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Gil Friend

President & Chief Executive Officer of Natural Logic

Gil Friend

Gil Friend

President & Chief Executive Officer of Natural Logic

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Speaking Fee Speaking Fee:
Live Event: $30,000 - $50,000
Virtual Event: $10,000 - $20,000
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Categories Categories:
Categories Categories:
Business, Business Growth, Business Leaders, Corporate Culture, Corporate Responsibility, Energy, Environment, Green and Sustainability, Innovation, Virtual Speakers
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Gil Friend Biography

Gil Philip Friend, the founder, chair, and CEO of Natural Logic Inc, and Critical Path Capital, advises leading companies, communities, and investors on business-driving sustainability strategies.

Friend has been a noted sustainability pioneer for nearly 50 years and is widely considered one of the founders of the sustainable business movement. He was named an inaugural member of the Sustainability Hall of Fame (along with Ray Anderson, Amory Lovins, Karl-Henrik Robert, and Bob Willard) by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, acknowledging “those people that have contributed the most to the emerging field of sustainability,” and “one of the 10 most influential sustainability voices in America” by The Guardian.

From December 2013 to November 2018, he served as the first Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Palo Alto, California, where he led the development of one of the most aggressive climate action plans in the US, winning unanimous city council support for a goal of 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (and reaching 56% reduction by his departure to return to Natural Logic).

A systems ecologist and business strategist with nearly 50 years of experience in business, policy, communications, and environmental innovation, Mr. Friend combines broad business experience with unique content experience spanning strategy, systems ecology, economic development, management cybernetics, and public policy. He designed and developed the first interactive corporate sustainability dashboard (In the mid-1990s) and has advised clients (ranging from Odwalla and Equal Exchange to Hewlett Packard, Levi Straus, Sunpower, Steelcase, Avery Dennison, Coca-Cola, eBay, the US General Services Administration) on designing, implementing, and measuring sustainability strategies that deliver massive impact and value.

Friend was co-founder of the Insitute for Local Self-Reliance (where he built perhaps the first rooftop farm in the US, in the early 1970s), the Foundation for the Arts of Peace, the pre-internet company, Institute for Global Communications, and the Sustainable Business Alliance. He served in the Office of Appropriate Technology in the California Governor’s Office under Governor Jerry Brown, where he was an early 1980s pioneer of sustainable agriculture policies.

Friend serves on the boards of directors of Blue Planet Energy, Inquiring Systems, Inc., and Natural Logic, Inc., and previously on the advisory boards of CleanFish, Green Chamber of Commerce, Green World Campaign, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and Sustainable Brands. He served on San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Clean Tech Advisory Council, and the executive board of OpenEco.org, and was twice named one of the Bay Area’s top 25 movers & shakers in cleantech.

Friend has served Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Oregon State Univesity, Expert-in Residence and Adjunct Faculty at Presidio Graduate School, and guest faculty at California College of the Arts, University of Southern California, and Goddard College. He lectures widely on business strategy and sustainability issues and wrote The New Bottom Line, a biweekly column for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate offering strategic perspectives on business and environment. Friend is author of the acclaimed book The Truth About Green Business and the forthcoming book, Profit on Purpose: Risk, Fiduciary Duty and the Laws of Nature; was co-author of Biofuels Development and Soil Productivity (1982); and has contributed chapters to several books, including Worldchanging: A User’s Guide to the 21st Century, Sustainable Enterprise Report, Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook, Sustainable Food Systems, and Stepping Stones.

He holds an M.S. degree in systems ecology from Antioch University, has a black belt in Aikido, and is a seasoned practitioner of “The Natural Step” environmental management system.

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Gil Friend Speaking Topics

  • Getting The Prices Right

    Why capitalism can't work right until it stops lying to itself about what things really cost

    For:

    • CXOs
    • Senior Executives
    • Investment professionals
    • Sustainability managers
    • Climate and Sustainability activists
    • Economists
    • Policy analysts

  • The Mysteriously Elusive Sustainability Business Case

    How smart companies are making sustainability, regeneration, and climate action their secret door to massive business value...how your biggest brand promise can open that secret door...and why other companies are still working way too hard NOT to get it.

