Johanna Chao Kreilick
Senior Fellow at the Center
Johanna brings over 20 years of experience launching, leading, and transforming organizations and initiatives dedicated to the public good and a healthy planet. She champions this work alongside a broad network of partners and change-makers, and draws on her expertise as a trained mediator, facilitator, and nonprofit board member.
In addition to advising global nonprofits on organizational growth, strategic change, and key collaborations, she works with leaders and philanthropists at critical inflection points. Her services include strategic advice, assessment, governance, partnerships, fundraising, and facilitation. Recent partners include the More Than Human Life (MOTH) Program and the Future of Rights & Governance (FORGE) Program at New York University School of Law, SPUN.EARTH, Project CETI, and more.
The world needs courageous thinking, rigorous collaboration, and institutional resilience and grit to achieve a livable future. I’m thrilled to support the Center as a Senior Fellow because they deliver on all of this, while also serving as a living lab, cultivating and connecting the next generation of evidence-informed leaders.
Johanna also served as the President and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists from 2020 to 2023 where she led a major organizational transformation and 5-year strategy refresh, integrating equity with science and driving significant policy wins in climate, clean energy, and food justice.
Her career began as a community organizer advocating alongside smallholder farmers, workers, and vendors globally. She holds a BA with distinction in Anthropology from Stanford University and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
