David Bronner
Born1973
Los Angeles
Alma mater

David Bronner (born 1973) is an American corporate executive and activist. As the top executive at Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, he[lower-alpha 1] has become known for his activism around a range of issues, especially fair trade, sustainable agriculture, animal rights, and drug policy reform.

Family and education

David Bronner was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Jim Bronner and Trudy Bronner.[2] He graduated from Harvard University in 1995 with a degree in biology.[3][4] He is the grandson of Emanuel Bronner, founder of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, an American producer of organic soap and personal care products. His father worked for the company in the 1980s and 1990s,[5] and his mother is the company's chief financial officer.[6]

Business career

In 1997 David Bronner began working for the family business, which was then under the leadership of his father.[5] Following his father's death in 1998, David became the company's president[5] and, working with his brother Michael, grew the company from $4 million in annual revenue in 1998 to $120 million in 2017.[6][7][8] In 1999, he joined the small handful of top U.S. executives who voluntarily capped their salaries out of commitment to fair labor principles; Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps still has its top salary capped at five times that of the company's lowest-paid workers.[6][7] In 2015, David moved into the newly created position of Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO), while Michael took over as president.[9][10] In 2019 Bronner founded the company Brother David's to produce organic sun-grown cannabis in partnership with the supply chain company Flow Kana and independent small farmers.[7][11] The company states that all profits will go to support regenerative agriculture and reform of drug-prohibition laws.[11]

Activism and philanthropy

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps has supported causes related to drug policy reform, animal rights, organic labeling, sustainable agriculture, and fair trade practices. Roughly 10 percent of the company's revenue goes to charitable giving and activist causes annually.[8] Organizations that have been supported under Bronner's leadership include the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (for which Bronner serves on the board of directors), and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.[11]

A particular target of Bronner's activism has been efforts to protect the hemp industry in the United States.[12] Under his leadership in 2001, the company funded and coordinated with the Hemp Industry Association on its lawsuit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), seeking to prevent a ban of hemp food sales in the United States.[13] The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay in the case in 2002 and ruled in favor of the hemp industry in 2004.[13]

Bronner has been arrested twice for civil disobedience while protesting limitations on the domestic production of hemp. In 2009, he was arrested for planting hemp seeds on the lawn at DEA headquarters.[6][14] In 2012, he was arrested after harvesting hemp and milling hemp oil while locked in a metal cage in front of the White House.[6][7] In 2015 he was named Cannabis Activist of the Year by the Seattle Hempfest.[7]

In 2014 Bronner wrote an advertorial drawing attention to the ways that GMO crops have led to increased pesticide use in the United States.[15] It was initially published as a short article in the Huffington Post and subsequently as an ad in various wide-circulation magazines, ranging from The New Yorker to Scientific American.[16] Two leading journals, Science and Nature, refused to carry the ad, in at least one case due to concern over backlash from the GMO industry.[16]

In 2019, David Bronner pledged his company’s matching contribution of $150,000 to Oregon’s statewide ballot initiative to legalize psilocybin assisted therapy.[17]

Personal life

In honor of National Coming Out Day in 2022, Bronner announced in an essay on his website that he uses he/him and they/them pronouns, describing himself as "about 25% girl" and not being "‘straight,’ ‘gay,’ or ‘man’ or ‘woman’".[1][18] The essay also mentioned Bronner's wife Mia, who is bisexual and genderfluid, and their 25-year-old non-binary child Maya as having inspired him in his gender exploration.[1][18]

Notes

  1. ↑ Bronner uses he/they pronouns.[1] This article uses masculine pronouns for consistency.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Factora, James (2022-10-14). "The CEO of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap Just Came Out as Using He/They Pronouns". Them. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  2. ↑ Bronner, David (2015). Dr. Bronner's All-One! Report (PDF). Dr. Bronner's. p. 5. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  3. ↑ "Executive Team". Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps website. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  4. ↑ Burge, Brad. "Putting "All-One" Into Practice: An Interview with David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps with Brad Burge". MAPS Bulletin vol. 25, no. 1: Psychedelics and Policy (Spring 2015).
  5. 1 2 3 Bronner, David. "How This Whole Crazy Trip Started." In Dr. Bronner's All-One! Report, 2015, p. 5.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Harkinson, Josh. "How Dr. Bronner’s Soap Turned Activism Into Good Clean Fun". Mother Jones, May 24, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Dahl, Kieran. "How a decades-old hippie soap brand became a touchstone of wellness culture". Vox, May 8, 2019.
  8. 1 2 Stolzoff, Simone. "Lather Rinse Repeat". Quartzy, September 4, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Mike Bronner Media Profile" Archived 2018-11-23 at the Wayback Machine. N.D.
  10. ↑ "Dr. Bronner’s Announces Change in Titles of Leadership". Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps press release, August 4, 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Smith, Phillip. "Brother David’s quest to turn the cannabis industry truly green—and support activism". Salon, May 5, 2019.
  12. ↑ Sheffi, Yossi. Balancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (and When Not To). MIT Press, 2018, pp. 322-324.
  13. 1 2 Lee, Martin A. Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana. Scribner, 2012, p. 394.
  14. ↑ Heyward, Anna. "Meet-Up". The New Yorker, February 21, 2016.
  15. ↑ Bronner, David. "Herbicide and Insecticide Use on GMO Crops Skyrocketing While Pro-GMO Media Run Interference". Advertorial.
  16. 1 2 Philpott, Tom. "Why Did Top Scientific Journals Reject This Dr. Bronner’s Ad?". Mother Jones, October 20, 2014.
  17. ↑ Somerset, Sara Brittany. "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap Company Supports The 2020 Legalize Psilocybin Initiative". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  18. 1 2 Bronner, David (2022-10-11). "My Journey to Embrace "He/They" as My Pronouns!". Dr. Bronner's. Retrieved 2022-10-15.


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