Strategic Communications · Editorial Leadership · Institution-Building

I build the institutions, instruments, and narratives that change minds.

Fifteen years turning complex, contested ideas into national coverage and durable credibility. I lead a ten-person team across editorial, marketing, events, and content syndication at RealClear Media Group. I co-founded the College Free Speech Rankings, now administered by FIRE, scaled an outlet from 45,000 to 1.5 million readers, and write for national audiences as a published author. I build things from zero, and I operate credibly with people who do not share a single worldview.

1.5M

Readers Scaled To

200

Campuses Surveyed

Things Built From Zero

NYT

Editor's Choice Pick

01 · How I Work

Three situations. Three different muscles.

Forget the job titles. Here is how I think and operate when it actually matters.

Research Translation & Free Expression

I co-founded the instrument the campus free-expression debate runs on.

When you build the evidence base, you do not have to learn the landscape. You have already helped shape it.

I co-founded the College Free Speech Rankings, now administered by FIRE and the largest survey of student expression in the country, drawing 55,000 to 68,000 respondents a year across more than 200 campuses and cited wherever the higher-education conversation happens, including in Manhattan Institute's City Journal. Turning rigorous research into media-ready narratives that earn coverage and build credibility is the work. Knowing when not to engage is the discipline.

OutcomeA national instrument cited across the field. The deeper result is standing in a debate where credibility is everything, earned by doing the research rather than commenting on it.

Watch the C-SPAN briefing →

Executive Convening & Stakeholder Strategy

I built a national policy forum from scratch, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The challenge was never logistics. It was getting people who fundamentally disagree into the same room to say something useful.

The Energy Future Forum convenes senior government officials, industry executives, and policy researchers on energy, regulatory, and AI-infrastructure issues. I built it and I direct it end to end, from program and partnerships to preparing principals to hold their own on stage and on camera.

The Energy Future Forum in Washington, D.C., showing conference sessions, signage, and networking receptions. — The Energy Future Forum · Washington, D.C.

OutcomeA recurring national convening with a marquee partner, built and directed end to end, where people who disagree show up and say something worth covering.

Explore the forum →

Crisis & Reputation Management

When leadership collapsed overnight, I had 48 hours to stabilize.

Every stakeholder had a different fear. The board needed confidence. Donors needed reassurance. The press needed a story. The legal team needed silence.

Mountain States Legal Foundation was a public-interest law firm in active federal litigation against the EPA and the Bureau of Land Management. When the president departed abruptly under intense scrutiny, I was the lead communications professional for the firm. I built a rapid-response strategy with the board. Every message was calibrated: press statements that defused speculation without compromising the litigation, donor communications that acknowledged disruption without projecting weakness, and internal messaging that kept a small team steady while the ground shifted.

OutcomeStakeholder confidence preserved. Donor relationships maintained. Media coverage stabilized. The firm continued its work without interruption.

02 · The Builds

I build things. Here is the proof.

A selection, each one from concept to reality.

The Samizdat Prize event, with a panel on stage in front of Samizdat Prize and RealClear MediaFund branding. — The Samizdat Prize · honoring writers who defend free expression across the spectrum

GED → Yale

Homeschooled kid and working musician. GED, then Yale, studying literature with Harold Bloom and history with Donald Kagan. The unconventional path is the only one I know.

Origin Story

College Free Speech Rankings

Co-founded a national survey of student expression, now administered by FIRE. It draws 55,000 to 68,000 respondents a year across more than 200 campuses and is cited across the higher-education conversation, including in City Journal.

Platform Building

45K → 1.5M Readers

Took the Student Free Press Association from 45,000 to 1.5 million readers in three years. Built a network of fifty-plus contributors and integrated digital distribution before most organizations in the space had thought about it.

Scale

The Samizdat Prize

Co-founded an annual award honoring writers and public figures who defend free expression, across the ideological spectrum. Recipients include Matt Taibbi and Abigail Shrier.

Institution Building

Journalist Salon Dinners

Organize invitation-only dinners in Washington, New York, and Chicago, fifteen to twenty top-tier reporters per event. Wall Street Journal, Politico, Washington Post, and more. High-trust rooms where the real conversations happen.

Networks

On Camera, On Stage, On Mic

Live broadcasts with viewer Q&A on CNBC, CBN, and C-SPAN. Keynotes and panels at SXSW EDU, Yale, Purdue, and Hillsdale.

Stage & Screen

I build the institutions, instruments, and narratives that change minds.

Three situations. Three different muscles.

I co-founded the instrument the campus free-expression debate runs on.

I built a national policy forum from scratch, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

When leadership collapsed overnight, I had 48 hours to stabilize.

I build things. Here is the proof.

GED → Yale

College Free Speech Rankings

45K → 1.5M Readers

The Samizdat Prize

Journalist Salon Dinners

On Camera, On Stage, On Mic

Selected writing samples.

Who's Afraid of Jonathan Turley? ChatGPT, for One

A.I.'s Energy Boom Needs Safer Nuclear Power

A.I. Panic Hits Music City

The End of the University as We Know It

Sex & God at Yale

Where I've worked.

Let's talk.