John Dougherty

John has worked on protecting the Santa Rita Mountains from open pit mining for more than 15 years as a consultant to Save the Scenic Santa Ritas before becoming Executive Director on July 1. During this period, John produced the documentary films Cyanide Beach and Flin Flon Flim Flam that revealed the notorious hidden history of two Canadian mining companies seeking to extract copper from the mountains.

John was an investigative reporter for more than 25 years focusing on politics, economics, environment and corruption. He was a business reporter for The Phoenix Gazette, East Valley Tribune and Dayton Daily News. He later was a staff writer for Phoenix New Times for 13 years where he was named Arizona Journalist of the Year by the Arizona Press Club three times. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post and High Country News.

He moved to Tempe, Arizona from Fairfax, Virginia in 1974 to attend Arizona State University where he graduated with a B.S. Journalism in 1978 and B.S. Economics in 1981. John loves to travel throughout the West and Baja California in his old bus and particularly enjoys kayaking in Bahia Concepcion on the Sea of Cortez.