Paul Portney
President and Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future

Paul R. Portney is President of Resources for the Future (RFF), an independent, non-partisan research and educational organization specializing in natural resources and the environment. Portney joined the staff of RFF in 1972; from 1986-1989 he headed two of its research divisions; in 1989 he became its Vice President, and was named President in 1995. In 1977, he took leave to become a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. Between 1992-1996, he was a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. In 1979-1980, Portney was Chief Economist at the Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President.

Portney received his B.A. in economics in 1967 from Alma College (Michigan), and his Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University. He is currently a member of the Sustainable Forestry Board and the Board of Directors of The Johnson Foundation, where he chairs the Finance and Investment Committee. He recently joined the Advisory Council of the Comptroller General of the United States. In 2001, he was chairman of a National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on the future of Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. From 1994-97, he was a member of the Executive Committee of EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) and chairman of the SAB’s Environmental Economics Advisory Committee. He has published widely on the costs and benefits of environmental regulation, including the 2nd edition of his book, Public Policies for Environmental Protection, used in college and university classrooms around the country. He also lectures frequently on developments in U.S. and international environmental policy.