John Farnam is the Managing Director at the Morgridge Family Foundation. He has served the foundation for 12 years, administering more than $165 million in grants, aligning resources and fostering innovation around social issues. His expertise has been sought out as an Aspen Institute Fellow, a member of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network, and an advisor to the Colorado Governor’s Leadership Committee on COVID Relief. In 2022 he earned an executive certificate through the prestigious Chief of Staff Fellowship at the University of Oxford, and in 2023, he was one of just 60 leaders from 20 countries to complete the inaugural Chief of Staff Association Program through Harvard Business School Executive Education. He now serves as the Morgridge Child Welfare Fellow for the Common Sense Institute.
John’s ongoing passion for education began when he raised $6.5 million to build one of the first charter schools approved by Aurora Public Schools. Previously, John established the $10M Goodwill Endowment Fund in his role as VP of Marketing for Goodwill Industries. John was recognized with a DoSomething Award for his transformational work as Executive Director of the Northern Colorado AIDS Project. Most recently, John was named the 2024 9News Leader of the Year for Denver.
John and his husband Paul Heitzenrater grow and donate more than 2,000 pounds of produce every year and regularly volunteer for organizations across the Denver metro area. They have received the Firefly Luminescence Award and the Georgia Imhoff Philanthropic Award.
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