Bennett Freeman has worked for more than four decades at the intersection of governments, international institutions, multinational corporations, responsible investors, and NGOs to promote human rights and sustainable development around the world. An innovative leader in the fields of business and human rights, natural resource governance, and responsible investment, he has played key roles in developing several multi-stakeholder initiatives and global standards that have strengthened corporate responsibility in industries from extractives to information and communications technology.

He is the lead author of Shared Space Under Pressure: Business Support for Civic Freedoms and Human Rights Defenders, published by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and International Service for Human Rights in September 2018.

A leading member of numerous advisory boards of public interest organizations, he also has served in senior management positions in the private sector, where he was responsible for environmental, social and governance research; developing investment themes for new funds; and directing shareholder advocacy and public policy initiatives, stakeholder engagement, and communications strategies related to human rights, labor practices, and sustainable development. In the Clinton Administration, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; as Senior Advisor to Under Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs; and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and chief speechwriter to the Secretary of State.

He currently consults for major corporations, foundations, and NGOs through Bennett Freeman Associates LLC, an Associate Fellow in the Global Economy and Finance program at Chatham House , and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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