Mr. Wheeler's topic will be "Toward New Measurements of Ecosystem Health."

Douglas Wheeler has worked exclusively with natural resource and environmental issues since 1969, when he began seven years of service at the Department of the Interior as Assistant Legislative Counsel and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.

Mr. Wheeler has helped to shape many of the laws and programs which now constitute national environmental policy. He has also been a senior executive of non-profit environmental and conservation organizations, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Farmland Trust, Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund.

From 1991-1999, Mr. Wheeler served as California's Secretary for Resources, with responsibility as a member of the Governor's Cabinet for all of the States's natural and cultural resource programs, administered through 18 departments, conservancies, boards and commissions with combined budgets of nearly $2 billion and a total staff of 13,000. During his tenure, Mr. Wheeler developed nationally recognized strategies to integrate economic and environmental goals, and to effectively manage the state's natural resources in the face of rapid growth and development.

Mr. Wheeler is a frequent lecturer at law schools and contributor to environmental publications. He serves on the Board of Visitors of the Duke University School of Law, and the Dean's Advisory Committee of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

At Hogan & Hartson, Mr. Wheeler practices principally with the Environmental Group, with emphasis on issues pertaining to land use and growth management; endangered species habitat; wetlands, and watershed management; water supply and distribution, including infrastructure development; management of agricultural and timberland resources; and historic preservation.

Mr. Wheeler received his L.L.B. from Duke University School of Law in 1966 and his A.B. from Hamilton College in 1963. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar, and his application to the D.C. Bar is pending.