Viraj Puri
I co-founded and now serve as CEO of Gotham Greens, a New York City-based company working to advance sustainable urban agriculture. Gotham Greens built and now operates New York City’s first commercial scale, urban greenhouse facility. Gotham Greens state of the art, renewable-energy powered greenhouses, provides NYC restaurants and retailers with premium quality produce year round.
I have developed and managed start-up enterprises in New York City, Ladakh, India and Malawi, Africa focusing on green building, renewable energy, and environmental design. Prior to founding Gotham Greens, I worked at New York Sun Works, an environmental engineering firm.
My Wild Gift supported social enterprise project was called Shesyon Solar Earthworks(SSE). SSE inspired sustainable development in Ladakh, India, a remote, high-altitiude region in the Himalayas. I pursued a self-designed project aimed at reconciling Ladakh’s rich solar power potential with its rapidly growing energy and infrastructure demands. With the assistance and guidance of a local NGO, I helped launch a green building and renewable energy company. The experience provided me with a unique lesson in the use of innovative technological solutions to address development challenges and sowed the seeds for a career in clean technology. With the Wild Gift's support it proved to be a hands-on education in small business and successful social entrepreneurship.
While I am a passionate New Yorker, I am equally at home in the mountains and in wild, remote corners of the world. I am a LEED® Accredited Professional and received a B.A. from Colgate University. My written work has appeared in several books and publications including, “100% Renewable — Energy Autonomy in Action” and the UN Academic Journal. I have received fellowships from the TED conference and the Wild Gift, where I have served on the board of directors, as an assistant wilderness guide and project mentor.