Edwin Feulner

Infobox Person
name = Ed Feulner

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caption =
birth_name = Edwin J. Feulner Jr.
birth_date = birth date and age|1941|08|12
birth_place = Chicago, Illinois

Edwin John Feulner Jr. (born August 12 1941 in Chicago, Illinois) is President of the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, a position he has held since 1977.

The mission of the Heritage Foundation is "to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."

Personal life

Feulner was born to Helen Joan Feulner and Edwin J. Feulner Sr., owner of a Chicago real estate firm, and grew up in Elmhurst, Illinois. He is a Roman Catholic. Feulner and his wife, Linda Claire Leventhal, have two adult children, Edwin J. Feulner III and Emily V. Lown, and three grandchildren. They live in Alexandria, Virginia.

Education

Feulner received a Bachelor's degree in English from Regis University and in 1964 completed an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He later earned a doctorate degree at the University of Edinburgh and attended Georgetown University as well as the London School of Economics. While in college, Feulner read Sen. Barry Goldwater's book "The Conscience of a Conservative", which Feulner cites as a key influence on his political outlook. [http://www.heritage.org/about/staff/EdwinFeulner.cfm Edwin J. Feulner] Heritage.org, Accessed March 2, 2008.]

Early career

Feulner began his Washington career as analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, then called the Center for Strategic Studies. He later became a congressional aide to congressman (and later Secretary of Defense) Melvin Laird. Feulner subsequently became a long-serving executive assistant to Illinois Republican congressman Phil Crane. Prior to becoming President of Heritage, Feulner was Executive Director of the Republican Study Committee. [http://www.examiner.com/a-964827~Edwin_Feulner__The_Heritage_Foundation_s_president_revolutionized_the_Washington_think_tank_scene.html Edwin Feulner: The Heritage Foundation’s president revolutionized the Washington think tank scene] , Joe Rogalsky, "The Examiner", October 1, 2007. Accessed March 2, 2008.]

Heritage Foundation

Feulner was a Founding Trustee of the Heritage Foundation from 1973 until 1977, when he left Crane's employ to run Heritage full-time. At the time, Heritage had had nine employees and four presidents in four years. Feulner brought a new focus to marketing Heritage's ideas by issuing and promoting policy papers. The practice was unusual for Washington think tanks in the 1970s, and it brought national attention to Heritage. As Feulner related to "The Washington Examiner", "It doesn't do us any good to have great ideas if we are not out there peddling our products." [http://www.examiner.com/a-964827~Edwin_Feulner__The_Heritage_Foundation_s_president_revolutionized_the_Washington_think_tank_scene.html Edwin Feulner: The Heritage Foundation’s president revolutionized the Washington think tank scene] , Joe Rogalsky, "The Examiner", October 1, 2007. Accessed March 2, 2008.]

He is the former President and currently serves as the Treasurer of the Mont Pelerin Society; he has served as Trustee and former Chairman of the Board of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute; Member of the Board of the National Chamber Foundation; a Board Member of the Institut d' Etude Politique; and member of the Board of Visitors of Regis, his undergraduate alma mater.

Among other executive and advisory roles, Feulner is the former President of The Philadelphia Society, and past Director of the Sequoia Bank, the Council for National Policy, the Acton Institute and the American Council in Germany.

Feulner served as a member of the Gingrich-Mitchell Congressional U.N. Reform Task Force (2005), Meltzer Commission from 1999-2000. He was the Vice Chairman of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, known as the Kemp Commission, from 1995-1996. He also was Chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (1982-91), a consultant for domestic policy to President Reagan, and an adviser to several government departments and agencies.

Awards and distinctions

In 1989 he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian award in the United States awarded by the President of the United States, by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He is also past president and current Treasurer and Trustee of the Mont Pelerin Society, a global economics society. Since 2006, Feulner has been a member of the Honorary Board of Trustees of Fundación Burke in Spain.

In 2007 "GQ" magazine named Feulner one of the "50 most powerful people in D.C." [http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5843&pageNum=10 The 50 Most Powerful People in D.C.] , Raha Naddaf and Greg Veis, "GQ". Accessed March 2, 2008.] The same year, Feulner was named one of the "100 most influential" American conservatives by the UK "Telegraph". [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/exclusions/uselection/nosplit/uscons41-60.xml The most influential US conservatives] , "The Telegraph", March 11, 2007. Accessed March 2, 2008.]

He speaks in the United States and abroad, has been awarded 11 honorary degrees and has received honors from the governments of Taiwan and South Korea.

Bibliography

*"Looking Back" (Heritage Foundation, 1981). ASIN B0006E54OC
*"Conservatives Stalk the House" (Green Hill, 1983). ISBN 0898031125
*"The March of Freedom" (Spence Publishing Company, 1998). ISBN 978-0965320887
*"Intellectual Pilgrims" (Mont Pelerin Society, 1999). ISBN 978-0891950790
*"Leadership for America: The Principles of Conservatism" (Spence Publishing Company, 2000). ISBN 978-1890626228
*"Getting America Right" (Co-author Doug Wilson) (Crown Forum, 2006). ISBN 978-0307336910

References

External links

* [http://www.heritage.org/About/Staff/EdwinFeulner.cfm Ed Feulner biography]
* [http://www.heritage.org/about/staff/EdwinFeulnerpapers.cfm Publications by Ed Feulner]
* [http://www.gettingamericaright.com/ "Getting America Right"] Official website