Leadership

NRDC's leadership team and board of trustees make sure the organization works to ensure the rights of all people to a livable planet with clean air, clean water, and healthy, equitable communities.

CHAIR
Kathleen Welch
Founder and Principal, Corridor Partners

CHAIR EMERITUS
Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr.
Chief Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School; 
Senior Counsel, Cravath, Swaine and Moore, LLP

TREASURER
Mary P. Moran
Environmentalist; foundation director

Katherine Adams
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Apple Inc.;
President and Board Member, Beaverkill Valley Land Trust 

Geeta Aiyer
President and Founder, Boston Common Asset Management, LLC

Richard E. Ayres
Environmentalist

Atif Azher
Corporate Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Palo Alto, California office

Patricia Bauman
President, Bauman Foundation;
Chair, NRDC Action Fund;
Co-Chair, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School

Claire Bernard
President, Mariposa Foundation

Sarah E. Cogan
Of Counsel, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, New York office

Nathaniel Dean
Senior Portfolio Manager and Partner, Capula Investment Management
 

Leonardo DiCaprio
Founder and Co-Chairman, Earth Alliance

John E. Echohawk
Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund

Catherine C. Flowers
Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice

Lisa Hall
Impact Chair, Apollo Global Management

Nicole E. Lederer
Chair and Co-Founder, Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Actress; producer

Kelly Chapman Meyer
Co-Founder, American Heart Association Teaching Gardens

Peter Morton
Chairman and Founder, 510 Development Corporation

Wendy K. Neu
Chairman and CEO, Hugo Neu Corporation;
Grassroots community organizer and activist

Frederica P. Perera, Dr.P.H., Ph.D.
Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health;
Founding Director, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health;
Director, Program in Translational Research

Lynn Price
Senior Scientist (Retired) and Affiliate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory;
Lead Author and Expert Reviewer, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
 

Diana Propper de Callejon
Managing Director, Cranemere Inc.

Robert Redford 
Actor; Director; Conservationist

Elena Rios, M.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Hispanic Medical Association
President, National Hispanic Health Foundation

Tom Roush, M.D.
Private Investor; Environmental Activist

Tom Soto
Founder and Managing Partner, Latimer Partners, LLC 

Gerald Torres
Professor of Environmental Justice, Yale School of the Environment Studies, Yale Law School

Margret Trilli
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, Impact Assets

David C. Vladeck
A.B. Chettle, Jr., Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

David F. Welch, Ph.D.
Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Infinera Corporation

Daniel Yates
Chief Executive Officer, Dandelion Geothermal

CHAIR EMERITUS
Alan F. Horn
Chief Creative Officer, The Walt Disney Studios

CHAIR EMERITUS
Daniel R. Tishman
Vice Chairman and Principal of Tishman Realty

John H. Adams
Founding Director, NRDC;
Chair, Open Space Institute

Frances Beinecke
President Emerita, NRDC

Anita Bekenstein
Environmentalist; Foundation Director

Anna Scott Carter
Environmentalist; Co-Founder, 'Clean by Design' Initiative

Laurie David 
Producer; Author; Advocate;
Co-Founder, NRDC Los Angeles Leadership Council 

Sylvia A. Earle, Ph.D.
Chair, Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, Inc.

Robert J. Fisher 
Director, Gap Inc.

Charles E. Koob
Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Philip B. Korsant
Member, Long Light Capital, LLC

Ruben Kraiem
Senior Counsel, Covington and Burling LLP

Shelly B. Malkin 
Artist; Conservationist

Josephine A. Merck
Artist; Founder, Ocean View Foundation

Laurance Rockefeller
Conservationist 

Jonathan F. P. Rose
President, Jonathan Rose Companies LLC

Christine H. Russell, Ph.D.
Environmentalist; Foundation Director

William H. Schlesinger
President Emeritus, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

James Gustave Speth
Professor of Law, Vermont Law School;
Distinguished Senior Fellow, Demos

James Taylor 
Singer/Songwriter

George M. Woodwell, Ph.D.
NRDC Distinguished Scientist; 
Founder, Director Emeritus, Woods Hole Research Center

Learn More About a Few of Our Leaders & Trustees