PRESIDIO GRADUATE SCHOOL ANNOUNCES NEW PRESIDENT

Attorney, Educator and Social Entrepreneur William Shutkin Appointed to Lead Sustainability Graduate School

SAN FRANCISCO, June 15, 2011 — Presidio Graduate School today announced it has appointed attorney, educator and social entrepreneur William Shutkin as its new President. Presidio, whose MBA and MPA degree programs in Sustainable Management are accredited through the school’s affiliation with Alliant International University, also offers a sustainability certificate program for senior executives.

Shutkin teaches at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and serves as Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute. He is also a Director of Aravaipa Ventures, a Colorado-based green investment fund, and a founding Partner of Urban Sustainability Associates. He will begin his duties at Presidio on September 1, 2011.

“Presidio has found an exceptionally thoughtful and inspiring leader in Bill Shutkin,” said Toni Rembe, Presidio board chair. “His experience as a sustainability pioneer and outstanding track record as a teacher, scholar and entrepreneur are in close alignment with Presidio’s mission, vision and values.”

Shutkin has led several organizations at the intersection of community development and sustainability, including Boston-based environmental justice law center Alternatives for Community & Environment, and New Ecology, the green development research and consulting organization. He has also served as President and CEO of the Vermont- and Colorado-based Orton Family Foundation. A longtime educator, he taught environmental law and policy at MIT from 1999-2004 and was an adjunct professor at Boston College Law School for over a decade.

Shutkin also is the author of the award-winning book, The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century, and A Republic of Trees: Field Notes on People, Place, and the Planet.

Shutkin received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a law degree and master’s degree in history from the University of Virginia. He also completed doctoral studies as a Regents Fellow at the University of California Berkeley and clerked for U.S. District Court Chief Judge Franklin S. Billings, Jr. in Vermont.

At Presidio, Shutkin succeeds interim President and board member Amy McCombs. He will seek to continue to expand the school’s enrollment, faculty, partnerships and program offerings.
“Presidio is an extraordinary platform for training a new generation of sustainability leaders in both the private and public sectors,” said Shutkin. “In short order, it has distinguished itself not only as an innovator in sustainability education but an inspired community of educators and entrepreneurs committed to changing the world. I am honored to be joining them.”

About Presidio Graduate School

Founded in 2003, Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, CA, was one of the first and remains one of the only schools in the country offering MBA, MPA and Executive Certificate programs in Sustainable Management. Presidio Graduate School is dedicated to building in its students the character, competencies and courage to create a sustainable future. It is an affiliate of Alliant International University and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). For more information, please visit http://www.presidioedu.org