Dr. Eban Goodstein, Director of the Bard MBA in Sustainability, has won the 2025 Leadership in Education Award from the Principles of Sustainable Management (PRME) — a UN Global Compact initiative focused on sustainable business education. The award was presented on June 10, 2025 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
Recognizing Leadership in Sustainable Business Education
Founded in 2007, PRME works with over 800 business and management schools worldwide to promote the integration of sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into higher education. The Leadership in Education Award recognizes individuals advancing sustainability, ethics, and social responsibility in business education.
A Pioneer in Mission-Driven MBA Programs
Goodstein was recognized for founding and continuing to lead Bard’s innovative MBA in Sustainability, one of the few graduate programs worldwide that fully integrates a focus on sustainability and mission-driven leadership into a core business curriculum. The MBA is designed around the idea that social and environmental mission should drive—not follow—business success. Based in New York City, the program enrolls over 120 students from across the U.S. and is majority women, with many students identifying as first-generation college graduates or from historically excluded communities.
The Princeton Review recognized the Bard MBA as the #1 Green MBA for four consecutive years (2021-2024), as well as the #1 MBA for Nonprofit Management in 2024. It was also ranked #3 globally in the 2024 Corporate Knights “Better World MBA” rankings.
On receiving the Leadership in Education Award, Goodstein acknowledged the program’s faculty and students, saying: “Our teachers are all mission-driven people who work on the cutting edge of business sustainability. They are the engine of our community.” He added that “the faculty are inspired by the creativity and commitment of our students to creating a better world.”
Commitment to Justice and Equity in Sustainability
Bard’s MBA defines sustainability as “shared well-being on a healthy planet,”* — balancing ecological and social priorities. In 2020, the MBA launched the Justice in Organizations and Impacts (JOI) initiative, embedding a focus on racial and social equity throughout the curriculum. Faculty redesigned their courses to reflect this commitment, and all incoming students participate in a summer intensive on justice-centered leadership.
Real-World Impact and Career Outcomes
Career support is highly individualized, helping students build meaningful, mission-aligned careers across sectors—from energy and finance to food systems and fashion. Additionally, students receive hands-on experience in courses like NYCLab – which is a consulting course, where students work with real-world clients such as JetBlue, NASDAQ, McDonald’s, smaller start-ups and nonprofits to solve complex sustainability challenges.
Laura Gitman, Chief Impact Officer at BSR, has been teaching NYCLab for more than ten years. She noted:
“Today, we have hundreds of MBA alums doing great work in the world advancing environmental and social initiatives through business. As a result of Eban’s founding and guiding this durable and financially successful new business school, there will be thousands more to come.”
About PRME
The UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) is a global movement transforming business and management education through Six Principles aligned with the SDGs. By fostering collaboration among academic institutions, PRME ensures future leaders are equipped to address complex social, environmental, and economic challenges.
Want to turn your values into a career in sustainable business?
The Bard MBA is more than just a graduate program—it’s a new model for business education. Built around the principle that sustainability and equity must be central to every business decision, Bard’s curriculum challenges students to lead with purpose from day one.
You won’t just learn about ESG—you’ll learn how to transform systems. Through real-world consulting projects, integrated coursework, and a justice-focused foundation, students gain the tools to build impactful careers in climate tech, sustainable finance, circular economy, and beyond.
With a low-residency format designed for working professionals, the Bard MBA brings together a diverse community of changemakers committed to redefining business for a better world.
Note: “Shared Well-Being on a Healthy Planet” is a formulation of sustainability drawn from the Meadows Memorandum, 2019.
