As environmental challenges become more complex, our country urgently needs platforms for engaging business, government, nonprofits, and the academic community in constructive dialogue and devising new ways of resolving issues. The William K. Reilly Fund for Environmental Governance and Leadership, named in honor of one of the most respected environmental leaders in the nation, furthers the Center for Environmental Policy's mission of evaluating and improving environmental governance in the United States. Our partnerships with philanthropic, corporate, and nonprofit organizations allow institutions and groups to work together to anticipate, manage, and resolve issues related to the state of the natural environment, and to enhance their relationships to the nation's economic health and social wellbeing. The Reilly Fund supports a student scholarship, an annual lecture series, and core program development activities for the center, in addition to the William K. Reilly Environmental Leadership Award, which recognizes leaders in environmental governance and problem-solving.

William K. Reilly has held careers in public service, non-governmental organizations, and finance. Most recently, he served as a senior advisor to TPG Capital, LP, an international investment partnership. During his tenure with TPG, he was a founding partner of Aqua International Partners, a private equity fund dedicated to investing in companies in the water sector. Mr. Reilly served as the first Payne Visiting Professor at Stanford University, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, president of World Wildlife Fund, president of the Conservation Foundation, and director of the Rockefeller Task Force on Land Use and Urban Growth. He served as captain in the U.S. Army and as a senior staff member in the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He headed the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Earth Summit at Rio in 1992. In May 2010, Reilly was appointed by President Obama to co-chair the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.

Mr. Reilly is chairman emeritus of the board of the World Wildlife Fund, chairman emeritus of the board of the ClimateWorks Foundation, chairman of the advisory board for the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, and chairman of the board of the Global Water Challenge. He serves as the chairman of the environment, safety and security committee for Royal Caribbean International, and chairman of the Sustainable Energy Advisory Board for Energy Future Holdings. In 2007, Mr. Reilly was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds a bachelor's degree from Yale University, a law degree from Harvard, and a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia University.