BRENT BLACKWELDER

Brent Blackwelder has served as an environmental advocate in Washington for three decades. A former Chairman of the Board for the League of Conservation Voters and a founder and first Chairman of the Board of American Rivers, Brent co-founded the Environmental Policy Institute, which merged with Friends of the Earth and the Oceanic Society in 1989.

Brent currently serves on the Board of Directors of 20/20 Vision, the League of Conservation Voters Educational Fund and the Citizens Trade Campaign. Brent has worked with citizen organizations to ensure the protection of 150 rivers in the National Scenic River system, and to eliminate more than 200 destructive dams and stream channelization projects throughout the world.

An initiator of the campaign to reform the World Bank, Brent was instrumental in persuading Congress to enact a series of significant reforms directing the Bank and other multilateral lending institutions to pay more attention to the environment. He has also played a key role in the passage of many laws enacted in the U.S. to ensure environmental protection.

Brent has written extensively on a broad range of environmental issues, and has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post. Brent has co-authored several publications including Disasters in Water Development, Bankrolling Successes and A Water Conservation Program for the Nation.

Most recently, he has appeared as an expert environmental commentator on NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Now, CNN and the BBC.

Brent graduated summa cum laude from Duke University, holds an M.A. in Mathematics from Yale, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Maryland. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife Terry. They have two children.

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