Competitive Enterprise Institute

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a libertarian think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1984, CEI's mission is to "reform America's unaccountable regulatory state," and to advance "policies to eliminate harmful bureaucratic controls so people can live in a freer, healthier, and more prosperous nation."

The organization is primarily associated with tobacco disinformation and climate change denial, having received substantial funding from companies and political advocacy groups in the tobacco, energy, technology, and automotive industries. Inside Climate News has referred to CEI as "one of the fossil fuel industry's most steadfast allies," while CEI itself claims it “has been instrumental in fighting decades of climate alarmism and anti-energy policies that constrict energy supplies, raise prices, and stoke unjustified pessimism about human adaptive capabilities.”

CEI formerly belonged to various conservative alliances, including the Alliance for America, Get Government Off Our Backs, Townhall.com, the National Consumer Coalition (a pro-corporate front group headed by Frances B. Smith, the wife of CEI founder Fred L. Smith), and the Environmental Education Working Group (a national umbrella group for organizations working to undermine environmental education in schools.) CEI was linked to the UK-based right-wing think tank, the International Policy Network, via shared staff and an identical US contact address.

In addition, CEI sponsored several, now defunct, subsidiary organizations, including the Center for Private Conservation and Michael Sanera's Center for Environmental Educational Research. CEI finances and operates Cooler Heads Coalition. GlobalWarming.org, a project of Cooler Heads Coalition, describes the group as an "ad hoc coalition of more than two dozen free market and conservative non-profit groups in U.S. and abroad that question global warming alarmism and oppose energy-rationing policies."

CEI is an "associate" member of the State Policy Network, a web of right-wing "think tanks" and tax-exempt organizations in 50 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Documents Contained at the Anti-Environmental Archives

Documents written by or referencing this person or organization are contained in the Anti-Environmental Archive, launched by Greenpeace on Earth Day, 2015. The archive contains 3,500 documents, some 27,000 pages, covering 350 organizations and individuals. The current archive includes mainly documents collected in the late 1980s through the early 2000s by The Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research (CLEAR), an organization that tracked the rise of the so called "Wise Use" movement in the 1990s during the Clinton presidency. Access the index to the Anti-Environmental Archives here.

History

CEI was founded in March 1984. In 1986, it began its "free market legal program," which seeks to overturn government regulations that the CEI regards as inappropriate, such as regulations pertaining to drug safety, rent control, and automobile fuel efficiency (see the case study, Fuel efficiency standards and the laws of physics).

In 1992, CEI helped coordinate "Earth Summit Alternatives" to counter the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, generating anti-environmental commentary that appeared on the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, National Review, Washington Times, Detroit News, Investor's Daily, Inside EPA's Clean Air Report, CNBC, C-SPAN, CBS Radio and Voice of America. In March of that year, CEI’s founder Fred L. Smith said of anthropogenic climate change, "Most of the indications right now are it looks pretty good. Warmer winters, warmer nights, no effects during the day because of clouding, sounds to me like we’re moving to a more benign planet, more rain, richer, easier productivity to agriculture." CEI also published its first book, titled Environmental Politics. Jonathan Adler, CEI's Director of Environmental Studies, wrote Implementing the U.S. Clean Air Act in Arizona in conjunction with the Barry Goldwater Institute for Public Policy Research, a small think tank headed by Michael Sanera, a former professor of political science at Northern Arizona University and an adjunct scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation. The following year they wrote another report, "Reforming Arizona's Air Pollution Policy."

In 1994 CEI began working on a book with the Alabama Family Alliance and the Arizona Institute for Public Policy Research (also founded and headed by Sanera). Tentatively titled An Environmental Primer for Parents: How to Talk to Your Children About Environmental Issues, the book was eventually published under the title Facts Not Fear, with Sanera and Jane S. Shaw listed as the authors. It claims that environmental education in the classroom is a politicized effort to indoctrinate kids into becoming activists. Sanera was also instrumental in gutting a previously strong environmental education mandate in Arizona. He and CEI became leading forces behind an ongoing, industry-funded campaign to eliminate funding for environmental education throughout the United States.

