Gil Friend

Keynote Speaker, Author, Thought Leader, Futures Strategist, Sustainable Business Pioneer

Gil Friend is a top Corporate Culture speaker, systems ecologist, and business strategist, and is widely considered one of the founders of the sustainable business movement, and is noted for inspiring, challenging and supporting business, policy and investment leaders to rethink business in the light of the climate change and sustainability challenges. His commitment: to build prosperity and strategic advantage by managing through the lens of deep purpose and the guidance of 3.8 billion years of open source R&D—not just quarterly returns.

  • Gil Friend Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    $10,001 - $20,000

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    California, USA

  • Gil Friend Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    $10,001 - $20,000

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    California, USA

Suggested Keynote Speaker Programs

CFOs—The Next Sustainability Leader: What CFOs can do for sustainability—and what sustainability can do for CFOs

Smart, Sustainable Cities: How cities have jumped to the forefront of the sustainability revolution—and what your city should do next

Navigating the Anthropocene: How your business can use the laws of nature to thrive in the unparalleled uncertainty of the 21st century

Getting Prices Right: Why capitalism can’t work right until it stops lying to itself

The Mysteriously Elusive Sustainability Business Case: How smart companies are making sustainability a source of massive business value—and why others are working too hard NOT to get it

About Keynote Speaker Gil Friend

Gil Friend, systems ecologist and business strategist, is widely considered one of the founders of the sustainable business movement, and is noted for inspiring, challenging and supporting business, policy and investment leaders to rethink business in the light of the climate change and sustainability challenges. His commitment: to build prosperity and strategic advantage by managing through the lens of deep purpose and the guidance of 3.8 billion years of open source R&D—not just quarterly returns.

Greenbiz.com chairman Joel Makower describes Mr. Friend as “one of the most thoughtful and creative thinkers I know in the area of sustainable business, who artfully bridges the scientific and technical sides of sustainability, the realities of the daily world of business and people, and the systems in which they operate.”

Mr. Friend is founder and CEO of Natural Logic Inc, a strategy boutique advising the world’s leading companies on building “massive value” through business-integrated sustainability strategies. Clients have included Coca-Cola, eBay, General Mills, HP, Landsbankinn, Levis, Odwalla, Steelcase, Sunpower, and many others. He is founder and chair of a new impact investment firm, applying Natural Logic’s decades of experience to financial markets. He is founder and CEO of Critical Path Capital, a family of funds designed to accelerate the sustainable business revolution. He has just completed a secondment as the first Chief Sustainability Officer of the City of Palo Alto (California), where he led the development of the most aggressive municipal sustainability and climate plan in the US.

Mr. Friend is an inaugural member (along with Interface CEO Ray Anderson, energy guru Amory Lovins and Natural Step founder Karl-Henrik Robert) of the Sustainability Hall of Fame, and was named “one of the 10 most influential sustainability voices in America” by The Guardian and one of the Bay Area’s “top 25 movers and shakers” in CleanTech. He is author of the acclaimed FT Press book, The Truth About Green Business, and more than 100 articles on business strategy and sustainability policy.

 

Testimonials

“Thanks to The Truth About Green Business the usual excuse for remaining gray—I don’t understand it and it’s too controversial—just vanished.”

Carl Pope

Executive Director, Sierra Club

“Gil Friend makes organizations understand what’s on their risk agenda today and how to measure and manage impact while improving the bottom line. This starts with the firm belief that becoming a truly sustainable organization does ask for more than only reducing the carbon footprint. ”

Rudy Vetter

former Vice President Sustainability, Dial Corporation

“Business as usual is destroying the natural systems upon which our economies—and our civilization—depend. We can’t afford not to do green business. Fortunately, Gil Friend has provided us with a powerful, practical plan to recovery and sustained progress.”

Lester R. Brown

President, Earth Policy Institute; MacArthur Fellow; Author of Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization

“This workshop changed my life. Gil Friend not only makes a compelling argument for urgent adoption of sustainable business principles, but also builds a practical and understandable blueprint for action.”

Gene Kahn

VP, Global Sustainability Officer, General Mills, Inc. (former)

“This was the best sustainability lecture I’ve heard in the last ten years.”

reiterd EPA executive

 

“Gil is an outstanding speaker and can stimulate the kind of free-wheeling exchanges that most conferences are looking for.”

Bruce Klafter

Managing Director, Applied Materials

“Gil has keen insights into how sustainability affects the business side of a company and is one of the most eloquent speakers I know on the topic.”

Scott Butner

Sr. Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Lab

“Gil is one of the most thoughtful and creative thinkers I know in the area of sustainable business, and artfully bridges the scientific and technical sides the issue, the realities of the daily world of business and people and the systems in which they operate.”

Joel Makower

Founder/Director of strategy, GreenBiz.com

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