Tom Campion

Tom Campion

2024 Frances K. Hutchinson Medal

For his environmental activism and internationally lauded work to protect irreplaceable wilderness areas.

Tom Campion has devoted his resources and passion to protecting and safeguarding important wilderness areas like the more than 19 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. President Barack Obama called him a powerful, principled leader whose work would help leave “a safer, cleaner, and more sustainable planet.” 

He chairs Zumiez, the action sports retailer which he co-founded in 1978. In 2005, he and his wife Sonya founded the Campion Foundation to protect the wilderness, address homelessness, and strengthen the nonprofit sector.

In 2014 they founded the Campion Advocacy Fund to support efforts to preserve landscapes in Alaska and the American West. The fund has also supported the publication of books, films, and museum exhibits highlighting crucial environmental issues. These efforts include the stunning award-winning film, The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness. 

Tom has been recognized for his conservation and environmental efforts. A founding board member of Conservation Northwest, he is chair emeritus of the Alaska Wilderness League and is active in The Wilderness Society.

Tom Campion is a true environmental champion who, according to Washington Governor Jay Inslee, has done more than anyone on the globe to save the Arctic. 

The Frances K. Hutchinson Medal is awarded to figures of national importance for distinguished service to conservation.

The Francis K. Hutchinson Medal was designed in 1940 by Spaulding Gorham, Chicago, and was presented and endowed by the Lake Geneva Garden Club in memory of its founder, Mrs. Charles L. Hutchinson. Mrs. Hutchinson was an outstanding horticulturalist, naturalist, and conservationist. She created a seventy-two acre woodland sanctuary, "Wychwood", opened to the public in 1926 and used for study by University of Chicago botany students. She also wrote three books contributing to classification and preservation of the Lake Geneva region native birds and plants.

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