As life adjusts to this unprecedented "new norm" in a world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have an opportunity to use this global shared experience to inform a more just and sustainable world. Humanity's focus has shifted to community, a sense of purpose, Team with a capital "T", and behavior change that is positively impacting our planet. Stay-at-home orders have had a significant impact on the world's carbon footprint in a positive way. We have seen leading current and former Pac-12 Student Athletes turning their platform into an opportunity for activism, the NCAA forming a COVID-19 Advisory Panel focused on athletics action and academics from Pac-12 schools demonstrating the tie between the curve and climate change. Join us for an examination of how this experience can inform two critical pillars of an authentically better world: environmental and social justice. What does responsible action look like? How do we carry what we've learned with this experience into post-pandemic life? From this profound experience, as a deeply connected community, we can work together on global crises facing humanity, from climate to hunger and homelessness to racism, to change for the better.

View the Virtual Event Recap Here >>

Session Topics

Introduction: Viviana Alvarez | Head of Sustainability, Unilever North America
Opening Remarks: Larry Scott | Commissioner, Pac-12 Conference
Moderator: Mike Yam | Host, Pac-12 Networks
Herm Edwards | Football Coach, ASU
Moderator: Mike Yam | Host, Pac-12 Networks
Natalie Chou | Basketball Player, UCLA
Elijah Hicks | Football Player, Cal
Moderator: Mike Yam | Host, Pac-12 Networks
Maya McClendon | Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Sports Metaphor; Former ASU Volleyball Student-Athlete
Roger McClendon | Executive Director, Green Sports Alliance
Paul Slovic | Psychology Professor, University of Oregon
Closing Reception with Pac-12 Team Green Champion Bill Walton & Friends | 4:00-5:00pm PT
Introduction: Troy Swope | CEO, Footprint
Host: Bill Walton | Former UCLA student-athlete, NBA player, and ESPN and Pac-12 Networks on-air talent
Yann Brandt | Founder and Editor, SolarWakeup.com
Dave Newport | Chief Sustainability Officer, Phase 3 Sports
Tony Finn | Bike For Humanity
Caryl Hart | California Coastal Commissioner and former Director of Sonoma County Parks
Joe Kennedy | Citizens Energy, Former US Congressman
Abel Navarete | Vice President of Sustainability and Community Impact, Columbia Sportswear
Marty Turock | Head of Strategic Initiatives, Clean Tech San Diego
Alan Weisman | Journalist and Author of The World Without Us
Lewis Johnson | Reporter, Pac-12 Networks

Speakers

Mike Yam

Yann Brandt

Natalie Chou

Herm Edwards

Despite being picked last by the media in the Pac-12 South in the preseason, Arizona State had a chance to win the Pac-12 South ont he road against Oregon, finishing second in the division with a 5-4 conference record. Herm Edwards led the Sun Devils to a dramatic comeback victory in his first-ever Territorial Cup game against rival Arizona. Arizona State came back from a 19-point fourth quarter deficit to earn the Territorial Cup point with a 41-40 win in Tucson. The comeback represented the largest in the history of the Territorial Cup series. Edwards took the Sun Devils to a bowl game in just his first season, taking on No. 21 Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Arizona State defeated USC, UCLA, and Arizona, making Edwards the only first-year coach in program history to defeat all three teams and make a bowl game.

Tony Finn

Caryl Hart

Lewis Johnson

Joe Kennedy

Maya McClendon

Roger McClendon

He ensured all brand restaurants operated efficiently and minimized environmental impact through innovation, helping the company be named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index and among the Top 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine (2017). Earlier at Yum!, Roger was Senior Director YUM Global Engineering and Facilities, Restaurant Excellence for Yum Restaurants Global - A&W, KFC, Long John Silvers, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, responsible for developing the standards, strategies and tactics to ensure global quality standards, engineering standards and operational standards. Roger has held a number of roles and board positions, including positions with the University of Louisville Speed School of Engineering, Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, Habitat for Humanity, Louisville Sports Commission, Kentucky Minority Business Council, and McClendon Institute for Learning Community Outreach Programs. Roger's other passion is basketball. He was a McDonald's All-American in 1984, one of the top 25 high school basketball players in the nation and went on to be a four-year starter who closed his University of Cincinnati men's basketball career as the No. 2 scorer, second only to Oscar Robertson at the time. He was inducted into the UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.

Abel Navarete

Dave Newport

Larry Scott

Prior to joining the Pac-12, Scott served six years as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Sony Ericsson Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour where he helped generate unprecedented growth and popularity for women's professional tennis on a global scale, including achieving the long-sought goal of equal prize money for women in tennis' Grand Slam events. Prior to that, Scott served as Chief Operating Officer and President of ATP Properties at the ATP men's professional tennis tour, following having played tennis professionally on the ATP circuit.

Paul Slovic

Marty Turock

Bill Walton

Alan Weisman

Jamie Zaninovich

During Zaninovich's time at the Pac-12, the Pac-12 Global initiative has also expanded exponentially. In 2015, the conference hosted the first-ever U.S. regular season basketball game, collegiate or professional, to be played in China as the University of Washington defeated the University of Texas in Shanghai. He also orchestrated the advent of a first of its kind coaching education program in which coaches from China visit Pac-12 universities to be trained on coaching techniques. Additionally, Zaninovich has helped increase global distribution of Pac-12 sports around the world and across multiple platforms, including LeSports in China and YouTube. Prior to the Pac-12, Zaninovich spent six years as the commissioner of the West Coast Conference. He led the WCC through a period of extraordinary membership growth, transformed the conference basketball championships into successful events, and brought forward television and digital media advances that showcased the WCC's brand regionally, nationally and internationally. Zaninovich also served on several national college sports committees. Notably, he was as a member of the prestigious NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee from 2011-2014 and a Chair of the Division I Collegiate Commissioners Association Division I Subdivision from 2010 to 2011. He is also a founding member of the Board of Managers and Competition Committee of the Men's Basketball Officiating LLC, and a past member of the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics. In 2010, Zaninovich was named to Sports Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list in recognition of his visionary leadership at the WCC. Prior to becoming commissioner of the WCC, he was a sports administrator in two prominent Division I athletics departments, serving as a Senior Associate Athletic Director at Princeton and a Senior Assistant Athletic Director at Stanford. A native of Eugene, Oregon, Zaninovich is a graduate of Stanford University and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Jamie and his wife, Karen, live in Millbrae, Calif. and have two children, Max and Luke.

Viviana Alvarez

Troy Swope