WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities Jury

Stephen M. Ross is the CEO and Chairman of Related Ross, Founder and Chairman of Related Companies, Owner of the Miami Dolphins and devoted philanthropist. Mr. Ross formed Related Companies in 1972 and today the company has over $60 billion in real estate assets owned or under development, including mixed-use, residential, retail and office properties in premier high-barrier-to-entry markets. The company is also one of the largest owners and preservationists of affordable housing in the country. In 2024, Mr. Ross founded and became Chief Executive of Related Ross, already the largest commercial-property owner in downtown West Palm Beach focused on continued development and inclusive economic growth across South Florida. His philanthropic efforts have broadly focused on the areas of education, the arts, racial equality, healthcare and the creation of more sustainable cities throughout the world. Mr. Ross proudly serves on the Executive Committee as a trustee of Lincoln Center, as a trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and as a director on the boards of Cornell Tech, the Jackie Robinson Foundation and the New York Stem Cell Foundation. Mr. Ross is a leader and former board member of the World Resources Institute (WRI) where he established WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. He is the largest single donor to the University of Michigan supporting the Ross School of Business. In 2013, Mr. Ross pledged to give more than half of his estate to philanthropic causes and charitable organizations through the Giving Pledge, a long-term global initiative created by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates that aims to inspire deeper engagement in philanthropy and increase charitable giving globally. Mr. Ross has received the National Building Museum Honor Award, the National Housing Conference’s Housing Person of the Year award as well as REBNY’s Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award. Mr. Ross graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, from Wayne State University Law School with a Juris Doctor degree and from New York University School of Law with a Master of Laws in Taxation. In 2011 the University of Michigan awarded Mr. Ross an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws.

Tatiana Bilbao began her eponymous studio in 2004 with the aim of integrating social values, collaboration and sensitive design approaches to architectural work. The work of the office intersects with research allowing to design for diverse circumstances and in reconstruction or crisis scenarios. Prior to founding her firm, Bilbao was an Advisor in the Ministry of Development and Housing of the Government of the Federal District of Mexico City, during this period she was part of the General Development Directorate of the Advisory Council for Urban Development in the City.

Bilbao holds a recurring teaching position at Yale University School of Architecture and has taught at Harvard University GSD, Columbia University GSAPP, Rice University, University of Andrés Bello in Chile, and Peter Behrens School of Arts at HS Dusseldorf in Germany. Her work has been published in The New York Times, A + U, Domus, Arquitectura Viva, El País, among others.

Also, Bilbao has been recognized with the Kunstpreis Berlin in 2012, was named in 2010 as an Emerging Voice by the Architecture League of New York, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture Prize by the LOCUS Foundation in 2014, the Marcus Prize Award 2019, Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal of 2020, The Honorary Fellow of The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) in 2021, Richard Neutra Award, the AW Architect in 2022 and most recently The Miller Prize in 2023.

As the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative City Leader in Residence Jennifer Musisi has played a key role in advising on the practitioner perspectives and impact of the Initiative, with a particular emphasis on programming for cities outside of the United States. As a resource for faculty, students, staff, participating mayors and other city leaders, she has shared insights and information on leadership, innovation and solutions to problems common across cities. Additionally, she is the protagonist in a number of case studies within and outside Harvard University.

Jennifer is a transformational leader with three decades of experience in turning around institutions and systems in challenging settings. She was the first Executive Director of Kampala, the Capital City of Uganda (a role comparable to mayor, chief executive or city manager). She has earned a Global reputation for integrity, leadership, innovation, and building strong systems to overcome corruption, inadequate financing and dysfunction. She automated revenue management and service delivery systems and mobilized local and international finances to implement a wide range of sustainable development projects. She initiated projects for climate resilience, youth empowerment and poverty alleviation using innovative and appropriate approaches.

A strong advocate and for climate resilience, Jennifer was appointed a UN Ambassador for Sustainable Development under Goal 11. As Commissioner for Legal Services and Board Affairs, Jennifer was one of the team of three that implemented the transformation of Uganda Revenue Authority, turning it into a reputable, world-class tax entity.

She started her career as a state attorney in Uganda and later served as in-house counsel. She is a speaker, trainer, and mentor on leadership, institutional transformation and sustainable urban development.

She has won numerous global awards in recognition of her work, including an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Humanities. Jennifer is an advocate with an Honors Degree in Law, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Management and a Diploma in Legal Practice from Makerere University.

Harini Nagendra is Director of Research Centre at the Azim Premji University and leads the University’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability.

Nagendra is known for her research spanning over 30 years on forest conservation, and urban sustainability, with several seminal publications in both areas of work. Her interdisciplinary work on forests combines remote sensing, biodiversity studies and institutional analysis, and is recognized for elucidating the link between pattern and process in the human-dominated landscapes of South Asia.

