Thomas P. Lyon

 Dow Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology 

and Commerce

 Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy

Professor of Environment and Sustainability

Director, Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise

Thomas P. Lyon holds the Dow Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce at the University of Michigan, with appointments in both the Ross School of Business and the School of Environment and Sustainability.  He is President of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS), and Director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan.  He earned his BSE from Princeton University, and MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University.  Professor Lyon is a leader in using economic analysis to understand corporate environmental strategy, especially in the energy industry, and how it is shaped by emerging government regulations, non-governmental organizations, and consumer demands.  His book Corporate Environmentalism and Public Policy, published by Cambridge University Press, was the first rigorous economic analysis of this increasingly important topic.   Lyon is a Senior Editor at Organization & Environment, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy and the Journal of Regulatory Economics. His current research focuses on the impacts of information disclosure, the role of private governance mechanisms (especially ecolabeling) in solving environmental problems, the factors motivating regulatory compliance, and the role of corporations in shaping government policy.

Professor Lyon has been a Visiting Professor at the Scuola Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy (Fulbright Grant), the University of Chicago (Olin Foundation Fellowship), Resources for the Future (Gilbert White Fellowship), Stanford University, the University of Paris, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University of Basel, the University of Bonn, UCLA, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, the InterAmerican Development Bank, the Alcoa Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.  He has served as an expert witness for a variety of organizations, including the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, AT&T, and Cogentrix.  He has also consulted for a wide range of organizations, including US Foods, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), KPMG, Consumers Power, Huron Consulting Group, Industrial Economics, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Department of Energy.


      Featured Presentations

The Past and Future of Nonmarket Strategy Research

Dr. Thomas Lyon: Corporate Sustainability Initiatives 

Recent Podcast

Beyond ESG - Corporate Political Responsibility

On Corporate Counsel Business Journal's podcast - In House Warrior

In this episode of In House Warrior, Thomas Lyon, the Dow Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce, with appointments in both the Ross School of Business and the School of Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) at the University of Michigan and author of Corporate Environmentalism and Public Policy, speaks with host Richard Levick of LEVICK about how ESG and CSR fail to fully measure a company’s social brand. In an age of increased transparency, this alignment is becoming critical to a company’s reputation, brand, resilience and share price.


Listen to this episode of In House Warrior here.

Featured Article

CSR Needs CPR: Corporate Sustainability And Politics

As featured on the CPRT Resource List

Winner of the Best Article of 2019 in CMR