our advisory council

the work done by planet forward would not be possible without the insightful guidance and generous support of our advisory council.

from working climate journalists to alums of our correspondent program, to leaders in corporate sustainability; our councilmembers bring a variety of backgrounds and expertises to the brain trust that powers our goals of uplifting young voices and seeking the solutions that will move our planet forward.

our advisory council is a wonderful team of dedicated individuals who have contributed their expertise and passion towards growing the planet forward mission. read their bios here!

our advisory council

council leadership

daniel reed

advisory council chair | george mason university

matt scott

advisory council vice chair | project drawdown

council members

jerry bloom

winston & strawn

sophia calvi

director of programs, franklin environmental center | middlebury college

deepti bansal gage

beveridge & diamond

terry garcia

exploration ventures

betty hudson

president | hudson & associates

rick leach

main sail strategies

michelle mccauley

interim executive vice president, provost | middlebury college

jake meyers

ide (international development enterprises)

greg moga

moga investments

meaghan parker

society of environmental journalists

charles richardson

alabama a&m university

tik root

senior staff writer at grist

michael silberman

social impact strategist

lydia thomas

noblis

beth viola

holland & knight

carol werner

environmental and energy study institute

kaitlin yarnall

the national geographic society

in remembrance

dr. thomas lovejoy, 2017-2021

thomas e. lovejoy died dec. 25, 2021. he was elected university professor at george mason in march 2010. he previously held the biodiversity chair at the heinz center for science, economics and the environment and was president from 2002-2008.

an ecologist who worked in the brazilian amazon since 1965, he focused on the interface of science and environmental policy. starting in the 1970’s he helped bring attention to the issue of tropical deforestation and in 1980 published the first estimate of global extinction rates (in the global 2000 report to the president). he conceived the idea for the long term study on forest fragmentation in the amazon (started in 1978) which is the largest experiment in landscape ecology, the minimum critical size of ecosystems project (also known as the biological dynamics of forest fragments project). he also coined the term “biological diversity,” originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps and has worked on the interaction between climate change and biodiversity for more than 30 years.

he was the founder of the public television series “nature.” he served as the senior advisor to the president of the united nations foundation, as the chief biodiversity advisor to the world bank as well as lead specialist for the environment for the latin american region, as the assistant secretary for environmental and external affairs for the smithsonian institution, and as executive vice president of world wildlife fund-u.s.

in 2002, he was awarded the tyler prize, and in 2009 he was the winner of bbva foundation frontiers of knowledge award in the ecology and conservation biology category. in 2012 he received the blue planet prize. he has served on advisory councils in the reagan, george h.w. bush, and clinton administrations. in 2009 he was appointed conservation fellow by the national geographic society. he chaired the scientific and technical panel for the global environment facility which provides funding related to the international environmental conventions from 2009-2013 and served as advisor to the chair.

he received his b.s. and ph.d. (biology) from yale university.

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