Global perspective. Lasting impact.
Dr. Amanda Bielawski, Founder and Principal
A global sustainability expert and executive leader, Amanda has spent more than two decades in leadership roles across United Nations initiatives, the private sector, nonprofits, and multi-sector coalitions. Her core competency is clear: turning complex challenges into decisive strategic action with clear positioning.
Prior to founding Lumina Futures, Amanda held executive leadership roles at two of the world's leading sustainability think tanks tackling issues related to water, nature, climate, and linked economic and social issues. She also served as an advisor to the United Nations Global Compact's CEO Water Mandate, the Water Resilience Coalition, and the United Nations Development Programme’s Equator Initiative. Amanda co-developed the global multi-sector UN water agreement now signed by 50+ global corporations with operations across 140+ countries. Considered a key outcome of the historic 2023 UN Water Conference, this movement is now actively catalyzing multi-sector collective action to build resilience across 100 regions by 2030.
Amanda holds a PhD in sustainability, an MBA, an MS focused on environmental law and policy, and executive credentials from Competent Boards and BoardSource. With a deep belief in the power of education, she holds a higher education teaching credential from Harvard, serves as an adjunct faculty member at Saint Martin’s University, and is a keynote speaker.
Her doctoral research focused on the connections between the global nature, water, and climate agendas with analysis of nature-based solutions and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge across 25+ countries.
Based in the Seattle area, Amanda reserves a portion of her time to contribute to Pacific Northwest-based priorities.
Amanda has served on a range of boards and considers interest in board seat service on an individual basis.
“Amanda has earned a global reputation for excellence across the United Nations and a range of global NGOs, government entities, companies, think tanks, and academic institutions. As an advisor, she has a unique ability to engage a diverse team of stakeholders, co-create an inspiring shared vision, and achieve impact.”
— Dr. Jamison Ervin, Head, Global Programme on Nature for Development, United Nations Development Programme
Keynote speaking.
Amanda challenges conventional thinking and moves business and community audiences from isolated action toward collective, systems-level change.
SIGNATURE KEYNOTE TOPICS
Leading at the Intersection of Business, Community, and Sustainability
Systems Thinking for Executive Leaders
The Status of our Global Water, Nature, and Climate
From Vision to Collective Action
Collaborative Leadership in an Interconnected World
Fluent across strategy, sustainability, and governance.
Amanda’s range translates directly into outcomes.
At the Pacific Institute, a leading global think tank on water issues, as Chief Impact Officer, Amanda led organizational repositioning, shifting to an impact-strategy model and convening leaders at the World Economic Forum, UN Climate COP, and UN General Assembly.
As Senior Advisor to the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate and Water Resilience Coalition, Amanda co-developed a key private-sector water agreement announced at the historic 2023 UN Water Conference now uniting more than 70 global corporations with operations in 140+ countries along with global NGOs toward measurable resilience across 100 regions by 2030.
As a member of the Project Drawdown leadership team, Amanda led the private sector team and strategy. She led the development of Drawdown Capital, an initiative designed to inform and influence billions in capital decisions across philanthropy and impact investing toward science-based climate mitigation solutions.
At the United Nations Development Programme’s Equator Initiative, Amanda led the development of 40+ case studies on nature-based solutions implemented by Indigenous and local communities across 25+ countries now informing policies and other discussions.
With decades of public affairs experience across the private and nonprofit sectors, Amanda has overseen high-profile media relations campaigns garnering media coverage of critical environmental and social issues in Forbes, CNN, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and other top media outlets. She has also led high-profile crisis communications for publicly traded companies during complex periods of growth and change.
THE ORIGIN STORY
It all began with oranges.
“My path didn’t start in the boardroom or at the United Nations. It started in a small family business growing oranges in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
I still remember standing beside my father as a child, looking up at the Sierra Nevada Mountains. ‘The water comes from up there,’ he’d say. ‘That’s what makes this valley productive.’
Long before I had the scientific language for it, I was learning that people, businesses, communities and economies are never separate from nature, land, or water. We’re part of these broader systems and deeply reliant on their future.
That early lesson became my life’s work.”
Driving change at the systems level.
Leaders often come to Amanda sensing a bigger possibility for the future of their work. Lumina Futures works at the level of the whole system, not the isolated problem, pairing the rigor of science and evidence with the discipline of executive strategy. When an engagement calls for it, Amanda convenes a highly skilled team of strategists matched to what the moment requires.
She and her team partner with organizations to bring diverse stakeholders into alignment on a bolder shared vision. Together, they turn incremental efforts into transformational impact with the strategic clarity and positioning to make it real.