skip to main content
John Passacantando
John Passacantando
00:59

John Passacantando

Greenpeace

Washington, DC USA

"You have to find some level of comfort with not knowing."

Career Roadmap

John's work combines: Environment & Nature, Non-Profit Organizations, and Upholding a Cause and Belief

See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.

Take Roadmap Quiz

Day In The Life

Executive Director

I work in the global fight to stop climate change.

Skills & Education

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Economics, General

    Wake Forest University

  • Graduate Degree

    Economics, General

    New York University

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life has been direct

  • 1.

    In college, he felt like everyone around him was studying accounting because they knew they could get a job in the field.

  • 2.

    When people asked what he wanted to do with his life, he'd tell them he wanted to go, just so he could end the conversation.

  • 3.

    Became fascinated with economics, fell into selling conservative economic research to Wall Street.

  • 4.

    In the meantime, his friend was lending him radical environmentalist literature, which struck a chord with his outdoorsy spirit.

  • 5.

    Says his "avocation and vocation came crashing together"; he felt he had to make a choice, chose environmentalism.

  • 6.

    Joined a conservationist foundation, stayed on for three years before leaving to found his own organization, Ozone Action.

  • 7.

    Greenpeace hired him as executive director and he folded Ozone Action's objectives into the Greenpeace mission statement.

  • 8.

    Says his path-from conservative economics to radical conservatism-wasn't linear, but made sense to him because he explored all his interests.