Christopher DeMuth

Christopher DeMuth, president of AEI since 1986, will resign from that position in 2008, the Institute's Board of Trustees announced on October 11. DeMuth conveyed his decision to AEI's trustees, scholars, and staff on October 10. He will remain at AEI as a senior fellow, pursuing research and writing on American politics, society, and his longtime specialty, government regulation.

"My twenty-one years as president of AEI have been thoroughly gratifying, edifying, and enjoyable," said DeMuth. "It has been a momentous period in American and international politics. Throughout, AEI's scholars have made tremendous contributions to political discourse and to better government policy.

"AEI's trustees, donors, and extended family have provided invaluable support--moral and intellectual as well as financial--to everything we have done," he added. "It has been a great privilege to work with them; I hope to continue to do so, in a new capacity, for many years to come."

Bruce Kovner, chairman of the AEI Board of Trustees, expressed his gratitude for DeMuth's stewardship. "AEI is stronger financially and intellectually than it has ever been. Chris's leadership has been the key to that success. We are very sorry to lose him as president. The only thing better than having Chris DeMuth as the president of AEI is to have him as a scholar at the Institute."

AEI scholars and staff applaud DeMuth after his announcement speech on October 10

DeMuth's involvement with AEI dates back to reading the Institute's publications as an undergraduate at Harvard in the 1960s. He later relied on AEI research as a teacher, lawyer, consulting economist, and government official. DeMuth was appointed president in December 1986 at a time of financial and management instability. Under his leadership, AEI rebounded. Its budget grew from $7.7 million in 1987 to $23.6 million in 2006. AEI was $9 million in debt when DeMuth arrived; today, its net asset balance is $76 million, with additional outstanding financial pledges exceeding $60 million.

DeMuth has overseen substantial growth in all three of AEI's research divisions: economic policy studies, social and political studies, and foreign and defense policy studies. Notable achievements during his presidency include the inauguration of The American Enterprise in 1990 and its successor, The American, last year; the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies; AEI's fifteen specialized Outlooks and an expanded AEI Press; the National Research Initiative; new foreign policy projects like Dissent and Reform in the Middle East, Tocqueville on China, and the Iraq Planning Group; the W. H. Brady Program in Culture and Freedom; the merger of the National Legal Center into AEI to become the AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest; and, later this year, a new incarnation of AEI's website.

As for the selection of DeMuth's successor, Kovner will chair a presidential search committee consisting of himself and other trustees. The search committee will begin work immediately, aiming for a decision by the full board on DeMuth's successor in the first half of 2008 and a transition in the second half of the year.

"Leadership successions are critical times for policy research institutes," said DeMuth. "That time will come sooner or later for AEI, and after careful thought I have concluded that the best time for us is now. . . . We are in excellent stride to pass the baton to new leadership. That leadership will ensure that AEI remains an independent intellectual force in American politics--committed to scholarship that is original, practical, and, where necessary, courageous."

For a press release, visit www.aei.org/publication26945/. For an op-ed by DeMuth on the occasion of his announcement, visit www.aei.org/publication26946/.