William Y. Brown (born August 13, 1948) is a zoologist and attorney, currently the chief environmental officer of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the Department of the Interior. He is a former nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a former science advisor to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, a former president of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, a former president of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a former president of the Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He is the author of the novels "Valley of the Scorpion" and "Ruffner's Cave".
In 1977, Brown was appointed executive secretary of the U.S. Endangered Species Scientific Authority, overseeing treaty commitments for wildlife trade. In 1980, he was appointed executive secretary of the International Convention Advisory Commission, with similar responsibilities. Brown left government in 1981 with a change in administration, joining the Environmental Defense Fund where he served as senior scientist and attorney and acting executive director until 1985. He played a key role in developing and protecting from repeal key provisions of the Endangered Species Act.
In 1985, Brown joined Waste Management, Inc. and was vice president for environmental planning and programs and the first chairman of the firm's executive environmental committee. Brown left WMI in October 1994 and worked as a consultant, first with Hagler Bailly Consulting as a principal and later with the World Wildlife Fund as a senior fellow.
Brown served with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt as science advisor from April 1997 until January 2001. There, he advocated, wrote and negotiated executive orders for coral reef protection and invasive species management issued by President William Clinton and orders of Secretary Bruce Babbitt establishing marine national wildlife refuges for Navassa Island off Haiti and Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef south of Hawaii.
On leaving the government with a change in administration, he served as vice president for oceans and science policy at the National Audubon Society before being recruited by the Bishop Museum, where he served as president and CEO from October 2001 to January 2007. He is credited with stabilizing the museum both financially and politically, improving attendance and successfully undertaking several expansions and renovations. He served as president and CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences from February 2007 to January 2010. He served as president and CEO of the Woods Hole Research Center from February 2010 to January 2011. He was a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution from June 2011 until November 2013, when he was appointed the chief environmental officer of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
William Brown is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Phi Sigma, and a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He is a former member of the oversight advisory committee for the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the National Academies. He is a former president and director of the Natural Science Collections Alliance and a former chairman and director of the Global Heritage Fund and of the Ocean Conservancy. He is a former director of various other boards, including the Wistar Institute, Environmental Law Institute, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, U.S. Environmental Training Institute, Audubon Naturalist Society, Friends of the United Nations Environmental Programme, and the Harvard Environmental Law Society. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.
2021 "Using Science to Safely Tap Energy and Minerals from the Sea: role of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management." In Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue Economy: People, Products and Policies. Edited by Liesl Hotaling and Richard W. Spinrad. Chapter 10. Elsevier Press. 2021.
2014 "[3] "A Green Growth Path." In "Kazakhstan 2050: Toward a Modern Society for All." Edited by A. Aitzhanov, S. Katsu, J.F. Linn, and V. Yezhov. Oxford University Press, February.
2001: "Promise and Peril: Biotechnology's Potential for Environmental Quality." Environmental Forum, September/October 2001, Volume 8, Number 5.
2000: Concluding address "The Way Forward." Conference on Best Management Practices for Preventing and Controlling Invasive Alien Species. Cape Town, South Africa. February 22. Symposium Proceedings: 285–6. Working for Water Programme, Cape Town, South Africa.
1995. "Corporate Programs to Understand and Conserve Biological Diversity." Report of the National Biological Service, Department of the Interior.
1995: "Science and the Endangered Species Act" W.Y. Brown and other members of the National Research Council Committee on Scientific Issues in the Endangered Species Act. National Academy Press.
1993: "Corporate Leadership." In: Joyce K. Berry and John C. Gordon. (eds.) Environmental Leadership: Developing Effective Skills and Styles. Island Press.
1984. "Arctic Environmental Quality." Chapter 9. In: W.E. Westermeyer and K.M. Shusterich, (Eds.) United States Arctic Interests. Springer-Verlag: New York.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine. "Attributes of a First-in-Class Environmental Program: A Letter Report Prepared for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management" The National Academies Press. 2022 [4]
Butler, Declan "Revolution offers chance for Libyan archaeology" Nature News November 18, 2011 [5]
Goldenberg, Suzanne "Rio+20 summit co-ordinator seeks to put agriculture centre stage" The Guardian September 2, 2011 [6]
Williams, Wendy "An expert applies science to policy", Providence Journal, March 15, 2010 [7]
Hurdle, Jon, "Philadelphia Set to Honor Darwin", The New York Times, June 23, 2008 [8]
Bauers, Sandy, "Rock on: Academy won't sell collection", Philadelphia Inquirer, June 16, 2007 [9]
Hoover, Will, "Bishop Museum goes headhunting", Honolulu Advertiser, January 2, 2007
McDermott, John, "Bishop Museum will work its magic on musty Hawaiian Hall.", Pacific Business News, August 25, 2006 [10]
McDermott, John, "High-energy team has Bishop Museum on a roll.", Pacific Business News, August 25, 2006 [11]
Pala, Christopher, "A Struggle to Preserve a Hawaiian Archipelago and Its Varied Wildlife." New York Times December 19, 2006 [12]
Pala, Christopher, "Paradise Almost Lost: Hawaii's Bishop Grapples with NAGPRA" Museum March/April 2008 [13]
Friedman, Thomas, "Foreign Affairs: Mr. Toad's Last Ride.", The New York Times, June 6, 1998.[14]
Shabecoff, Philip, "Irate and Afraid, Poor Nations Fight Efforts to Use Them as Toxic Dumps", The New York Times, July 5, 1988 [15]
Shabecoff, Philip, "Army Corps of Engineers Proposes to Ease Law Protecting Wetlands", The New York Times, March 26, 1983 [16]
Rensberger, Boyce, "U.S. Is Pressed to Comply With Wildlife Protection Treaty", The New York Times, June 20, 1978 [17]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "Endangered Species Scientific Authority Gets First Executive Secretary and Charter" August 5, 1977
