Hiking boot brand Keen enlists climate scientist Ann Radil

Hiking boot maker Keen has snagged a former NASA climate scientist to head up sustainability, philanthropy and advocacy. Ann Radil is the new senior director of the Keen Effect, the company’s impact program, where she is leading climate action, circular economy programs and attempts to ramp up green chemistry.

The Portland, Oregon-based footwear company was an early mover in phasing out “forever chemicals” such as poly- and per-fluoroalkyls (PFAS), used in water- and stain-resistance. Radil quietly started on Sept. 27 as the brand debuted during Paris Fashion Week. She reports to CEO and President Rory Fuerst.

“Though I’m just getting started, it’s clear that Keen is doing something unique,” Radil wrote in a post on LinkedIn, garnering more than 50 positive comments. “For over 20 years, the company has given away millions of dollars to important causes, pioneered solutions to daunting challenges like plastic pollution and built meaningful partnerships across the industry that amplify their mission.”

Radil brings to Keen, a private company of 800 employees, learnings from the decarbonization strategies she helped execute at larger corporations.

“There’s a lot of opportunity when it comes to the work around decarbonization that we’re really excited about,” Radil said. “There’s this steady drumbeat that you will hear at Keen, which is that we want to be the most trusted footwear brand in the world. In order to do that, we recognize that there are places where we want to continue to really lead, and there are also all these steps on that path that are just table stakes.”

Among the latter: Radil anticipates validation for its 2033 emissions goals with the Science-Based Targets initiative. The aim is to slash climate emissions by 55 percent for Scopes 1 and 2 against the 2021 base year, and by 62 percent per 1,000 pairs for Scope 3.

Keen’s Kentucky plant produces a third of its footwear. With that level of supply-chain control, the brand could theoretically install onsite solar power or explore other decarbonization tactics that would be harder to achieve with a contracted site, she said. Keen already uses renewable energy certificates (RECs).

Radil’s path

Radil’s two decades in sustainability includes consulting with Nike, JP Morgan Chase and Yeti through firms including Watershed, Slalom Consulting, Parametrix and Ecova. 

Last year, the World Resources Institute picked her to join the technical working group updating the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard.

In October, Radil left a senior sustainability advisor role at Watershed, where she had spent two years assisting such clients as Walmart and General Mills. “At Watershed, I had the privilege of working alongside exceptionally talented people to break down the toughest barriers to corporate decarbonization,” wrote Radil, who led regulatory and compliance strategy, counseled executives and helped to develop partnerships.

Prior to Watershed, the self-described “change agent” served as a strategic advisor at Neutral, a “climate-neutral” milk maker advancing low-methane dairy farming.

For four years Radil oversaw Nike’s global circular economy programs, leaving in 2017. While she was director of program management, the sneaker brand eliminated 16,000 megatons of CO2 equivalent, according to Radil.

At Ecova, she helped Coca-Cola and IBM with climate disclosures and led the Oregon wine industry in a carbon neutrality challenge. Through Slalom Consulting, Radil helped to lead decarbonization for Portland General Electric. At Parametrix, she made climate policy frameworks and emissions models for the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation.

Radil earned her master’s degree in climate science at the University of Montana, where she worked for several years on projects including on NASA’s Earth Observing System Project. Her advisor was Steven Running, who won a Nobel Prize with Al Gore for his work on the board of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

Radil also holds a bachelor’s in environmental geography and geology from Colgate University.

“What feels really unique and excites me about this role at Keen is there’s just a different conversation that’s happening at privately held companies that have a clear value of sustainability,” she said.