
Amy Skoczlas Cole
Managing Director, Water
American Public Media
Amy Skoczlas Cole has worked to reimagine the systems that deliver clean water, sustainable food, and clean energy to society over a 25 year career within leading companies, foundations, and non-profits. Currently, she leads the Water Main, American Public Media Group’s groundbreaking new effort to redefine Americans’ relationship with this most vital of resources. The Water Main builds public will for clean, affordable, accessible water by catalyzing content, dialogue, and engagement designed to raise understanding and spur action. Before joining APMG, Amy was the founder of a strategic advisory firm focused redefining the relationship between people, planet, and the global economy. Her clients included Safe Water Network, the McKnight Foundation, and the Nature Conservancy. She was also the founding chair of the Minnesota Sustainable Growth Coalition, a group of over 25 global businesses collaborating to drive a circular economy. Previously, she served as Pentair’s vice president of social responsibility, and led the Pentair Foundation’s award-winning programs focused on safe water and the water-food-energy nexus. Before moving to Minnesota, Amy was eBay’s most senior sustainability executive, creating an industry leading data center sustainability strategy and engaging the company’s 95 million customers in making more sustainable purchases. Amy started her career at Conservation International, where she forged some of the earliest collaborations between environmentalists and the private sector. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Great Plains Institute for Sustainable Development, and on the expert advisory board for Ensia media. Amy holds an MBA from George Washington University and a BA from Vanderbilt University.