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Gary Hirshberg is the husband of freelance writer Meg
Hirshberg and the father of three yogurt eaters. He is Chairman, President, and CE-Yo of
Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer and the author of Stirring
It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (Hyperion Books, 2008). Gary is a frequent speaker on topics
including sustainability, climate change, sustainable economic development,
organic agriculture, and the profitability of green and socially responsible business.
Since 1983, Gary has overseen Stonyfield’s phenomenal
growth, from its infancy as a seven-cow organic farming school to its current
$366 million in annual sales. Stonyfield has enjoyed a compounded annual growth
rate of over 23% for more than eighteen years, by consistently producing
great-tasting products and using innovative marketing techniques that blend the
company’s social, environmental, and financial missions. In 2001, Stonyfield
Farm entered into a partnership with Groupe Danone, and in 2005, Gary became
managing director of Stonyfield Europe, a joint venture with Danone, with organic
brands in Canada, Ireland, and France.
Previously, he directed the Rural Education Center,
the small organic farming school from which Stonyfield was spawned. Before that,
Gary had served as executive director of The New Alchemy Institute – a research
and education center dedicated to organic farming, aquaculture, and renewable
energy. Prior positions include serving as a water-pumping windmill specialist
and an environmental education director with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
He also authored books on wind-power and organic gardening.
Gary serves on several corporate and
non-profit boards including Applegate Farms, Honest Tea, Peak Organic Brewing,
The Full Yield, Climate Counts, SweetGreen, RAMp Sports, Stonyfield Europe,
Glenisk, and the Danone Communities Fund.
He is also the chairman and co-founder of Stonyfield Café, a natural
fast food restaurant company.
In addition to receiving eight honorary
doctorates, Gary has won numerous awards for corporate and environmental
leadership, including Global Green USA's “1999 Green Cross Millennium Award for
Corporate Environmental Leadership” and was named a Gordon Grand Fellow at
Yale. In 2009, Gary was named one of
“America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs” by Business Week, Stonyfield was chosen “Business of the Year –
Manufacturing” by Business NH Magazine and Stonyfield won an EPA Clean
Air Excellence award. Gary also is featured
in 2009's successful documentary, "Food, Inc." In May 2010, Stonyfield Farm was honored as
“Business of the Decade – Manufacturing/Technology” by Business NH Magazine.
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