David G. Bradley

David G. Bradley (born 1953)^[1] is the owner of the Atlantic Media Company, which publishes several prominent news magazines and services including The Atlantic Monthly, National Journal, The Hotline and Government Executive. Prior to his career as a publisher, Bradley founded the Advisory Board Company and Corporate Executive Board, two Washington-based consulting companies.

Early life and education

Bradley was born in Washington, D.C.^[2] and attended the Sidwell Friends School. His parents were devout Christian Scientists.^[1] He graduated from Swarthmore College and briefly interned in the White House during the presidency of Richard Nixon. He received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and was also a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines.^[2] Bradley earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1983.

Bradley is brother to Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR Religion Correspondent and author of Fingerprints of God: In Search of the Science of Spirituality ^[3][4][5]

Advisory Board Company

In 1979 while only 26 years old, Bradley founded the Research Counsel of Washington, later renamed the Advisory Board Company. The purpose of the company, at least initially, was to do research on any question for any industry. In 1986 the company began doing special research for the health care industry, which eventually became the main focus of the Advisory Board Company.^[6]

In 1983, his company had begun advising other firms in the financial services industry. In 1997, this was completely spun off as the separate Corporate Executive Board.^[7] Both companies are now publicly traded on the NASDAQ. Bradley reportedly earned over $300 million from their sale.^[1]

Publishing

In 1997, Bradley made his first acquisition as a publisher, purchasing the National Journal. He hired Michael Kelly, a well-known journalist who had just been fired from The New Republic after frequently clashing with owner Martin Peretz. Kelly was known for his controversial criticisms of Al Gore and Bill Clinton, but he got along well with Bradley.

In 1999, Bradley purchased The Atlantic Monthly from publisher and real estate tycoon Mort Zuckerman for a price of $10 million.^[8] Bradley replaced the then current editor William Whitworth with Kelly. Bradley's strategy to improve the business model of The Atlantic, which had lost money for years, was to focus on improving editorial quality. Bradley doubled the newsroom budget of The Atlantic, allowing the magazine to embark on a hiring spree, offering contracts to 25 new writers. Kelly's first hire was to bring back James Fallows, one of the magazine's best-known journalists who had been hired away in 1996.^[1]

In a profile of Bradley, Slate media critic Jack Shafer reported that he often lost employees-- among them top editors and writers-- because of his tendency to micromanage. Likening Bradley to the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Shafer rhetorically asked: "How do you manage the boss, who won't and can't stay out of the dugout?"

Shafer wrote: "If it doesn't give you an aneurysm, think of Bradley as the good Steinbrenner, a sort of "Kindbrenner." Bradley is decent where Steinbrenner is foul and angelic where Steinbrenner is wicked...

"Working for a [such] publisher who expects... can be draining... When [the late Atlantic editor] Michael Kelly edited the Atlantic, he endured Kindbrenner's many meetings... and endless drawings of org charts, flow charts.. After three years of decisional gridlock, Bradley-fatigue set in and Kelly returned to the writing life. As it turned out, the nicest, most considerate man in the universe was a narcissistic and needy bore."^[9]

Bradley is also known for the great lengths he'll go to in order to lure writers to The Atlantic. To lure away Jeffrey Goldberg, a staff writer for The New Yorker, Bradley brought ponies to Goldberg's house one day to show Goldberg's three young children.

After originally vowing not to move The Atlantic from its home in Boston for over a year, Bradley created a controversy in 2005 by moving the offices to Washington, where his other enterprises are all headquartered. Several prominent members of The Atlantic, such as esteemed editor Cullen Murphy, left the magazine as a result of the move.^[10]

Politics

Politically, Bradley considers himself a centrist,^[1] although he has also described himself as "a neocon guy" who was "dead certain about the rightness" of invading Iraq.^[10] In the 2008 U.S. presidential primaries he donated $4,300 to Hillary Clinton and $2,300 to Barack Obama and to Mitt Romney.^[10]

Work in the Philippines

In addition to publishing, Bradley works with the CityBridge Foundation (formerly the Advisory Board Foundation), which participates in education projects in the Philippines, where Bradley had been a Fulbright Scholar.^[11] Bradley's wife, Katherine Brittain Bradley, is the president.

Bradley established the Child Protection Unit (CPU)^[12] at the Philippine General Hospital, and was a professor at the University of the City of Manila (Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila).

References

^{[1] [2] [6] [7] [10] [11]}

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Scott Sherman (2002). "What makes a serious magazine soar?". Columbia Journalism Review. http://cjrarchives.org/issues/2002/6/mag-sherman.asp. Retrieved 2007-08-18. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "David Bradley bio". theatlantic.com. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/by/david_bradley. Retrieved 2007-08-18. 
3. ^ Fingerprints of God: In Search of the Science of Spirituality
4. ^ http://www.barbarabradleyhagerty.com/content/book.asp?id=desc
5. ^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100608
6. ^ ^{a b} "The Advisory Board Company history". advisoryboardcompany.com. Archived from the original on 2007-07-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20070717174015/http://www.advisoryboardcompany.com/public/history.asp. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Corporate Executive Board overview". executiveboard.com. Archived from the original on 2007-06-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20070610071146/http://www.executiveboard.com/About+Ceb/. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
8. ^ New York Times, April 15, 2005, "Atlantic Monthly Leaving Boston in Move to Washington", retrieved Sept 26, 2009
9. ^ http://www.slate.com/id/2137687/
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Howard Kurtz (2007-08-06). "The Atlantic's Owner Ponies Up". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/05/AR2007080501576.html. Retrieved 2007-08-18. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Annys Shin (2004-08-02). "Ideas, Money Aren't Enough". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32647-2004Aug1.html. Retrieved 2007-08-18. 
12. ^ Child Protection Unit - David Bradley.

Persondata
Name	Bradley, David G.
Alternative names
Short description	20th century American media mogul
Date of birth	1953
Place of birth	Washington, D.C., United States
Date of death
Place of death