John Feather

John Feather, PhD, is Chief Executive Officer of Grantmakers In Aging, the national society of grantmaking foundations and other organizations that work to improve the lives of older people. Prior to beginning that position on October 1, 2011, Dr. Feather was Executive Director and CEO of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, the national membership organization of pharmacists who specialize in care of older persons. Until 2002, he was Director of the AARP Andrus Foundation, the research and education charity of AARP. 

For the seventeen years prior to that appointment in 1995, Dr. Feather held several positions at the State University of New York at Buffalo, including Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, and Executive Director of the Primary Care Resource Center. Prior to that he was Director of the Western New York Geriatric Education Center. 

Dr. Feather is Past Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Society on Aging, Past Treasurer of the National Hispanic Council on Aging, and a former officer or Board member of 12 other national non-profit organizations.  In March 2015, he received the ASA Award, the highest honor of the American Society on Aging for his work in policy, practice, and education.

Dr. Feather is an organizational sociologist by training and received his undergraduate education at the University of Texas at Austin and his masters and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He has earned the designation of Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and Certified Association Executive (CAE).

Philanthropy and opioids: why we must see beyond addiction

The opioid crisis is the story of many kinds of pain. What tends to dominate that story is an awful paradox: well-meaning efforts to kill pain began to kill people instead. But while the death toll is unquestionably horrifying, this crisis extends well beyond addiction.