Bill Drayton

Bill Drayton
Photo of Bill Drayton
Bill Drayton (2012)
Born
William Drayton

1943 (age 82–83)
New York City, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Balliol College, Oxford (MA)
Yale University (JD)
OccupationSocial entrepreneur
OrganizationAshoka: Innovators for the Public
TitleChair and CEO

William "Bill" Drayton (born 1943) is an American social entrepreneur. Drayton was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's 25 Best Leaders in 2005. He helped popularize the term "social entrepreneur", a term used by J. A. Banks in 1972.

Drayton is the founder, chair and CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports social entrepreneurs worldwide. Drayton also chairs Youth Venture and Get America Working!

According to Ashoka, social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems. To quote Drayton, "Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."

He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019.

In 1980, Drayton founded Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. The organization elected its first fellows in India in 1981. He used the stipend from his 1984 MacArthur Fellowship to work full-time at Ashoka.

Early life and education

Drayton's mother emigrated to the United States from Australia. His father was an American who became an explorer. Drayton was born in 1943 in New York City.

Drayton attended high school at Phillips Academy, where he established the Asia Society, which soon became the school's most popular student organization. He attended Harvard where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. There he created the Ashoka Table, bringing in prominent government, union, and church leaders for off-the-record dinners at which students could ask "how things really worked". Drayton entered Balliol College, Oxford and received a Master of Arts degree in 1967. He attended Yale Law School where he received his Juris Doctor in 1970. At Yale Law School, Drayton founded Yale Legislative Services, which, at its peak, involved a third of the law school's student body.

Career

Bill Drayton

Drayton became a manager and management consultant, working for McKinsey & Company as a consultant for ten years.

During the administration of President Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), Drayton was an assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, where he helped introduce emissions trading, among other reforms. He founded the group Save EPA after he left.

Drayton has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University and Stanford University.

Awards

Drayton was named one of the 1984 MacArthur Fellows for his work, including the founding of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public.

The American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration jointly awarded him their National Public Service Award. He has also been named a Preiskel–Silverman Fellow at Yale Law School. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

On May 25, 2009, Drayton was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, by Yale University at commencement.

David Gergen has called Drayton the "godfather of social entrepreneurship." In 2008, Drayton was named a "visionary" as one of Utne Reader magazine's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World".

In 2011, Drayton won Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for international cooperation for his work promoting entrepreneurs. The prize foundation described him as a "driving force behind the figure of social entrepreneurs, men and women who undertake innovative initiatives for the common good".

Later in 2011, Drayton also accepted the John W. Gardner Leadership Award and the World Entrepreneurship Forum's Social Entrepreneur Award.

In 2012, Drayton was named an inaugural recipient of Middlebury College's Center for Social Entrepreneurship Vision Award.

References

  1. ↑ "USNews.com: The social entrepreneur: Bill Drayton". Archived from the original on November 9, 2006.
  2. ↑ Cheney, Catherine (November 3, 2015). "The founder of Ashoka on why 'scale' is the wrong word". Devex.
  3. ↑ Banks, J. A. (1972). The Sociology of Social Movements. London: Macmillan. p. 53.
  4. ↑ "Bill Drayton". Ashoka.
  5. ↑ "Ashoka Venture and Fellowship". Ashoka.
  6. ↑ "Elected Members". American Philosophical Society.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Bornstein, David (January 1, 1998). "Changing the World on a Shoestring". The Atlantic.
  8. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". Ashoka.
  9. 1 2 3 "William Drayton, MacArthur Fellow Class of November 1984". MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved September 10, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Interview: Helping the Social Sector Catch up to Industry". Stanford Graduate School of Business. October 1, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2025.
  11. ↑ Lerner, Michael (April 25, 2008). "Everyone a Changemaker: A conversation with Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka". works & conversations.
  12. ↑ Bill Drayton Paints a Vision of Changemaking Archived 2006-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Omang, Joanne (January 19, 1982). "Ex-Official Leads Crusade to 'Save' EPA". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Events - Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship(CASE)". Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved February 12, 2008.
  15. ↑ "MacArthur Fellows, November 1984". The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
  16. ↑ "The National Public Service Awards: Past Winners (1983-2007)". The American Society for Public Administration. Archived from the original on October 27, 2007.
  17. ↑ "Yale Bulletin and Calendar". Yale University. November–December 1999. Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
  18. ↑ "Alphabetical Index of Active Members" (PDF). American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2007. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  19. ↑ "Three Hundred Eighth Commencement: Honorary Degrees" (PDF). Yale University. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 27, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
  20. ↑ Gergen, David (February 12, 2006). "The New Engines of Reform". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on October 12, 2009.
  21. ↑ "50 Visionaries who are changing your world". Utne Reader. Ogden Publications, Inc. November 13, 2008.
  22. ↑ "Bill Drayton: Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 2011". Fundación Princesa de Asturias.
  23. ↑ "Bill Drayton of Ashoka Accepts Three Awards in Three Weeks from Europe, US, and Asia". Ashoka. November 9, 2011. Archived from the original on May 22, 2012.
  24. ↑ "History". Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Middlebury College. Retrieved September 26, 2026.