A leading activist on behalf of global environmental protectionism, Barbara Dudley (born 1947) became executive director of Greenpeace in the United States in 1993.

Greenpeace is an organization that has garnered world attention (and new members) through its rather unorthodox approach and techniques meant to call attention to the degradation of the earth's ecosystem. Barbara Dudley served as executive director during the mid-1990s, and her exceptionally qualified background worked well within the group's emphasis upon collective efforts and its downplay of the role of individual leadership. A committed activist on issues ranging from civil and women's rights to the environment and the peace movement for 25 years, Dudley brought to Greenpeace a diverse background of activism and managerial skills precisely at a time when, at the start of the 1990s, the organization as a whole underwent restructuring and issues prioritization.

The Greenpeace movement made its first dramatic appearance in 1971. A...