Matt Petersen Biography

Matt Petersen, Global Green USA President, CEO and board member, joined Global Green USA in 1994. Over the last 14 years, Petersen has built Global Green U.S.A., the United States affiliate of Green Cross International (GCI), into one of the countrys pre-eminent environmental organizations.

Building on Global Greens mission to foster a value shift towards a safer, more sustainable world, Petersen has helped develop and guide the organizations growing programs of fighting climate change; promoting green building and renewable energy; ensuring access to clean water for all of humanity; and, eliminating weapons of mass destruction.

In the aftermath of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, Petersen put forth a vision and mobilized resources to create the Global Green "Healthy Homes and Smart Neighborhoods" initiative which resulted in: the New Orleans Sustainable Design Competition with Jury Chair Brad Pitt; the NOLA Green Schools Initiative funded by the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund; and work with Habitat for Humanity throughout the Gulf Coast to create more energy efficient housing.

Petersen serves is an experienced spokesperson who been featured in international media, including: Good Morning America, the Today Show, CNN, the Washington Post, NPR, the LA Times, BusinessWeek, PBS, the Associated Press, Reuters and numerous others. Several instances include writing opeds with and doing joint interviews with several prominent figures including President Mikhail Gorbachev, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Salma Hayek. With President Gorbachev, Petersen chaired the Energy Dialogues in Barcelona, Spain in June 2004 and has appeared at dozens of press events with him discussing critical international environmental issues. With Pitt, Petersen appeared on the NBC Today Show four times with Pitt (1) and spearheaded the Sustainable Design Competition for the Green Rebuilding of New Orleans that resulted in the groups Holy Cross Project (2). With DiCaprio, Petersen co-authored an oped after Hurricane Katrina on global warming that appeared on the front page of Le Monde, as well as in the Yimburi Shimbumas well as calling on President Bush in 2002 to attend the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, raising awareness about the world water crisis (3) and calling on citizens to respond to the call to act on global warming (4). With Hayek, Petersen traveled with her, Jake Gyllenhaal, politicians, and business leaders to see first hand the impacts of global warming upon the Arctic and the Inuit people at several events together.

In 2008 Matt was honored as the Hillary Institutes inaugural Hillary Senior Fellow and serves on a number of advisory boards. Those include Discovery Communications Planet Green, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, a Member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and serves on the Environmental Media Association (EMA) Advisory Board, as well as the Automotive X Prize Advisory Board.

Previously, Petersen has served as a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and as Executive Director of Americans for a Safe Future, where he helped lead a successful campaign to promote alternative radioactive waste policies.

Petersen is also active in his community as a member of the Santa Monica Task Force on the Environment. He holds a BA in Political Science from California State University at Chico and an MA in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

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