Ken Andrasko Named Director of Winrock’s Ecosystem Services
ARLINGTON, Va. (March 5, 2014) — Winrock International announced today that Ken Andrasko will become the organization’s new director of Ecosystem Services, succeeding Sandra Brown, who will continue at Winrock in her role as chief scientist of the Environment Group.
Andrasko formerly served as senior carbon finance & methodology specialist with the World Bank’s Carbon Finance Unit and was a core founder of the $850 million Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, which assisted more than 40 tropical countries in developing national programs to reduce deforestation and greenhouse emissions. Before that, he worked 18 years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he led EPA’s 2005 major study of U.S. forest and agriculture climate mitigation options. He also served on the Clinton administration’s Kyoto United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiating team from 1999 to 2001.
“Ken’s extensive knowledge, experience and technical acumen, developed over three decades of successful leadership in climate change, will help us continue to be a leader in addressing the challenges of climate change,” said Winrock President and CEO Rodney Ferguson.
“I am privileged to join Winrock’s Ecosystem Services unit, which has a stellar global reputation for innovative methodological work, to help carry forward Sandra Brown’s legacy into the future to address emerging issues and ideas,” said Andrasko. “The Ecosystem Services unit has outstanding technical expertise in its seasoned staff, who consistently find new ways to sustainably finance ecosystem restoration, pay for environmental services, and mitigate and adapt to climate change confronting both the U.S. and developing countries.”
In 2007, Andrasko received a diploma in recognition of his contribution to the Nobel Peace Prize for the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One of the co-recipients that year was Brown, who has been with Winrock for 16 years, including as director of Ecosystem Services since 2008.
“I am delighted that Sandra will continue to provide senior level leadership as chief scientist,” Ferguson said. “While supporting high-impact project activities in Ecosystem Services, Forestry & Natural Resource Management and elsewhere, Sandra will focus on new applied science explorations and practical solutions in pursuit of Winrock’s broader mission — particularly addressing the challenges of global climate change and degraded natural resources on biodiversity, agriculture and livelihoods.”
“I am extremely pleased to be able to hand over leadership of our Ecosystem Services unit to Ken, and I am looking forward very much to working with him to strengthen the Unit’s international reputation and to expand into new areas of endeavor,” said Brown.
Andrasko earned his master’s degree in natural resource policy and economics at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and his bachelor’s in government at Harvard. He served on the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation and U.S. Country Studies Program from 1995 to 1998, including as a co-developer of the first two joint implementation projects in Russia. He has authored or edited technical papers and journal special issues for the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, the REDD+ Partnership, the EPA, and peer-reviewed journals on climate change, forestry and joint implementation. He was lead author or editor for five reports for the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, including the 2000 special report on land use, land-use change and forestry.
Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources. Winrock is headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., and has an office in Arlington, Va., with project offices worldwide.