2012 Art Gibb Award for Individual Leadership

John Ewing is known for his contributions to dozens of non-profit organizations across Vermont and for his years of service on the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.

A graduate of Amherst College and Yale Law School, Ewing spent his first professional years in private law practice. In 1972, he joined Burlington Savings Bank (later renamed Bank of Vermont) as general counsel and held various positions, retiring as president in 1995 when he was named by then-Gov. Howard Dean to chair the Vermont Environmental Board.

Together with Elizabeth Humstone, Ewing founded the Vermont Forum on Sprawl in 1997. He saw an urgent need for an organization that would bring together diverse, and at times opposing, interests to discuss how Vermont could have a strong economy and housing options while protecting the farms and forestland that define the state’s working landscape. (The Vermont Forum on Sprawl, which was renamed Smart Growth Vermont 2007, merged with VNRC in 2011.)