Hazel Wong is a tenacious conservation advocate. Under her tenure as director of Global Conservation Campaigns, The Nature Conservancy has generated over $39 billion in public funding at state and local levels for natural resources protection. Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy Hazel had a long and distinguished career in both politics and the broadcast media. She managed and coordinated candidate campaigns for the Nevada State Democratic party. She was also an assignment editor, producer and announcer on local TV and radio.

Hazel’s educational background includes a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication from California State University, Fullerton. Born in the Seychelles, a group of islands off the east coast of Africa, Hazel has been at the forefront of researching how to engage communities of color in conservation and has been an advocate on diversifying the conservation community.

As the founder and a managing partner of The Westly Group, Steve has helped build one of the U.S.’s larger sustainability venture firms, with $420 million under management. The company has invested in 33 portfolio companies—including Tesla Motors where Steve served on the Board and chaired the audit committee for three years.

Prior to this Steve was California’s Controller and Chief Fiscal Officer. As Controller, he chaired the State Lands Commission and served on 63 other boards and commissions, including CalPERS and CalSTRS, the nation’s two largest public pension funds—together investing more than $350 billion. In the 2008 election Steve was a California co-chair of the Obama for America campaign. He also served on the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board as a representative for the venture capital industry.

Before running for office, Steve was senior vice president of Marketing, Business Development, Marketing and Analysis, and International for eBay, helping take the company public in 1998. Steve got his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and has an M.B.A. from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he is currently teaching a course called “The Policy, Politics and Finance for Solving Global Warming”.

As a philanthropist, Melani Walton is committed to efforts on a local, national, and global scale.  With her studies in Art History and background as a K-12 Educator, real estate specialist, multi-sport clinician, and Collegiate All-American in basketball and track & field, she brings a diverse skill set to the philanthropic arena. Melani is passionate about supporting research and innovation in the areas of education, arts and humanities, brain health, consciousness studies, well-being, conservation and sustainability.  

Melani serves and has served on a number of boards and committees, including: Arizona State University’s (ASU) Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives at GIOS, ASU’s Women and Philanthropy, 2013-2015 Co-Chair; the Arizona Women’s Board; Arizona Science Center Board and their Learning Committee Co-Chair, and the Galaxy Gala ‘Believe’ 2014 Co-Chair; Co-Creator of the Walton Optimal Neurological Discovery Education and Research (W.O.N.D.E.R.) Center; Arizona Foundation for Women’s Sandra Day O’Connor 2013 luncheon co-chair; The Phoenix Symphony Board, and B-Sharp W.O.N.D.E.R Project, 2014 Sound of Speed Co-Chair; The Phoenix Theatre’s Partners that Heal W.O.N.D.E.R Project; The Phoenix Children’s Hospital Board and Circle of Care Chair; Society of St Vincent de Paul Advisory Board; The Aspen Brain Forum; The Nature Conservancy; Conservation International; Foundation for Living Medicine; African Parks and she is a member of the National Association of Professional Women and the Arizona Women’s Forum. The Foundation is also supportive of  the Rob and Melani Walton  Urban Farm at St Vincent de Paul, Rob and Melani Walton Campus of Liberty Wildlife, and the Walton Fellows for Conservation International.  In honor of the couple’s efforts in conservation, The Nature Conservancy has dedicated the Rob and Melani Walton Nature Preserve in Northwest Arkansas.

Mark Tercek leads The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a global conservation organization known for its intense focus on collaboration and getting things done for the benefit of both people and nature. After 24 years as a managing director and partner at Goldman Sachs, Mark joined TNC in 2008 eager to get businesses, governments and environmental organizations working together in innovative ways. He’s a champion of ‘natural capital’ which values nature for its own sake, as well as the services it provides for people such as clean air and water, along with a stable climate. 

In 2012 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Mark to serve on the New York State 2100 Commission, created in the wake of Superstorm Sandy to ensure the state’s resilience to future storms. He is the author of the Washington Post bestseller “Nature’s Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature.”

Lucinda (“Cindy”) Starrett is global chair of Latham’s Project Siting and Approvals Practice and a partner in the Los Angeles office. For many years she’s co-chaired the firm’s Land Use Practice, leading interdisciplinary teams for governmental and administrative matters in California.

Ms. Starrett co-chairs the Environmental Regulatory Committee for the California Chamber of Commerce and has led state-wide efforts on CEQA reform. She represents Los Angeles County on the Culver City Redevelopment Successor Agency. Ms. Starrett chairs the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and serves on boards including Abode Community Housing, Sustainable Conservation, Los Angeles Orthopedic Hospital and the Dodger Foundation.  Ms. Starrett is also working with the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce on CEQA legislative matters.

She was named one of L.A.’s most influential people by the Los Angeles Business Journal’s L.A. 500 guide and identified as a leading Facilitator for 2016. And recognized as a top “Woman Lawyer in California for 2016 by the Daily Journal, which commented that “Many attorneys can point to a thick book of business as evidence of success, all Starrett needs to do is point at the LA skyline.” She’s been cited as a “strong choice for providing land use advice for developments in Los Angeles” and a “very smart and experienced tactician on the legal side.” – Chambers U.S.A. 2016. She’s also been recognized as a leading attorney in Chambers U.S.A. and The Legal 500 U.S. for real estate. She got her J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1984, and her B.A. from Princeton University in 1979.

Dave Skelly is a field biologist focusing primarily on the ecology and development of amphibians. Prior to becoming the museum director Dave served as Associate Dean for Research in Forestry for five years.  He also holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He’s authored more than 80 papers, with his work on the effects of water pollution on the development of frogs in suburban environments receiving national media attention.  Dave has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a four-time winner of the Forestry School’s annual prize for teaching excellence.  Dave received his B.A. from Middlebury College and Ph.D. in biology from the University of Michigan, and held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Wollongong, Australia and the University of Washington before joining Yale’s faculty in 1996.

Dr. Scorza is serving his first term on the Inglewood Unified School District Board of Education. As a US Navy Iraq-War Veteran he helped establish a naval operations unit supporting navy personnel traveling in and out of hostile zones. He attended both UCLA and National University and earned his Ph.D. in Education from UCLA. At UCLA, he helped organize an effort to increase enrollment of African American and Latino students and served on the UC Board of Regents.  In addition to his service on the school board D’Artagnan is the founder and executive director of the Social Justice Learning Institute—a non-profit organization that works to help communities achieve health and educational equity.  To that end, he’s written extensively on the importance of social justice youth development as a strategy that fosters academic development. D’Artagnan also chaired Inglewood Unified School District’s Measure GG campaign, which secured $90 million in school improvement bonds to renovate Inglewood schools and expand access to a safe, healthy, and quality education.  He served as a spokesperson for the Citizens for Revitalizing the City of Champions Revitalization Initiative, an organization gathering support to add a sports and entertainment zone to the Hollywood Park project in Inglewood, California.  He was named a 2010 Education Pioneers Fellow and a 2013-2014 Business Alliance for Local Living Economies Fellow.