Paul R. Portney, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow and President

Paul R. Portney is President of Resources for the Future (RFF). An economist by training, Paul joined the research staff of RFF in 1972. Since then, he has become a senior fellow and directed two of RFF's research divisions -- its Quality of the Environment division and its Center for Risk Management. He became Vice President in 1989 and was named President in 1995.

In 1979-80, Paul took leave from RFF to be the chief economist at the Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Berkeley (1977-79), and taught a course at Princeton University from 1992-96. Formerly he chaired the Environmental Economics Advisory Committee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board (SAB), and was a member of the SAB's Executive Committee.

He is the author, coauthor, or editor of nine books, including Footing the Bill for Superfund Cleanups: Who Pays and How?, and Public Policies for Environmental Protection, now in its second edition. Paul received his bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from Alma College (Michigan), and his Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University.