Dr Allenby was born in Highland Park, Illinois on December 29, 1950 to Dr. Richard J. Allenby, jr.(1923-2017) and Julia T. Allenby(1925–2002). He is the oldest of three brothers, Dr. Kent Allenby(1952- ) and Peter Allenby(1957- ). Allenby graduated cum laude from Yale University in 1972, received his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia Law School in 1978, his Masters in Economics from the University of Virginia in 1979, his Masters in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University in the Spring of 1989, and his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers in 1992.

He joined AT&T in 1983 as a telecommunications regulatory attorney, and was an environmental attorney and Senior Environmental Attorney for AT&T from 1984 to 1993. From 1991 to 1992 he was the J. Herbert Holloman Fellow at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, DC. During 1992, he was the J. Herbert Holloman Fellow at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, DC. From 1995 to 1997 he was Director for Energy and Environmental Systems at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, on temporary assignment from his position as Research Vice President, Technology and Environment, for AT&T. From 1997 to 2004 he was the Environment, Health, and Safety Vice President for AT&T, with global responsibility for those operations for the firm. In 2004, he moved to Arizona State University, where he is now President’s Professor, and Lincoln Professor of Engineering and Ethics. In June, 2000, he chaired the second Gordon Conference on Industrial Ecology.

In 2007 he was President of the International Society for Industrial Ecology; Chair of the AAAS Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy; a Batten Fellow in Residence at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration; He is a member of the Virginia Bar, and has worked as an attorney for the Civil Aeronautics Board and the Federal Communications Commission, as well as a strategic consultant on economic and technical telecommunications issues. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures & Commerce. He is currently a member or former member of a number of editorial and advisory boards.