Stephen Jordan
CEO
Stephen Jordan is the CEO of the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD). Under his leadership, ISD co-founded Together for LA, the umbrella coordination group for small business resilience and recovery currently spearheading the business response to the 2025 LA wildfires. ISD is also deeply immersed in Hurricane Helene recovery issues, and has provided similar strategic insight and technical assistance for every major disaster since Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Previously, Mr. Jordan established and built the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Corporate Citizenship and ran it from 2000-2012. He served as the first private sector secretary for the Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security which led the effort to prepare for Y2K. He hosted the private sector launch of USAID’s Global Development Alliance, and he co-founded the Asia-Pacific Disaster Resilience Network, signing MOUs to facilitate public-private partnerships with six different government agencies along the way. He worked with the business community to mobilize over $3 billion for disaster response, including $750 million in response to 9/11, $550 million in response to the southeast Asia Boxer Day tsunami in 2004, and $1.1 billion in response to Hurricane Katrina. His organization was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as the “private sector’s FEMA” after Katrina in 2008.
In addition, Mr. Jordan developed inner city entrepreneurial mentorship programs, skills-based workplace volunteerism programs, K-12 education partnerships, and strengthened private sector support programs for military families and veterans. From 2013-2018, Mr. Jordan worked as a management consultant with a range of clients from entrepreneurs and nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies like Abbott and Nestle. In his early career, he worked for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and K-3 Communications, a media acquisition vehicle of KKR. Mr. Jordan has moderated and facilitated over 60 conferences, workshops and retreats. He is an internationally recognized expert and has lectured on four continents and around the United States. Mr. Jordan is a fellow of the Caux Roundtable for Moral Capitalism and an advisory board member of the University of Arizona Biosphere 2. Mr. Jordan is a voracious reader, investor and pro bono mentor for early-stage entrepreneurs. He is married with two children.
