Advisory Board

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Bryan Auchterlonie

Bryan Auchterlonie is a former Executive Director of the Collegiate Network, the Delaware-based campus newspaper outreach project of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute which raises public awareness on the politicization of American college and university classrooms, curricula, student life, and the resulting decline of educational standards. To achieve this mission, the CN provides financial and technical assistance to student editors and writers at scores of independent publications at leading colleges and universities around the country. These publications have a combined annual distribution of more than two million copies. Now working in the DC Metro as a banking analyst, Bryan spoke at the inaugural YBF Activist Training Conference in 2003. Bryan is married to Sarah, an attorney, and they have a newborn son, Graham Howard, who was born in July 2008.

Morton Blackwell, The Leadership Institute

Morton Blackwell is President of the Leadership Institute, which he founded in 1979. The LI, based in Arlington, Virginia, identifies, recruits, trains and places conservatives in the public policy process and prepares conservatives for success in politics, government and the news media. The Leadership Institute has trained more than 66,000 students. It currently has revenue of $12.7 million per year and a staff of 58. A former White House aide under President Reagan, and the youngest elected delegate to the 1964 Republican Party Convention, Morton is responsible for training students who have gone on to become US Senators, Congressmen, Governors – and Karl Rove.

Iain Dale

Iain Dale is one of Britain’s leading political bloggers, a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and a frequent commentator on both radio and television. A graduate of the University of East Anglia, Iain worked as a political researcher and in public affairs before founding Politico’s bookstore in 1997. Iain stood for the Conservatives in the 2005 General Election and subsequently ran the leadership campaign for David Davis later that year before launching Britain’s first online political television channel, 18DoughtyStreet.com, in 2006. In 2008, Iain launched Total Politics, a magazine that is unashamedly positive about politics and the political process.

John Dodd, The Jesse Helms Center

John Dodd has been President of the Jesse Helms Center since 1994, prior to which he was a political consultant. The Helms Center exists to continue the work of late US Senator Jesse Helms by promoting the principles of free enterprise and traditional American values. The work of the Helms Center involves education, historical preservation, and public policy promotion through a variety of programs for students, scholars, and the general public. John is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and has a Masters from the University of North Carolina. Married to Teresa, John is an active men’s lacrosse coach. He also serves on the Board of Turning Point, a domestic violence shelter located in Monroe, North Carolina.

Matthew Elliott, The TaxPayers’ Alliance

Matthew Elliott is the Founder and Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Britain’s pre-eminent conservative campaigning organisation. Matthew is a graduate of the London School of Economics and former employee of the European Foundation. He founded the TaxPayers’ Alliance in 2004, since when it has gone on to receive unrivalled media coverage and numerous plaudits and awards. Under his leadership, the TPA has grown from operating as a group of volunteers meeting in various coffee shops around London, to employing six members of staff working from offices in London and Birmingham. In 2006, the TPA won the ConservativeHome “One to Watch” award and in 2007 the Bumper Book of Government Waste was awarded the Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Award. In November 2007, Matthew was presented with the Conservative Way Forward ‘One of Us’ award by William Hague at the CWF annual dinner and in December the TPA won the Stockholm Network’s prestigious Golden Umbrella award for Innovation. Outside of his work at the TPA, Matthew has visited Azerbaijan (2000), Ukraine (2001) and Serbia (2006) on behalf of the Westminster Foundation. In June 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce.

Andrew Griffith

Andrew Griffith is the Finance Director of BSkyB, Britain’s leading satellite broadcaster. Andrew is a former National Chairman of the Young Conservatives and Deputy Chairman of Conservative Future. In 2001 and 2005, Andrew was the Conservative candidate for Corby & East Northants. A qualified chartered accountant, Andrew previously worked at the investment bank Rothschild before joining Sky in 1999. At 37 he is one of the youngest finance directors of a large multinational company in London.

John Hilboldt, The Heritage Foundation

John Hilboldt is Director of Lectures & Seminars at the Heritage Foundation. Before becoming Director of Lectures and Seminars, Hilboldt served for four years as Deputy Director of Heritage’s Coalition Relations department, which communicates the think tank’s research to other conservative groups in America and around the world. While there, he edited two issues of the Policy Experts guide and its accompanying policyexperts.org Web directory as well as coordinating other outreach endeavours. Prior to joining Heritage in 1999, Hilboldt was Administrator for the Church of Christ in Falls Church, Virginia. Previously, he was Director of the White House Gift Unit, a position he held through the first year of the George HW Bush Administration and most of the Reagan Administration. He also served in the Reagan Administration as an Assistant Director of Presidential Personnel and an Assistant for Special Projects in the Office of Cabinet Affairs.

