Founders Award for Civic Leadership

Founders Award for Civic Leadership

Anthony Catanese

Anthony James Catanese is the president of Florida Institute of Technology, a major research institution with more than 16,000 students. Florida Tech emphasizes academic and research programs in engineering, the sciences, liberal arts, business, psychology and aeronautics. It has a major distance learning program using advanced technology. Such groups as the Carnegie Foundation and U.S. News and World Report rate it amongst America's top universities. The Times Higher Education Rankings from London places it among the best universities in the world.

Dr. Catanese was previously president of Florida Atlantic University, which grew to 25,000 students on seven campuses during his leadership tenure. He was the provost of Pratt Institute in New York City, dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Florida, dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, associate dean of the School of Engineering and Environmental Design and James A. Ryder Professor at the University of Miami, and professor and director of the Center for Planning and Development at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Catanese also was a Senior Fulbright Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia.

He holds a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University, a master's degree from New York University and a doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. A prolific writer, he has published 13 books, 18 chapters in books and more than 100 articles and monographs.

A member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners, Dr. Catanese previously maintained a private practice in design, planning and development. His consulting contracts numbered over 50 clients, including coastal zone planning and development in Hawaii and native land claims in Alaska. As a developer, he built several projects for the single- and multi-family markets in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dr. Catanese has been a public servant as well. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Urban Policy Task Force. He served as chair of the Milwaukee City Planning Board and the Gainesville City Planning Commission.

Dr. Catanese was president of the Park West Development Corporation, a not-for-profit group that planned and developed a major area in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the founding president of the Florida State University Presidents Association. He also served as president or chairman of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, Florida Association of Colleges and Universities, Florida Campus Compact, Atlantic Sun Athletics Conference, and Sunshine State Athletics Conference. He has served on numerous boards, including the National Collegiate Athletics Association, John Cabot University (Rome), Orange Bowl Committee, AvMed (South Florida), Wachovia Bank (Florida), Securit-E.com and Modus Operandi Inc.

Dr. Catanese was a past chairman of the board of the United Way of Brevard, as well as the 2006 campaign chair, and is on several local boards including the Maxwell C. King Center, Henegar Center, Leadership Brevard, and Central Florida Partnership.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, the most recent of which include the Chief Executive Leadership Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Trailblazer Award from Rotary International, Diversity Champion Award from the Urban League, Outstanding College President's Award from the All-American Football Foundation, Golden Eagle Award from the Boy Scouts of America, Junior Achievement Hall of Fame, Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame, and Space Coast Business Leader. He recently was inducted into the Florida Institute of Technology Sports Hall of Fame and the Eckerd Brevard Walk of Fame.

Founders Award For Civic Leadership

The Founders Award for Civic Leadership acknowledges an individual of national stature for his or her contributions in the stewardship of our nation’s communities. The men and women who receive this award are recognized as individuals whose lives reflect a unique leadership that have a significant impact on the quality of life for people across America.

Sam A. Williams is a professor at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. He recently retired as President of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Throughout his 17 year presidency he played an integral role in progressing the Atlanta Metropolitan Region. He was a leading member of the business community in recruiting the Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta in 1996 and in planning the development of Centennial Olympic Park after the games, resulting in the Georgia Aquarium, Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the College Football Hall of Fame. He led the private sector economic recruitment post-Olympics, resulting in an influx of financial investment and infrastructure improvements and a global mindset, now experiencing investments from over 2,800 foreign companies.

Sam was a key leader in helping change the controversial state flag of Georgia. He managed a coalition to solve regional water issues resulting from litigation between Alabama, Florida, and Georgia over the Chattahoochee River. Under his leadership, the Chamber helped restructure Grady Memorial Hospital, saving it from foreclosure and helping business leaders raise $350 million for its rehabilitation. During his Chamber tenure, Sam raised more than $300 million for economic development, marketing, and public policy efforts, creating regional economic and public policy strategies with Atlanta’s Fortune 1,000 CEOs.

