute towards one or multiple initiatives.
Call-to-Action
My emergent CTA to the Earth One Community is to deeply ask ourselves what it would take for this community to cohere and mobilize in service of a more ecologically thriving and socially just world — and, in that process, to dream big, act boldly, show up courageously, and give generously.
