Judges

Jess Erwin

3rd grade teacher and participant in the National Park Service's "Teacher-Ranger-Teacher" program at Grand Teton National Park

Jess has taught 3rd grade in Fort Worth, Texas for four years. This summer she will be working at the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve at the Grand Teton National Park as a ranger, through the "Teacher-Ranger-Teacher" program put on by the NPS. Here she will help promote stewardship, conservation, and work on interpretive programs and educational curriculum for the park. She also serves as her school's Garden Coordinator and Art Club teacher. She is very involved with REAL School Gardens, which is a grassroots gardening program that helps children by supporting elementary school communities as they design, install and sustain outdoor classrooms.

Chip Blake

Editor in Chief and Executive Director of Orion magazine and The Orion Society

Chip was trained as a biologist but has worked in the field of publishing, editing, and nonprofit administration for almost twenty years. He has worked at The Orion Society since 1992 and has served as its Editor in Chief and Executive Director since 2005. Originally from Philadelphia, he attended undergraduate school at the University of Colorado and graduate school at Antioch New England Graduate School. Chip serves as a panelist for several literary awards. He lives in Great Barrington, Massachusetts with his wife Lisa and son Jay.

Simran Sethi

Journalist and the Lacy C. Haynes Visiting Professional Chair at the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications

Simran is an award-winning journalist and the Lacy C. Haynes Visiting Professional Chair at the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications. She teaches courses in sustainability and environmental communications. She has contributed segments to NBC Nightly News, CNBC, the Oprah Winfrey show, Today show, and History Channel. She has been a featured guest on NPR and is the host of the Emmy-award winning PBS documentary, "A School in the Woods."

Susan Haspel

Vice President of NBC Universal Corporate Community Affairs

Susan serves as Vice President of NBC Universal Corporate Community Affairs. In this capacity, she spearheads the company's corporate citizenship strategy, which includes public education, community-building, philanthropy and volunteer efforts. Additionally, Susan oversees NBC Universal's Emmy award-winning public service campaign, The More You Know, which is currently celebrating 20 years of making a difference in communities across the country.

Susan co-created, launched and continues to serve as Executive Producer of NBC's The More You Know campaign, the longest-running and most comprehensive public service campaign in the media landscape. Since 1989, The More You Know continues to raise awareness and encourage viewers to take action. Susan has won numerous prestigious awards for her work on The More You Know, including the National Television Academy's Emmy Award, the George Foster Peabody Award, Entertainment Industries Council's Prism Award and the Gracie Allen Award from American Women in Radio and Television.

Susan oversees the NBC Universal Foundation, which supports non-profit organizations that focus on strengthening public secondary education, including environmental education. Committed to making a positive impact in targeted underserved communities, the foundation invests in educational initiatives that help prepare the nation's youth for productive futures.

In addition, Susan manages company-wide volunteer initiatives, which include tree planting and conservation/restoration projects across the country.

Susan serves on United Way of New York City's Women United Steering Committee, a group of accomplished women leaders who take an active role in improving underserved NYC communities. In 2008, she received the "Power of Women to Make a Difference" award at the Women United in Philanthropy Second Annual Awards luncheon.

Jack Chin

SCA alumnus 1979 and 1980, currently Senior Associate at Blueprint Research & Design, Inc.

Jack is Senior Associate at Blueprint Research & Design, Inc., a strategy consulting firm that specializes in helping foundations capture, use, and share information in ways that amplify the impact of their philanthropic thinking and practices. He has managed program strategy development, evaluation planning, and organizational learning projects for numerous foundation clients including the Barr, Marin Community, San Francisco, Sisters of Charity and Packard Foundations, the Roots of Change Fund, Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, and the Stewardship Council.

Jack has worked as a program officer and consultant to philanthropic institutions since 1991. Prior to joining Blueprint in 2001, he served as Co-Director of the Funders' Forum on Environment and Education; Program Officer at the GAP Foundation; and Program Fellow for the Environment at The San Francisco Foundation. Jack has also served on the Management Committee of the Environmental Grantmakers Association.

