Celebrating the 11th Sun Valley Forum
- 5 hours ago
- 8 min read
We are celebrating the incredible experience of the 11th Sun Valley Forum! As your curator, I’m deeply grateful for all who made it so special. Thank you to our caring, talented, and dedicated Forum team: Brittany DeGirolamo, Matthew Goodman, Chloe Irwin, Finn Russell, Ella Slayton, Eliza Spain, and Pamela Wellner.
This year marked an exciting milestone as we gathered at the Sun Valley Resort for the first time. Thank you to the Sun Valley Resort team led by Robin Shaw, including the audiovisual and catering teams for keeping the show flowing and the food so delicious! To our Forum volunteers led by Calysta Phillips, our generous sponsors, inspiring speakers, partners who helped shape the program, and friends who opened your homes to our community, thank you for making this gathering possible. Finally, thank you to Suzanne Long at Fauxliage, Ketchum, for the beautiful staging plants that transformed the stage and brought the space to life.
Together, we shared strategies and inspiration, building friendships and new collaborations, strengthening the community that makes the Forum so special. We continue to be inspired by the expertise and commitment brought to the Sun Valley, whether on stage, around the table, on the trail, or in conversations between sessions.
If you loved the Forum as much as we did, we invite you to give to our Alpine Access Fund so that we can continue to welcome all who wish to be part of this special gathering.
Save the date for our next Sun Valley Forum
June 13-17, 2027!
Thank You to our Sponsors!
The 2026 Sun Valley Forum would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, partners in work for nature.
Thank you to our Platinum Sponsors Microsoft, National Audubon Society, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Woodwell Climate Research Center, The Wilderness Society, and FloWater; Convening Sponsors the National Forest Foundation and ReFED; Gold Sponsor The Nature Conservancy; and the many additional partners who helped make this gathering possible.
Thank you to the National Forest Foundation for helping to address the Forum's environmental footprint through the Bald Mountain Stewardship Project in the Sawtooth National Forest.
Together, these organizations demonstrate the power of collaboration across sectors to advance solutions for climate, nature and people, and build a more resilient future.
Our First Year at the Sun Valley Resort
Leaders from business, finance, government, science, media, philanthropy, and culture gathered in Idaho’s beautiful Wood River Valley to explore this year's Forum theme: Powered by Nature: A Blueprint for Innovation, Investment, and Impact.
The Sun Valley Resort provided a welcoming campus landscape supporting the chance for connections and focused conversations among participants with a powerful shared purpose.
The Resort opened in 1936 as North America's first destination ski resort and has drawn innovators, artists, athletes, and leaders to Idaho ever since. Nearly ninety years later, it remains a place where people come to exchange ideas and explore its stunning wild spaces, building friendships, and leaving recharged and restored.
The setting itself is extraordinary. The Wood River Valley is surrounded by five mountain ranges and sits within the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, designated in 2017 as North America's first Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Reserve. Spanning over 900,000 acres north to the expansive Sawtooth National Recreation Area, it protects some of the darkest night skies in the United States.
The Forum's value is in the community, and the connections made here produce results that extend far beyond Idaho. Washington State Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz credits Forum conversations, including insights from Jeff Goodell and introductions to partners like Vibrant Planet, with helping grow Washington State's urban forestry and heat resilience funding from $500K to $16.6M. At the 2025 Forum, Hempitecture founder Mattie Mead connected with Good Machine CEO David Solomon, leading to a $500,000 zero-interest loan now accelerating Hempitecture's work in sustainable building materials.
These are just two examples of what becomes possible when leaders gather with shared purpose in a place that inspires them. The Wood River Valley has a way of doing that, and it has for decades.
Resilient Leadership Award
Maggie Baird, President & Founder, Support + Feed
One of the highlights of the week was honoring Maggie Baird with the 2026 Sun Valley Forum Resilient Leadership Award.
We were grateful to welcome singer-songwriter and environmental advocate Carole King to graciously present the award and celebrate Maggie's leadership, compassion, and commitment to building a healthier and more resilient future.
In a conversation with Forum founder and curator, Aimée Christensen, we learned how through Support + Feed, Maggie has demonstrated that caring for people and caring for the planet are deeply connected. Since founding the organization in 2020, she has helped deliver millions of plant-based meals to communities in need while raising awareness about the role food plays in the health of people and as a cause, or solution, for climate change.
The Living Table
We were elated to present the world’s first “The Living Table” dinner, hosted by Christensen Global, Food + Planet, and Genus.land. We featured Letters to the Earth, creating a shared experience of the power of food systems transformation and land stewardship for the protection of nature.
The Living Table was an idea birthed by Aimée Christensen, Kate Geagan, and Annalyn Lavey, as a framework for menus that actively support regenerative food systems, rooted in place and season. Each course featured the food’s story, from what the watershed offers now to the inheritance we are working to leave. The dinner was brought to life by speakers Sara Jolena, Dr. Wendy Pabich, Adam Bent, Emmy Scott, and Bridget Evans, alongside Idaho food system leaders and producers Amy Mattias of Future Roots, Tim Cornie of 1000 Springs Mill, and Brooke Bonner of Drinkers of the Wind Farm
Featured Sessions
This year's Sun Valley Forum sessions featured leaders across conservation, food and farming, climate finance, culture, energy and intergenerational leadership. Here are a few highlights from the week.
