William Yancey Brown

William Yancey Brown

William Yancey Brown is the Chief Environmental Officer of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the Department of the Interior, where he oversees science and regulation for protection of the environment in energy and non-energy minerals development on the Outer Continental Shelf of the United States. He is a graduate of the Escola Americana do Recife (High School), University of Virginia (BA Biology, with highest distinction), Johns Hopkins University (MAT), University of Hawai'i (PhD, Zoology), and Harvard Law School (JD). He was born in Artesia, California.

Dr. Brown's formerly served as nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; Science Advisor to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt; President & CEO of the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts; President & CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia; President & CEO of the Bishop Museum in Hawai'i; Vice President of the National Audubon Society; Vice President of Waste Management, Inc.; Senior Scientist and Acting Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund; Executive Secretary of the U.S. Endangered Species Scientific Authority; and Assistant Professor, Mount Holyoke College.