Billy Parish

Billy Parish (born September 11, 1981) is an American environmental entrepreneur, author, and activist. He is the co-founder and CEO of Mosaic Inc., the largest residential solar lender in the U.S.[1] Mosaic recently received a $220 million equity investment from private-equity firm Warburg Pincus[2] and was named one of the 10 most innovative companies in energy by Fast Company in 2013 [3] and 2014.[4]

Billy Parish
Born (1981-09-11) September 11, 1981
Oakland, California, U.S.
Occupation
  • environmental entrepreneur
  • author
  • activist

In 2002, he dropped out of Yale University to help found the Energy Action Coalition, eventually renamed the Powershift Network. The Coalition became the largest youth-led clean energy advocacy network in the world, bringing together 50 environmental and social justice groups and over 340,000 members.[5] It raised nearly $10 million in four years, helped get over 600 colleges to make commitments to climate neutrality, trained and empowered tens of thousands of young people, and worked to elevate climate issues in the 2008 elections.[6]

In March 2009, the Energy Action Coalition organized Power Shift '09, which brought over 12,000 young people to Washington D.C. for the largest climate-focused training, lobby day and non-violent civil disobedience action in U.S. history. 1Sky states Parish is on the Board of Directors.[7]

Billy played a leading role in creating the Clean Energy Corps proposal to create 5 million new green jobs in the U.S.,[8] which was incorporated into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. He also helped to expand the AmeriCorps public service program to include a new “Clean Energy Service Corps”.

Parish is the CEO of the Oakland, California based solar finance company Mosaic Inc.. He is a regular contributor to Inc. Magazine.[9]

Early life

Billy grew up in New York City. He spent a semester of high school at The Mountain School in Vermont, where he was turned on to working for the environment.[10] In July 2005 he led a three-day fast in front of the White House to draw attention to the 150,000 deaths caused each year by climate change.[11]

Personal life

Billy lives in Oakland, California with his wife and two daughters.

Awards and honors

Writings
  • Making Good: Finding Meaning, Money & Community in a Changing World

References
  1. Litvak, Nicole. "U.S. Residential Solar Financing 2016-2021". Greentech Media. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  2. Chernova, Yuliya. "Warburg Pincus Leads $220 Million Round for Solar Lender Mosaic". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  3. "The Most Innovative Companies of 2013 by Sector". Fast Company. Fast Company. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  4. "The Most Innovative Companies of 2014 by Sector". Fast Company. Fast Company.
  5. Energy Action Coalition, April 2, 2014
  6. Association, Student Conservation (February 7, 2008). "Climate Change Activist Billy Parish to Keynote SCA's EarthVision". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  7. http://www.1sky.org/about/ourteam/board
  8. Kamenetz, Anya. "Climate Change Power Shift". The Nation. The Nation.
  9. "Billy Parish's Articles". Inc.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  10. "Sprig.com Interview". Archived from the original on January 5, 2009.
  11. Rolling Stone, November 3, 2005
  12. Vision Award | Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Middlebury.edu (2015-08-13). Retrieved on 2015-08-13.
  13. "Billy Parish | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  14. Staff, Salon. "Sexiest Man Living 2007". Salon. Salon.
  15. Cohan, Ellen (March 3, 2015). "Billy Parish". Climate One. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  16. "New Leaders Initiative 2004 Award Winners" Archived July 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Earth Island Institute. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
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