​Dr. Rusty Brainard is Chief Environmental Sustainability Officer with The Red Sea Project, striving to establish new global standards for environmentally-sustainable luxury tourism development. The Red Sea Project is committed to carbon neutrality (through 100% renewable power, clean mobility, habitat enhancement, sequestration, and sustainable food production), enhancement of conservation value of 30% by 2040 (as measured by status of biodiversity), zero single-use plastics, alignment with all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, and many other efforts to ensure sustainability.

In 2020 Dr. Brainard has been appointed courtesy professor of marine science at the KAUST Red Sea Research Center in the University's Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering division.