John S. Bennett
Executive Director, For The Forest
Basalt, Colorado
Elected 1998 (Trustee, Vice Chair)
Andover University
Yale University

John Bennett is executive director of For The Forest, a nonprofit organization that promotes the health and sustainability of western forests. He was previously executive director of the Cordoba Initiative, a multi-faith organization whose objective is to help heal the relationship between the Islamic world and the West through civil dialogue and policy initiatives, and also of the Garrison Institute, which seeks to apply the wisdom of the world's great contemplative traditions to issues of civil society.

In 1999, Bennett completed his fourth term as Mayor of Aspen, Colorado. In 2001, he retired from his position as vice president of the Aspen Institute, where he had reinvigorated the institute's activities in Aspen and incorporated the institute's tradition of enlightened civil dialogue into new community programs. He also had been responsible for planning the Aspen Institute's 50th Anniversary Symposium, which convened Nobel Prize winners, heads of state and other world leaders from business, religion, art and academia to explore Globalization and the Human Condition.