Her work on urban ecology and sustainability highlights the importance of urban ecosystems in contributing critical ecosystem services and impacting urban resilience and human well-being, especially of marginalized communities — an important global gap, especially for the Global South.

For her interdisciplinary research and practice, she has received many awards including the 2009 Cozzarelli Prize from the US National Academy of Sciences, the 2013 Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar award, and the 2017 Clarivate Web of Science award. She is an elected member of The World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, and the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi. She has written over 200 academic papers, including recent publications in Nature, Nature Sustainability, and Science, and is on Stanford University’s list of the top 2% cited scientists in the world.

In addition to academic writing, Nagendra is deeply interested in public communication of academic research. She has written several popular books including Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future; Cities and Canopies: Trees of Indian Cities; and Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India’s Cities (the last two co-authored with Seema Mundoli).

She is a well-known public speaker and writer on issues of urban sustainability in India, with a monthly column in the Deccan Herald newspaper, and anchors the University’s annual climate “festival of life” series. She also writes the acclaimed Bangalore Detectives Club series, a set of historical mysteries set in 1920s Bangalore — the first book in the series was shortlisted for the Anthony, Agatha, Historical Dagger and Left Coast Crime awards, and was on the New York Times 100 notable books of 2022 list.

Nagendra is a Lead Author on the IPCC AR5 reports and a past Science Committee member of DIVERSITAS and the Global Land Programme. She engages with international science and policy through her involvement as a Steering Committee member of the Future Earth Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society, and the Future Earth Urban Knowledge Advisory Network. She is on the Advisory Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Climate-KIC and the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, as well as co-editor-in-chief of the journal Global Environmental Change.

Sheela Patel is the founder and director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC), an NGO that has been working since 1984 to support community organizations of the urban poor in their efforts to access secure housing and basic amenities and seek their right to the city.

Patel is widely recognized – nationally and internationally – for seeking urgent attention to the issues of urban poverty, housing, and infrastructure on the radar of governments, bilateral and international agencies, foundations, and other organizations. She is a founder, amongst many, of Slum Dwellers International, a transnational social movement of the urban poor, whose board she chairs presently.

Enrique Peñalosa is an internationally respected urban thinker, who, as Mayor of Bogotá in two non-consecutive terms, profoundly transformed the city. As adviser and lecturer, he has influenced policies in many cities throughout the world. 

Among his achievements was the creation of TransMilenio, one of the world’s leading BRT (bus rapid transport) systems, which today moves 2.4 million passengers daily and has served as model to hundreds of cities. Currently its lines are being extended by 61%. He contracted the first Metro line in Bogotá which is under construction. He also created an extensive bicycle network, greenways, hundreds of parks, sports and cultural centers and large libraries, 67 schools, 35 of which were developed by a successful private-public scheme. As mayor, Peñalosa led high quality urban development projects for more than 500,000 residents through a radical redevelopment of 33 hectares of the center of Bogotá. This area, previously controlled by drug dealers and crime, required demolition of more than 1200 buildings a few blocks from the institutional heart of Colombia, including the Presidential house.   

Peñalosa’s advisory work concentrates on urban mobility, quality of life, competitiveness, equity and the leadership required to turn visions into realities.

Peñalosa has lectured in hundreds of cities and in many of the world’s most important universities. He has advised local and national governments in Asia, Africa, Australia, Latin America and the United States.

Peñalosa is a member of the Advisory Board of AMALI (African Mayoral Leadership Initiative) and Fellow of the Institute for Urban Research at the University of Pennsylvania. For over a decade, Peñalosa was President of the Board of New York’s ITDP (Institute for Transportation and Development Policy) and member of the London School of Economics’ Cities Program Advisory Board. Peñalosa was a member of the Commission for the Reinvention of Transport of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority created by the New York Governor Cuomo.

His book, Equality and the City, was recently published in English by The University of Pennsylvania, in Spanish by Villegas Editores, and in Portuguese by the IPP (Instituto Pereira Passos) of Rio de Janeiro.

Peñalosa has been included in Planetizen’s list of “The Most Influential Urbanists, Past and Present,” most recently in July 2023. He was also one of “15 Thought Leaders in Sustainable City Development” selected by Identity Review in July 2023. Peñalosa has been awarded important international recognitions such as the Stockholm Challenge, the Gothenburg Sustainability Prize, and the 2018 Edmund N. Bacon Award, the highest tribute of The Center for Design and Architecture of Philadelphia. For Peñalosa’s work, Bogotá was awarded the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale.

Peñalosa has a BA in Economics and History from Duke University, a Degree in Government from the IIAP (now merged with ENA) in France and a DESS in Public Administration from the University of Paris 2 Pantheon-Assas. He was Dean of Management at Externado University in Bogotá and a Visiting Scholar at New York University.

Peñalosa’s TED Talk has nearly 1 million views and his X account in Spanish has more than 2 million followers.