About the Program

Advisory Council

Charles Alexander
International Editor, TIME magazine (retired)
Charles Alexander retired from TIME magazine after 23 years as a reporter, writer, and editor. Having been TIME's business editor, then science editor, then international editor, while all along editing environment stories, he now devotes all his time to environmental journalism and advocacy. He was responsible for TIME's environment coverage from the late 1980s through 2003, including the 1989 Planet of the Year issue, the 1997 Our Precious Planet special issue, the Heroes for the Planet series culminating in the Earth Day 2000 Special Edition, the Global Warming cover in 2001, and the How to Save the Earth special report in August 2002. He has won numerous honors for his writing and editing.

Nancy Baron
Ocean Science Outreach Director, SeaWeb/Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS)
Nancy Baron, a zoologist and an award-winning science writer, is the lead communications trainer for the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program. Her work focuses on helping environmental scientists translate their work effectively to journalists, the public and policy makers. She and her SeaWeb/COMPASS team keep their fingers on the pulse of important marine conservation science and have instituted a scientists' network that tracks science through its various stages of inception and development. When important new science is published, she helps the scientists translate their results and hone their messages to be more readily understood and relevant. She also leads communications training workshop for a variety of institutions and professional affiliations for academic scientists, graduate students and post docs.

Ann Bartuska, Ph.D.
Deputy Chief for Research & Development, U.S. Forest Service
Ann M. Bartuska was appointed Deputy Chief for Research & Development in the U.S. Forest Service in January 2004. She returned to the Forest Service after serving as executive director of the Invasive Species Initiative within The Nature Conservancy. Before joining TNC, she served as director of Forest and Rangeland staff for the Forest Service in Washington, D.C. An ecosystem ecologist, she has been involved with the issues of forest ecosystem health, ecosystem management, wetlands, and air pollution, both within the federal government and at North Carolina State University. Her past research has focused on ecosystems processes in landscapes disturbed by coal mining. She has extensive experience interacting with Congress, the media, federal and state agencies and the public. Bartuska is an active member and past-president (2002-2003) of the Ecological Society for America.

Adam Davis
President, Solano Partners, Inc.
Adam Davis is President of Solano Partners, Inc., a consulting firm focused on environmental economics and conservation finance issues. His work is focused on the development of financial value from conservation and restoration activities on private property, and on economic incentives for environmental outcomes in many other contexts. He helped create www.ecosystemmarketplace.com, an information service that tracks news and transactions in new ecosystem service-based markets. Davis' work was featured in The New Economy of Nature, by Daily and Ellison, and he received the 2002 Ecological Society of America corporate award for "his contribution to the understanding of connections between recycling, resource recovery and ecosystem health." Prior to founding Solano Partners, Davis served as Director of the Environment Division for EPRIsolutions, a consulting firm owned by the Electric Power Research Institute. This Division of EPRI develops financial value from land and ecosystem conservation strategies for private sector clients. His team there used the sciences of ecological economics, restoration ecology and conservation biology, combined with decision analysis tools, appraisal methods and tax strategies to enable market based conservation choices.

Sharon Dunwoody, Ph.D.
Professor of Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sharon Dunwoody is Evjue-Bascom Professor and director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dunwoody studies public understanding of science issues and has served as a trainer in the Leopold Leadership's sessions on effective interaction between scientists and the media. Her most recent work has concentrated on examining individuals' use of information to inform their judgments about environmental and health risks, as well as on how individuals learn about science from the World Wide Web. In addition to numerous articles and book chapters, she has co-edited two volumes, Communicating Uncertainty (Erlbaum, 1999) and Scientists and Journalists (Free Press, 1986), and authored a third book, Reconstructing Science for Public Consumption (Deakin University Press, 1993).

