Owsley Brown III, President
Owsley Brown is devoted to sustaining healthy communities by enhancing cultural, spiritual, and civic life. He is a documentary filmmaker, a director of foundations and nonprofit boards, and the leader of exploratory projects in community wellbeing. Owsley is also an active fifth-generation shareholder of Brown-Forman, his family’s international spirits and wine company, founded in 1870.
Owsley’s films include Night Waltz, Music Makes a City, and Serenade for Haiti. His current film, River City Drumbeat, is a timely look at the important power of arts and culture through music in West Louisville.
In his native city and beloved hometown of Louisville, Owsley is known as host and producer of the Festival of Faiths, a founding board member of the Kentucky School of Art and Design, and Chair of the Compassionate Schools Project, the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of an integrated health and wellness curriculum in an elementary school setting.
Owsley also serves on the boards of the University of Virginia’s Center for Contemplative Sciences, Center for Interfaith Relations, Roxie Theater, San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Mind and Life Institute and the Tsoknyi Humanitarian Fund. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and lives in San Francisco with his wife and their three children. Owsley is currently President of the Sustainable Food Alliance.