Forbes Announces Jessie Mahr as Global Sustainability Leader!
By Elizabeth Vaccaro, Jessica Lamb, and Jessie Mahr
Driving Innovation and Sustainability with Technology and Teamwork
We’re thrilled to share some exciting news! Our Director of Technology, Jessie Mahr, has been named as a Forbes 2025 Global Sustainability Leader for her outstanding leadership and innovation at the intersection of environmental policy and technology.
This recognition is a testament to Jessie’s vision, dedication, and impact—not just within EPIC, but across the broader environmental technology landscape. Together with the incredible Technology Team she leads, Jessie has advanced several efforts to bring better technology solutions to environmental challenges. Under her guidance, EPIC co-founded the Public Environmental Data Partners to help protect public access to critical environmental data.
We sat down with Jessie for a quick conversation about the award, her journey in technology, and what drives her passion for preserving and improving public access to environmental and climate data.
Q&A with Jessie Mahr, Director of Technology
Q: First off, congratulations! How did you feel when you found out you’d been selected?
A:
Thank you so much! Honestly, I was surprised and shy to be recognized, as all of my work is done in partnership with brilliant and passionate people, without whom none of this would be possible. I feel grateful for our work being recognized by Forbes, especially at this moment when sustainability is urgently needed.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your background and what led to your unique work with EPIC?
A:
I was raised in Texas with an early appreciation of how vital water was to beat the heat and support all the critters we would find in the lakes and rivers we grew up swimming in. Water remained a central theme in my studies and career as I worked on payment for ecosystem services programs in Costa Rica and Colombia, water access and sanitation in Palestinian refugee camps, and monitoring watershed health through satellites across the world. However, throughout this work, whether I was working with wealthy communities in the US or rural communities in Colombia, one thing remained true: we had out-of-date information that was being used by communities and government agencies alike to make sense of their environments and plan for sustainable futures. I was drawn to EPIC to advocate for—and help agencies implement—approaches to technology that ensure we have actionable and accessible insights to better steward the environments and infrastructure we depend on.
Q: What does being a leader in sustainability mean to you?
A:
First and foremost, it means embodying a few core principles:
All should have equal access to a healthy environment, and we have a responsibility to share our resources and power to make that a reality.
The natural world has intrinsic value.
We need to advance solutions at a speed that matches the urgency of the problem.
On the day to day, it means building and working with teams of passionate, diverse, and smart people who can work together to design and implement solutions to the complex challenges we face.
Q: Tell us about your work with PEDP that led to your nomination?
A:
In collaboration with more than a dozen organizations, EPIC co-founded the Public Environmental Data Partners. We are a coalition of environmental, justice, and policy organizations, researchers, archivists, and students who rely on federal datasets and tools to support critical research, advocacy, policy, and litigation work. Since our founding in November 2024, we have archived 360 federal environmental datasets that have either been removed from public access or are at risk of being removed. We were also the first coalition to re-provide public access to vital tools such as the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool and EJScreen. These resources are used by state and federal agencies, advocates, and technical assistance providers to understand who is impacted by environmental burdens and where interventions are most needed to expand access to a healthy and safe environment.
I’m grateful to partners across the PEDP network like the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, Open Environmental Data Project, Boston University and Harvard University, Catalyst Cooperative, The Impact Project, and countless volunteers who have worked alongside me to bring these outcomes to fruition.
Q: What’s next for you, EPIC, and PEDP?
A:
We’re entering an exciting new phase of work across drinking water, wetlands, land management, and permitting innovation. Across environmental issues, we are strategizing on resilient approaches to data creation, management and use, and authentic technology adoption that speeds up environmental progress. In 2026, we’ll also be releasing tools that make it easier for people to 1) prioritize interventions for improving drinking water and 2) understand what infrastructure projects are being proposed and the potential environmental benefits or impacts they have.
I’m looking forward to mentoring the next generation of sustainability leaders and furthering partnerships with folks who are equally keen to deliver people and nature with the clean water and healthy environments they need to thrive.
Final Thoughts
We couldn’t be prouder of Jessie and the Technology Team she leads at EPIC. Her recognition as a 2025 Forbes Global Sustainability Leader highlights what’s possible when vision is paired with collaboration—where smart, passionate people come together to turn bold ideas into real-world solutions. This honor reflects not just individual achievement, but the power of teamwork in driving innovation and sustainability forward.
To learn more about our Technology Team’s work, visit our Technology Team page. You can also explore Jessie’s profile in Forbes to see her leadership in action, and check out the full list of honorees in the Forbes 2025 Sustainability Leaders.