John R. Emrick
CEO and Chairman of the Board, Norm Thompson Outfitters, Inc.
John Emrick, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Norm Thompson Outfitters, Inc. was born and educated in Portland, Oregon and has spent his entire working career with the Portland-based company, a $200 million leading national catalog retailer specializing in unique apparel, gifts, food and travel items. Under Emrick’s leadership, Norm Thompson Outfitters Inc. has been at the forefront of corporate sustainability efforts, including constructing the pioneer green building in the state of Oregon, the first to meet Portland General Electric’s Earth Smart standards. Norm Thompson is a founding member of the Oregon Natural Step Network and a member of Business for Social Responsibility, Certified Forest Products Council and Recycled Paper Coalition. Emerick has served as an advisor for many state and local groups, including Oregon Public Broadcasting, CASA and 1000 Friends of Oregon. He is a trustee for the Meyer Memorial Trust, one of the largest foundations in the Pacific Northwest, and he has served on the boards of Pacific Crest Outward Bound, Friends of Opal Creek, Oregon State Parks, and House of Umoja. He currently serves on the boards of University of Portland, House of Umoja, and Illahee - environmental lecture series; and on the advisory councils of Oregon Solutions, Portland Parks Foundation, Horambee, and Oregon Natural Step Network. In 1999, Emrick and his wife, Jane, were named “Founders of a New Northwest” by Sustainable Northwest.

Barry Gold, D. Sc.
Marine Conservation Initiative Lead, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
As the Lead for the Marine Conservation Initiative at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Barry Gold is responsible for planning and implementation of the initiative. Before joining the Foundation in January 2006, Gold managed the David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s efforts to develop a scientifically credible framework for ecosystem-based management of coastal-marine systems. Prior to that, he was Chief of the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center where he led an effort to understand and restore the Colorado River ecosystem throughout the Grand Canyon. Gold has extensive experience working at the interface of environmental science and policy, having held senior positions at the Department of the Interior, the US House of Representatives, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Estella Leopold, Ph.D.
Professor of Botany, University of Washington
Estella Leopold is a professor of Botany at the University of Washington. Her research in pollen analysis has led to her interests in the evolution and ecological history of western American forests and prairies. As a daughter of Aldo Leopold she is actively involved in restoration ecology, and is currently president of the Aldo Leopold Foundation of Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Zoology and Valley Professor of Marine Biology, Oregon State University
Jane Lubchenco is Distinguished Professor of Zoology and Valley Professor of Marine Biology at Oregon State University. Her research interests include marine conservation, biodiversity, climatic change, and global sustainability. She has extensive leadership experience in the scientific community; she currently serves as a member of the National Science Board and is a recent past-president of the International Council for Science. She has been widely recognized for her contributions to fundamental science, e.g. by election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Lubchenco is actively involved in numerous conservation, environmental, and ocean science and outreach activities, including serving on the Pew Oceans Commission and as a director or trustee for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Environmental Defense, SeaWeb, the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a principal of COMPASS: the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, and co-principal investigator of the PISCO: Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans. Lubchenco has received numerous honors for her science outreach activities, including the 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science's Award for the Public Understanding of Science and Technology, the 2003 Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Conservation Biology, the 2003 Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest, and the 2002 Heinz Award in the Environment.  

Katherine McCarter, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Ecological Society of America
Katherine S. McCarter is the executive director of the Ecological Society of America, a scientific, non-profit, 7,300 member organization founded in 1915. ESA publishes three scientific, peer-reviewed journals: Ecology, Ecological Applications and Ecological Monographs. McCarter has more than 15 years of experience in non-profit association work and a long history of building coalitions, working with government agencies and testifying before Congress.

Harold Mooney, Ph.D.
Paul S. Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology, Stanford University
Harold A. Mooney is the Paul S. Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology at Stanford University. His research interests include global change impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, the role of biodiversity in ecosystem processes, and how do deal with invasive species in a global context. A leader in the global scientific community in the areas of biodiversity and climate change, Mooney has received numerous honors and awards, and has been recognized by the Institute for Scientific Information as a member of a small group of premier researchers whose work is among the "most highly cited." Mooney is a past recipient of the Ecological Society's Mercer Award and Eminent Ecologist Award, and Germany's Max Planck Research Award and Humboldt Senior Distinguished Scientist Award, among many others.

