The Pacific Council will honor Mary Robinson on January 12, 2016, as she accepts the Warren Christopher Public Service Award at an event in Los Angeles. Marc B. Nathanson, Co-Chair of the Pacific Council Board of Directors, will lead an on-stage interview with Robinson on her career and on issues like gender equality, climate change, and conflict in the Middle East.

Mary Robinson, the first woman president of Ireland (1990-1997) and the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002), will be the second recipient of the award. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the inaugural awardee in 2013.

“We are very pleased to recognize Mary Robinson and her distinguished career as an advocate for social change,” said Council President and CEO Jerrold D. Green. “The Christopher Award was created in appreciation of the far-reaching impact of devoted public service. Awardees demonstrate commitment to international and domestic affairs, to the highest ethical standards, to promotion of the common good, to equality and fairness, and to government service as a noble pursuit.”

Robinson served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa (2013-2014). In August 2014 she was appointed the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change. She leads the Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice as President. In 2009, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the nation's highest civilian award—from U.S. President Barack Obama.

The Pacific Council's Warren Christopher Public Service Award honors the lifetime achievements of former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the longtime Chair of the Council's Board of Directors. Christopher’s career spanned service as a young Naval officer, an attorney at O'Melveny and Myers, the nation's top diplomat, and the head of what came to be called the Christopher Commission in the wake of the Rodney King incident. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom—the nation's highest civilian award—by President Jimmy Carter in 1981 for his role in negotiating the release of 52 American hostages held in Iran for 444 days.