Closing Session and Call to Action: Building a Better World

In our final gathering, experienced climate justice advocates will reflect on the message of the conference but more importantly, respond to what they have heard with a call to action for moving forward. The call to action will prioritize how everyone can take what has been learned about Women and Climate Justice and work together to Build a Better World. 

Dianne Dillon-Ridgley

A lifelong advocate for human rights, women’s empowerment, and sustainability Dianne Dillon-Ridgley made her first foray into the environmental field as a college intern during the early days of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since then the Dallas native has traveled around the globe promoting women’s rights and fighting for environmental sustainability. For nearly a decade she served as the U.N. representative for the World YWCA. She attended the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio by appointment of the White House, followed by the 1997 U.N. General Assembly on the results of Rio, and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa – the only person to have participated in all three U.S. delegations.  

In 1999 she was appointed to the Oxford University Commission on Sustainable Consumption. She spent ten years as chair of the U.S. Partnership-Education for Sustainable Development. She is a current or past trustee or staff member of an array of organizations that are committed to sustainability, including Interface, Inc. Green Mountain Energy, the Center for International Environmental Law, Population Connection, The River Network, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, the Association of Iowa Human Rights Agencies, the Auburn University School of Human Sciences, and the University of Iowa Tippie School of Business Management. She also helped to found “the 100 Grannies for a Livable Future” and Plains Justice, an environmental law center for the Great Plains region focused on ending the use of coal and promoting renewable energy adoption. She is the Vice Chair of the Board for the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

In 2020 the National Wildlife Federation created an environmental justice fellowship in Dianne’s name to honor her major commitments and chose Agnes Scott College as the institution to select the first recipient from its graduating class of 2021. Dianne served as a trustee of NWF for nine years.

Zoie Moore, National Wildlife Federation’s Dianne Dillon-Ridgley Fellow 

Zoie Moore, an Arkansan native, is a 2021 Agnes Scott College alumna who majored in Africana Studies and double minored in Education and Environmental Science and Sustainability.

She is currently employed at the National Wildlife Federation as the first ever Dianne Dillon-Ridgley Fellow.  And attends Mercer University earning her master’s degree in Secondary Education. 

When she’s not working, Zoie still continues her passion of advocating for environmental and racial justice and educational equity as the Education and Outreach Coordinator for Metro Atlanta Youth Energy Corps (a Metro Atlanta-based, youth-led team committed to implementing energy equity programs that center youth leadership, racial and social justice, and local collaboration). 

Her hobbies include reading Young Adult novels, dancing, watching anime, and being a big sister. Zoie is excited to continue learning as much as possible to be the change she wishes to see in the world! 

Our President, Leocadia I. Zak

Leocadia I. Zak became the ninth president of Agnes Scott College in July 2018. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Mount Holyoke College, which recognized her as a Woman of Influence in 2012, she holds a J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

Zak is vice-chair of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta and the Truist Advisory Council, Atlanta. She serves on the Metro Atlanta Chamber Innovation and Entrepreneurship Advisory Board and is a trustee of Global Communities: Partners for Good, an international non-profit organization. With an extensive background in international economic development and international project finance, in 2010 Zak was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). USTDA is an independent federal agency that advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle-income countries. She first joined the agency in 2000, and prior to her appointment as director, she served as general counsel, deputy director and acting director under the Bush and Obama administrations.

Zak’s accomplishments during her time at USTDA are many: she led the development of the Aviation Cooperation Programs in China, India and Brazil; the Energy Cooperation Programs in China and India; and the Smart Cities Initiative in India. She also created the worldwide Global Procurement Initiative. She testified before Congress on behalf of the Agency’s programs; served as principal in bilateral dialogues along with the Secretaries of State, Treasury, Commerce and Agriculture as well as accompanied President Obama on foreign trips; met with heads of state and other senior government officials and business leaders around the world and regularly served as a keynote speaker at domestic and international events. But, the accomplishment that means the most to her is the USTDA’s recognition, for five consecutive years, as one of the “Best Places to Work” in the federal government, as measured by the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

Before joining the public sector, Zak spent 18 years at the Boston law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo PC, which she joined as an associate in 1982. At the firm, she practiced in the area of international and domestic project finance, becoming a partner in 1990.

Zak has taught international project finance as an adjunct faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Boston University School of Law, including team-teaching with her husband, Kenneth Hansen, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of the international law firm of Norton Rose Fulbright.

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