David Korten

Korten served in the U.S. Air Force, acquired M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and was a professor for five years at Harvard Business School. He also worked for the Ford Foundation as a project specialist and as the Asia regional adviser on development management to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Thirty years working as a development professional in Asia, Africa, and Latin America eventually opened his eyes to the devastating consequences of an economic system designed to make rich people richer without regard to the human and environmental consequences. He left the foreign aid establishment and joined the global resistance against flawed development models. While at Stanford, Korten met and married his life partner, Fran Korten, who was a Ford Foundation program officer for twenty years in the Philippines, Indonesia, and New York and then publisher/executive director of YES! magazine. Korten is co-founder and board chair of the Positive Futures Network, which publishes YES! magazine; founder and president of the People-Centered Development Forum; and founding board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. He served as co-chair of the New Economy Working Group, seeking to frame the Agenda for a New Economy and build support for transformational change through grassroots and media outreach. He is also a founding associate of the International Forum on Globalization and a major contributor to its report Alternatives to Economic Globalization . Americans Who Tell the Truth (AWTT) offers a variety of ways to engage with its portraits and portrait subjects. Host an exhibit, use our free lesson plans and educational programs, or engage with a member of the AWTT team or portrait subjects. AWTT has educational materials and lesson plans that ask students to grapple with truth, justice, and freedom. AWTT encourages community engagement programs and exhibits accompanied by public events that stimulate dialogue around citizenship, education, and activism. Shop AWTT products – prints, t-shirts, mugs, and more – to support education and community programming for Americans Who Tell the Truth. Know that you are helping inspire citizenship, activism, and work for the common good.