Mr. Woodring is the Co-Founder of Ocean Recovery Alliance, a non-profit organization which is focused on bringing innovative solutions, technology, collaborations and policy together to impact positive improvements for the health of the ocean. Two of its global programs were launched at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2010, including the Global Alert platform for reporting trash hotspots around the world. He is a United Nations Environment (UNEP) Climate Hero, and Google Earth Hero for his efforts, and has been on the advisory board of the XPrize, and The Economist’s World Oceans Summit. In 2011, he co-authored the UNEP Yearbook chapter on the danger of plastic in the ocean, and Ocean Recovery Alliance is the first NGO in the world to be working with both UNEP and the World Bank on plastic pollution and ocean issues. He is the founder of the Plasticity Forum which focuses on plastic innovation, design, materials recycling and solutions, without the waste footprint, and is on the Advisory Committee of Wharton’s Institute for Global Environmental Leadership.

Mr. Woodring has worked in Asia for over 20 years, including four years in the asset management industry, where at Merrill Lynch Asset Management Hong Kong in 1998, he proposed the company’s first global environmental technology fund. He has been nominated three times as World Open Water Swimmer of the Year for his innovative contributions to the sport, and was recently named as one of the top 50 “watermen” in the world.

Born in Northern California, Mr. Woodring has a dual master’s degree from The Wharton School (MBA) and Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Environmental Economics. He has BA from the University of California at Berkeley.