David Gottfried

David Gottfried is known as the father of the global green building movement: founding the U.S. Green Building Council and the World Green Building Councils (with GBCs in over 100 countries). The GBC movement has likely reduced global warming and ecological footprint more than any other organizations in the world. Gottfried's work started a global industry with hundreds of thousands of green buildings in most of the world's countries. USGBC alone has 15,000 organizational members representing 10 million employees. About 200,000 professionals have passed its LEED Accredited Professional and Green Associate exams.

Gottfried serves as the CEO of Regenerative Ventures. The firm incubates greentech start-up companies and advises leading global building industry legacy organizations. Its Regenerative Network serves as an accelerator for disruptive green building technology companies.

Gottfried had previous tenures as a real estate developer and construction manager, and has served as a strategic adviser to over a hundred global organizations since 1995. His career spans 30+ years serving the global building industry. Gottfried's degree is in Engineering and Resource Management from Stanford University.

Gottfried has received numerous leadership awards, including the inaugural WorldGBC Global Green Building Entrepreneurship Award: the Award is now given out annually in Gottfried's name. He is a global keynote speaker and the author of three influential books: the Indie Award winning Explosion Green (2014), Greed to Green (2004) and Greening My Life (2010). Gottfried's former residence was the highest rated LEED Platinum home in the world.

Gottfried lives with his family in Berkeley, CA, including his wife, Sara Gottfried, MD, and two girls. Dr. Sara Gottfried's NY Times bestselling book is called The Hormone Cure. He is a modern art painter, with shows throughout the Bay Area.