William K. Reilly Founding Partner, Aqua International Partners

Sylvia Earle Oceanographer, Environmentalist, Pioneer

David Hale President, College of the Atlantic

Dan Vermeer Executive Director, Corporate Sustainability Initiative, Duke University

Charles Vörösmarty Distinguished Scientist, NOAA CREST Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center

Thomas Kostigen Journalist, Author, Environmentalist

Philippe Cousteau CEO, Earth Echo International

Jan Cousteau Co-founder and Board Member, Earth Echo International

Steve Whittier Partner / VP Creative Director, Factory Design Labs

Dr. David John Jhirad Professor and Director of the Energy, Resources and Environment (ERE) Program at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies

William K. Reilly Founding Partner, Aqua International Partners

William K. Reilly is a Founding Partner of Aqua International Partners, a private equity fund dedicated to investing in companies engaged in water and renewable energy, and a Senior Advisor to TPG, an international investment partnership. Mr. Reilly served as the first Payne Visiting Professor at Stanford University (1993-1994), administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1989-1993), President of the World Wildlife Fund (1985-1989), President of The Conservation Foundation (1973-1989), and Director of the Rockefeller Task Force on Land Use and Urban Growth from (1972-1973). He was head of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Earth Summit at Rio in 1992.

Mr. Reilly is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the World Wildlife Fund, Co-Chair of the National Commission on Energy Policy, Chair of the Advisory Board for the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. He is a Director of the Packard Foundation, the American Academy in Rome and the National Geographic Society. He also serves on the Board of Directors of DuPont, ConocoPhillips and Royal Caribbean International. In 2007 Mr. Reilly was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds a B.A. degree from Yale, J.D. from Harvard and M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

Sylvia Earle Oceanographer, Environmentalist, Pioneer

Sylvia Earle, called "Her Deepness" by the New Yorker and the New York Times, "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress, and the first "Hero for the Planet," is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer with experience as a field research scientist. She also is executive director for corporate and nonprofit organizations, including the Aspen Institute, the Conservation Fund, American Rivers, Mote Marine Laboratory, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Rutgers Institute for Marine Science, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and Ocean Conservancy.

Former chief scientist of NOAA, Earle is president of Deep Search International and chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. She has a B.S. from Florida State University, an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Duke University, and 15 honorary degrees. She has authored more than 150 scientific, technical, and popular publications, lectured in more than 60 countries, and appeared in hundreds of television productions.

Earle is the author of many books on the ocean, including Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans and, most recently, Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas, with Linda K. Glover. Earle has led more than 60 expeditions and logged more than 6,000 hours underwater, including leading the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970 and setting a record for solo diving to a depth of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet). Her research concerns marine ecosystems with special reference to exploration and the development and use of new technologies for access and effective operations in the deep sea and other remote environments.

Honors include the Netherlands Order of the Golden Ark, inclusion in the National Women's Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Achievement, and medals from the Explorers Club, the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, the Lindbergh Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation, Sigma Xi, Barnard College, the New England Aquarium, the Seattle Aquarium, the Society of Women Geographers, and the National Parks Conservation Association.

David Hales President, College of the Atlantic

David F. Hales is the fifth president of College of the Atlantic. He became president July 1, 2006 and was inaugurated on October 8, 2006. Under his leadership, College of the Atlantic became the first institution of higher education in the United States to be a “NetZero” emitter of greenhouse gases, and one of the first US institutions in the US to commit to being 100% reliant on renewable energy by 2015.

President Hales has held numerous positions promoting sustainability nationally and internationally. He directed environmental policy and sustainability programs of the United States Agency for International Development under the Clinton administration, served in the Carter administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the United States Department of the Interior, and was Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. For seven years, Hales held the Samuel Trask Dana Chair of Natural Resources at the University of Michigan.

Hales has represented the United States in numerous intergovernmental negotiations, including the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biodiversity, the Convention to Prevent Desertification, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Rio Plus 5 and Habitat II, as well as in meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Settlements and Commission on Sustainable Development. In addition, he has frequently been called upon to serve as chair or moderator of international conferences, including the Washington and Bonn International Conferences on Renewable Energy and the Hague Conference on Energy for Development and the World Conservation Congress Forum on Renewable Energy and Climate Change.

Hales serves on the steering committee of the American College and University President Climate Commitment, and currently chairs the Stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future and the Higher Education Committee for the American Council on Renewable Energy.

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Hales holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hardin-Simmons University. He and his wife Barbara McLeod share a home on Mount Desert Island with their son, Daniel. Hales has three grown children, Joshua, Nathaniel and Lisa Davis, and two grandchildren, Taylor and Parker Davis.

