Phil Radford is the Executive Director of Greenpeace USA. He has a background in grassroots organizing, campaign planning, and energy policy. Radford served as Greenpeace USA’s Grassroots Director from December, 2003 to April 13, 2009, when it was announced that he would take over as Executive Director of the organization.
Since 2001, in addition to working at Greenpeace, Radford has worked as an independent solar electricity and advocacy campaign consultant for such clients as the National Council of Churches, M&R Strategic Services, A-Net Energy Services, Rainforest Action Network, and Greenpeace.
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Radford received his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1998.[1] He has a certificate in Non-profit Management from Georgetown University.
Radford began his career as a grassroots organizer in high school as a canvasser for Illinois PIRG. While studying political science and business at Washington University in St. Louis, he directed canvass offices during summers for the Fund for Public Interest Research. He started a Free the Planet! chapter on Washington University’s campus, as well.[2]
After graduating in 1998, Radford became a Lead Organizer at Green Corps, an environmental field organizing school.[3]
From 1999 to 2001 Radford was Field Director for Ozone Action, an organization dedicated to working on the atmospheric threats of global warming and ozone depletion. As field director, Radford planned and executed a number of grassroots campaigns, including a campaign during the 2000 presidential primaries that convinced Senator John McCain to push for action on global warming.
Radford also managed the grassroots mobilization for the Global Warming Divestiture Campaign, which forced Ford, General Motors, Texaco, and other companies to stop funding the Global Climate Coalition, which spread misinformation about global warming. He also brought 230 students to the Kyoto negotiations, where they convinced the U.S. delegation to stop pushing for nuclear energy in the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism.[4]
In 2001 Radford founded Power Shift, dedicated to promoting clean energy technologies in the marketplace and building a grassroots movement to push for global warming solutions. He served as Executive Director of Power Shift until he left for Greenpeace USA in 2003.[5]
As Executive Director of Power Shift, Radford worked closely with the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, and Berkeley, CA, as well as nine other municipalities, to secure investments for installation of solar energy systems and implementation of energy efficiency measures in municipal buildings. While at Power Shift, Radford also helped to convince Citigroup to adopt innovative new means of financing clean energy infrastructure for wind and solar installations that made them affordable to average Americans.[6]
Before becoming Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, Radford served as the director of the organization’s Grassroots Program. In that capacity, he directed the organization's street and door-to-door canvassers, online-to-offline organizing team, and student organizing and training programs.[7]
Radford managed Greenpeace USA's national canvassing program from 2006, growing it to include nearly 400 canvassers in almost 20 cities across the country. The program is responsible for bringing over 140,000 new members into Greenpeace USA since 2006.[8]
He also oversaw the launching of the Greenpeace Student Network and the Greenpeace Organizing Term. The Greenpeace Student Network works with over 15,000 students on some 80 campuses across the country, to engage them in Greenpeace campaigns and train them to run their own environmental campaigns on their campuses. The Greenpeace Organizing Term is attended each semester by some 30 students, who pay tuition to Greenpeace for extensive training in environmental grassroots organizing tactics and the opportunity to plan and execute various actions in the field.[9]
Radford has been criticized for 2009 staff layoffs and a suspension of the organizations 401(k) matching contribution for employees, both blamed on the economic downturn. Greenpeace reportedly suffered major losses due to it's investment strategy of bequest income. Shortly after the layoffs Radford undertook a restructuring that resulted in several new positions which report directly to him, including a Personal Publicist to the Executive Director and Board Liaison.
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