Phil Harvey
Encyclopedia
Phil Harvey is an American entrepreneur
, philanthropist
and libertarian
who over the past 30 years has set up large-scale programs that deliver subsidized contraceptives in poor countries. Harvey is the president of DKT International
, the Washington, D.C.
-based charity that implements family planning
and HIV
/AIDS
prevention programs in 15 countries across Africa
, Asia
and Latin America
. He is also the chief sponsor of the Liberty Project which raises awareness about freedom of speech
issues in the U.S. Harvey is also the president of Adam & Eve
, the North Carolina
–based company that sells sex toys, adult films and condoms. Consequently he has been called "one of the most influential figures in the American sex industry
today".
Over these years, Harvey has used profits from Adam & Eve to supplement support from international donors to protect millions of poor couples from unwanted pregnancies and HIV
infections. During 2010 DKT International
provided 22 million couple years of protection (CYPs).
to William Dow Harvey and Lucy Smith Harvey as the youngest of five siblings on April 25, 1938. He attended Harvard College
from 1957 and received his bachelor’s degree in 1961 in Slavic languages
and literature. Between 1960 and 1962, he did his military service based in Ft. Meade, Maryland, before joining the international charity CARE in 1963 to work in India
. His five years’ work with CARE on large-scale feeding programs for rapidly growing numbers of Indian children convinced Harvey of the importance of family planning
and planted the first seeds in his mind of starting an initiative that could address the issue on a global scale.
Harvey returned to the U.S. in 1969 and enrolled in the University of North Carolina
’s masters degree program in family planning administration. One of his classmates was Tim Black, a British physician (who went on to found Marie Stopes
International
, a large British
charity also focused on family planning services). Harvey and Black founded Population Services International in 1970 which today works in over 70 countries with an annual budget of $350 million. Harvey remained the executive director of PSI from 1970 to 1977 and remained on the PSI Board until 2003.
He co-founded Adam & Eve in 1972 and continues to remain its president. He founded DKT International
in 1988 and has been its president / chief executive since.
with strong business models. Adam & Eve is one of the largest sex product companies in the world. Harvey’s share of profits from it support DKT International
which sells low-priced contraceptives by using business channels that are found in every corner of the world, including in low-resource settings. Special projects, such as those with the military in Ethiopia
(which obliges all soldiers to carry condoms when they leave the base) or with local medical practitioners in India who make a small profit selling condoms, extend and supplement this approach and ensure the products are widely available.
when, at the University of North Carolina, he joined forces with Tim Black to begin selling condoms through the mail. Their efforts to expand the range of products led to the evolution of the sex products business: in Harvey's own words, "(w)e tried to get our customers to buy leisure wear, shipbuilding kits, belt buckles, model airplanes, but they just yawned at that stuff. Every time we put something with erotic appeal in the catalog, the bells would ring."
Profit from their mail-order business provided the funds to launch Population Services International
and DKT International
, the latter named for the late D.K. Tyagi
, an early pioneer of family planning in India.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
who over the past 30 years has set up large-scale programs that deliver subsidized contraceptives in poor countries. Harvey is the president of DKT International
DKT International
DKT International is a charitable non-profit organization that promotes family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention through social marketing. The Washington, D.C.-based DKT was founded in 1989 by Phil Harvey and operates in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Much of its revenue comes from its sales of...
, the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based charity that implements family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
and HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
/AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
prevention programs in 15 countries across Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. He is also the chief sponsor of the Liberty Project which raises awareness about freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
issues in the U.S. Harvey is also the president of Adam & Eve
Adam & Eve (business)
Adam & Eve is a marketer of adult products that sells sex toys and produces pornographic films, as well as funding non-profit social marketing organizations that address issues such as population growth, disease control and sex education in developing countries. In 2006 it was described by Reuters...
, the North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
–based company that sells sex toys, adult films and condoms. Consequently he has been called "one of the most influential figures in the American sex industry
Sex industry
The sex industry consists of businesses which either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment...
today".
Over these years, Harvey has used profits from Adam & Eve to supplement support from international donors to protect millions of poor couples from unwanted pregnancies and HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
infections. During 2010 DKT International
DKT International
DKT International is a charitable non-profit organization that promotes family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention through social marketing. The Washington, D.C.-based DKT was founded in 1989 by Phil Harvey and operates in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Much of its revenue comes from its sales of...
provided 22 million couple years of protection (CYPs).
