Growing up 30 feet away from the Mississippi River, Chad became very familiar with the majestic waterway. Spending up to 10 hours a day in the depths and current of the pitch black water, he worked as a Commercial Shell Diver during his teenage and college years. Over a six year period, he crawled 150 miles of the river bottom. He gained a new perspective on the river, looking at it from the bottom up. Chad was both marveled by the river's beauty and frustrated with its plight due to years of neglect. The river and its shores were littered with thousands of barrels, tires, cars, campers, plastic bottles, appliances, and much more.

At the age of 17, he set out on a mission to do something about the disregarded river. Since 1998, when Living Lands & Waters was established, over 14.1 million pounds of garbage has been removed by Chad, his crew, and over 139,000 volunteers. They have held more than 1400 river clean-ups on 33 rivers in 23 states. Twomillion four hundred and ninety-six thousand and six hundred eight-four trees have also been planted through the MillionTreesProject, started in 2007. Furthermore, over thirty-one thousand students have been educated aboard his floating classroom on the barge he and his crew live on up to 8 months of the year. Chad is accomplishing his mission to clean up America's rivers and launched a social movement that engages people and betters the world in the process.

Much of what is removed from the Mississippi River and other water bodies are plastics, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent trying to dispose of those plastics. When Chad learned that 43% of all slow growing hardwood trees were cut down for single use wood pallets, they knew there had to be a better solution.

So, Chad and his wife Tammy, created Green Current Solutions (GCS). GCS makes 100% recycled plastic pallets utilizing a portion of the plastics removed from the rivers and other sources in addition to trying to incorporate other companies’ plastic waste streams into their product. GCS is a culmination of Chad and Tammy’s passion for the natural environment and their drive to make change. Companies switching from wood to 100% recycled plastic pallets are not only saving millions of pounds of plastics from our oceans, rivers, landfills, and incinerators, but they are also saving millions of trees from being cut down.

Chad's sense of humor, passion, and enthusiasm help carry the message that we can all make a difference by amplifying his story and entertaining his audiences. His vision and leadership have been recognized through countless awards and honors. A few include CNN's Hero of the Year Award, the Jefferson Award for Public Service (America's version of the Nobel Prize), and being recognized at the 2011 Points of Light Tribute in front of all four living former U.S. Presidents. They even gave him a standing ovation for his inspirational message on dreaming big, taking action, persevering, leading, and collaborating. He was also named "America's Hardest Working Person" by a competition hosted by Mitchum. Chad's non-stop work ethic and determination have also been featured in major media outlets, such as CNN with recent airings on Mike Rowe's Somebody's Gotta Do It and Rescuing The Rivers with Anderson Cooper, the Discovery Channel, Time, People, NBC Nightly News, CBS Sunday Morning, the Chicago Tribune, and Outdoor magazines. In addition, Chad authored a book about his journey titled From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's Rivers, published by National Geographic in 2007.

Chad currently lives and works with his wife Tammy, dividing his time between life on the Teamwork Barge  and their home in East Moline, IL. Read Less ^