Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award

Judges

Four judges select a winner after reviewing finalist video interviews, faculty and executive committee scores, and supplemental materials from nominators.

Nicolas Berggruen

Chairman of Berggruen Holdings
Eric Garcetti

Mayor of Los Angles
Wendy Schmidt

President of The Schmidt Family Foundation
Kathryn Sullivan

Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere
Nominators

Twenty-six nominators from around the world, selected for their own creativity and contributions in the environmental arena, each submit one candidate for the award.

David Biello

Science Curator for TED
Ashley Boren

Executive Director of Sustainable Conservation
Karl Burkart

Director of Innovation, Media & Technology at The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation
Alejandra Campoverdi

First 5 CA commissioner

Jaime Carlson

Executive Vice President of Operations of Cypress Creek Renewables
Crystal Hayling

Managing Director of Aspen Environment Leadership Program
Amy Hunter

Global Head of Sustainability at BlackRock
Andy Karsner

Managing Partner of Emerson Collective
Shlomy Kattan

Executive Director at XPRIZE Foundation
Katherine Keating

Publisher of VICE Impact
Emma Marris

Science Writer for National Geographic and New York Times

Steve McCormick

Co-founder and CEO of The Earth Genome
Oliver Morton

Environmental Editor at The Economist
Adán Ortega

Principal of Ortega Strategies
Elise Pearlstein

Senior Vice President of Documentary Film at Participant Media
Ted Richane

Director of Engagement and Impact at Vulcan Productions
Mary Ruckelshaus

Director of Natural Capital Project
D'Artagnan Scorza

Founder and Executive Director of Social Justice Learning Institute
David Skelly

Director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History
Cindy Starrett

Partner at Latham and Watkins LLF
Tom Unterman

Chairman of California Community Foundation
Ami Vitale

Photographer for National Geographic
Melani A. Walton

Co-founder of the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation
Steve Westly

Founder and Managing Partner of The Westly Group
Hazel Wong

Director of Global Conservation Campains at The Nature Conservancy
Dawn Wright

Chief Scientist at Environmental Systems Research Institute
Executive Committee

The executive committee scores all 20 nominees using a standard rubric and presents five finalists to the judges.

Tony Pritzker

Founder and Chair of the Pritzker Genius Award
Mark Gold

Associate Vice Chancellor of Environment and Sustainability
Peter Kareiva
Peter Kareiva

Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
David Schlais

Head of Strategic Initiatives at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
Faculty Committee

A committee of 12 UCLA faculty representing a wide range of disciplines and fields each evaluate five candidates.

Charles Corbett

Professor at Anderson School of Management
Magali Delmas

Professor of Management at Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
J.R. DeShazo
J.R. DeShazo

Director of Luskin Center for Innovation
rajit-gadh
Rajit Gadh

Professor in Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Alex Hall

Director of Center for Climate Change
Ursula K. Heise

Co-founder of Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies
Nurit Katz

Chief Sustainability Officer at UCLA
Jamie Lloyd-Smith

Professor at Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Rebeca Méndez

Professor at Design & Media Arts

Stephanie Pincetl, PhD

Founding Director of California Center for Sustainable Communities

H. Bradley Shaffer

Director of La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science
Yifang Zhu

Associate Director of Center for Clean Air