Bill Drayton
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (March 2024) |
Bill Drayton | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bill Drayton (2012) | |
| Born | William Drayton 1943 (age 82–83) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) Balliol College, Oxford (MA) Yale University (JD) |
| Occupation | Social entrepreneur |
| Organization | Ashoka: Innovators for the Public |
| Title | Chair and CEO |
William "Bill" 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.[1] He helped popularize the term "social entrepreneur",[2] a term used by J. A. Banks in 1972.[3]
Drayton is the founder, chair and CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports social entrepreneurs worldwide. Drayton also chairs Youth Venture and Get America Working![4]
According to Ashoka, 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."[5]
He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019.[6]
In 1980, Drayton founded Ashoka: Innovators for the Public.[7] The organization elected its first fellows in India in 1981.[8] He used the stipend from his 1984 MacArthur Fellowship to work full-time at Ashoka.[9][10]
Early life and education
[edit]Drayton's mother emigrated to the United States from Australia. His father was an American who became an explorer.[11] Drayton was born in 1943 in New York City.[9]
Drayton attended high school at Phillips Academy, where he established the Asia Society, which soon became the school's most popular student organization.[7] He attended Harvard where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. There 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".[7] 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.[9] At Yale Law School, Drayton founded Yale Legislative Services, which, at its peak, involved a third of the law school's student body.[7]
Career
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Drayton became a manager and management consultant, working for McKinsey & Company as a consultant for ten years.[12]
During the administration of President Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), Drayton was an assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, where he helped introduce emissions trading, among other reforms.[7] He founded the group Save EPA after he left.[13]
Drayton has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University and Stanford University.[14]
Awards
[edit]Drayton was named one of the 1984 MacArthur Fellows for his work, including the founding of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public.[15]
The American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration jointly awarded him their National Public Service Award.[16] He has also been named a Preiskel–Silverman Fellow at Yale Law School.[17] He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[18]
On May 25, 2009, Drayton was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, by Yale University at commencement.[19]
David Gergen has called Drayton the "godfather of social entrepreneurship."[20] In 2008, Drayton was named a "visionary" as one of Utne Reader magazine's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World".[21]
In 2011, Drayton won Spain's Prince of Asturias Award 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".[22]
Later in 2011, Drayton also accepted the John W. Gardner Leadership Award and the World Entrepreneurship Forum's Social Entrepreneur Award.[23]
In 2012, Drayton was named an inaugural recipient of Middlebury College's Center for Social Entrepreneurship Vision Award.[24]
References
[edit]- ↑ "USNews.com: The social entrepreneur: Bill Drayton". Archived from the original on November 9, 2006.
- ↑ Cheney, Catherine (November 3, 2015). "The founder of Ashoka on why 'scale' is the wrong word". Devex.
- ↑ Banks, J. A. (1972). The Sociology of Social Movements. London: Macmillan. p. 53.
- ↑ "Bill Drayton". Ashoka.
- ↑ "Ashoka Venture and Fellowship". Ashoka.
- ↑ "Elected Members". American Philosophical Society.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Bornstein, David (January 1, 1998). "Changing the World on a Shoestring". The Atlantic.
- ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". Ashoka.
- 1 2 3 "William Drayton, MacArthur Fellow Class of November 1984". MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
- ↑ "Interview: Helping the Social Sector Catch up to Industry". Stanford Graduate School of Business. October 1, 2010. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
- ↑ Lerner, Michael (April 25, 2008). "Everyone a Changemaker: A conversation with Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka". works & conversations.
- ↑ Bill Drayton Paints a Vision of Changemaking Archived 2006-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Omang, Joanne (1982-01-19). "Ex-Official Leads Crusade to 'Save' EPA". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
- ↑ "Events - Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship(CASE)". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
- ↑ "MacArthur Fellows, November 1984". The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
- ↑ "The National Public Service Awards: Past Winners (1983-2007)". The American Society for Public Administration. Archived from the original on October 27, 2007.
- ↑ "Yale Bulletin and Calendar". Yale University. November–December 1999. Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
- ↑ "Alphabetical Index of Active Members" (PDF). American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2007. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
- ↑ "Three Hundred Eighth Commencement: Honorary Degrees" (PDF). Yale University. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 27, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
- ↑ Gergen, David (February 12, 2006). "The New Engines of Reform". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on October 12, 2009.
- ↑ "50 Visionaries who are changing your world". Utne Reader. Ogden Publications, Inc. November 13, 2008.
- ↑ "Bill Drayton: Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 2011". Fundación Princesa de Asturias.
- ↑ "Bill Drayton of Ashoka Accepts Three Awards in Three Weeks from Europe, US, and Asia". Ashoka. November 9, 2011. Archived from the original on May 22, 2012.
- ↑ "History". Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Middlebury College. Retrieved September 26, 2026.
External links
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