Jerry Brown is an American statesman, lawyer, and longtime public servant whose career has spanned more than five decades of California and national politics. Born in San Francisco in 1938, Brown studied at a Jesuit seminary before earning degrees from UC Berkeley and Yale Law School. He was elected California Secretary of State in 1970, then served two terms as Governor of California from 1975 to 1983, where he became known for fiscal restraint, environmental foresight, political independence, and an unconventional willingness to challenge the assumptions of his time.

After years of travel, law practice, public commentary, and national political campaigns, Brown returned to elected office as Mayor of Oakland, then California Attorney General, before winning two more terms as Governor from 2011 to 2019. In his later governorship, he helped guide California through a severe budget crisis, advanced major climate and renewable-energy commitments, and became one of the country’s most visible voices on climate change, nuclear danger, democratic responsibility, and humanity’s long-term future. He currently serves as chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and a board member of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.