LOS ALTOS, California—The David and Lucile Packard Foundation announced today that Dr. Jane Lubchenco has joined the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The Foundation’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to approve Dr. Lubchenco’s appointment at their quarterly meeting held on June 13-14, 2013. Dr. Lubchenco previously served on the Foundation’s Board from 2001 to 2004.
“I am delighted to welcome Jane back to the Packard Foundation’s Board of Trustees,” said Susan Packard Orr, Chair of the Board. “Jane is an outstanding leader on so many of the issues—the environment, oceans, climate—that the Packard Foundation cares about as part of our mission to protect and restore ecosystems for a world where all families can plan for their children and all children reach their potential. While we have followed and applauded her leadership in many other settings, we are especially glad to have her back on our Board.”
Dr. Lubchenco is passionate about promoting the discovery, communication and use of scientific knowledge in policy and management of natural resources. Most recently, Dr. Lubchenco was the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 2009-2013. She is a marine ecologist and environmental scientist by training, with expertise in oceans, climate change, and interactions between the environment and human well-being. Under her leadership, NOAA focused on restoring fisheries to sustainability and profitability, restoring oceans and coasts to a healthy state, protecting marine mammals and endangered species, promoting climate science and delivering climate information and services to inform understanding and adaptation, strengthening science and ensuring scientific integrity at NOAA, and delivering the highest quality science, services and stewardship possible.
After serving as the Haas Distinguished Visitor in Public Service at Stanford University during the spring of 2013, Dr. Lubchenco is now at Oregon State University. She began her academic career as a professor at Harvard University from 1975 – 1977 and continued at Oregon State University until her appointment as NOAA administrator in 2009. Dr. Lubchenco received her B.A. in biology from Colorado College, her M.S. in zoology from the University of Washington, and her Ph.D. in ecology from Harvard University.
Dr. Lubchenco has served as president of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), the International Council for Science (ICSU), and the Ecological Society of America, and was a board member for 10 years on the National Science Board. She has also served on numerous National Academy of Sciences and several commissions, including the Pew Oceans Commission, the Joint Oceans Commission Initiative, the Aspen Institute Arctic Commission, the Council of Advisors for Google Ocean and the Blue Ribbon Panel for the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Oceans. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the American Philosophical Society; the Royal Society; and the Academies of Science for the Developing World, for Europe and for Chile, and she has received numerous awards including a MacArthur “genius” award, 19 honorary doctorates, the Heinz Award for the Environment, AAAS’s Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award, the Zayed International Prize for the Environment, the Blue Planet Prize and the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology.
“I am excited to be returning to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation as a trustee,” said Dr. Lubchenco. “The Foundation has demonstrated a deep and longstanding commitment to the issues I have cared about throughout my career and has done a tremendous amount to ensure that we care about the environment and our planet in ways that will benefit society for years to come.”
