Paul Growald

Paul Growald is an entrepreneur and venture philanthropist with a life-long passion for building organizations that support and catalyze social change. Paul’s first job was managing public communications for Stanford University biologist Paul R. Ehrlich. Paul established The Food Bank, an organization that collected non-marketable produce and canned goods from California’s growers and food processors, for distribution to those in need. This role expanded to encompass initiatives that supported a Community Garden, Farmer’s Market, and child nutrition initiatives like Summer Lunch Programs, WIC & Food Stamp outreach. In 1977 Paul was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown as one of the first public members of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. Two of the more impactful highlights from his tenure were the Department’s enactment of farmer-to-consumer direct marketing regulations and comprehensive pesticide safety regulations that remain foundational in California today. Starting in 1980, Paul expanded into business when he recognized that there was a market for acquiring broadcasting licenses for radio frequencies which were not being utilized, or whose approval was being revoked, with the intention of developing or revitalizing them. This led to his acquiring rights to San Francisco’s KFRC, a clear channel radio station serving Northern California. Later he consulted for cable television companies who were pursuing franchise licenses. Moving his focus eastward, Paul helped establish Small Cities Cable Television, LP, which eventually served eleven towns in Vermont. He was a Managing General Partner of Small Cities Cable until 1997. Paul served more than two decades as Director and Board Chair of the California League of Conservation Voters, whose mission is to protect California’s environmental quality by helping elect environmentally responsible political candidates and holding them accountable to the environmental agenda once elected. In 1995 he cofounded the Coevolution Institute/Pollinator Partnership and later, the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, a continent-wide collaboration of more than 120 entities responsible for conservation, research, policies, and awareness, to protect the well-being of bees and other pollinating animals. To help spread awareness about pollinators, Paul participated in the development of a 2011 Disneynature documentary film, Wings of Life, which was narrated by Meryl Streep and distributed by Walt Disney Studios. Together with his wife, Eileen Rockefeller, Paul cofounded the Champlain Valley Greenbelt Alliance to preserve unobstructed viewscapes and prevent sprawl in Vermont. Paul was a long-time trustee of the Rockefeller Family Fund, the David Rockefeller Fund, and co-chaired his wife’s family’s generational association. In 2007 Paul and Eileen created the Growald Climate Fund, which is dedicated to stemming climate change. Paul has a BA with honors in Political Science from Northwestern University and a MA in Urban Studies from Occidental College.