In the last 40 years, environmental and human rights activist Dianne Dillon-Ridgley has been at the forefront of society’s shift from an industrial one to one focused on sustainability. Appointed by three U.S. presidents across three administrations, she has served on 23 U.S. delegations at the United Nations and other global meetings. By appointment of the White House, she attended the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the 1997 General Assembly Special Session, and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa, making her the only person to serve on all three U.S. delegations. From 1997 to 2014, she was a director on the board of Interface, Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet tiles and a global leader in sustainable design. She was also a non-executive director for and chair of the Green Mountain Energy Company environmental committee for six years before it was bought by NRG. She is currently in her second term as an independent director at Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. After a decade on the board of the Center for International Environmental Law, she became the first woman and first person of color to chair the board of trustees in 2014. In 2021 she was again elected board chair. Dianne has been awarded two honorary degrees: in 2013 for human rights by Green Mountain College and in 2015 an honorary doctorate of science for sustainable design by Illinois Institute for Technology. Dianne is the mother of two adult children reared in Iowa; her daughter Karima graduated from Harvard and her son Dasal graduated from Morehouse.