William Yancey Brown is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center. He has devoted his career to leadership on the environment, energy, biodiversity, and support for indigenous culture.  

From 2013 to June 2024, Brown was the chief environmental officer of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the US Department of the Interior In this position, he oversaw all environmental matters and tribal engagement for the bureau, which regulates energy and mineral development across the over three billion acres of the US outer continental shelf, including offshore wind, oil and gas, and seabed minerals. Brown previously served as president and chief executive officer of three museum and research institutions: the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. His positions before that include science advisor to US Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt; vice president of the National Audubon Society; vice president of Waste Management Inc.; senior scientist and acting executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund; executive secretary of the US Endangered Species Scientific Authority; and assistant professor at Mount Holyoke College.  

Brown is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He is a former chairman of the Ocean Conservancy and of the Global Heritage Fund and former president of the Natural Science Collections Alliance, whose members include the major natural history museums of the United States. He has also served on various other boards, including at the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, Environmental Law Institute, and Wistar Institute.  

He was born in Artesia, California, and is a graduate of the Escola Americana do Recife , University of Virginia (BA  in biology), Johns Hopkins University (Master of Arts in teaching), University of Hawaii (PhD in zoology), and Harvard Law School (JD).