Dan Vermeer Executive Director, Corporate Sustainability Initiative, Duke University

Daniel Vermeer (Ph.D., Northwestern University, 2002) is the Executive Director of the Corporate Sustainability Initiative (CSI). Dan comes to Duke from The Coca-Cola Company, where he was Director of Sustainable Value Chain, an enterprise-wide initiative to integrate sustainability into Coca-Cola's core business practices, including business planning, procurement, employee engagement, customer relationships, communications, and brand positioning.

Prior to that, Dan founded and led Coca-Cola's Community Water Partnerships program, resulting in 125 public-private water sustainability projects in fifty countries. Dan also designed an industry "gold standard" Environmental Assessment Methodology, identifying risks and priorities across over 800 manufacturing facilities in 200 countries. He is the founder and chief architect of the Global Water Challenge, a multi-partner organization for innovative water and sanitation initiatives, co-author of the CEO Water Mandate (signed by several Fortune 500 companies), and lead contributor to several policy documents issued through the World Economic Forum, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the United Nations Foundation. Dan's recent work at Coca-Cola has pursued sustainability issues and opportunities in the value chain, focusing on both upstream ingredient and material suppliers, as well as downstream retailer and consumer opportunities.

Charles Vörösmarty Distinguished Scientist, NOAA CREST Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center

Charles Vorosmarty's research interests focus on the development of computer models and geospatial data sets used in synthesis studies of the interactions among the water cycle, climate, biogeochemistry and anthropogenic activities. His studies are built around local, regional, and continental to global-scale modeling of water balance, discharge, constituent fluxes in river systems, and the analysis of the impacts of large-scale water engineering on the terrestrial water cycle.

As a distinguished member of the global scientific community, Dr. Vorosmarty serves on several national and international scientific panels including the National Research Council Committee on Hydrologic Science (Chair), the United States Arctic Research Commission (Commissioner-Presidential appointment), the Global Water System Project (Co-Chair), and the NASA Earth Science Subcommittee among others. He was a Convening Lead Author on global fresh water resources for the recently completed Millennium Assessment and has assembled regional and continental-scale hydro-meteorological data compendia, including the largest single such collection.

Thomas Kostigen Journalist, Author, Environmentalist

Thomas M. Kostigen is coauthor of The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving The Planet One Simple Step at a Time. He writes the "Ethics Monitor" column for Dow Jones MarketWatch. A longtime journalist and former Bloomberg News editor, Kostigen has been writing about global warming, the environment, social issues, and government policies for almost two decades and his work has appeared in numerous publications around the world.

He is a recognized expert and speaker on social responsibility, including issues such as water, electronic waste, energy consumption and carbon emissions. He is active in social causes domestically and abroad; he is an adviser to The Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization involved in poverty awareness, and a member of the Rainforest Action Network. He has reported from five continents, and from refugee camps in Africa and the Middle East, so his ability to connect the dots from simple, individual actions to global environmental causes is unique and widely admired. His commentaries on environmental issues regularly appear in the popular press. Tom has appeared on LIME's Good Company program, CNBC, Westwood One radio, CBS radio and other outlets to discuss social and environmental causes. He is an advocate of corporate social responsibility and regularly works with CERES (Fortune 500 environmental organization), Coop America, The Social Investment Forum, and other organizations that aim to shift social and environmental awareness through changes in habits and policies.

He was recently tapped by the state of California as an environmental expert to help promote AB 32, the most progressive global warming legislation in the country, through PSAs and videos to all state agencies and town halls.

Philippe Cousteau CEO, Earth Echo International

Philippe Cousteau is the 28 year-old son of Jan and Philippe Cousteau Sr., and the grandson of Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau. As a member of the legendary family, Philippe is continuing the work of his father and grandfather through EarthEcho International, the non-profit organization he founded with his sister and mother and of which he serves as CEO.

In addition to his work with EarthEcho International, Philippe is co-founder of Azure Worldwide (www.azureworldwide.com) a strategic 'green lifestyle' consulting and destination development company. Projects have included work with former AOL Chief Executive Steve Case's Revolution Places to provide eco-experiential programming for Cacique Costa Rica, a high-end, environmentally-friendly resort as well as environmental programming for eco-entertainment attractions in Singapore.

