Ben Hodgdon ‘03 M.F.S.

Rainforest Alliance

Community Forestry: Success, Failure and New Frontiers

Ben Hodgdon (MFS ’03) is the Rainforest Alliance’s Director of Forestry. In this role he leads the organization’s work in forestry technical assistance globally, with a focus on community forests and local enterprise development. Ben lived and worked in Vietnam and Laos for 8 years, followed by 4 years in Mexico. Since 2010 he has been based in the US, designing, supervising and evaluating a range of community forestry initiatives in Mesoamerica, Amazon Basin, Congo Basin and Southeast Asia. He speaks fluent Spanish as well as rusty but still passable Vietnamese and Lao. He lives in Richmond, Vermont, with his wife and two daughters.