André Thierstein Heinz (born December 9, 1969) is an American environmentalist. A descendant of Henry J. Heinz, he is the son of

John Heinz Henry John Heinz III (October 23, 1938 – April 4, 1991) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Pennsylvania from 1977 until Merion air disaster, his death in 1991. An he ...

and

Teresa Heinz Teresa Heinz (born Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira; October 5, 1938), also known as Teresa Heinz Kerry, is a Portuguese-American businesswoman and philanthropist. Heinz is the widow of former United States Senate, U.S. Senator John Hein ...

Biography

Heinz has been active in the field of

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

since 1993, when he began working for William McDonough, the noted green architect and designer, on

sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

issues and projects. At the same time, Heinz joined the board of

The Heinz Endowments The Heinz Endowments is a philanthropic organization in the United States, and was formed with the combined support from two smaller, private foundations: the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment. It awards more than $60 million a ...

, where he oversaw the creation of an environmental grant-making program through a series of 14 topical environmental colloquia that convened leaders from around the world. He continues to serve on the Endowments board and on its Joint Investment Committee, which oversees the management of the $1.5 billion endowment. Following a six-month urban redevelopment project for the City of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, where he applied his knowledge together with colleagues at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

, Heinz began research for

Paul Hawken Paul Gerard Hawken (born February 8, 1946) is an American environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, economist, and activist. Biography Hawken was born in San Mateo, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where his father worked at ...

on his latest book titled "Natural Capitalism." It chronicles examples of 75 percent or greater resource productivity at zero-to-negative cost, and suggests principles to help replicate those successes. Simultaneously, Heinz co-founded in 1995 the first U.S. office of

The Natural Step The Natural Step is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in Sweden in 1989 by scientist Karl-Henrik Robèrt. The Natural Step is also used when referring to the partially open source framework it developed. Following publication of ...

, a Sweden-based nonprofit organization specialized in education and consulting around sustainable development. In 1999, after receiving a masters in environmental management at the

Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental students through four 2-year degree programs ( Master of Environmental Management, Master of Environ ...

, where he specialized in industrial environmental management and industrial ecology, Heinz accepted a job offer to run the international office of The Natural Step in Stockholm. In 2004, Heinz left

to focus on U.S. presidential politics as a surrogate spokesperson specializing in environmental policy and issues. Since then, he has turned his attention yet again to Scandinavia as the founder of Sustainable Technology Capital, a growth-stage, private equity management firm focused on Nordic Cleantech.

Personal life

Heinz is a son of Henry John Heinz III, a

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

killed in a 1991 plane crash, and Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira, a businesswoman and philanthropist. He has a younger brother,

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

, and an elder brother, John IV. His mother later married

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

, making Heinz a stepbrother of

Alexandra Kerry Alexandra Forbes Kerry (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is a partner at Locomotive Films and co-founder of Fictional Pictures, a film production company based in New York and Los Angeles. She is married to conte ...

and

Vanessa Kerry Vanessa Bradford Kerry (born December 31, 1976) is an American physician, public health expert, and advocate. She is a founder of the non-profit Seed Global Health, director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change at Harvard Medi ...

. Heinz married Maria Marteinsdottir in Sweden in August 2016

External links

Washington Post
address to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinz, Andre 1969 births Living people Carnegie Mellon University faculty Heinz family Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies alumni American people of British descent American people of Portuguese descent Georgetown University alumni