Bio

Ted Trzyna is a conservationist, author, and political scientist. He has worked in the public-interest, policy-research, diplomatic, and academic worlds.

In the field of environmental and natural resource policy, he has been a writer, advisor to governmental agencies, and leader in nongovernmental organizations, both in California and internationally. He is particularly experienced in analyzing problems and finding innovative solutions, convening groups of leaders and experts, and synthesizing and presenting information and ideas from many sources. He is In touch with new ideas through colleagues in many countries and longtime participation in international organizations.

In the 1960s, Trzyna was a career U.S. Foreign Service officer in Africa and at the State Department in Washington. In 1969, he founded the California Institute of Public Affairs, renamed InterEnvironment Institute in 2010. Through the Institute, which has been an affiliate of Claremont Graduate University, he and his colleagues have organized numerous projects aimed at improving policy-making on complex issues. Always planned and carried out with a range of other organizations, these projects include conducting problem-solving research, producing print and online publications, and convening groups of leaders and experts to search for solutions. They take a long-range view of public and world affairs that combines political, social, cultural, and economic, as well as ecological concerns.

Most of Trzyna's international environmental work has been done with IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature. From 1990-96 he served on IUCN's governing Council and chaired IUCN's Commission on Environmental Strategy and Planning. He co-founded and chairs the Urban Conservation Strategies Specialist Group of IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas.

Trzyna received a bachelor's degree from the School of International Relations of the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in government from Claremont Graduate University. In addition to his longstanding connection to CGU through InterEnvironment Institute, he has been a Senior Research Fellow in CGU's School of Politics and Economics. He is a Fellow and former board member of the World Academy of Art and Science, and serves on the advisory boards of several organizations and projects.

In 2018, he received the Sierra Club's Raymond J. Sherwin Award for "extraordinary volunteer service toward international conservation."

Books he has written or edited include A Sustainable World, The Power of Convening, The Urban Imperative, and Urban Protected Areas.

For details, go to Career and Publications