Bill Stetson

Last updated

Eugene William Stetson III is an American businessman, film producer and environmental policy advisor to numerous entrepreneurial, not-for-profit and political organizations.

Contents

Family

Stetson is the grandson of Eugene W. Stetson, a corporate and banking pioneer [1] who was involved in early ownership of Coca-Cola and expansions of the Illinois Central Railroad and J.P. Morgan & Co., and the great grandson of Lunsford Richardson, a U.S. pharmacist and entrepreneur who founded the Vicks Chemical Company (which became Richardson Vicks Inc.), which owned companies such as Vidal Sassoon and Pantene and created a number of well-known products, including Vicks VapoRub, Clearasil, Nyquil, and Oil of Olay cream. [2] Stetson is married to Jane Watson Stetson, the former National Finance Chair for the Democratic National Committee in the United States and granddaughter of Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM. They reside in Norwich, Vermont and have three daughters Nancy, Katharine, and Grace.

Education

Stetson earned his bachelor's degree in government from Harvard University in 1982, where he was a fellow to the Harvard Institute of Politics and member of the renowned Hasty Pudding Club. He attended the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he studied energy and natural resources. Stetson also studied at the Austro-American Institute in Vienna, Austria, where he focused on European government.

Business experience

Stetson served as CEO of Fairhill Oil & Gas Corporation, the New York parent company of Canadian energy and exploration firm Fairhill Oil Ltd. While at Fairhill, Stetson worked to transform the company from a traditional oil and gas firm to a profitable natural gas business. He has served on the board of directors for Piedmont Financial Company, based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Stetson's business endeavors and major investments since the late 1990s have focused on socially responsible companies such as Tom's of Maine and the Beech Hill Farm in Rockport, Maine (formerly the largest commercial organic blueberry operation in the state of Maine), which is now operated by the Coastal Mountains Land Trust. [3]

Environmental experience

Stetson sits on the Board of Directors of Foundation for Our Future, an energy and environmental think tank. [4] He directed the Vermont and New Hampshire operations of the Connecticut River Watershed Council, and served as a supervisor of the Ottauquechee Natural Resources Conservation District (U.S. Department of Agriculture). [5]

Stetson is co-founder of River Watch Network [6] (later successfully merged with River Network which is based in Portland, Oregon), and served as a board member of the Harvard University Committee for the Environment, which created the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Stetson was a founding board member of the Climate Speakers Network, which was subsequently absorbed into the Climate Reality Project. [7]

Political experience

Stetson has served as an environmental policy advisor to numerous political campaigns, including the Presidential campaigns of Senator Gary Hart (D-CO), Representative Dick Gephardt (D-MO), Governor Howard Dean (D-VT), Senator John Kerry (D-MA), and Governor Bill Clinton (D-AR). In 2008, he served as a member of the Rapid Response Energy & Environment Team on the Obama for America Campaign for Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). Other specific advisor roles include Advisor to the Environment & Economic Subcommittee for Environmental Advisors to Governor Howard Dean, [8] a member of the Council of Environmental Advisers for Governor James Douglas (R-VT), [9] Governor Peter Shumlin's Governor's Council on Energy and the Environment, [10] Vermont State Co-chair of the Kerry for President Campaign, [11] and Vermont Chair of Environmentalists for Clinton/Gore 1992 Campaign. Stetson also served as advisor to the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) in Denver, Colorado, developing pro-environmental convention practices as a National Advisory Board member of the DNC.

Philanthropy/board service

Bill Stetson served as a Trustee and Governor for the Smith Richardson Foundation (SRF). [12] Created in 1935, the SRF's mission is to contribute to important public debates and to help address both domestic and international public policy challenges. With its endowment of over $800 million, the SRF remains one of the most prominent domestic and foreign policy funders, awarding grants to major think tanks and university research centers across the United States. Stetson also is a Trustee to the Grace Jones Richardson Trust, which make grants in the areas of arts, education, and health & human services, and the H. Smith Richardson Testamentary Trust, which controls significant assets including 6,000 acres (24 km2) of protected land in the North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains.

