Researching Daniel Katz

Katz trained as an architect at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, where he later served as the Secretary General. He was elected a Mar del Plata councilor in 1995 and re-elected in 1999. He was elected Mayor of Mar del Plata (and the surrounding General Pueyrredón Partido) in 2003.

Katz was a senior member of the Radical Civic Union but became a leading supporter of Peronist President Néstor Kirchner. In the 2007 elections, he was placed second on the list of Kirchner's Front for Victory slate of candidates for national deputies for the Province of Buenos Aires. He was elected and took office in December 2007. He is currently a member and leader of the Consenso Federal party block. He leads his party in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies.

He is a graduate of the University of Helsinki in the Humanities. He worked as a Jewish history teacher at the Jewish School in Helsinki, and in Haifa Israel as a driller on subway construction.

He writes in Finnish. His first commercially successful novel, Kun isoisä Suomeen hiihti (When Grandfather Skied to Finland), is a humorous description of Katz's family history and Finland's entry into World War II. As an ethnic minority writer, Katz has written as an outsider regarding life in Finland. He has been awarded and been a finalist for the J. H. Erkko Award (debut novel), Runeberg Prize and others.

Katz has four children, including Dunja Katz and the musician Kalle Katz. He lives in Loviisa, Finland.

Katz co-founded the Rainforest Alliance in 1986 at the age of 24, an organization instrumental in initiating the rainforest conservation movement. The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization that focuses on environmental conservation throughout the world. Under Katz's leadership, the Rainforest Alliance became the first nonprofit organization to create a global program to monitor, evaluate, certify and audit forests. The Rainforest Alliance is known world-wide for creating independent third-party certification in forestry, agriculture and tourism. He was the executive director of the Rainforest Alliance from its inception until 2000; today he serves as the Chairman of the Rainforest Alliance board.

He has campaigned against the wastefulness of mail-order catalogs, of which the average household receives about 114 a year. As a result of his role in starting up the Internet conservation website CatalogChoice.org, Katz has been described by PBS's Bill Moyers as the "Dr. Phil of catalog clutter" and "the maven of the overstuffed mailbox.". Catalog Choice was sold to TrustedID in May 2012, and the proceeds will be distributed through a new foundation.

Katz was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He earned his M.B.A. at the Stern School of Business, New York University and a B.A. from Ohio State University. A former Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellow, Katz serves or has served on the boards of several organizations including Grist, People for the American Way, Green Sports Alliance, and others. He is the editor of two books: Why Freedom Matters: The Spirit of the Declaration of Independence in Prose, Poetry and Song (2003, Workman) and Tales from the Jungle: A Rainforest Reader (1995, Crown). Katz resides in New York City with his wife and two children.

He was honored with the Ohio State University Department of Humanities Alumni Award of Distinction.