Billy Parish

Billy Parish (born September 11, 1981) is an American environmental entrepreneur, author, and activist. He is the co-founder and executive chair of Mosaic Inc., a leading financing platform for U.S. residential solar and sustainable home improvements.^[1]

Billy Parish
Billy Parish
Born	Billy Parish (1981-09-11) September 11, 1981 (age 43) New York, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Yale University, The Mountain School
Occupations	Co-founder & Executive Chairman of Mosaic author activist
Years active	2003 - present
Spouse	Married

Early life

Parish grew up in Manhattan, New York City. His father, a lawyer, specialized in finance for electronic utilities. His mother, also a lawyer, met his father while working on a securitization deal.^[2] He spent a semester of high school at The Mountain School in Vermont, where he was turned on to working for the environment.^[3] In July 2005 he led a three-day fast in front of the White House to draw attention to the 150,000 deaths caused each year by climate change.^[4] He designed his own major in sustainable economic developments at Yale University.^[2] However, in 2002, he left Yale University and went on to found the Energy Action Coalition, renamed the Power Shift Network.^[5] The Coalition became the largest youth-led clean energy advocacy network in the world, bringing together 50 environmental and social justice groups and over 340,000 members.^[6] The coalition raised nearly $10 million in four years and helped more than 600 colleges make commitments to climate neutrality.^[6]

In March 2009, the Energy Action Coalition organized Power Shift '09, which brought over 12,000 young people to Washington D.C., for the largest climate-focused training, lobby day and non-violent civil disobedience action in U.S. history. 1Sky states Parish is on the Board of Directors.^[5] He is also co-chair of SolarAPP+ and board member and former board chair at The Solutions Project.^[7][8]

Career

Parish played a leading role in creating the Clean Energy Corps proposal to create 5 million new green jobs in the U.S.,^[6] which was incorporated into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. He also helped to expand the AmeriCorps public service program to include a new “Clean Energy Service Corps”.^[9] With the idea that crowdfunding could affect a shift to green energy, Parish co-founded Mosaic. At that time, the company allowed individuals to micro invest in community-scale solar projects.^[10] In 2014, Parish shifted the company’s focus from crowdfunding to financing for residential solar projects, and in 2018, expanded to sustainable home improvements.^[11]

Personal life

Billy lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and two daughters.

Awards and honors

• 2017 – Rolling Stone's 25 People Shaping The Future
• 2014 – Fast Company's "20th Most Creative People in Business"
• 2012 – Middlebury College CSE Vision Award^[12]
• 2005 – Rolling Stone Magazine "Climate Hero"^[13]
• 2004 – Brower Youth Award^[14]

Writing

Parish has written over 50 articles for publications Inc., The Atlantic, HuffPost, and Grist.

• Making Good: Finding Meaning, Money & Community in a Changing World (ISBN 978-1605290782)