Speaker biographies

James L. Connaughton was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on June 14 and appointed by President George W. Bush on June 18, 2001, to serve as the chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality. In this capacity he serves as the senior environmental, energy, and natural resources advisor to the president, as well as director of the White House Office of Environmental Policy, which oversees the development of environmental policy, coordinates interagency implementation of environmental programs, and mediates key policy disagreements among federal agencies, state, tribal, and local governments, and private citizens. During President Bush’s first term, Mr. Connaughton coordinated the development of major administration initiatives, including the national clean air strategy; healthy forests restoration legislation; historic multibillion expansion of Farm Bill conservation programs; the new wetlands restoration initiative to increase overall wetlands acres and quality; comprehensive climate change strategy; clean technology initiatives; environmental cooperation agreements with our free trade partners; G-8 action plan and international partnerships for sustainable development; and implementation of modernized environmental management systems across the federal government.

Steven F. Hayward is the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Environmental Studies at AEI and a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. He is also an adjunct fellow of the John Ashbrook Center and a former Bradley Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Hayward studies the environment, law, political economy, and the presidency. He is author of the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, published jointly by the AEI Press and the Pacific Research Institute. Hayward is the author of AEI's Environmental Policy Outlook series and numerous books, including The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964–1980; Churchill on Leadership: Executive Success in the Face of Adversity; and Greatness. He has also had works published in National Review, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reason, The Weekly Standard, Policy Review, and Chicago Tribune.

View Event Details