Von Hernandez
Vice President, Philippines
Executive Committee
Von Hernandez is a globally recognized, Goldman Prize-winning Filipino environmental leader with over three decades of transformative work in environmental campaigning and advocacy. Prior to joining Oceana, he was the Global Coordinator of Break Free from Plastic (BFFP), where he led a movement of 3,500+ organizations worldwide, driving systemic solutions to end plastic pollution and reduce reliance on single-use plastics.
Von’s career has spanned pivotal roles at Greenpeace International, where he served as Global Development Director shaping the organization’s geographic prioritization and resourcing strategies, and as Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, where he expanded the group’s regional impact, income, and operations in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. He has initiated and led campaigns against deforestation, coal and nuclear power, and toxic pollution. His early work was instrumental in the passage of landmark environmental laws in the Philippines, including the Ecological Waste Management Act and the Clean Air Act, which banned toxic incineration and established frameworks for ecological waste management (for which he was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2003). He co-founded the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) which has grown to include 1000 member organizations across 90 countries.
Von holds a Master’s in Public Management from Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and a BA in English from the University of the Philippines.
