Thomas P. Lyon

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.