David Gottfried is an American real estate developer, author, and

green building Green building (also known as green construction, sustainable building, or eco-friendly building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's li ...

activist. As the founder of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the World Green Building Council, he is known as the father of the

movement.

Career

Green Building Councils

In April 1993, Gottfried, at the time a construction manager and real estate developer, along with Michael Italiano, an environmental lawyer, and Rick Fedrizzi, head of environmental marketing at Carrier at the time, founded the

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), in order to promote

sustainable Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

practices in the building and construction industry with the aim of improving

building performance Building performance is an attribute of a building that expresses how well that building carries out its functions. It may also relate to the performance of the building construction process. Categories of building performance are quality (how well ...

. They eventually went on to create the

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

building certification system in 2000. Through the USGBC, LEED has grown into the most widely used and well recognized

rating system in the world with 197,000 LEED projects in 186 countries and territories and covering over 29 billion square feet as of 2024. Gottfried created and managed the formation of the “United Nations of the Green Building Councils” with the founding meeting of the World Green Building Council held in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, US in 1999. In 2002, the WorldGBC was officially formed with the countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and US. There are now Green Building Councils in over 100 countries.

Other work

Gottfried currently serves as the

chief commercial officer The chief commercial officer (CCO) (sometimes referred to as the chief business officer) is an executive-level role, with the holder being responsible for the commercial management and the development of an organization. It typically involves a ...

for Blue Planet Systems, which creates Synthetic Limestone aggregate with a potential to permanently store

gigatons The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the shor ...

CO2 Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at normally-encountere ...

carbon negative Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is a process in which carbon dioxide () is removed from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities and durably stored in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products.IPCC, 2021:Annex VII: Glossar ...

concrete. He founded WorldBuild Technologies Inc, a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

sustainable development consultant firm, with clients such as

Yahoo Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, an ...

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

, DreamWorks SKG,

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Williams-Sonoma Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and home furnishings. It is owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and was founded by Chuck Williams (author), Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956. History In 1947, Chuck Williams settle ...

Genentech Genentech, Inc. is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It operates as an independent subsidiary of holding company Roche. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent cent ...

, the

State of California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and

San Diego Gas & Electric San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE or SDG&E) is a regulated public utility that provides natural gas and electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County in southwestern California, United States. It is owned by Sempra, a ''Fortune'' 50 ...

, and was previously the CEO of Reset360, Regenerative Ventures and its RegenNetwork. He has also held senior positions at Thomas Properties Group, SIGAL Construction Corporation, Intertech Development Company, and Sigal/Zuckerman Company.

Personal life

Gottfried graduated from

with a degree in

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and

Resource Management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or ...

. Gottfried is a

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

painter. He was previously married to Dr. Sara Gottfried, a scientist, researcher, MD, and author and is father to two daughters.

Bibliography

Books

Source: * ''Greed to Green: the Transformation of an Industry and a Life'' (2004) * ''Greening My Life: A Green Building Pioneer Takes on His Most Challenging Project'' (2010) * ''Explosion Green: One Man's Journey to Green the World's Largest Industry'' (2014)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottfried, David Climate activists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Stanford University alumni