Stetson has served on the board of Vermont Public Radio, and currently is a board member of Vermont PBS. Stetson was the founding president of the Boatwright Foundation, which gives primarily in areas of pediatric medicine and the environment.

In 2011, Bill Stetson was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts. He was appointed chairman of the committee by President Joe Biden in 2022. [13]

Film/television/radio production

Stetson was the founding President of the Vermont Film Commission, [14] which has attracted feature films such as The Cider House Rules, Me, Myself and Irene , and What Lies Beneath to Vermont. He has produced What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library; [15] Citizen Suits (for The Creative Coalition) starring Alec Baldwin and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; Environmental Insight, an environmental radio talk show at Dartmouth College; and A Closer Walk , an AIDS documentary for PBS, directed by Academy Award nominee Robert Bilheimer and narrated by Glenn Close and Will Smith. Stetson also served as an adviser for Earth and the American Dream, an HBO movie for Earth Day. [16]

Stetson currently is completing production of "The Current Revolution" film series for The American Resilience Project, [17] where he serves on the advisory council.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fran Ulmer</span> American politician

Frances Ann "Fran" Ulmer is an American administrator and Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Alaska. She served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Alaska from 1994 to 2002 under Governor Tony Knowles, becoming the first woman elected to statewide office in Alaska, and lost the 2002 gubernatorial election against Republican Frank Murkowski. In 2007 she became the Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), before serving as Chair of the United States Arctic Research Commission between 2011 and 2020, appointed by President Barack Obama.

Douglas Alan Racine is an American politician and former Vermont Secretary of Human Services, a former Vermont State Senator and was the 79th lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1997 to 2003. He is a Democrat. Racine was a candidate for the 2010 Democratic nomination for Governor of Vermont. He previously ran for governor in 2002, but lost to Republican Jim Douglas. In an election where no candidate won a majority, Douglas won a 45% plurality, and Racine declined to contest the outcome before the Vermont General Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klaus Töpfer</span> German politician

Klaus Töpfer is a German politician (CDU) and environmental politics expert. From 1998 to 2006 he was executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Governors Association</span> Organization of U.S. Democratic governors

The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1983, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The mission of the organization is to provide party support to the election and re-election of Democratic gubernatorial candidates. The DGA's Republican counterpart is the Republican Governors Association. The DGA is not directly affiliated with the non-partisan National Governors Association. Meghan Meehan-Draper is currently the DGA's executive director, while Tim Walz is the current chair.

Daniel Paul Schrag is the Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology, Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at Harvard University and Director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment. He also co-directs the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard University Harvard Kennedy School. He is also an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Dunne</span> American politician and businessman

Matt Dunne is an American politician and businessman from the U.S. state of Vermont. He served four terms in the Vermont House of Representatives, two terms in the Vermont State Senate, was the Democratic candidate in the 2006 Vermont Lt. Governor's race, and the fourth-place finisher in the Democratic primary during the Vermont gubernatorial election, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology</span> White House advisory board

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a council, chartered in each administration with a broad mandate to advise the president of the United States on science and technology. The current PCAST was established by Executive Order 13226 on September 30, 2001, by George W. Bush, was re-chartered by Barack Obama's April 21, 2010, Executive Order 13539, by Donald Trump's October 22, 2019, Executive Order 13895, and by Joe Biden's February 1, 2021, Executive Order 14007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resources for the Future</span> U.S. non-profit organization

Resources for the Future (RFF) is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 1952 that conducts independent research into environmental, energy, and natural resource issues, primarily via economics and other social sciences. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., RFF performs research around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Markowitz</span> American politician and environmental leader

Deborah Markowitz is the state director for The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts. Prior to this, she served from 2011-2017 as the Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. She was appointed by Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin. She has also been a Visiting Professor of Environmental Policy and Leadership at the University of Vermont Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Markowitz was elected six times to serve as the Secretary of State of Vermont. Although she is a member of the Democratic Party, she won the nomination of both the Republican and Democratic Parties in two of her races.

