Bill Drayton
{{short description|American social entrepreneur}}
{{Other people|William Drayton}}
{{COI|date=March 2024}}
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| caption = Bill Drayton (2012)
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| birth_name = William Drayton
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1943}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
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| alma_mater = Harvard University (BA)
Balliol College, Oxford (MA)
Yale University (JD)
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| organization = Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
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William Drayton (born 1943) is an American social entrepreneur. Drayton was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's 25 Best Leaders in 2005.{{Cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051031/31drayton.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109234311/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051031/31drayton.htm|url-status=dead|title=USNews.com: The social entrepreneur: Bill Drayton|archivedate=November 9, 2006}} He is responsible for the rise of the phrase "social entrepreneur",{{Cite web|title=Social entrepreneur|url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-entrepreneur.asp#:~:text=A%20social%20entrepreneur%20is%20a,in%20society%20through%20their%20initiatives.|website=www.investopedia.com}} a concept first found in print in 1972.see J Banks, The Sociology of Social Movements, London, MacMillan, 1972.
Drayton is the founder and current chair of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to finding and fostering social entrepreneurs worldwide. Drayton also chairs two other 501(c)(3) organizations, namely Youth Venture and Get America Working!
According to Drayton's philosophy, social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems. To quote Drayton, "Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."
He was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019.
Early years
Drayton's mother emigrated to the United States from Australia. His father was an American who became an explorer. His ancestors were some of the earliest anti-slavery abolitionist and women's leaders in the U.S.{{cite news| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/good-magazine/good-qa-social-entrepre_b_75010.html | work=Huffington Post | title=GOOD Q&A: Social Entrepreneur Bill Drayton On His White House Years | date=2007-12-03}} Drayton was born in 1943 in New York City.
Drayton attended high school at Phillips Academy, where he established the Asia Society, which soon became the school's most popular student organization. He attended Harvard where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965, where he created the Ashoka Table, bringing in prominent government, union, and church leaders for off-the-record dinners at which students could ask "how things really worked". Drayton entered Balliol College, Oxford and received a Master of Arts degree in 1967. He attended Yale Law School where he received his Juris Doctor in 1970. At Yale Law School, Drayton founded Yale Legislative Services, which, at its peak, involved a third of the law school's student body.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/01/changing-the-world-on-a-shoestring/377042/|title=Changing the World on a Shoestring|first=David|last=Bornstein|date=January 1, 1998|website=The Atlantic}}
Career
Drayton became a manager and management consultant, working for McKinsey & Company as a consultant for almost ten years.[https://alumni.mckinsey.com/alumni/default/public/content/jsp/alumni_news/20060920_Bill_Drayton_Feature.jsp Bill Drayton Paints a Vision of Changemaking] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061018084802/https://alumni.mckinsey.com/alumni/default/public/content/jsp/alumni_news/20060920_Bill_Drayton_Feature.jsp |date=2006-10-18 }}
During the administration of President Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), Drayton was an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency where he launched emissions trading, among other reforms.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} He founded the group Save EPA after he left.{{Cite news |last=Omang |first=Joanne |date=1982-01-19 |title=Ex-Official Leads Crusade to 'Save' EPA |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/01/19/ex-official-leads-crusade-to-save-epa/30c07979-4520-420b-9b6f-fadd15831ed7/ |access-date=2023-10-30 |issn=0190-8286}}
Drayton has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University and Stanford University.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/centers/case/events/leadershipaward/07winner/index.html |title=Events - Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship(CASE) |access-date=2008-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011195220/http://fuqua.duke.edu/centers/case/events/leadershipaward/07winner/index.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 |url-status=dead }}
Awards
Drayton has received many awards and acknowledgments for his achievements. He was elected one of the early MacArthur Fellows for his work, including the founding of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public.{{cite web |url= http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142683/k.77C6/Fellows_List__November_1984.htm |title= MacArthur Fellows, November 1984 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070929090737/http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142683/k.77C6/Fellows_List__November_1984.htm |archivedate= September 29, 2007 |date=September 29, 2007 |work= The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation }}
