Denis Hayes

Denis Hayes is recognized as a leading environmental advocate, best known as the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day. As a 25-year-old student at Harvard Kennedy School, Hayes left after a semester to become the principal organizer of a grassroots nonprofit that planned a nationwide rally on April 22, called Earth Day. The event brought out 20 million Americans—10 percent of the United States population at the time—and helped spark the modern environmental movement. Earth Day unified various environmental groups, helping them recognize shared values and encouraging collaboration within the environmental sector.

The decade following the first Earth Day saw the passage of major environmental legislation, including updates to the Clean Air Act, the creation of the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. Following Earth Day’s success, Hayes founded the Earth Day Network and served as international chairman for Earth Day anniversaries, expanding the network to more than 180 nations. Earth Day is now considered the world’s most widely observed secular holiday. Hayes’ story is featured in the documentary film "Earth Days," which closed the Sundance Film Festival.

During the Carter administration, Hayes served as director of the federal Solar Energy Research Institute, now known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He left this position when the Reagan administration cut funding for the program, after which he completed his legal education and broadened his career in environmental law and policy. Hayes has held roles including special assistant to the Governor of Illinois for natural resources and the environment, senior fellow at Worldwatch Institute, adjunct professor of energy engineering and human biology at Stanford University, Regents' Professor of Natural Resources at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and attorney at the Cooley law firm in Silicon Valley. He is the author of "Rays of Hope: The Transition to a Post-Petroleum World" and co-author of "COWED: The Hidden Impact of 93 Million Cows on America's Health, Economy, Politics, Culture, and Environment." His book on solar energy has been published in six languages.

Since 1992, Hayes has served as president of the Bullitt Foundation in Seattle, Washington, and continues to play a significant role in environmental and energy policy. His work at the foundation includes designing and building the Bullitt Center in Seattle, recognized as the first major building to meet the Living Building Challenge. The International Living Future Institute certified the Bullitt Center as a "living building."

Hayes has been recognized by Engineering News-Record as one of the Top 25 Newsmakers for his use of biomimicry in the development of the Bullitt Center. Time magazine named him one of its "Heroes of the Planet," and Life magazine included him among "The Life 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century." He has been profiled as "Newsmaker of the Week" by ABC News and by the New York Times. Hayes has received the national Jefferson Awards Medal for Outstanding Public Service, as well as awards from the Sierra Club, The Humane Society of the United States, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Council of America, the Global Environmental Facility of the World Bank, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and the American Solar Energy Society. Hayes’ career spans more than five decades, marked by contributions to environmental policy, renewable energy, and sustainable building design.