Previously, he was a leading partner in John Portman’s architecture and development firm for 22 years creating major urban developments in Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, and Jeddah. He started his career by serving as an assistant to Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen. Among other honors upon retirement, he received the Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

His new book, The CEO as Urban Statesman, from Mercer University Press, profiles five metro cities where business leaders created public-private partnerships to solve major public policy problems or take advantage of economic development opportunities.

Founders Award for Civic Leadership

The Founders Award for Civic Leadership acknowledges groups and individuals of national stature for his or her contributions to the stewardship of communities.

Thomas E. Lovejoy is being honored for bringing climate change and the vulnerability of the world’s tropical rainforests to national attention. Lovejoy, an accomplished conservation biologist, is often credited with coining the term “biological diversity.”

Thomas E. Lovejoy traveled to Brazil in 1965 as a graduate student to conduct one of the first studies of the effects of habitat fragmentation in the Amazon. This led to what is now the largest long-term experiment in the history of landscape ecology, the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, which has produced invaluable data on the severe risks posed by habitat destruction and climate change.

In 1973, Lovejoy was named the director of the conservation program of the World Wildlife Fund. He served until 1987 at which time he became the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Affairs for the Smithsonian Institute and a protégé of Dillon Ripley. Lovejoy has lent his expertise as an environmental advisor to a number of influential organizations including the Inter-American Development Bank.

Lovejoy has played a fundamental role in bringing the vulnerability of the Amazon rainforest and the dangers of climate change to international attention, most notably through his work with David Attenborough on the PBS series Nature. For years he was the lone voice measuring the impact of climate change and habitat destruction on biodiversity. Today, Lovejoy is celebrated for his pioneering work in this emerging field and his noble devotion to the protection of the world’s most vulnerable natural habitats.

Founders Award for Civic Leadership

The Founders Award for Civic Leadership acknowledges groups and individuals of national stature for his or her contributions to the stewardship of communities.

Bonnie Burnham is being honored for dedicating her career to preserving historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world. Burnham is President of the World Monuments Fund, which has worked at more than 500 sites in 91 countries.

Bonnie Burnham began her career as a supporter of cultural heritage with the International Foundation for Arts Research in New York. Appointed as the executive director in 1975, Burnham took on the seemingly insurmountable task of manually compiling the Art Theft Archives temporarily housed in the New York Explorer’s Club, her desk down the hall from the life-sized, stuffed Polar Bear.

Burnham was appointed the executive director of the World Monuments Fund in 1985. From that point forward, the World Monuments Fund became an invaluable asset in the fight to protect cultural heritage sites worldwide. With the support of major corporations such as American Express, the WMF produces the World Monuments Watch List every two years, identifying cultural heritage sites in danger of being eroded or destroyed. Today, the World Monuments Fund is the leading international voice defending cultural heritage and historic buildings throughout the world, leading hundreds of communities to embrace their heritage and imparting a greater sense of pride amongst residents.

Founders Award for Civic Leadership

The Founders Award for Civic Leadership acknowledges groups and individuals of national stature for his or her contributions to the stewardship of communities.

Robert L. Lynch is being honored for more than 50 years of work to advance the arts in schools and communities across the United States. His work has resulted in public policy that recognizes the value of the arts in our society and his successes have promoted and protected access to the arts for the whole population. Lynch is the president of Americans for the Arts.

A true leader in the field of arts advocacy, Robert L. Lynch became the executive director of the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies in 1985. He oversaw its successful merger with the American Council for the Arts twelve years later, creating the nationally-renowned advocacy group Americans for the Arts. Under Lynch’s leadership, the organization has grown to 50 times its original size, with a permanent staff of more than 60 individuals working in offices in New York and D.C. and an annual budget greater than $11 million.

Americans for the Arts has become the defining leadership group for arts advocacy in America in terms of membership and advocacy. Outside of his work with the organization, Lynch has served as counsel to the President of the United States on matters concerning the arts and has lent his expertise to the boards of a number of influential arts organizations, including the Craft Emergency Relief Fund and the Arts Extension Institute. Lynch’s admirable history of arts advocacy has allowed countless communities to enjoy the benefits that the arts can bring, and the creation of this leadership group is a truly great achievement for the arts in America today.