The American Society of Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration jointly awarded him their National Public Service Award{{Cite web |title= The National Public Service Awards: Past Winners (1983-2007) |work= The American Society for Public Administration |url= http://www.aspanet.org/scriptcontent/index_awardsnpsa_winners.cfm |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20071027221631/http://www.aspanet.org/scriptcontent/index_awardsnpsa_winners.cfm |url-status=dead | archivedate=October 27, 2007}} and he has also been named a Preiskel–Silverman Fellow for Yale Law School{{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v28.n14/visiting.html |title= Yale Bulletin and Calendar |publisher= Yale University |date= November–December 1999 |accessdate= September 1, 2009 |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090418121615/http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v28.n14/visiting.html |archivedate= April 18, 2009 }} and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{cite web |url= http://www.amacad.org/members/alpha_list.pdf |title= Alphabetical Index of Active Members |work= American Academy of Arts & Sciences |accessdate= February 11, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20071201042120/http://www.amacad.org/members/alpha_list.pdf |archivedate= December 1, 2007 }}
On May 25, 2009, Drayton was awarded an honorary degree, Doctorate of Humane Letters, by Yale University at commencement.{{cite web |url=http://opa.yale.edu/media/pdf/Honorary-Degrees-2009-Program.pdf |work= Yale University |title= Three Hundred Eighth Commencement: Honorary Degrees |accessdate= June 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100727213441/http://opa.yale.edu/media/pdf/Honorary-Degrees-2009-Program.pdf |archivedate= July 27, 2010 }}
David Gergen has called Drayton the "godfather of social entrepreneurship."{{cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/060220/20gergen.htm |title=The New Engines of Reform |publisher=U.S. News & World Report |date= February 12, 2006 |first=David |last=Gergen |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20091012000716/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/060220/20gergen.htm |archivedate= October 12, 2009 }} And in 2008, Drayton was named a "visionary" as one of Utne Reader magazine's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World".{{Cite web|url=https://www.utne.com/2008-11-13/50-visionaries-who-are-changing-your-world|title=50 Visionaries who are changing your world |work= Utne Reader |date= November 13, 2008 |publisher= Ogden Publications, Inc. }}
In 2011, Drayton won Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias Awards for international cooperation for his work promoting entrepreneurs. The prize foundation described him as a "driving force behind the figure of social entrepreneurs, men and women who undertake innovative initiatives for the common good".{{cite news |url= https://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/06/08/general-eu-spain-asturias-prize_8505802.html |title= New York social activist wins Spanish prize |work= Forbes |date= June 8, 2011 }}{{dead link|date=January 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
Within the next two weeks, Drayton also accepted the John W. Gardner Leadership award, "established in 1985 to honor outstanding Americans who exemplify the leadership and the ideals of John W. Gardner", and the World Entrepreneurship Forum's Social Entrepreneur Award.{{cite news|url=https://www.ashoka.org/press/bill-drayton-ashoka-accepts-three-awards-three-weeks-europe-us-and-asia |title=Bill Drayton of Ashoka Accepts Three Awards in Three Weeks from Europe, US, and Asia |work= Ashoka |date= November 9, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120522125426/http://www.ashoka.org/press/bill-drayton-ashoka-accepts-three-awards-three-weeks-europe-us-and-asia |archivedate= May 22, 2012 }}
In 2012, Drayton was named an inaugural recipient of Middlebury College's Center for Social Entrepreneurship Vision Award, in recognition of the impact of his contributions to the field of social entrepreneurship.{{cite web |url= http://mcse.middlebury.edu/archives/vision-award/ |title= Vision Award |work= Center for Social Entrepreneurship |publisher= Middlebury College |date= August 13, 2015 |accessdate= August 13, 2015 }}
References
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External links
{{Commons category|Bill Drayton}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080225103911/http://www.ashoka.org/about/leadership Ashoka Leadership page] (Drayton profile and others)
- [http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17331 Video (and audio) of interview with Bill Drayton] at Bloggingheads.tv
- [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/itgg.2006.1.1.80 MIT Press Journals - Innovations: "Everyone a Changemaker" by William Drayton]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110717084658/http://www.transformationalleadershiphq.com/bill-drayton-and-ashoka-foundation/ Lessons for Social Entrepreneurs from Bill Drayton & Ashoka Foundation]
{{Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation}}
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Category:American environmentalists
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:McKinsey & Company people
Category:Phillips Academy alumni
Category:American social entrepreneurs
Category:Yale Law School alumni