He has an extensive background in environmental education and environmental studies, having been a board member, consultant, and staff member for a number of local and national nonprofit organizations and foundations, including: the Student Conservation Association (board member), the Environmental Careers Organization (regional diversity program manager), the Sierra Club Foundation's Youth in Wilderness grants program (advisory council member), the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (founding board member of this environmental justice organization), the Marin Community Foundation (facilitator of process that established the Environmental Education Council of Marin), the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (facilitator of learning community on place-based education) and the Crissy Field Center (program design team).

Jack holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Stanford University. He previously worked in college student services administration at Oberlin College and Stanford University. Jack lives in San Francisco with his partner, Hedy Chang, and their two sons, Neil and Nevin.

Anne Thompson

NBC News' Chief Environmental Affairs correspondent

Anne was named NBC News' Chief Environmental Affairs correspondent in April 2007. She reports on such issues as alternative fuels, global warming, land usage and new technologies for all NBC News broadcasts including "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," "Today," on MSNBC, and online at www.msnbc.com.

Since March 2005, Anne has been Chief Financial correspondent reporting on financial and economic news for NBC News. Anne has reported on the economic impact of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the increased cost of health care and its impact on the economy, alternative fuel vehicles, identity theft, and the politics of the credit card industry. In addition, from a financial perspective, she covered the trials of Martha Stewart, Bernie Ebbers and Tyco.

In 2006, Anne received the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award, and she was part of the "Nightly News" team that won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Award and the Emmy Award for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. In 2004, she was awarded the Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business and financial journalism for a series of reports that aired on "Nightly News" on the jobless economic recovery. She was also nominated for four business and financial news Emmys.

Anne first joined NBC News in 1997 as a National correspondent, reporting on a variety stories including Daimler Benz' takeover of Chrysler, the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., and the execution of Timothy McVeigh for "Nightly News," "Today" and MSNBC.

In 2000, Anne was NBC News' lead correspondent covering the presidential campaigns of Democratic hopeful Senator Bill Bradley and Republican hopeful Senator John McCain. She has also covered a variety of national stories including filing reports on women in business, the birth of the McCaughey septuplets, the school shooting in Paducah, Ky., the Columbine school shooting and the attack on the World Trade Center.

Before being named an NBC News correspondent, Anne had been an award-winning general assignment reporter for WDIV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit, since 1986. While at WDIV, Anne was honored with seven Emmy Awards for a variety of stories, including her coverage of the Jessica DeBoer custody battle, a profile of Kirk Kerkorian and his attempted takeover of Chrysler, a series on two serial killers in the Detroit area, and a report on the near riots that broke out following the Detroit Pistons' championship win in 1990.

From 1983 to 1986, Anne was a consumer reporter at KSDK-TV, the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, Mo. She began her broadcasting career at WNDU-TV in South Bend, Ind., where she served as a general assignment reporter from 1979 to 1983.

Raised and educated in Europe, Anne received her high school diploma from the International School of Brussels in Belgium. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American studies.

Diane W. Wood

President of the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)

Diane is president of the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), a nonprofit organization committed to providing objective environmental information to help Americans live better everyday. Ms. Wood has over two decades of executive experience both nationally and internationally. She served for 15 years as the vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). There, she developed and managed an $18 million conservation program. Ms. Wood also established WWF's Center for Conservation Innovation. Before joining NEEF, she was the executive director of the Center for a New American Dream.

Her experience in environmental education spans formal and non-formal education sectors and includes curriculum development, nature interpretation, conservation education, sustainability education and natural resources extension. Ms. Wood has been a consultant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Peace Corps and the U.S. Agency for International Development. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including a 10-year Presidential appointment (under both George H.W. Bush and William J. Clinton) to the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative board. Ms. Wood has a Masters in Science and Environmental Education from Cornell University.