Gilbert M. Grosvenor is chairman emeritus of the National Geographic Society. He retired as chairman of National Geographic Society’s Education Foundation in February, 2012 and as chairman of the National Geographic Society’s board of trustees in December 2010, a position he had held since 1987.

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Grosvenor served as president of National Geographic from 1980 to 1996, the fifth generation of his family to have served in that capacity. He began his career with National Geographic in 1954 as a picture editor and was editor-in-chief of National Geographic from 1970 to 1980, when he assumed his position as the Society’s 14th president.

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Grosvenor serves as a director or trustee of several foundations and corporations, including Chevy Chase Trust and Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. He is a member emeritus of the Board of Visitors of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment; former vice chairman of the President’s Commission on Americans outdoors; and former member of the President’s Commission on Environmental Quality.

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In June 2004, Grosvenor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He graduated from Yale University in 1954.