Reshape our Blue Front Yard
Douglas Woodring |
TEDxHKPolyU
• February 2019
Mr. Woodring is the Founder and Managing Director of Ocean Recovery Alliance, a non-
profit organization which is focused on bringing together innovative solutions,
technology, collaborations and policy to create positive improvements for the health of
the ocean. Two of its global programs were launched at the Clinton Global Initiative,
and he was recently was awarded the 2018 Prince’s Prize for Innovative Philanthropy in
Monaco. He is a UN Climate Hero, and Google Earth Hero for his efforts, and has been
on the advisory board of the XPrize, and The Economist’s World Oceans Summit. Ocean
Recovery Alliance is one of the first NGOs to have worked with both UNEP and the
World Bank on plastic pollution issues, and is the founder of the Plasticity Forum which
focuses on plastic innovation and solutions for circularity.
Mr. Woodring has worked in Asia for over 25 years, including four years in the asset
management industry, where at Merrill Lynch Asset Management Hong Kong in 1998,
he proposed the company’s first global environmental technology fund. He has also
been nominated three times as World Open Water Swimmer of the Year for his
innovative contributions to the sport.
Born in Northern California, Mr. Woodring has a dual master’s degree from The
Wharton School (MBA) and Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International
Studies (SAIS) in Environmental Economics. He has BA from the University of California
at Berkeley.