Dianne Dillon-Ridgley, Chair

A lifelong advocate for human rights, female empowerment, and sustainability, Dianne made her first foray into the environmental field as a college intern during the early days of the Environmental Protection Agency. 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 United Nations representative for the World YWCA, advocating for education and political access for women in international conferences and negotiations around the world. She attended the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio by appointment of the White House, followed by the 1997 UN General Assembly on the results of Rio, and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa – the only person to have participated on all three US delegations.

During the 1980s, Dianne served four terms as the president of the Association of Iowa Human Rights Agencies. In the late 1990s, she served as CEO of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization. From 1997 to 2014, she served on the board of Interface, Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet tiles and global leader of sustainable design. And for more than a dozen years, she contributed her expertise, insights and boundless energy to CIEL as a member of our Board of Trustees beginning in 2002, including as the first female Chair of the CIEL Board (2014-2015).