    For:

    • CXOs
    • Senior Executives
    • Investment professionals
    • Sustainability managers
    • Climate professionals
    • General audiences

  • Why Smart Cities Aren't So Smart—And Why Living Cities Can Be

    How cities around the world have jumped to the forefront of the sustainability revolution, what your city can do next about climate, energy, water, housing, mobility, green surfaces, adaptation, finance, and inclusion--and why it might be easier to deal with them all together rather than separately.

    (This topic draws on what I learned as the first Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Palo Alto (from both successes and failures), as an international speaker on urban innovation, and as a pioneer in urban ecology.)

    For:

    • Elected officials
    • Municipal executives and directors
    • Smart city vendors
    • Urban planners
    • Civic organizations
    • Real estate developers
    • Community organizers
      • General audiences

  • Why CFOs Should Take the Lead On Climate

    Facing climate risk and strategic duty...by moving beyond quarterly capitalism in a carbon-constrained world...and making the new world work for your business--and your career.

    For:

    • Chief Financial Officers
    • Senior Executives
    • Investment professionals
    • Sustainability managers
    • Government regulators

  • Navigating The Anthropocene—Leading In An Uncertain World

    How your business can apply 3.8 billion years of open-source R&D to thrive in the unparalleled uncertainty of the 21st century...and... How leaders can adapt, anticipate, and thrive-in an era of crisis and turmoil-with grace, dignity, and power.

    For:

    • CXOs
    • Senior Executives
    • Investment professionals
    • Sustainability managers
    • Climate professionals
    • General audiences

Gil Friend Videos

  • Gil Friend - Sustainability, A Fundamental Element of Business ...
    Gil Friend - Sustainability, A Fundamental Element of Business ...
    https://www.bigspeak.com/speakers/gil-friend/ Gil Friend, systems ecologist and business strategist, is a provocative, thoughtful, and ruthlessly ...
  • Gil Friend on making Palo Alto the greenest city in America - YouTube
    Gil Friend on making Palo Alto the greenest city in America - YouTube
    A talk given at Franchise for Humanity 2015. Franchise for Humanity hosted its second annual working conference on February 20th and 21st ...
See All Videos »

Gil Friend Books

  • The Truth About Green Business
    The Truth About Green Business

FAQs on booking Gil Friend

  • How do I book Gil Friend to speak at my event?

    Our experienced booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure speakers like Gil Friend for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment since 2002. Click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page to check availability for Gil Friend, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get speaking fee information and check availability for Gil Friend or any other speaker of your choice.

  • What are the speaker fees for Gil Friend

    Speaking fees for Gil Friend, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book Gil Friend are for live events and for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire Gil Friend, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.

  • What topics does Gil Friend speak about?

    Gil Friend is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Business, Business Growth, Business Leaders, Corporate Culture, Corporate Responsibility, Energy, Environment, Green and Sustainability, Innovation, Virtual Speakers.

  • Where does Gil Friend travel from?

    Gil Friend generally travels from an undisclosed location, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.

  • Who is Gil Friend’s agent?

    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like Gil Friend for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Gil Friend for your next private or corporate function.

  • What is a full-service speaker booking agency?

    AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host Gil Friend or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.

  • Why is AAE Speakers Bureau different from other booking agencies?

    If you’re looking for the best, unbiased speaker recommendations, paired with a top-notch customer service experience, you’re in the right place. At AAE Speakers Bureau, we exclusively represent the interests of our clients - professional organizations, companies, universities, and associations. We intentionally do not represent the speakers we feature or book. That is so we can present our clients with the broadest and best performing set of speaker options in the market today, and we can make these recommendations without any obligation to promote a specific speaker over another. This is why when our agents suggest a speaker for your event, you can be assured that they are of the highest quality with a history of proven success with our other clients.

Gil Friend is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Getting The Prices Right, The Mysteriously Elusive Sustainability Business Case, Why Smart Cities Aren't So Smart—And Why Living Cities Can Be, Why CFOs Should Take the Lead On Climate and Navigating The Anthropocene—Leading In An Uncertain World. The estimated speaking fee range to book Gil Friend for your event is $30,000 - $50,000. Gil Friend generally travels from and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Andrew Winston, Tim Sanders, Amy Myers Jaffe, Richard Florida and Tensie Whelan. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Gil Friend for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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