I am currently in my second career, serving as the Brake Smith Associate Professor of Social Philosophy and Ethics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. In my first life I got a JD from Harvard Law School (1993) and practiced corporate environmental law for fifteen years, becoming a partner at Altheimer & Gray in Chicago and then moving to an Of Counsel position. My primary practice focused on brownfields redevelopment, mergers and acquisitions, and environmental compliance. During this time I also sang semi-professionally and got an MA in Liberal Studies from Northwestern University (don’t want to be one-dimensional!). I then abandoned Chicago and most of my law career in 2003 to study at the University of Colorado-Boulder, though I continued a small practice until 2008. I graduated with a PhD in philosophy in 2009.

My core scholarship project argues for a metaphysically robust conception of group agency that will support the imposition of traditional moral obligations on firms and other highly organized groups; I get far fewer incredulous stares these days, so I’m calling that a win. More recent scholarly projects include the possibilities of a more holistic conception of the professional, questions about the expanding political role of firms, and the role of work in a flourishing human life. My teaching centers on ethics and political philosophy with a special focus on the environment and contemporary business practice. My most exciting project in this area has been the development of a liberal arts program – an interdisciplinary minor in Ethics, Society, and the Institution of Business – which explores the role of business in a just, flourishing, and sustainable society.

In addition to traditional service for my College and my profession, I am a trustee for the Native Plant Trust – the nation’s first conservation organization devoted exclusively to plants – where I serve on the Governance Committee and the IDEA Taskforce (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access). I’ve been an active, enthusiastic member of the SBE ever since I first discovered it at the 2011 meeting of the American Philosophical Association (shout out to Nien-hê Hsieh and Waheed Hussain!), and am delighted to have this chance to give something back.