John Lawson Thornton is an American businessperson who has been at the head of 11 different companies and occupies the position of Chairman for Zenti, Inc. and Non-Independent Executive Chairman at Barrick Gold Corp. Mr. Thornton is also Co-Chairman of The Brookings Institution, Co-Chairman of Asia Society, President for China Institute of Metrology, Trustee & Member at China Foreign Affairs University, Professor & Director-Global Leadership Program at Tsinghua School of Economics & Management and Member of Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. and on the board of 13 other companies.

In his past career Mr. Thornton was Chairman of Silk Road Finance Corp. Ltd., President, Co-Chief Operating Officer & Director at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Chairman for Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC (South Korea), Chairman for Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC and Co-Chief Executive Officer at Goldman Sachs International, Inc. (which are all subsidiaries of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.) and Non-Executive Chairman of HSBC North America Holdings, Inc.

John Lawson Thornton received a graduate degree and an undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford, a graduate degree from Yale School of Management and an undergraduate degree from Harvard College.