Georgette Bennett

Activist, Brainstormer, Consultant, Global soul, Parent

Dr. Georgette Bennett is an award-winning sociologist, 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 nearly $225 million of humanitarian aid on behalf of more than two million Syrian war victims. In 1992, she founded the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. 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. She is Immediate Past Chair of the Jewish Funders Network, and Honorary President of Religions for Peace. She serves on the Board of Third Way, Muslim Jewish Advisory Council, and the Advisory Boards of the International Rescue Committee, and the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at the Jewish Theological Seminary. 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. In 2021, she was included in Forbes 50 Over 50 Women of Impact, and cited, along with Condoleezza Rice and Susan Rice as women who helped shape the course of modern American foreign policy and human rights. Her book, Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By: How One Woman Confronted the Greatest Humanitarian Conflict of Our Time was published in late 2021. Her next book, Religicide, co-authored with Nobel Peace Prize Co-recipient, Jerry White, will be released in September 2022. Earlier in her career, Dr. Bennett was an award-winning criminologist, who consulted with the U.S. Department of Justice and police departments across the U.S. The first federally-funded crime victims service center was established based on an idea she presented and she did pioneering work in community policing, which is now an international best practice. Earlier in her life, Dr. Bennett had an extensive career in the finance. In the 1970s, she managed a $1.3 billion budget for the New York City Office of Management and Budget as the head of its Criminal Justice Task Force. She also served as a consultant to Chemical Bank’s Operations Division. In the 1980s she had a successful banking career, while earning a graduate banking degree with highest honors, as Chief Marketing Officer and head of the Private Bank for The First Women’s Bank in New York. Dr. Bennett has previously been affiliated with the Center for Policy Research in New York and the Center for Investigative Reporting in San Francisco. As a television and radio commentator, she was a Network Correspondent for NBC News and host of Walter Cronkite's PBS current affairs series, "Why in the World?" She created three of her own syndicated radio programs and was a regular commentator for Fox-TV "10 O'Clock News." In addition, she created stories for ABC “20/20,” CBS “60 Minutes,” PBS “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.” She has also served as Deputy Assistant Director for Administration of Justice, New York City Office of Management and Budget; Coordinator for Training and Evaluation and Personal Consultant to the Police Commissioner, New York City Police Department; and on several university faculties, where she taught sociology, education, research methods, law enforcement and criminology. A former faculty member of the City University of New York, Dr. Bennett taught sociology, criminology, evaluation and action research, in addition to a broad range of other courses. She also taught in NYU’s School of Education. Dr. Bennett is a Sociologist by training with a BA from Vassar College and Ph.D. from New York University. She also has an advanced Banking degree from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

Movies, theater, food, and Motown. Design. Hosting salons and bringing together interesting and accomplished people. Getting behind the headlines and going where the action is. Building bridges between sworn enemies and across cultures. Land's End and Armani clothes.

Reducing crime isn't just a function of how many police are on the streets. It's also a function of the build environment. "Defensible Space" and "Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design" are proven techniques that create and preserve safe spaces. If these techniques were incorporated into urban planning as well as housing design, people would feel safer, make more use of public space, and the opportunities to commit crime would be greatly reduced.

Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, Intergroup Relations

Since this is my first TED talk and conference, I don't yet have a TED story. But I'm hugely impressed with the organization that goes into the conference and the tremendous support that is given to speakers. I've loved working with Cyndi Stivers and can't wait to meet her and the rest of the team in person.

Broadcast journalism. Organizing and hosting events. Acting.