Dawn James leads US sustainability strategy and thought leadership for Microsoft, delivering digital transformation solutions. She leverages her subject matter expertise across all prioritized industries to create strategic coalitions and partnerships, helping customers to leverage Microsoft technology accelerating their sustainability journey. She supports a range of initiatives in sustainability, environmental science, and innovation. Dawn has over 23 years of industry experience as a geoscientist and systems leader. She is a certified naturalist, formerly Americas Energy Lead at Microsoft and research hydrogeologist with the U.S. Department of the Interior (USGS). Dawn’s expertise not only includes results-driven leadership and ecosystem innovation, but she is also skilled at articulating value at the convergence of industry and technology.
Dawn holds an MSc in geoscience from Cal State University and a professional certification in big data and predictive analytics from MIT. She is a distinguished speaker on “The Business of Sustainability” at the Narazian School for Business & Economics (CSUN), a advisory board member of the US Business Council for Sustainable Development (USBCSD), and has been recognized as a DEI Champion (2021) by the National Diversity Council. In her spare time, Dawn enjoys playing the violin and spending time with her daughters.