John Anderson Lanier
Executive Director
Ray C. Anderson Foundation
John A. Lanier is executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, a Georgia-based private family foundation honoring the legacy of the late Ray C. Anderson. Lanier joined the organization in May 2013 to lead the foundation that bears his grandfather’s name. Anderson was a globally recognized industrialist and pioneer for environmentalism, and Lanier continues his legacy today through foundation programs that seek to create a brighter, more sustainable world. From 2011 to 2013, Lanier worked in Atlanta as an Associate Attorney in the federal Tax Practice Group of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, now Eversheds Sutherland. He represented the interests of various Atlanta-based nonprofits, gaining experience in nonprofit formations, compliance, and applications for recognition of tax-exempt status. During that time, the Ray C. Anderson Foundation was one of his clients. Lanier currently serves as chair of the Board of Directors of Southface, a leading southeastern nonprofit working to advance sustainable development and green building. He is a graduate of the 2014 class of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law and he holds Bachelor of Arts Degrees in History and Economics from the University of Virginia. He is an Atlanta native, and he lives in the Kirkwood neighborhood of Atlanta with his wife, Chantel, and young children, J.R. and Cecilia.