PORTLAND, Ore., May 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On May 7, the Green Sports Alliance honored Mike Richter with the Environmental Leadership Award on the 2026 Green Sports Alliance Summit.
For over a decade, the Green Sports Alliance has yearly honored a sports activities sustainability innovator by one among its most esteemed awards, the Environmental Leadership Award. Mike Richter, U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer and President of Brightcore Energy, was acknowledged for his dedication to sustainability in each skilled hockey and his company profession.
In presenting the Environmental Leadership Award to Mike Richter, Jason Twill, co-founder of the Green Sports Alliance and Head of Capital for Alterra Mountain Company, acknowledged, “Mike performs simply as onerous for the planet as he did on the ice for the Rangers. He is an unimaginable advocate of sustainability and a unbelievable function mannequin for the subsequent era. He conjures up not solely by his phrases, however by his actions.
His firm, Brightcore Energy, is a number one vitality developer making main strides in serving to cities and communities across the nation transition to wash vitality, to not point out his a long time of labor supporting the greening of the NHL. On high of all this, Mike is an excellent father, husband, and buddy with a coronary heart of gold.”
Twill then directed the Summit viewers to the video screens for a congratulatory message from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, himself the recipient of the Green Sports Alliance’s Environmental Leadership Award in 2014.
“On behalf of the National Hockey League, it is my pleasure and privilege to congratulate Mike Richter on receiving the Green Sports Alliance’s Environmental Leadership Award,” mentioned Bettman. “Throughout his career in hockey and beyond, Mike has exemplified leadership, integrity, and purpose, long before sustainability became a central focus in the sports industry. Mike helped shape the NHL’s environmental efforts and played a key role in launching NHL Green more than 15 years ago.”
Bettman continued, “Mike has always understood the connection between our game and the environment, from the arenas we operate to the outdoor rinks–where so many first experience hockey, and we remain inspired by his continued commitment to advance practical, innovative solutions that strengthen our game and the communities where we play.”
In his acceptance speech, Mike Richter shared, “I’m absolutely humbled, and yes, I am surprised. This is with countless people behind me, standing on their shoulders–a lot of great ideas, concepts, and mostly hard work.”
Richter continued, “You have to vary minds, and what higher platform than what we now have right here in sports activities.
What we’re speaking about, … it is physics; it is well being; it is economics; it is really ethics. All these items matter, and we now have reality on our aspect to get this proper. So I need to simply say, please preserve speaking, preserve yapping, preserve doing what you are doing, preserve assembly individuals the place they’re, preserve being examples of the laser focus, the dedication that you have to have success, and most of all, have that resiliency; we now have to win this.
You are completely making the world a greater place, and I respect you having me alongside for the journey. Thanks.”
As this yr’s recipient of the Green Sports Alliance’s Environmental Leadership Award, Mike Richter joins an esteemed group of earlier honorees that features Billie Jean King, Allan (Bud) Selig, Jack Groh, Christina Weiss Lurie, and Michele Uva.
SOURCE GREEN SPORTS ALLIANCE
