The Vermont Natural Resources Council this week will be recognizing John Ewing of Burlington with the Arthur Gibb Award for Individual Leadership.
“For more than ten years, John Ewing has helped us all understand the vast social and environmental costs of scattered, low density development and the need to develop better models for Vermont,” said Brian Shupe, VNRC’s executive director. “He also has an unusual talent for working with a wide variety of people and developing consensus.”
Ewing is to officially receive the award at VNRC’s 50th anniversary celebration this Saturday, September 22, at Shelburne Farms.
The award has been given since 2006 to a Vermont resident who embodies qualities similar to those of the late Arthur “Art” Gibb, and who has made a lasting contribution to their community, region or state in moving smart growth policies forward.
Ewing is also 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.)
Previous recipients of the Art Gibb award include Gus Seelig, executive director of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board; Rob Woolmington, attorney, Witten, Woolmington & Campbell; Paul Bruhn, executive director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont; Robert Lloyd, Tinmouth, retired; Connie Snow, executive director of the Windham and Windsor Housing Trust.
Each year a selection committee composed of members of Art Gibb’s family, community leaders, and VNRC staff, gathers to review the nominees for the Art Gibb Award. The committee looks for individuals that demonstrate leadership, commitment to public service, vision, creativity, the ability to balance competing interests, integrity and humility.
First elected to the Vermont Legislature in 1962, Gibb was deeply involved in passing legislation to ban billboards, enact the state’s bottle deposit law, regulate junkyards and modernize statutes governing local and regional planning. He served on the commission that laid the groundwork for Act 250 and served twelve years on the Vermont Environmental Board, including one year as Chair.