Board of Directors
CHAIRMAN | Gerald Adelmann, M.Phil.
President and CEO, Openlands
Gerald W. Adelmann received his B.A. from Georgetown University and his M. Phil. from George Washington University. He joined Openlands in 1980 to coordinate a special program that led to the creation of the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor, the first federal land designation of its kind. Today, there are over forty federally designated heritage areas across the United States. In 1988, Mr. Adelmann was appointed Executive Director of Openlands. READ MORE
VICE CHAIR | Ceara Donnelley, J.D.
Strategic Counsel, Center for Humans and Nature
Ceara Donnelley is a graduate of Yale Law School, where she served as an articles editor on the Yale Journal of Law and Humanities. She also received her BA summa cum laude from Yale, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and awarded the John Addison Porter Prize for her senior thesis in the History major. Ms. Donnelley has worked at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Clinton Foundation and the World Policy Institute. In addition to her work as Vice Chair of the board, she serves as Strategic Counsel for the Center for Humans and Nature. She also sits on the board of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. READ MORE
SECRETARY | Christopher Getman, M.A.
President, Soundview Management Company
Christopher Getman is a 1964 graduate of Yale University where he received a B.A. in English. In 1965 he received an M.A. in English from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Following a five year stint teaching English and coaching at The Hotchkiss School, he returned to Yale as an Assistant Coach in football and baseball and as an Associate Director of the Yale Alumni Fund. In 1971 he joined White, Weld & Co. where he became a Vice President. White, Weld & Co. merged with Merrill Lynch in 1978 where Mr. Getman served as a first Vice President. He was with Merrill Lynch for 30 years. READ MORE
TREASURER | George Ranney, Jr., J.D.
President and CEO, Chicago Metropolis 2020
George Ranney is President and CEO of Chicago Metropolis 2020. He also serves as Chair and Chief Executive of Prairie Holdings Corporation, the firm developing Prairie Crossing, a nationally recognized conservation community in north suburban Grayslake. He served in various capacities over many years for Inland Steel Industries, including Vice President for raw materials and general counsel. He was Deputy Budget Director for the State of Illinois under Governor Richard Ogilvie. He chaired the task force that recommended the creation of the Regional Transportation Authority and led the successful referendum campaign to create the RTA. READ MORE
Tegan Donnelley
Intern, Environment, Culture and Conservation, The Field Museum
Tegan Donnelley recently graduated from Yale College, where she received her BA summa cum laude in History and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Over the past year, Tegan has interned as an Editorial Assistant at Michigan Avenue Magazine and in the Environment, Culture, and Conservation Department at The Field Museum in Chicago. Ms. Donnelley will attend the University of Cambridge in the fall to pursue a Master of Philosophy in History and Philosophy of Science. READ MORE
Vivian Donnelley
Senior Admissions Associate, The Dalton School
Vivian Donnelley is a Senior Admissions Associate at the Dalton School, an independent, co-educational day school (K-12), founded in 1919 in New York City. She is completing her third six-year term as a Trustee at Dalton. Her numerous roles at the Dalton School include: Chair and Co-Author, The Dalton School Ten Year Plan (2007), Executive Committee Vice President (1994 - 2001), Chair of the Educational Policy Committee, and Chair of the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee. READ MORE
Kim Elliman
Chief Executive Officer, Open Space Institute
Mr. Elliman serves as CEO of the Open Space Institute, a land conservation organization that has protected and/or financed close to 2 million acres and created over 30 new parks or protected areas. Mr. Elliman has worked in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors. He worked at a newspaper and in government before joining an alternate energy company, and then went into private equity. READ MORE
Charles Lane, M.B.A.
Partner, Holcombe, Fair & Lane Realtors
Charles G. Lane is the managing member of Holcombe, Fair & Lane, a land and commercial real estate firm located in Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Lane has over 20 years of experience in the real estate industry. He also serves as Chairman of The South Carolina Conservation Bank Board. Mr. Lane served as Chairman of The ACE Basin Task Force from its inception in 1989 until 2004. READ MORE
Thomas Lovejoy, Ph.D.
Biodiversity Chair, Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment
Thomas E. Lovejoy became the first recipient of the newly created Heinz Center Biodiversity Chair in August 2008. Previously he served as President of the Heinz Center since May 2002. Before coming to The Heinz Center, he was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean and Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. Dr. Lovejoy has been Assistant Secretary and Counselor to the Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution, Science Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior, and Executive Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund–U.S. READ MORE
Elizabeth Minnich, Ph.D.
Senior Scholar, Association of American Colleges and Universities
Dr. Minnich earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Graduate Faculty for Political and Social Science of The New School University in New York, where she was teaching assistant for Hannah Arendt. She wrote her dissertation on John Dewey, and has continued to work on issues of democracy and education, with particular focus on inclusive scholarship, curricula, teaching, and institutional practices. As an academic administrator, she has been a Dean and/or Director at The New School (now Lang) College; Sarah Lawrence College; Hollins College; and Barnard College on the undergraduate level. READ MORE
George Rabb, Ph.D.
President Emeritus, Chicago Zoological Society
George Rabb is President Emeritus of the Chicago Zoological Society and served as Brookfield Zoo’s Director from 1976 until 2003. Dr. Rabb received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his bachelor’s degree is from the College of Charleston, South Carolina. He joined Brookfield Zoo in 1956 as curator of research, a then novel position, and helped redevelop the field of animal behavior with colleagues at the University of Chicago. Dr. Rabb created the Zoo’s Education Department, and he innovated in the use of naturalistic exhibitry to provide visitors with environmental immersion experiences throughout the Zoo. READ MORE
Eleanor Sterling, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History
Eleanor J. Sterling is the Director of the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC). Dr. Sterling has 25 years of field research experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where she has conducted behavioral, ecological, and genetic studies of both terrestrial and aquatic species. Her recent work has focused on the biodiversity and history of land use in Vietnam, research that led to the publication of Vietnam: A Natural History in 2006. She is also the Chair of the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium and is helping document biodiversity on this remote atoll in the central Pacific Ocean 700 miles from Hawaii. READ MORE
DIRECTOR EMERITUS | James Gustave Speth, J.D.
Professor of Law, Vermont Law School
James Gustave Speth recently joined Demos as Distinguished Senior Fellow and in July, 2010, will take up his new position of Professor of Law at the Vermont Law School. In 2009 he completed his decade-long tenure as Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. From 1993 to 1999, Gus Speth was Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the UN Development Group. Prior to his service at the UN, he was founder and president of the World Resources Institute; professor of law at Georgetown University; chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality (Carter Administration); and senior attorney and cofounder, Natural Resources Defense Council. READ MORE
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