The Center for Environmental Policy is pleased to announce that Ben Grumbles, Maryland Secretary of Environment, and Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), will receive the 2015 William K. Reilly Environmental Leadership Awards. The William K. Reilly Awards recognize individuals in environmental careers in the public and non-profit/private sectors who demonstrate qualities of leadership, innovation, engagement of diverse interests, effective problem solving and contributions to future generations of environmental leaders. These awards, named in honor of one of the most respected leaders in U.S. environmental policy, will be given at a ceremony to be held at American University on March 26, 2015.

Ben Grumbles has had a long and distinguished career in water and environmental policy, serving the public and teaching law students and environmental professionals for more than 25 years. Prior to being appointed by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan as Secretary of Environment in December 2014, Grumbles served as President of the US Water Alliance, a not-for-profit educational organization committed to uniting people and policies for water sustainability throughout the country. Previously, Grumbles led Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality working on air quality and climate change, energy policy and waste management, water efficiency, and wastewater recycling. Grumbles served as Assistant Administrator for Water at US EPA from 2004 through 2008 during which launched EPA’s water efficiency labeling program, WaterSense, and initiatives on green infrastructure, water and climate change, and pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Grumbles serves on various boards and committees, including the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Academy of Sciences; Solutions from the Land, an educational nonprofit forging integrated and sustainable policies for agriculture, forestry, and conservation in the U.S. and globally; and the Water Resources Adaption to Climate Change Workgroup of the Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information. He is also a former board member and current supporter of River of Words, a national nonprofit committed to connecting kids to their watersheds and imaginations through poetry and art.

Fred Krupp has led EDF for three decades and is a widely recognized leader of the international environmental community as well as an influential voice on climate change, energy, and sustainability issues. He is a champion of harnessing the power of the marketplace to protect our environment. Krupp is co-author with Miriam Horn of the New York Times bestseller Earth: The Sequel – The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming.

Under Krupp's leadership, EDF has become one of the world's largest and most influential environmental organizations. Among the group's many achievements, EDF is the architect of the federal market-based acid rain policy that has reduced average U.S. air concentrations of sulfur dioxide by 76% since 1990. In 2011, serving on U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu's advisory panel for shale gas production, Krupp was a powerful voice for strong regulation and enforcement to protect local communities from air and water pollution caused by natural gas development. He has focused national attention on the problem of methane emissions – methane is a potent greenhouse gas – from the oil-and-gas system. Krupp has also led EDF's innovative corporate partnerships with FedEx, KKR, McDonald's, Walmart and others.