2023

Filmmaker, writer and producer of the award-winning film Climate Refugees

Michael Nash is a filmmaker named in 2010 by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “Top 10 MovieMakers for The Planet.” Nash founded Beverly Hills Productions over a decade ago and has been an alumnus of the Sundance Film Festival for years. The production company has produced many award-winning films and television content distributed around the globe.

Currently, Nash has four films and television shows in different stages of production and development, including the film Climate Refugees 2 with Leonardo DiCaprio, Captain Counter Culture, a feature documentary about Larry Moyer and Shel Silverstein that features Barbara Kopple, and The Messenger, a film about Muslim filmmaker Moustapha Akad. 

Nash sits on a UN advisory panel focused on global “content for change.” Beverly Hills Productions is a key link between Hollywood and the United Nations for providing film content to be screened at summits and events to world leaders in hopes of changing global policy. Nash is the honored recipient of the Social Change Global Institute Filmmaker of the Year Award, the California Conservation Champion Award, and the Neiman Marcus Humanitarian Visions Filmmaker Award.

Associate Director, Disaster Management and Resilience Program, the RAND Corporation

Shelly Culbertson is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and an associate director of the Disaster Management & Resilience Program (DMR), part of the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. She focuses on disaster and post-conflict recovery, forced displacement, international development, and education. She has led multiple studies about refugees, with a particular focus on education, jobs, humanitarian assistance models, return conditions, and technology, and she co-leads RAND’s Mass Migration Strategy Group. 

Culbertson led a hurricane recovery implementation plan for the U.S. Virgin Islands, sponsored by FEMA; a study on municipal recovery capacities needed for Puerto Rico; and a study on post-conflict stabilization of Mosul, Iraq, after the operations against ISIS. Her international development work has focused on the Middle East. She co-led a multi-year effort to advise the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq on improving education and coordinated RAND’s project to design programs for the Qatar National Research Fund, which has now awarded over a billion dollars in research grants. 

Before RAND, Culbertson worked at the U.S. State Department in Turkey and at LMI Government Consulting. Her commentaries have appeared in publications including Foreign Policy, The National Interest, The Hill, Foreign Affairs, and Newsweek, and she has conducted interviews on MSNBC, NPR, and BBC World. Culbertson is the author of The Fires of Spring: A Post Arab Spring Journey Through the Turbulent New Middle East (St. Martin’s Press). She earned her MPA in public policy and international development from the School for Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Engineer at AEI, Climate and Refugee Education Advocate

Yves Umuhoza is a Burundian refugee with a passion for climate advocacy and refugee education. He has participated in high-profile international conferences, including COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021), the Refugee Migrant and Education Network (RMEN) Conference, Rewired Summit Dubai 2022, and World Higher Education Conference (WHEC2022) Barcelona 2022. 

Umuhoza founded a refugee-youth-led organization in Zimbabwe called Assorted Energies International (AEI). Previously, he managed a project in Tongogara Refugee Camp that received funding from the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) through the Global Refugee Youth Network (GRYN). He also volunteered with UNHCR Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. 

Umuhoza is a member of the Global Refugee Education Council 2022/2023 under World Vision Canada. He is an alum of the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) scholarship program and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in energy and nuclear engineering in Politecnico di Torino in Italy.

International Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service

Father Thomas H. Smolich, SJ, has served as the international director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) since October 2015. A native of Sacramento, he was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1986. He earned a master of divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University. 

Fr. Smolich’s priestly ministry has focused on community development. While stationed at Dolores Mission Parish in East Los Angeles, he served as Executive Director of Proyecto Pastoral, a faith-based NGO coordinating community development activity in the parish. After business school, he was a project manager at Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition, an affordable housing developer in Redwood City. 

In 1999, Fr. Smolich was named provincial of the California Province Jesuits for a six-year term. From 2006 until 2014, he served as the president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States, coordinating the national and international projects of the USA Jesuit provinces. He also worked with JRS in Masisi, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2015. 

Fr. Smolich is a fluent Spanish speaker and enjoys cooking, gardening, and cheering for the San Francisco Giants.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager, Chicago Public Media

Steve Bynum is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion manager for Chicago Public Media, the parent company of WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times. He served as a senior producer for over 20 years for WBEZ’s “Worldview with Jerome McDonnell” and “Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons.”

For “Worldview,” Bynum created in-depth stories, features, series, film projects, and outreach events that connected listeners to communities in Chicago and around the world. Sustainability and environmental justice were cornerstones of Worldview’s coverage.

Bynum believes global citizenship is the most powerful tool to deconstruct systemic injustices, especially environmental racism. He also believes his Christian faith (Eastern Orthodox) compels him to nurture and protect all of creation.

In 2019, Bynum, McDonnell, and former WBEZ producer Julian Hayda co-founded “Worldview Solutions,” an independent, nonprofit media social enterprise inspired by the show. The endeavor aims to leverage solutions-oriented stories and projects through a global lens that reflects the resilience, joy, and progress of communities across the Great Lakes region.

He serves as board president for Theatre Y, board vice president for Fulcrum Point New Music Project, board member for CircEsteem (a youth social circus), and the coalition United For Peace. Bynum also serves on the Advisory Committee of the National Indo-American Museum (NIAM).

A University of Notre Dame graduate, Bynum is completing his master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) at Northwestern University and is pursuing a master’s degree in Eastern Orthodox Theology from the University of Balamand.

Steve is the proud father of a Loyola School of Environmental Sustainability graduate.