The Vermont Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Vermont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosina Bierbaum</span> American academic

Rosina M. Bierbaum is currently the Roy F. Westin Chair in Natural Economics and Research Professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. She is also a professor and former dean at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE). She was hired in October 2001, by then-University of Michigan President, Lee Bollinger. She is also the current Chair of The Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) that provides independent scientific and technical advice to the GEF on its policies, strategies, programs, and projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Watson Stetson</span> American political operative

Jane Watson Stetson is an American political professional who previously served as National Finance Chair for the Democratic National Committee, the organization which governs the Democratic Party of the United States. She served as Chair from 2009 to 2013. She has also held positions for U.S. Representative Peter Welch of Vermont, Vermont Governor Howard Dean, and President Barack Obama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Holdren</span> American scientist and presidential advisor

John Paul Holdren is an American scientist who served as the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as assistant to the president for science and technology, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

Michael J. Obuchowski is a former member of the Vermont House of Representatives. Elected at age 20 in 1972, he won reelection 19 times, serving continuously from January, 1973 until resigning in January, 2011 to accept appointment as Vermont's Buildings and General Services Commissioner. Obuchowski served as Speaker from 1995 to 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherri W. Goodman</span> American government official

Sherri Goodman has had a multidisciplinary career as a national security executive, public policy leader, board director and lawyer. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the Polar Institute and the Environmental Change & Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, and Senior Strategist at the Center for Climate and Security. She is the Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security. Previously, she served as the President and CEO of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. She is the author of "Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership & the Fight for Global Security", to be published by Island Press in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gina McCarthy</span> American government official (born 1954)

Regina McCarthy is an American air quality expert who served as the first White House national climate advisor from 2021 to 2022. She previously served as the thirteenth Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Milne</span> American businessman and political candidate

Scott Edward Milne is an American businessman and political candidate from North Pomfret, Vermont. A Republican, Milne was the party's nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Vermont in 2020, losing to Democrat Molly Gray; the nominee for United States Senate in 2016, losing to incumbent Democrat Patrick Leahy; and the nominee for Governor of Vermont in 2014, losing to two-term incumbent Peter Shumlin in the closest gubernatorial election in Vermont since 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Minter</span> American politician

Sue M. Minter is an American politician from the state of Vermont. She served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011, led Vermont's recovery efforts after Tropical Storm Irene, and became secretary of the Vermont Agency of Transportation in 2015. Minter was the Democratic Party nominee in the Vermont gubernatorial election of 2016. She lost to the Republican Party nominee Phil Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert K. Dixon</span> American government official and expert

Robert K. Dixon is an energy, environment, and economic expert at the Office of International Affairs, US Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, DC, USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Nesheiwat</span> American politician

Julia Nesheiwat is an American national security adviser who served as the 10th homeland security advisor in the Trump administration from 2020 to 2021. She also served in the Bush and Obama administrations.

References

  1. ↑ "School of Business". 9 November 2020.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2010-06-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ http://www.coastalmounains.org/downloads/campaigns/beech_hill_campaign.pdf%5B%5D
  4. ↑ Foundation for Our Future - www.ffof.org
  5. ↑ Ottauquechee Natural Resources Conservation http://www.vacd.org/onrcd/index.html Archived 2010-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ River Watch Network http://www.rivernetwork.org/our-history Archived 2009-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Climate Speakers Network http://climatespeakers.org
  8. ↑ "Brighter Planet and 1Sky's Climate Matters video contest".
  9. ↑ Jim Douglas, Governor "Press Release - Jim Douglas, Governor of Vermont". Archived from the original on 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  10. ↑ "Governor Shumlin makes appointments to public boards | Vermont Business Magazine".
  11. ↑ Kerry For President http://climatematters.brighterplanet.com/judges.html
  12. ↑ Smith Richardson Foundation "Smith Richardson Foundation". Archived from the original on 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  13. ↑ "President Biden Announces Key Appointments to the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts". The White House. 2022-03-11. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  14. ↑ Vermont Film Commission http://7d.blogs.com/freyneland/2008/02/crunch-time-for.html
  15. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1490032/combined [ user-generated source ]
  16. ↑ "The Vermont Movie". Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  17. ↑ "Home". amresproject.org.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.