Brent Blackwelder has served as an environmental advocate for over 40 years. In 1994 he became president of Friends of the Earth and is the most senior environmental lobbyist in Washington. He has testified in front of Congress on pressing environmental issues more than 100 times.
Brent was a founder and first chairman of the board of American Rivers, our nation's leading river-saving organization. He was also one of the founders of the Environmental Policy Institute, which merged with Friends of the Earth in 1989.
As a leader in the effort to save rivers, Brent helped expand the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System from eight rivers in 1973 to over 250 today. He also worked to eliminate over 200 dams and other water projects that would have destroyed rivers, wetlands, wildlife and areas of special scientific value.
Brent initiated campaigns to reform the World Bank and succeeded in getting Congress to enact a series of significant reforms directing the Bank and other multilateral lending institutions to pay more attention to the environment.
Brent serves on the board of directors of the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and 20/20 Vision. He graduated summa cum laude from Duke University and received an M.A. in Mathematics from Yale, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Maryland.