Biography
Harvey was born in Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
to William Dow Harvey and Lucy Smith Harvey as the youngest of five siblings on April 25, 1938. He attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
from 1957 and received his bachelor’s degree in 1961 in Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
and literature. Between 1960 and 1962, he did his military service based in Ft. Meade, Maryland, before joining the international charity CARE in 1963 to work in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. His five years’ work with CARE on large-scale feeding programs for rapidly growing numbers of Indian children convinced Harvey of the importance of family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
and planted the first seeds in his mind of starting an initiative that could address the issue on a global scale.
Harvey returned to the U.S. in 1969 and enrolled in the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
’s masters degree program in family planning administration. One of his classmates was Tim Black, a British physician (who went on to found Marie Stopes
Marie Stopes
Marie Carmichael Stopes was a British author, palaeobotanist, campaigner for women's rights and pioneer in the field of birth control...
International
Marie Stopes International
Marie Stopes International is an International Non-Governmental Organisation working on Sexual and Reproductive Health with headquarters in London, UK. It is named after Marie Stopes, a Scottish author, campaigner for eugenics, women's rights, and a pioneer in the field of family planning...
, a large British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
charity also focused on family planning services). Harvey and Black founded Population Services International in 1970 which today works in over 70 countries with an annual budget of $350 million. Harvey remained the executive director of PSI from 1970 to 1977 and remained on the PSI Board until 2003.
He co-founded Adam & Eve in 1972 and continues to remain its president. He founded DKT International
DKT International
DKT International is a charitable non-profit organization that promotes family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention through social marketing. The Washington, D.C.-based DKT was founded in 1989 by Phil Harvey and operates in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Much of its revenue comes from its sales of...
in 1988 and has been its president / chief executive since.
Business and non-profit enterprises
Harvey’s operational philosophy is unique: it combines altruismAltruism
Altruism is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of 'others' toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of...
with strong business models. Adam & Eve is one of the largest sex product companies in the world. Harvey’s share of profits from it support DKT International
DKT International
DKT International is a charitable non-profit organization that promotes family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention through social marketing. The Washington, D.C.-based DKT was founded in 1989 by Phil Harvey and operates in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Much of its revenue comes from its sales of...
which sells low-priced contraceptives by using business channels that are found in every corner of the world, including in low-resource settings. Special projects, such as those with the military in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
(which obliges all soldiers to carry condoms when they leave the base) or with local medical practitioners in India who make a small profit selling condoms, extend and supplement this approach and ensure the products are widely available.
History
Harvey realized the potential of mail orderMail order
Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
when, at the University of North Carolina, he joined forces with Tim Black to begin selling condoms through the mail. Their efforts to expand the range of products led to the evolution of the sex products business: in Harvey's own words, "(w)e tried to get our customers to buy leisure wear, shipbuilding kits, belt buckles, model airplanes, but they just yawned at that stuff. Every time we put something with erotic appeal in the catalog, the bells would ring."
Profit from their mail-order business provided the funds to launch Population Services International
Population Services International
Population Services International is a global health organization with programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV and reproductive health...
and DKT International
DKT International
DKT International is a charitable non-profit organization that promotes family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention through social marketing. The Washington, D.C.-based DKT was founded in 1989 by Phil Harvey and operates in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Much of its revenue comes from its sales of...
, the latter named for the late D.K. Tyagi
Deep Tyagi
Dharmendra Kumar Tyagi, better known as Deep Tyagi or DK Tyagi , was an Assistant Commissioner for the Indian Family Planning program until 1969. An early pioneer of family planning in India and elsewhere, he was a champion of the program under the premierships of Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur...
, an early pioneer of family planning in India.
Awards
- 2006 AASECT -- Humanitarian Award
- 2007 AVN AwardsAVN AwardsThe AVN Awards are movie awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine AVN to honor exceptional performance in various aspects of the creation and marketing of American pornographic movies. They are called the "Oscars of porn"...
-- Hall of Fame - Founders Branch - 2009 XbizXBIZXBIZ is an American publisher of business news and business information for the adult entertainment industry.In addition to its flagship website, XBIZ publishes two monthly trade magazines, hosts winter and summer exhibition & industry conferences, and facilitates networking among adult online...
-- Lifetime Achievement Award - 2010 XRCO -- 1st Amendment Special Award