Throughout his career, Henry “Hank” Cauley ’77 has sought to find solutions to difficult challenges. “I’m a sucker for mission-driven organizations,” says Cauley. “I’m working on big, complex problems with no neat solutions.”
In 2006, Cauley joined The Pew Charitable Trusts to lead a project to conserve the southern oceans’ most spectacular features. Now a senior officer, Cauley is involved in strategic planning in the executive office and health group.
His problem-solving quest began 29 years ago on a humanitarian visit to Somalia. Eager to serve, Cauley connected with Volunteers in Technical Assistance to help save the country’s rapidly disappearing forests by building health clinics with an adobe-type brick instead of wood. “It took me just two weeks to get the brick cooperative up and running,” he recalls.
Cauley also established a program to develop a fuel-efficient stove. Since its launch, the effort has produced millions of stoves that consume half the fuel of the predecessor and has put many Somalis to work, including Mohamed Hassan Nur ’90.
A chemical engineering graduate, Cauley holds a master’s in chemical engineering from Arizona State University and an MBA from Harvard. He serves on the boards of Root Capital, Aquaculture Stewardship Council, and Center for Science in Public Participation.