Patrick Beary
Patrick Beary is an accomplished leader in cross-sector partnerships and collaborations for impact. He joined the Atkinson Center in February 2019 and serves as the Bruce H. Bailey Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships. Beary actively engages with Cornell researchers and external private- and public-sector entities—such as NGOs, corporations, and government agencies—in order to create partnerships and consortia that take sustainability ideas from the academy and turn them into real-world impact. While supporting and deepening the center’s current strategic partnerships, he builds and maintains new relationships with organizations committed to joining Cornell in co-creating large-scale, long-term sustainability initiatives.
Beary is essential to executing the center’s strategic plan, which focuses on applying “knowledge-to-action” principles in solving sustainability challenges. By acting as the bridge between Atkinson working groups and external partners, he accelerates the co-creation of research agendas and action plans that result in long-term sustainable solutions. He also serves as an important resource for faculty who are leading collaborative research initiatives with Cornell and associated universities.
A veteran in the sustainability field, Beary was recruited from The Nature Conservancy, where he served as director of corporate engagement, leading private-sector partnership strategy for global and regional agriculture and food system priorities.