Our Board

Paul Ekins has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of London and is Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy, Director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, and Director of Research at the School of Sustainable Resources and Energy at University College London. He is also a Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, in charge of its Energy Systems theme and also leads UCL’s involvement in large research consortia on Hydrogen and Bioenergy

He is a member of the Expert Panel of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, and from 2002-2008 he was a Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He is Vice-Chairman of the European Environment Commissioner’s Expert Economists’ Group on Resource Efficiency, and a member of the European Commission’s high-level European Resource Efficiency Platform. He also has extensive experience consulting for business, government and international organisations. In 2012-13, Paul Ekins is also the Chair of the UCL Green Economy Policy Commission.

Paul Ekins’ academic work focuses on the conditions and policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy. He is the author of numerous papers, book chapters and articles in a wide range of journals, and has written or edited a number of books. In 1994 Paul Ekins received a Global 500 Award ‘for outstanding environmental achievement’ from the United Nations Environment Programme.

Paul Ekins was Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Foundation from 1987-1990 and has been a member of the Board since 1995.

Amelie von Zweigbergk is a former politician for the Swedish Liberal Party. Before she started her own consultancy, Zweig Solutions, she was responsible for adult education at the Swedish employers’ organisation Teknikföretagen. Earlier, she was the Nordic representative on the UNESCO Executive Board. She is also chair of Learning for Active Citizenship and board member of the European Association for the Education of Adults.

Amelie was press secretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs from 1991-1994. From 1998-2001 and then again from 2003-2006, she was a project leader at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.

In 2006, Amelie joined the Ministry of Education, where she became State Secretary in 2007. In 2010, she became State Secretary in the government coordination office (Statsrådsberedningen) and then again at the Ministry of Education, with responsibility for the Swedish student support scheme, adult education as well as youth, integration and equality. She held this post until 2012.

Monika Griefahn was born in 1954 in Mülheim-Ruhr, Germany. She graduated in sociology in 1979 and later completed her doctorate degree. In 1980, she co-founded Greenpeace Germany, of which she was first Executive Director and later Member of the International Board of Directors.

During her time at Greenpeace, Monika was first responsible for campaigns against chemical pollution and the protection of the North Sea, later for developing training programmes and establishing new offices in Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Latin America.

In 1990, Monika became Minister of Environmental Affairs in Lower Saxony, Germany. From 1998-2009, she served as a Member of the German Parliament, with her main focus on culture and media as well as on foreign affairs.

Today, Monika works as a consultant for various institutions and companies.

She has been on the Board of the Foundation since 1986, and chaired the Board from 2015 to 2018.

Juliane Kronen was born in 1963 in Neuss, Germany. She studied business administration at the University of Cologne (Dipl.-Kfm.), was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Missouri in Columbia (B.S.), and completed her doctoral degree at the University of Cologne in 1994.

Juliane Kronen built a career in strategy consulting, working with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on worldwide assignments from 1994 to 2010, from 2002 on as a partner and managing director. She specialized in aligning business and information technology strategy. She has been the global sector head for information technology in the telecommunications industry and served as the European head of BCG’s global Women Initiative from 2004 to 2007, which aimed to sustainably increase the share of female consultants by improving recruiting and retention measures. She has frequently published articles and papers on her research and professional work.

Together with her sister, Juliane Kronen owns and runs a small family business in the third generation and dedicates a considerable part of her capacity to developing various charitable organizations by providing her skills and experience. She has served as an advisor on strategic and organisational issues to the board of the Right Livelihood Foundation from 2007 until 2010, when she was appointed as a Trustee.

Paul Walker was born 1946 in the United States. After completing his Bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages, he served in the U.S. Army as a Russian Intelligence Specialist. Following his discharge in 1971, he returned to university, completing an MA degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (Washington DC), and his PhD in Political Science in 1978 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Paul has worked as a professional staff member for the Committee on Armed Services in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he organised the first US on-site inspection of a Russian chemical weapons stockpile in 1994, published several books, such as The Price of Defense and The Nuclear Almanac, and collaborated with a multitude of international organisations working on arms control and justice. He is known for his skills in bringing together and engaging various stakeholders from around the world. Since the mid-1990s, Paul is leading the Environmental Security and Sustainability Program at Green Cross International.

In 2013, Paul has received the Right Livelihood Award “for working tirelessly to rid the world of chemical weapons.”

Gunilla Hallonsten has previously been Acting Executive Director, Acting International Director, Policy Director, Policy Advisor on HIV, Gender and Theology within Church of Sweden, as well as Senior Advisor on Gender Justice at ACT Alliance, based in South Africa, and earlier on Coordinator on HIV in Southern Africa for Church of Sweden, based in Zambia.

Ole von Uexkull holds Masters degrees in Environmental Science (Lund University) and European Studies (Freie Universität, Humboldt Universität, and Technische Universität Berlin). After his studies, he won a fellowship for the Postgraduate Programme in International Affairs of the Robert Bosch Foundation, the German National Academic Foundation, and the German Foreign Office.

Ole has worked at the German Parliament in Berlin, the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris, and the European Parliament in Brussels. He is the nephew of the Right Livelihood Foundation founder Jakob von Uexkull.