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Paul Gallay is the president and Hudson Riverkeeper. Riverkeeper is a 50-year-old, member-supported organization devoted to the protection of the Hudson River and the drinking water supply of nine million New Yorkers.
Gallay has worked for three decades years to protect the environment and support local communities, as a non-profit executive, public official and educator.
During his 13 years of service with New York State’s Attorney General and Department of Environmental Conservation, Paul and his colleagues, often working with local watchdogs, shut down unrepentant polluters; expanded programs to reduce contamination in the Hudson; forced sewage plants, landfills and other public facilities to cut pollution and improve management practices; protected Long Island’s drinking water aquifers; and helped transform a former Con Ed brownfield into a major regional paper recycling plant.
After leaving government, Paul served as Westchester Land Trust’s executive director from 2000 to 2008. He and his WLT colleagues helped create the Westchester Open Space Alliance, whose more than two-dozen grass-roots member organizations successfully lobbied for over $45 million in parkland and preserve funding. At the same time, WLT helped protect thousands of acres of sensitive land and successfully pushed for sounder, more sustainable development practices.
Before joining Riverkeeper in July 2010, Paul served two years as president of Maine Coast Heritage Trust. During this time, MCHT earned widespread approval for deepening its connection with local communities, supporting coastal entrepreneurs, adding new members and increasing access to its preserves.
Paul has taught environmental law and policy at Williams College and Clarkson University's Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries.