John E. Morton

John E. Morton is the Executive Managing Director of Nature Finance and Investment at WWF. He has more than thirty years of experience in emerging markets, environmental finance, and economic and environmental policy – split evenly between the private sector, the non-profit sector, and senior roles in government. Throughout his career, John has been at the forefront of designing and structuring some of the most innovative platforms and investment vehicles to mobilize private capital flows into climate- and nature-related sectors in fast-growing global markets.

John joined WWF from Pollination, a global climate change investment and advisory firm, where he was Head of Americas and a member of firm’s Executive Committee. His two tours in Government included serving as the U.S. Treasury Department's and Secretary Janet Yellen’s inaugural Climate Counselor. In this role, he managed and coordinated the Department of Treasury’s historically ambitious climate change strategy and policies. In the Obama Administration, Mr. Morton served as the President’s White House Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change at the National Security Council, a role in which he had overall responsibility for coordinating the Obama Administration’s policies and strategies on international energy and climate change issues.

Earlier in the Obama Administration, John was the Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) (now the U.S. Development Finance Corporation). At OPIC, he managed the Agency’s day-to-day operations, including its 250 employees and $20 billion investment portfolio in over one hundred countries.

Outside of Government, John was formerly Managing Director of Economic Policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts, a private equity investor with the Global Environment Fund where he led environmental infrastructure investments in developing markets. He began his career at the World Bank managing environmental infrastructure projects in the former Soviet Union.

John received an MBA. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in international economics from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. He graduated from Harvard College with a BA in Russian history and literature. He lives in Washington DC with his wife and two children.