O'Shannon Burns

Brainstormer, Business mentor, Change Agent, Consultant, Environmentalist, Explorer, Idea generator, Job-seeker, Project manager, Scientist, World traveler

O’Shannon Burns is a researcher and sustainability consultant with more than 15 years’ experience shaping mission-driven businesses and embedding regenerative principles into operations with a focus on climate action, conservation, environmental justice, and sustainable travel and tourism. She has collaborated with TED Conferences, The World Bank, World Wildlife Fund, Unearthodox, Disney, the National Geographic Society, Lindblad Expeditions, Regenerative Travel, and dozens of small businesses on sustainability research, strategy and management. O’Shannon is part of Cornell University’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the SC Johnson College of Business. She holds a Master’s in Sustainability from Harvard University, a BS in Physical Geography with a focus on Climate Science from Penn State University, and a certification in Training and Facilitation Georgetown University. O’Shannon co-founded Aurora Collective, a group of women leaders actively building a future where people and places thrive. We combine our breadth and depth of experience to guide diverse collaborators into action, where the real work happens and trust is built. Aurora’s work is rooted in feminine leadership, focused on systems transformation, and built on a deep understanding of the mechanics and magic of collaboration. O’Shannon’s recent publications include TED’s Leveling Up Company Climate Action and Regenerative Travel’s Climate Action through Regeneration: Unlocking the Power of Nature and Communities through Tourism. She has facilitated conversations on climate action as well as regenerating finance, healthcare, and business. She has shared her work as part of the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit, the Adventure Travel Trade Association Climate Action Summit, the Business of Conservation Conference, TED Countdown, and the Regenerative Travel Summit. Previously, she spent a decade as staff at National Geographic collaborating with explorers as they conducted field work, spearheading sustainability initiatives, and operating exploratory educational travel experiences on all seven continents. While there, she created and was then appointed to National Geographic Partners’ first full-time sustainability position, overseeing sustainability for the company’s travel business, and serving as an internal sustainability leader and expert.

climate action, conservation, environmental justice, sustainability, sustainable tourism