Margaret Leinen (Conference Chair) CEO, Climate Response Fund

• Assistant Director for Geosciences at the National Science Foundation, 2000-2007.
• Dean, Graduate School of Oceanography and Vice Provost for Marine and Environmental Programs, University of Rhode Island.
• Past President of Oceanography Society, Fellow of AAAS and Geological Society of America.
• Oceanographer, biogeochemist, paleoceanographer and science administrator

Jim Buizer, Arizona State University

• Executive Director for Strategic Institutional Advancement, Office of the President.
• Executive Director, Office of Sustainability Initiatives, 2003-2007
• Past Director, Climate and Societal Interactions Office, NOAA
• Expert in science-to-action interface

Rita Colwell, University of Maryland and The Johns Hopkins University

• Distinguished University Professor, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland, College Park,
• Developing new international center for the study of infectious diseases, water, and health at Johns Hopkins
• Director, National Science Foundation, 1998-2004
• President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 1991-1998.
• Chairman of Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc.
• Environmental microbiologist and scientific administrator

Astrid Merget, Executive Vice Chancellor/Provost, Louisiana State University

• Former Dean, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University.
• Director of the School of Public Policy and Management, Ohio State University.
• Associate Dean, School of Citizenship and Public Affairs , Syracuse University
• Senior executive positions U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration
• Expert in public finance, public administration and non-profit management.

Tony Michaels: Proteus Environmental Technologies, LLC

• Co-Founder and a Managing Director of Proteus Environmental Technologies
• Operating Advisor, Pegasus Capital Advisors
• Founding Director, Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Southern California 1996 - 2008
• Bermuda Biological Station for Research
• Past President, National Association of Marine Labs , Council of Environmental Deans and Director and help found Consortium for Ocean Leadership
• Commercializing transformative environmental science