Craig Keys (he/him) is an experienced legal and business affairs executive with a demonstrated history of working in development, entertainment, and technology industries. He earned bachelor’s degrees in mass communications and social science from UC Berkeley where he is a Fellow of the Order of the Golden Bear. Craig also holds joint Juris Doctor and master’s degrees from UC Hastings Law School and Columbia University. His law and policy research papers have been published in academic journals by UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Columbia. Craig holds other distinctive honors including  Dean’s Lecturer in Law for the USC Gould School of Law, law professor at the New College of Law, Dean’s Graduate Research Fellow at the UCLA School of Public Administration, and Thurgood Marshall Law Fellow at the San Francisco Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights where he oversaw a business law clinic serving community artists and entrepreneurs. 

James Jackson (he/him) is a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, and research professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on issues of racial and ethnic influences on life-course development, attitude change, reciprocity, social support, and coping and health among blacks in the Diaspora. He is a former Director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies and a former National President of the Association of Black Psychologists, the Consortium of Social Science Associations, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. He is a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, the W.E.B. Dubois Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.

Edward  Greene (he/him) is the former UN Secretary General Special Envoy for HIV in the Caribbean and the Assistant Secretary General for Human and Social Development at the Caribbean community, CARICOM. At CARICOM, he was Chair of the Steering Committee for Climate Change and Sustainable Development. A native of Guyana, he worked at all three campuses of the University of the West Indies – in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica – and now holds the title of Professor Emeritus. He co-founded Global Frontier Advisory and Development Services which promotes the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals and specializes in global and regional affairs. Eddie’s expertise includes change management, poverty alleviation, climate resilience, education and training, gender equality, sustainable development, and the green economy, project design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

Sekita Grant (she/her) is an environmental policy and social justice strategist, a climate justice advocate, and a life-long student. She was the first Florida Sea Grant Conservation Clinic Legal Fellow for her work as a lawyer. Sekita attended UC Berkeley and received a B.S. in management at Georgia Tech, a law degree from the University of Southern California, and an LL.M. in environmental and land use law at the University of Florida. She has worked with the Supreme Court of Jamaica, The Nature Conservancy, the California Energy Commission, Business for Social Responsibility, Greenlining Institute, and Emerson Collective. During her time at the Greenlining Institute, she served as an environmental equity strategist using creative policy advocacy and coalition building to bring diversity and equity into California’s climate, transportation, and clean energy policies.

Taj Eldridge (he/him) is the Senior Director of Investment at Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI). There, he spearheads a division geared towards facilitating the successful growth of sustainable high-tech startup companies engaged in entrepreneurial research and development of advanced technologies with the intent to create high-tech jobs throughout California. Taj was formerly part of the steering committee for The Highlander Venture Fund, dedicated to investing in startups at the University of California Riverside. Taj was also the Director with the ExCITE Incubator affiliated with the University of California Riverside. Taj is also Advisor in Residence for the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and as serves as a judge for the California Dreamin’ Business Plan Competition, the UCLA/Knapp Venture Capital competition, and Big Ideas Berkeley. 

Dayanni Bhagwandin (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department at UCLA and a writer for CDLS’ student-run publication, Climate Currents. She is from Guyana and immigrated to New York where she lived in the Bronx. 

Her research is relevant to solar cells and focuses on synthesizing devices and supercapacitors. Dayanni takes part in Climate Currents because she feels that it is important to share her scientific knowledge with her community and wants to give other people the chance to explore science in the same way that she has. 

Toni Antonucci (she/her) is the Elizabeth M. Douvan Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Program Director and Research Professor in the Life Course Development Program at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. 

She is particularly interested in how social relations optimize or jeopardize an individual’s ability to face life’s challenges. She received a Research Career Development Award and is currently funded or has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, the National Science Foundation, several private foundations, and most recently, the Fetzer Institute, and the MacArthur and Templeton Foundations. 

Pono Shim (he/him) is a gifted storyteller who is known for using illustrations to connect with his audiences. He believes that the majority of social issues facing individuals, organizations, and communities are symptoms of deeper problems that can and must be addressed today. In 2009, he was asked to take over the leadership of Enterprise Honolulu (now the Oahu Economic Development Board). At the time, the organization was in serious financial distress and had lost favor with the local community. Pono deployed techniques of transforming the organization’s culture, collectively known as ADHOC (Aloha Defines Hawaii’s Organizational Culture). Today, the organization is financially stable and considered an influential leadership hub in the state. Pono considers his exposure to Hawaii leadership philosophies as a child to be the backbone to his ideas, actions and words.

Catherine Flowers (she/her) is the founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, which seeks to address the root causes of poverty by seeking sustainable solutions. She is the Rural Development Manager for the Equal Justice Initiative which serves the citizens of Lowndes County, one of the ten poorest counties in Alabama’s Black Belt; Catherine brings significant resources to address its many environmental and social injustices. Her work there addresses the lack of sewage disposal infrastructure and the legacy of racism and neglect stretching back to the time of slavery. 

Catherine is an internationally recognized advocate for the human right to water and sanitation, and she works to make the UN Sustainable Development Agenda accountable to frontline communities. She is a Professor of Practice at Duke University.

Glenn Prickett (he/him) is Founder and Principal of Rock Creek Strategies, LLC, a strategic advisory firm that helps companies, investors, and organizations incorporate the value of nature into economic development. Glenn launched Rock Creek Strategies in 2019 after three decades of leadership in global development, corporate sustainability, and environmental, natural resource, and climate change policy and practice. He previously served as Chief External Affairs Officer at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Prior to TNC, Glenn spent 14 years at Conservation International, where he led efforts to engage the private and public sectors in conservation and sustainability. Glenn served in the Clinton Administration as Chief Environmental Advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he oversaw environmental and energy assistance to developing nations. Glenn began his career as a policy advocate with National Resources Defense Council.