Kelly Chapman Meyer, passionate environmentalist and health advocate, is a Trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) where she recently, with her co-chairs, organized NRDC’s “Making Peace with the Ocean” which helped to raise awareness and support. As co-founder of the Women’s Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, (www.womenscancerresearchfund.org) she has helped raise over $40 million for ground breaking Bio-Marker research and medical institutions.
She most recently co-founded the American Heart Association’s “Teaching Gardens,” which strives to eliminate childhood obesity by integrating nutrition and fitness into schools. Meyer is currently focused on launching and expanding Teaching Gardens into 1,000 schools within the next two years. Her goal is to introduce organic gardening along with a nutritional curriculum and connection to fitness; the hope is to re-establish what it means to be healthy for the next generation.
Meyer received the Huffington Post Game Changer Award in October 2011 for her dedication towards Teaching Gardens. She was recently appointed by Secretary Solis to The Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Employment, Training and Employer Outreach (ACVETEO) and was featured in Oprah’s O Magazine on her “2010 O Power List,” which recognized 20 women and their outstanding contributions to society. Meyer was also a recipient of Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year Award in 2004 for her outstanding work for the Women’s Cancer Research Fund. Her blogs about philanthropy and related topics for the Huffington Post can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-meyer#.
She is a board member of Heal the Bay and worked to help pass the Environmental Education Initiative, which provides environmental education for all children in the state of California, K – 12. In 2008, she partnered to build the first LEED Platinum home in California (www.project7ten.com) that was used to educate the public on Green building and raise money for environmental causes. She recently supported the implementation of the Marine Life Preserve Area (MLPA) off the coast of Southern California.
A strong supporter of the public school system, she was president of the PTA at Point Dume Marine Science School in Malibu where they were responsible for installing solar power to support the science lab. This project was the impetus for all schools in the Santa Monica Unified School District to install solar panels. A true outdoorswomen, she is an avid surfer, stand up paddler, yoga devotee, tri-athlete and hiker. She and her husband Ron Meyer, President and COO of Universal Studios, have four children.
