Bonny Bentzin

Bonny Bentzin is an experienced sustainability expert with a focus on developing and executing sustainability programs in the field of higher education and complex organizations, she has almost 20 years of leadership, management, and consulting experience.

As Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer at UCLA, Bonny works across the university to foster partnerships among academic, research, and operational departments to create a world class living laboratory for sustainability. Bonny began her career in higher education at Arizona State University where she designed the overarching vision for the campus sustainability strategy and served as the founding Director of University Sustainability Practices included an expansive project portfolio spanning all area of operations for the university’s four campuses and the academic and research missions for the institution. She then served as the Director of Sustainability for GreenerU, a greater Boston area consulting firm focusing on the higher-ed sector in New England.

Prior to UCLA, Bonny was the Head of Sustainability and Project Integration for the Trust for Sustainable Development coordinating all sustainability aspects and planning key projects for a new town concept being developed in partnership with the Sc’ianew First Nation (Beecher Bay Band) on Vancouver Island, Canada.

Bonny has also worked closely with a number of national organizations and is a contributing author to a number of publications and contributor to professional development workshops for sustainability officers, as well as other stakeholder groups. She serves as the Advisory Board Chair for the Santa Monica based SustainableWorks.

In her personal life, Bonny’s interests include tide-pooling, diving, kayaking, biking, cooking, foraging, gardening, camping and all types of travel. She is known as a hyper observer and problem solver and is happiest identifying underutilized resources and key opportunity areas, as well as convening stakeholders to identify and execute solutions in those areas.

Bonny holds a BS in Environmental Studies, self-designed major “Environmental Problem Solving using Planning” from Mount Holyoke College, a LEED AP and an Apprentice Beekeeper.