David Keene, The American Conservative Union

David Keene has been Chairman of the American Conservative Union since 1984, in which capacity he has organised and chaired the annual CPAC conference each winter for 24 years. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School and a former Special Assistant to Vice-President Spiro Agnew, Keene is now a managing associate at the Carmen Group, a Washington DC-based lobbying firm. He is also a director of the National Rifle Association of America and a regular commentator on conservative issues. He is also a cigar aficianado.

Cllr Mark Loveday, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

Mark Loveday is a barrister specialising in property, local government and professional negligence law in London. A graduate of the University of Kent at Canterbury, Mark is a former intern at the Leadership Institute and a former White House staffer. He is a member of the Cabinet in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham – where he has helped oversee two successive cuts in council tax since the Conservatives regained control of the Town Hall in 2006.

William J McCarthy, William J McCarthy & Associates

Originally from the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, Bill McCarthy is one of Washington DC’s leading political consultants, specialising in direct mail fundraising and marketing for 30 years from his offices in Alexandria, Virginia. Bill is a former Promotions Director at Human Events and a former campaign consultant. Married to Kelly, a native of the Isle of Man, Bill lives in Alexandria, Virginia with two children and a crazy dog called Bosco.

Dr Alan Mendoza, The Henry Jackson Society

Alan Mendoza is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society. Having obtained a BA (Hons) and MPhil in history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Alan completed a PhD at the same institution focusing on Anglo-American relations during the Bosnian War, 1992-1995. A frequent speaker on various foreign policy topics, Alan’s particular research interests are the transatlantic relationship, the Middle East and Russia. He represents the Society on various topics in the media and has appeared on the BBC, ITN, Sky, CNBC, Bloomberg and al-Jazeera networks amongst others. He also hosted the successful Worldview international relations TV show during its run on the 18 Doughty Street network. In the wider political world, Alan is the Co-Founder and President of the Disraelian Union, a London-based progressive Conservative think-tank and discussion forum, and has worked to develop relationships and ideas between conservative networks in the United Kingdom, United States and Europe. He is also a local Councillor for the London Borough of Brent.

Professor Patrick Minford CBE, Cardiff Business School

Patrick Minford is Professor of Applied Economics at the Cardiff Business School since 1997, having been at the University of Liverpool from 1976 to 1997. Educated at Winchester, Oxford and the LSE, Professor Minford is a former advisor to HM Treasury and a prominent supporter of many conservative causes, including Conservative Way Forward and Better Off Out. In 1981 he famously rebutted the views of 364 economists who had written to The Times objecting to Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies. He was proven right: they were proven wrong.

Iain Murray, The Competitive Enterprise Institute

Iain Murray is Director of Projects & Analysis and Senior Fellow in Energy, Science & Technology at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington DC. A native of Sunderland, a graduate of Oxford University and a veteran blogger, Iain has recently published the bestselling rebuttal to Al Gore: The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberal Don’t Want You To Know About – Because They Helped Cause Them.

Ben Pickering, Conservative Way Forward

Ben Pickering is the Treasurer of Conservative Way Forward and Co-Founder of the Young Britons’ Foundation. A former Area Chairman of Conservative Future and parliamentary candidate, Ben has set up a film production company and recently produced his first short film, Beached, which is being screened at film festivals in 2008. A former public affairs consultant and property developer, Ben is researching a PhD on the eastward enlargement of the EU out of Swansea University.

Ron Robinson, Young America’s Foundation

Ron Robinson is the President of Young America’s Foundation and a former Reagan Administration advisor. As well as leading YAF through two landmark Supreme Court cases, Ron Robinson also had the vision to lead the effort to save Ronald Reagan’s Western White House, Rancho del Cielo. A native of Buffalo, New York, Ron Robinson is a regular commentator in the media, as well as being a director of the American Conservative Union. He is married to Michelle Easton, the President of the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute.

Cllr Russell Tillson, Shepway District Council

Russell Tillson is Conservative Councillor for Dymchurch & St Mary’s Bay Ward on Shepway District Council. He is also Chairman of Folkestone & Hythe Conservative Association. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Russell has taught Economics & Politics at a number of England’s leading public schools, as well as heading examination boards, contributing and editing journals, developing the Young Britons’ Foundation Political Attitudes Questionnaire and delivering a number of memorable after-dinner votes of thanks.