Philippe is the Chief Ocean Correspondent for Animal Planet, where he works on various ocean and water-focused documentary programs, including "Ocean's Deadliest," which he completed after his co-host Steve Irwin was fatally wounded during their expedition. Philippe is currently a host for Oceans, a new High Definition Discovery Channel/BBC co-production premiering in the fall of 2008 (8 one-hour episodes) that explores the state of our world's oceans and major seas. He also is the host and narrator for his own one hour special on Discovery called Living Loch Ness, premiering in the fall of 2008.

Philippe has been featured in television and radio programs across the country. He was recently named to Smithsonian Magazine's list of "37 under 36, America's Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences." He and his sister were guest editors on the November 2007 issue of Women's Health, the first magazine to ever feature a "Blue Issue", he has written articles for Sport Diver Magazine US and National Geographic Magazine and has lectured at such institutions as The United Nations, Harvard University, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Philippe serves on the Board of Directors of The Ocean Conservancy, Marine Conservation Biology Institute, and the National Environmental Education Foundation, as well as the Advisory Board of Discovery Communications Inc.'s Planet Green and is a member of the Smithsonian Institution's Ocean Initiative Council. He holds a Master's degree in history from the University of St. Andrews.

Philippe's travels have taken him diving, rock climbing, trekking, and snowboarding around the world. From expeditions in the highlands of Papua New Guinea to war-torn Sarajevo, where he provided humanitarian aid, he has learned that exploring the connections between humans and the environment are as important as exploring nature itself.

Jan Cousteau Co-founder and Board Member, Earth Echo International

Jan Cousteau was a distinguished and indispensable member of the Cousteau team, diving with them, cooking for them, photographing them, acting as their paramedic, and serving in many other ways. Originally an American fashion model, she took up the seafaring life shortly after she married Philippe Sr. In the subsequent years, she caressed humpback whales in the San Jose Gulf of Argentina, cared for two adopted baby beavers in Canada, swam among sea snakes in New Caledonia, and mothered four baby walrus on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. She swam with manatees and dolphins in Florida, explored sunken ships in Micronesia, traveled along a lobster march in the Caribbean, and filmed the antiquities of Egypt.

In 1978, Jan embarked on her twentieth Cousteau expedition, this time to the Nile River in Africa, with her two year old daughter Alexandra at her side. On June 28, 1979, Philippe Sr. lost his life when his plane, the "Flying Calypso," crashed during a water landing due to a mechanical failure. Jan was three months pregnant with Philippe Pierre at the time. While raising Alexandra and Philippe in the subsequent years, Jan ensured their father’s presence, sharing with them his philosophy, his personality, and his life experiences. As co-founder of EarthEcho International, she celebrates and continues Philippe’s legacy, lending her experience, counsel, and a sense of continuance to an organization dedicated to furthering the principles that guided his life.

Jan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Humane Society.

Steve Whittier Partner / VP Creative Director, Factory Design Labs

Steve is responsible for creative vision, guidance and team assignment within the creative services department. He aids in the development of the creative brief, overseeing all aspects of the design process, as well as the creation of subsequent marketing initiatives. Steve focuses on traditional, interactive and broadcast solutions. During Steve's tenure with Factory the agency has grown from 13 employees to currently 103.

Dr. David John Jhirad Professor and Director of the Energy, Resources and Environment (ERE) Program at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies

Dr. Jhirad brings to SAIS a distinguished record of accomplishment nearly in the environment and energy fields, spanning the federal government, academic and nonprofit arenas.

Most recently, he has served as special adviser on Energy and Climate and vice president of Research and Evaluation at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, where he has been since 2007. Prior to his tenure at the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Jhirad served as vice president for Science and Research at the World Resources Institute, a highly regarded environmental think tank based in Washington, D.C.

He spent 15 years in the U.S. government, culminating his federal service at the U.S. Department of Energy as deputy assistant secretary for International Energy Policy, Trade and Investment and senior adviser to the secretary of Energy during the Clinton Administration. He has led U.S. bilateral relationships with all major energy producing and consuming nations, and has represented the United States as vice chairman of the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency in Paris and the lead delegate to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Energy Working Group. As senior energy and science adviser to USAID, he worked in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America to implement energy policies to ensure equity, environmental sustainability, energy technology innovation and infrastructure investment.

Throughout his career, Dr. Jhirad has been a professor and/or researcher at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Brookhaven National Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Boston University and the University of Massachusetts. Co-author of three books, he has also written more than 100 technical publications on the multi-faceted nature of the global energy, climate and economic development challenge, focusing on technology, policy and security solutions.

Dr. Jhirad had his early upbringing and education in India and England. He holds a Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard University, where he won the Bowdoin Prize for excellence in research, and a B.A. and M.A. in theoretical physics from Cambridge University