GreenBiz Senior Contributor Rob Watson is the chairman, CEO and chief scientist of the EcoTech International Group. You can reach him at rwatson@ecotech-intl.com and follow him on Twitter @Kilrwat.
Under Rob's direction as the "Founding Father of LEED" and as its national steering committee chairman between 1994 until 2006, LEED became the most widespread and fastest-growing standard by which green buildings are measured worldwide.
A pioneer of the modern green building movement for 25 years, Rob founded EcoTech International (ETI) in 2007 to meet the fast-growing demand for green building technologies and services in China, India, Russia and the U.S.
His work on green buildings in China and green technology in general has been featured in numerous publications, including Fortune Magazine and The Economist and has been referenced on multiple occasions by New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman. In Thomas Friedman's 2008 book, Hot Flat and Crowded, Watson is described as "one of the best environmental minds in America."
As the director of International Energy and Green Buildings Programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Rob worked in China on green building programs and market development from 1997 to 2006. He is a green building adviser to the municipalities of Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai Shenzhen and Shenyang and has assisted the Chinese government to develop energy-saving standards for commercial buildings and residential buildings that reduce energy consumption by 50 percent. The recipient of several national and international awards for green buildings, in 2004, China's Ministry of Construction (MOC) recognized Rob with one of its first "Green Innovation" awards -- the only foreign expert so honored -- for his work on green buildings in China.
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