Gary Wolff, P.E., Ph.D., is the principal economist and engineer for the Pacific Institute. Dr. Wolff is an expert in the economics and engineering of the water sector, including conservation, end-use efficiency, privatization, and incentive policies. His work encompasses water, wastewater, and storm-water issues. More generally, he maintains an active interest in all public policies and engineering technologies that lead to better management of natural resources and pollution.

Dr. Wolff is currently working on water conservation economics, the issues associated with privatization of the water sector in an increasingly global economy, the application of financial portfolio theory to water supply planning , and pesticide regulation in California.

His professional career has included solar energy construction contracting, water quality regulation for the State of California, design engineer at a wastewater treatment plant, founder and president of an engineering consulting firm, a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University, and a visiting professorship at the Graduate School of International Policy Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Dr. Wolff's experience with local government and special districts is also extensive: He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the state agency that regulates surface and groundwater quality in the Bay Area, past president of the Alameda County Recycling Board, and past chair of the East Bay Municipal Utility District Demand Management Advisory Committee.

Dr. Wolff received a Doctoral degree in Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, a Masters Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelors Degree in Renewable Energy Engineering Technology from Jordan College.

Publications

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Photos