Wendy Gordon is the co-founder and former president of PIPs Rewards LLC, a wholly owned charitable subsidiary of the PIPs Education Fund (PEF), a New York State 501(c)(3) public foundation.
Together with a global team, Gordon co-created the PIPs Rewards mobile engagement platform to leverage the power of a rewards currency (called “Positive Impact Points” or “PIPs”), smart tools, and games to track and reward daily life choices that deliver personal and planetary benefits. The PIPs platform has been used by universities and nonprofit service organizations to recognize and reward 10s of 1000s of students, low income students in particular, for completing everyday positive impact actions.
Some of the students were extrinsically rewarded with grants for school, others with gift cards, but all came away with a sense of their own intrinsic purpose and agency.
Previously, Gordon worked as a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, co-founded the Mothers & Others campaign with Meryl Streep, and developed The Green Guide, a bi-monthly publication which was acquired by National Geographic in 2007. She has co-authored numerous books, including the award-winning True Food: 8 Simple Steps to a Healthier You (National Geographic, 2009).
Gordon holds a B.S. in geological and geophysical sciences from Princeton University and an M.S. in environmental health sciences from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Rainforest Alliance, the Board of Governors for the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School, and the Rockefeller Family Fund.
In her spare time, Gordon can be found cross-country skiing, hiking, gardening, and spending time with her family, which now includes five grandchildren.