André Heinz

Who is André Heinz?

André Thierstein Heinz is an American environmentalist.

Heinz is the son of Teresa Heinz and the late H. John Heinz III, the brother of H. John Heinz IV and Christopher Heinz, stepson of current U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and stepbrother of Alexandra Kerry and Vanessa Kerry.

André Heinz has been active in the field of sustainable development since 1993, when he began working for William McDonough, the noted green architect and designer, on sustainable design issues and projects. At the same time, Mr. Heinz joined the board of The Heinz Endowments, where he oversaw the creation of an environmental grant-making program through a series of 14 topical environmental colloquia that convened leaders from around the world. He continues to serve on the Endowments board and on its Joint Investment Committee, which overseas the management of the $1.5 billion endowment.

Following a six-month urban redevelopment project for the City of Pittsburgh, where he applied his knowledge together with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, Mr. Heinz began research for Paul Hawken on his latest book titled “Natural Capitalism.” It chronicles examples of 75 percent or greater resource productivity at zero-to-negative cost, and suggests principles to help replicate those successes. Simultaneously, Mr. Heinz co-founded in 1995 the first U.S. office of The Natural Step, a Sweden-based nonprofit organization specialized in education and consulting around sustainable development.