Four New Trustees Appointed to National Geographic Society Board of Trustees

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 23, 2024)—The National Geographic Society today announced the appointment of four new members of the board of trustees – Kate E. Brandt, John K. Delaney, Evan G. Greenberg and Sandesh V. Kadur. The addition of these members and their varied expertise will help bolster the Society’s commitment to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world through the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling.

Brandt is the chief sustainability officer at Google and has previously held leadership roles at the Department of Energy and the White House. Brandt served as the United States’ first Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. Delaney is the founder and executive chairman of Forbright Bank as well as an entrepreneur, business leader and public servant. Greenberg is the chairman and CEO of Chubb Limited, a world leader in insurance. Kadur is a National Geographic Explorer and photojournalist, author and BAFTA Award-winning documentary filmmaker. His groundbreaking wildlife documentary films have appeared on National Geographic, Discovery and the BBC.

“We are delighted to welcome these four distinguished individuals to the National Geographic Society Board of Trustees,” said Board Chair Jean Case. “It is essential to have a team of strong leaders with varied expertise and unique viewpoints in order to make real change and highlight global issues, and the addition of this exceptional group will prove invaluable as we continue to work towards our ambitious commitment of exploring and protecting the wonder of our world.”

As part of the Society’s commitment to building on the invaluable knowledge of the Explorer community, Kadur has been named the second-ever Explorer Trustee. This role is a recently created board position to be held for a two-year term by a National Geographic Explorer — exceptional changemakers in their field who receive funding from the Society to support projects that advance the organization’s mission. Kadur brings his talents as an Explorer and storyteller in the hopes that his work will reveal places and species people rarely see and will inspire new passion to protect them. The Explorer trustee position was first created in 2022 with the appointment of Explorer Paula Kahumbu to represent the perspectives of the organization’s global community of Explorers, comprised of scientists, conservationists, educators, storytellers and technologists.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kate, John, Evan and Sandesh to our board of trustees,” said Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of the National Geographic Society. “Their collective expertise, dedication to our work and visionary leadership are invaluable in driving our audacious mission forward, accelerating our impact and addressing global challenges facing our planet and its people.”

Brandt, Delaney and Kadur assumed their roles on January 1, 2024. Greenberg will join the board in May 2024.

More About Kate E. Brandt

Kate E. Brandt serves as Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer and leads sustainability across Google’s worldwide operations, products and supply chains. In this role, Kate partners with Google’s data centers, real estate, supply chain and product teams to ensure the company is capitalizing on opportunities to strategically advance sustainability. Previously, Kate served as the United States’ first Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. In this capacity, she was responsible for promoting sustainability across Federal Government operations including 360,000 buildings, 650,000 vehicles and $445 billion annually in purchased goods and services. Prior to the White House, Kate held several senior roles in the U.S. Federal Government including Senior Advisor at the Department of Energy, Director for Energy and Environment in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and Energy Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy. Kate is the recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest award the U.S. Navy can give to a civilian, for her work helping the Navy go green. Fortune Magazine named Kate to their 40 Under 40 list in 2021 and Outside Magazine also named her, in honor of the magazine’s 40-year anniversary, as one of 40 women who has made the biggest impact on our world. Kate was named #1 Chief Sustainability Officer by Sustainability Magazine in 2022 and 2023 and serves on the boards of BSR, Restor and Corporate Eco Forum.

More About John K. Delaney

John Delaney is an entrepreneur, business leader and public servant. In 2017, John was named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine. John served six years in the U.S. Congress and earned praise for his bipartisan approach to economic, foreign and climate policy. While in Congress he was co-president of his freshman class and served on the Financial Services and Joint Economic Committees while co-founding the Artificial Intelligence and Climate Solutions Caucuses. In 2019, John stepped down from Congress to pursue the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Before Congress and by the age of 40, John had founded and led two New York Stock Exchange-listed companies. In 1993, John founded HealthCare Financial Partners Inc., which provided loans to small to mid-sized healthcare service companies. In 2000, he founded CapitalSource Inc., which provided loans to a wide range of mid-sized businesses. More recently, John is the founder and chairman of Forbright Bank, a bank mission aligned around decarbonization. John is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year. He has been a board member of numerous private and nonprofit entities, including a past member of the Board of Directors of Georgetown University.

More About Evan G. Greenberg

Evan G. Greenberg is chairman and chief executive officer of Chubb Limited. Over the course of 48 years in the insurance industry, he has held various underwriting and leadership positions in the global property, casualty and life insurance sectors. Evan was elected president and CEO in May 2004 and Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2007. Under his leadership, Chubb has grown to become one of the largest insurance companies in the world. Evan joined the company, then named ACE Limited, in 2001 as vice chairman. Evan is engaged in international economic and foreign affairs through his service on the boards of several institutions, including the board of trustees of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the board of directors of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and as chairman of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Asia Society and the advisory board of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) in Beijing.

More About Sandesh V. Kadur

Sandesh V. Kadur is a BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer who creates documentary films that have aired worldwide on prominent networks such as National Geographic, the BBC, Netflix, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Most recently, he has worked on “Our Planet” by Netflix and “The Okavango Experience”; a 360o, virtual reality series that follows National Geographic Society’s Okavango Wilderness Project and BBC’s Seven Worlds One Planet and Planet Earth II. Sandesh is the producer of a three-part docuseries for National Geographic titled “Wild Cats of India” and a two-part series titled “India’s Wild Leopards.” He is also the co-author of two books: Sahyadris: India’s Western Ghats—A Vanishing Heritage (2005) and Himalaya—Mountains of Life (2013). His first documentary, accompanied by his first book, earned critical acclaim while drawing attention to one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots and helped convince UNESCO to name the Western Ghats a World Heritage Site in 2012. Sandesh’s work has won a slew of prestigious international awards, including a 2017 Emmy nomination and the 2017 BAFTA Award for his work on BBC’s Planet Earth II, as well as numerous awards for his photography. Sandesh is the founder and director of Felis Creations — a Bangalore-based company focusing on creating content that inspires conservation.

Headshots can be found here.

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