The Language of Life
David Gruber, President & Founder, Project CETI | National Geographic Explorer
Protecting Our Shared Ocean Legacy
Joel R. Johnson, President and CEO | National Marine Sanctuary Foundation
Passing the Torch, Sharing the Flame: Intergenerational Climate Leadership
Marcene Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Climate Change | World Wildlife Fund
Pooja Tilvawala, Founder & Executive Director | Youth Climate Collaborative
Following the Birds: Conservation Without Borders
Dr. Elizabeth Gray, Chief Executive Officer | National Audubon Society
Food Waste is Solvable
Dana Gunders, President |ReFED
Jack Pestello, President | Albertsons Own Brands
Reclaiming Black Earth Wisdom
Pandora Thomas, Founder & Chief Earth Officer | Earthseed Farm
Olivia Watkins, Co-Founder & President | Black Farmer Fund
Multiplier Effect: Catalytic Capital for Nature and Climate
Adam Bent, Lisa Brush, Kristy Drutman, David Eichberg, Amy Mattias, Eve Turow-Paul, and Kelsey Weimer
Immersed in Idaho's Natural Landscapes
The Sun Valley Forum has always been shaped by place, and this year's gathering embraced the landscapes that make Idaho so extraordinary.
From the Sawtooth Mountains and public lands that surround Sun Valley to the region's rivers, forests, and rangelands, participants experienced firsthand why nature remains central to the Forum's mission.
Drinkers of the Wind Farm
Thank you, Brooke Bonner and all at Drinkers of the Wind Farm! We opened our first day together with a regenerative farm tour at Drinkers of the Wind (DOWF), offering an on-the-ground look at regenerative agriculture in practice and what it takes to build a more resilient food future. Over a spread of fresh, locally sourced seasonal harvests from Rasberry’s, we heard Brooke Bonner of DOWF, Amy Mattias of Future Roots Idaho, Brittany DeGirolamo of the Forum team and Phocus Creative, and Jeff Tkach of the Rodale Institute explore the realities and opportunities of scaling regeneration, grounded in both lived practice and global perspective.
Net Zero Home Tour
Thank you to climate and cleantech investor Scott Pinizzotto, who opened his home for attendees to tour his net-zero home featuring a 22 kW Tesla solar roof, full electrification, battery storage, SPAN smart panels, and a bidirectional EV. Scott walked guests through the seamless end result and what it actually took to integrate technologies that weren't yet designed to work together.
Adventure Day at Redfish Lake
To close out the Forum, participants had the opportunity to spend the day exploring Idaho's extraordinary wilderness during our annual Adventure Day. Whether hiking through alpine wildflowers with Sun Valley Guides, rafting the Salmon River with White Otter, or spending the afternoon on Redfish Lake, the day was a reminder that the places we work to protect are also the places that connect and renew us.
The Forum ended with an incredible dinner at Redfish Lake Lodge among the Sawtooth Mountains, reflecting on a week of conversation, collaboration, and shared purpose. We were blessed by the most vibrant sunset over the Sawtooths as we traveled home.
Get Involved!
While the Forum has concluded, the relationships and conversations sparked in Sun Valley will continue far into the future.
As we plan for Climate Week NYC in September, key UN gatherings, Davos in January, and other opportunities to reunite in person, we look forward to continuing to build on the momentum and to deepen the relationships formed through the Sun Valley Forum.
If you would like to be part of these gatherings and our 12th Sun Valley Forum, June 13-17, 2027, we'd love to hear from you. Planning is already underway!
Videos, Photos & Socials
We film each main stage session, so watch for them after they are edited and added to our YouTube Channel @TheSunValleyForum where you can enjoy a decade of Forum insights! In addition, we have compiled a collection of photographs from this year’s Forum and invite you to enjoy the memories and share them with your community.
Please explore our post-Forum social media toolkit for graphics, sample posts, and resources to help continue the impact and inspiration. If you share photos or reflections from the week, please tag @sunvalleyforum so we can repost and celebrate the community together.
SeaVoir - Better for YOU, better for our Ocean.
Founded by Ashlan and Philippe Cousteau, SeaVoir’s mission is to improve human health, save the Southern Ocean and end the needless overfishing of our precious seas.
One of the many highlights of this year's Forum was the mainstage Keynote from Philippe Cousteau, grandson of legendary ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, and a multi-Emmy-nominated host, award-winning author, and social entrepreneur. Philippe spoke powerfully about the state of our oceans and the urgent need to rethink how we source the nutrients we depend on.
"That includes omega-3s. The krill and fish oil industries are needlessly damaging ocean health including critical Antarctic food chains, when the answer has been there all along: algae! Fish and krill don't make their own omega-3s; they get them by eating algae, and so can we. Seavoir’s clean, toxin-free omega 3s include EPA, DHA, and the powerful antioxidant Astaxanthin. Algae is the primary source of omega-3s, making them more absorbable by our bodies and they won’t give you the dreaded fish burps! Omega 3 fatty acids are essential nutrients that the human body cannot produce on its own, and offer numerous health benefits, including improved heart health, reduced inflammation, enhanced brain function, and more."
As a thank you to our Sun Valley Forum community, use code SUNVALLEY for 10% off at www.seavoir.com. Feel free to share with friends and family.
A Final Thank You - The Sun Valley Forum Team!
