Work

David Festa is Vice President for Environmental Defense Fund’s west coast operations, which include scientists, economists and lawyers based in San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. Since 1967, EDF has linked science, economics and law to create innovative, equitable and cost-effective solutions to society's most urgent environmental problems, including global climate change. EDF ranked first among environmental groups — and second overall — in the 2007 Financial Times global study of 850 business-nonprofit partnerships.

David recently served on the Obama transition team for the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he worked during the Clinton administration as Director of Policy and Strategic Planning. He won honors for leading agency efforts to: end overfishing, help Central America rebuild after Hurricane Mitch (one of the most powerful hurricanes on record), promote electronic commerce and strengthen the National Marine Sanctuaries.

Since David joined EDF in 2003 as Director of the Oceans Program, the program has achieved numerous key milestones, including:

• Increased the number of market-based fishery management plans in development from 1 in 2003 to more than 20 in 2008.
• Establishment of the California Fisheries Fund, a $5 million, first-of-its-kind, revolving loan fund to finance the transition to sustainable fisheries.
• Passing provisions in U.S. fishery law, The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 2006, which broke a decade-long impasse to market-based practices in fishery management and created guidelines for establishing marine protected areas.
• Sustained income growth averaging more than 35 percent per year between 2003 and 2008.

Background

David's 25-year career includes working as a journalist for The Economist, where he covered business, technology and science, and was nominated for the Glaxo Award for Science Journalism. He has been a management consultant, analyst for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, and Deputy Director of the Center for Clean Air Policy in Washington, DC. He has assisted local governments in developing energy policies and formulating growth management plans.

David has worked with national governments, the United Nations and multilateral development banks, including working with the World Bank on climate change strategies and modernizing environmental management in the former Soviet Union. He has helped businesses understand emerging energy and environmental issues and develop responses to them.

David is a visiting scholar at Oregon State University. He has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a BA from the University of Virginia, where he earned a Jefferson Academic Achievement Scholarship, was an Echols Scholar (the University’s top honors program) and graduated with distinction.