John Mills
CEO
John Mills is the CEO and co-founder of Watch Duty, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit delivering real-time wildfire and flood alerts and intelligence across the United States. Used by millions of residents and first responders, Watch Duty was recognized as one of TIME’s 100 Most Innovative Companies, Fast Company’s #1 nonprofit, and received Apple’s 2025 Social Impact Design Award.
Before Watch Duty, John spent years in Silicon Valley building technology for underserved markets. In 2012, he founded Zenput as CTO, a retail food service operations platform acquired in 2022. After moving off-grid to Sonoma County in 2020, he experienced firsthand the lack of reliable wildfire information and set out to solve it for both his community and himself.
Today, Watch Duty includes 300+ staff and volunteers and serves all 50 states.
