Denise Thal

Denise Thal has spent her career as a program and financial leader for mission-based organizations, where money is a means to an end rather than the end itself. She is currently Executive Vice-President of Business Operations at Planned Parenthood of Michigan and previously oversaw program and business operations at The Henry Ford, a large history museum complex outside Detroit.

Her first work on environmental issues was in the Economic Analysis Department of the Environmental Protection Agency where she was part of a team developing the “Bubble Project”, an early cap and trade effort to establish a market-based approach to controlling air pollution.

She has taught Budgeting for Mission-Based Organizations at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy, provided financial advice to community not-for-profit organizations, and served on the boards of numerous organizations including The Ecology Center and the Leslie Science and Nature Center.

Denise has a BA in economics from Harvard University and a MBA from the Yale School of Management.