Georgette Bennett

Dr.Bennett is an award-winning sociologist, criminologist, widely published author, popular lecturer, and former broadcast journalist. An innovative and entrepreneurial leader, she is an active philanthropist focusing on conflict resolution and intergroup relations. In 2013, Bennett founded the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees (MFA) and has since worked to raise awareness and mobilize more than $170 million of humanitarian aid that has benefited 2.3 million Syrian war victims. In 1992, she founded the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, the go-to organization for combatting religious prejudice. She is also a co-founder of the Global Covenant of Religions/Global Covenant Partners, which focuses on delegitimizing the use of religion to justify violence and extremism. Bennett served in the U.S. State Department Religion and Foreign Policy initiative’s working group on conflict mitigation, tasked with developing recommendations for the U.S. Secretary of State on countering religion-based violence. Prior to her current 30-year career in interreligious relations, she was a renowned criminologist who, among other things, focused on the link between religion and violence. However, she was best known for her award-winning innovations and reforms in policing and criminal justice administration. Among many honors, Bennett was awarded the AARP Purpose Prize for her work with MFA and recently received an Extraordinary Women Award from the 92nd Street Y. Bennett is the author of nine books and manuals and dozens of articles. Her book, Crimewarps: The Future of Crime in America, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.