Stephen Schneider, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University
Stephen H. Schneider is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, a senior fellow at the Center for Environment Science and Policy of the Institute for International Studies, and a Professor by Courtesy in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He was selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 1992 for his ability to integrate and interpret the results of global climate research through public lectures, seminars, classroom teaching, environmental assessment committees, media appearances, Congressional testimony, and research collaboration with colleagues. He has served as a consultant to federal agencies and to the White House in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton administrations. Schneider also served in Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He received the 2003 Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award from the Society for Conservation Biology for translating principles of conservation biology into real-world conservation.

Vikki Spruill
President and Chief Executive Officer, The Ocean Conservany
In December 2006, Vikki N. Spruill began serving as president and CEO of The Ocean Conservancy, the nation’s largest ocean conservation organization. Prior to her appointment at The Ocean Conservancy, she was president and founder of SeaWeb, a non-profit organization that uses strategic communications techniques to advance ocean conservation. Spruill led a team there that in eleven years designed and executed countless important and innovative programs to promote ocean conservation and improve ocean governance. Prior to SeaWeb, Spruill spent 15 years in public relations, including five years as a senior vice president at Ruder Finn, one of the largest independently held public relations firms in the world, where she was responsible for client management and new business development. Spruill is a member of the board of directors for Sky Truth and sits on the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program Advisory Board. She is currently a director of COMPASS, the Communications Partnership for Science and the Sea and serves on the Advisory Committee for the Ocean Hall of the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum and the Conservation Committee of the SeaChange Investment Fund. She is also a newly appointed member of the Pew Fellows Advisory Committee. Most recently, Spruill founded FoundationWorks, a nonprofit organization working with foundations to enhance effectiveness for foundations and grantees.

 

Barton H. Thompson Jr., J.D., M.B.A.
Director, Stanford University Institute for the Environment and Professor of Natural Resources Law, Stanford Law School
Barton H. Thompson, Jr. is Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law at Stanford Law School and Director (along with Professor Jeff Koseff) of the Stanford Institute for the Environment. He is also a Senior Fellow, by courtesy, in the Center for Environmental Science and Policy at Stanford's Institute for International Studies. His scholarship and teaching focus on land conservation and biodiversity; fishing management; water policy; constitutional issues in environmental protection, including takings questions; and market and other alternative approaches to environmental regulation. He is co-author of Legal Control of Water Resources (West Publishing, 3d. ed., 2000) and Environmental Law & Policy: Concepts and Insights (Foundation Press 2003). He serves on the board of several environmental organizations and is a member of several scientific panels, including EPA's Science Advisory Board committee looking at the valuation of ecosystem services.

Diana Wall, Ph.D.
Professor and Senior Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University
Diana Wall, a 1999 Leopold Leadership Fellow, is professor and senior research scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University. An expert on the importance of soil biodiversity for ecosystems and society, her research from the tropics to the Antarctic Dry Valleys examines how soil biodiversity influences ecosystem processes. She chairs or serves as a member of numerous scientific national and international committees and boards. She chaired the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment’s (SCOPE) Committee on Soil and Sediment Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning and edited the volume, “Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Soils and Sediments” (2004, Island Press). She serves as a member of the U.S. Commission of the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); a member of the Advisory Committee, Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility-CIAT Project on Conservation and Sustainable Management of Belowground Biodiversity; and a member of the Advisory Board for the United Kingdom Population Biology Network. She also has served as president of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Ecological Society of America, the Intersociety Consortium for Plant Protection, the Society of Nematologists, and as chair of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents. Wall has authored many scientific papers, articles and reports, and served on several editorial boards. Her research has been widely featured in newspapers, magazines, radio and television.