Steven Rothstein, former Executive Director of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, has joined Ceres, the Boston-based sustainability nonprofit organization announced today.Â
Rothstein has joined Ceres as the inaugural Managing Director of the organization’s new transformative center, the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, launched last fall at the Ceres 30th anniversary gala.  The Ceres Accelerator aims to change the practices and policies that govern capital markets in order to accelerate action on the global climate crisis and other sustainability threats. Â
Rothstein has had a distinguished career in Massachusetts serving as former President of the Perkins School for the Blind, President of Environmental Futures, General Manager of Citizens Energy Corporation and New England Manager of Constellation NewEnergy.Â
“We are thrilled to have Steven on board. He is an exceptional and experienced leader with capital markets expertise that will help to advance private sector leadership and drive the large-scale behavior and systems change needed to achieve a just and sustainable economy,” said Mindy Lubber, Ceres CEO and President. “His strong communications and internal management skills will be extremely effective at representing Ceres and its intellectual thought leadership externally in a wide range of settings with capital markets influencers and members, funders, and donors.”
The Ceres Accelerator is focused on delivering large-scale behavior and systems change within capital markets. This includes moving U.S. financial regulators to act on climate change as a systemic financial risk, and working with the largest investors to transition their investment portfolios to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Rothstein will directly oversee the center and ensure integration with other Ceres programmatic work to build off the organization’s long history in integrating sustainability into capital markets. He will be central to increasing financial resources for growing the Ceres Accelerator, and leading a capital-markets focused team to develop thought leadership reports and tools and tap into the collective power of Ceres’ influential networks of investors and companies to drive change.
“While I wish the need for the Ceres Accelerator didn’t exist, since it does, I am honored and humbled to be charged with the task of driving change within our capital markets.” said Rothstein. “If we continue along our current trajectory, the climate crisis will continue to destroy economic value, unravel financial stability and threaten more people’s lives. I look forward to working collaboratively with Ceres’ smart and resourceful staff, board of directors, and investor and company members to reduce the impacts of this systemic and financial risk that I know we can and must tackle now.”