William Conway
Conservation Biologist

In his 43 years with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), William Conway was a leading voice in defining the purpose and mission of zoos. Due to Conway’s considerable influence as director of WCS, zoos worldwide not only educate and entertain their visitors, but conserve and protect wildlife by serving as veritable biological ‘arks.' In the decades he was with WCS, he led the organization to a position as the leading conservation organization, helped to develop international wildlife reserves, national monuments, parks and also played a leading role in the evolution of zoo and aquariums into center for environmental science and conservation.

Julie Packard
Biologist

Julie Packard, Executive Director and Vice Chairman of the aquarium's Board of Trustees, has directed the organization since it opened in 1984. Her commitment to advancing ocean conservation has been demonstrated through the aquarium and far beyond. With a lifelong passion for environmental issues, Packard is active with numerous boards dedicated to protection of the natural world.

Hazel Wolf
Activist and Environmentalist

Hazel Wolf spent her life fighting for the environmental protection of the poor. She organized the first Indian Conservationist Conference, edited the newsletter of the Federation of Outdoor Clubs, co-founded the Seatttle Audubon Society and founded more Audubon chapters than anyone else in the society’s history. Hazel Wolf lived to be 101.

Dean James Parks Morton
Reverend

Dean Morton early perceived the centrality of the environment in religion. He became known as the "The Green Dean" for beginning the first Recycling Center on Manhattan's Upper West Side and helping found the Joint Appeal of Science and Religion and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, a group which has instilled over 50,000 congregations of every faith across America with the idea of sacred ecology and environmental responsibility.

Edward Osborne "E.O." Wilson
Biologist, author, conservationist, and professor emeritus at Harvard University

Wilson is esteemed as one of the world’s foremost scientists. A Harvard professor for four decades, Wilson has written 20 books, won two Pulitzer prizes, and discovered hundreds of new species. Considered to be one of the world's greatest living scientists, Dr. Wilson is often called, "the father of biodiversity."

The Honorable Jimmy Carter
Former U.S. President

No U.S. president since Teddy Roosevelt did more for the protection of public land than Jimmy Carter. He convinced Congress to pass the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which protected 104 million acres in Alaska -- the single largest conservation initiative in U.S. history. He also signed a law preventing the strip- mining of public lands and the Superfund law, which provides for the cleanup of hazardous-waste sites.

Oren Lyons
Faithkeeper of the Seneca Nation and of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, (Haudenosaunee) in northern New York state

Internationally venerated advocate for preserving biodiversity.

Dame Anita Roddick
Founder of The Body Shop and Environmental Activist

Roddick founded Body Shop, the first cosmetics company to prohibit the use of ingredients tested on animals and one of the first to promote fair trade with third world countries.

John H. Chafee
Former Rhode Island Governor and U.S. Senator

A lifelong Republican, John Chafee made environmental matters a chief concern, often breaking with his party to the delight of conservation groups. Among the bills Chafee fostered while in the minority was the Clean Water Act of 1986, and the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. He also was an architect of the 1980 Superfund program to clean up hazardous waste sites as well as the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Chafee authored the Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982, establishing the Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS). Upon Chafee's death in 1999, the CBRS was renamed the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System.

Ted Turner
American Media Mogul and Philanthropist

Turner has devoted his assets to a blend of environmentalism and capitalism, owning more land than any other American, and using much of that land for ranches as part of his plan to re-popularize bison meat (for his Ted's Montana Grill chain), in the process amassing the largest herd in the world. The Turner Foundation -- endowed with earnings from Turner's Cable News Network and its acquisition by Time Warner -- gives away tens of millions of dollars each year to grassroots conservation efforts.

Durward L. Allen
Wildlife Biologist

Dr. Durward Allen's work contributed significantly to our understanding of the web of life in the wilderness by lending perspective to the predatory habits of wolves---their remarkable management of moose and beaver in a health-and-welfare program that has not been duplicated by humans.