Phil Radford

Phil Radford
Radford as Greenpeace's Executive Director (2012)
Born	Philip David Radford (1976-01-02) January 2, 1976 (age 41) New Brunswick, NJ, U.S.
Alma mater	Washington University in St. Louis
Occupation	Environmental, clean energy and democracy leader
Known for	Executive Director, Greenpeace Co-Founder, Democracy Initiative
Partner(s)	Eileen Radford

Executive Director, Greenpeace

Philip David "Phil" Radford (born January 2, 1976) is an American environmental, clean energy and democracy leader who served as the youngest Executive Director of Greenpeace USA. He is a co-founder of the Democracy Initiative, Membership Drive, was founder and Executive Director of Power Shift, and is a board member of Green Corps and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. He has a background in grassroots organizing, corporate social responsibility,climate change, and clean energy. Radford lives in Washington, DC with his wife Eileen.

Radford’s theory of change shifted from viewing governments as arbitrators between public and private interests on environmental issues, to finding that most governments are captured by industry. Rather than fighting first for new laws, which could be blocked by industries, he has focused on pressuring large companies to change their practices and enlisted them as allies in pushing for strong environmental protections. Examples include Greenpeace campaigns that convinced Apple, Inc. and similar companies to shift to 100% clean energy and lobby utilities and regulators to make that possible, as well as work to protect both the Indonesian rainforest and the Bering Sea Canyons. Radford argues that the combination of creating industry champions and “outside pressure” focused on the government are the keys to passing new laws to protect the environment. However, Radford has also been a vocal leader calling for the United States to pass campaign finance reform and respect all Americans' voting rights to shift power in politics from corporations towards people and fulfill "the promise of American democracy." Radford is considered by many to be a modern-day transcendentalist, in that he is very focused on nature and the environment, and he is an advocate of democracy.