In 1995, CEI joined several other think tanks in attacking Our Stolen Future, the book about environmental endocrine disruptors by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski and Peter Myer. Just prior to the book's release, CEI released two separate studies belittling "the hypothetical risks to human health" discussed in Colborn's book. On the same day that CEI's reports came out, Consumer Alert (run by Frances B. Smith, the wife of CEI founder Fred L. Smith) issued its own news release labeling the book "a scaremongering tract."

In March 1996, CEI's Michelle Malkin and Michael Fumento published "Rachel's Folly," which claims that dioxin is good for you. CEI's Jonathan Tolman (who holds a bachelor's degree in political science), published a study that month titled "Nature's Hormone Factory," claiming that naturally-occurring chemicals produced by plants and other living organisms are as dangerous as industrial chemicals. In December of that year, CEI submitted comments opposing the EPA's proposed air quality rule to limit particulate emissions, claiming that "the EPA has failed to consider whether the proposed standard may actually increase mortality due to reductions in disposable income that compliance efforts may produce. ... At all times regulation imposes costs that mean less real income to individuals for alternative expenditure. That deprivation of real income itself has adverse health effects, in the form of poorer diet, more heart attacks, more suicides."

In 1997 Boston Globe reporter Jeff Jacoby described CEI as "one of Washington's feistiest think tanks." The same year CEI's Adler lobbied Congress to cut off federal funding for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. In July, it participated in an anti-environmental summit sponsored by the conservative Western States Coalition in Spokane, Washington. Under the theme of "Responsible Legislation Through Education: Solutions That Work," the conference showcased Michael Sanera's attacks on environmental education. Ironically, while much of the conference focused on the alleged indoctrination of school children by environmentalists, the event featured a "trade show" of industry-sponsored K-12 curricula and materials.

CEI was also active in opposing the 1997 international global warming negotiations in Kyoto. CEI staff, including Fred Smith, James Sheehan, Jonathan Adler and Marlo Lewis, featured prominently in a list of "experts" provided to reporters by the industry-funded Global Climate Coalition. "The campaign against the 1997 Kyoto global warming treaty waged by right-wing think tanks has been another area where corporate America has heavily invested in right-wing policy groups that advance its interest," noted author David Callahan in 1999, "The Competitive Enterprise Institute has been a particularly aggressive advocate of the notion that global warming is a 'theory not a fact.' Since 1991, CEI's budget has grown from less than $1 million to over $4 million." Callahan also noted that although the extent to which conservative think tanks rely on corporate funding support varies widely, CEI and the American Enterprise Institute "have two of the highest levels of corporate support, with both getting roughly 40 percent of their 1996 revenues from corporations."

On October 29, 1999, CEI and Consumer Alert submitted comments opposing a proposed rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms banning makers of alcoholic beverages from labeling their products with statements about the alleged benefits of "moderate consumption" of alcohol. In March 2001, CEI joined other similar think tanks and experts for hire (including the American Council on Science and Health, Steven J. Milloy, Dennis Avery, Consumer Alert and the National Council on Public Policy Research) in an open letter criticizing Starbucks for its decision to serve milk products only from cows not treated with genetically-engineered bovine growth hormone."Your action is unfounded, and harms consumers and the environment," they stated.

When pundit John Stossel came under fire in August 2000 for citing nonexistent scientific studies] on a 20/20 segment bashing organic foods, CEI set up a "Save John Stossel" website in support. Stossel returned the favor the following year by working with Michael Sanera to put together a program titled "Tampering With Nature," which focused on attacking environmental education. In March 2001, a pesticide industry front group known as Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE) sent out an action alert memorandum to its members. "Mr. Sanera has been contacted by ABC News," the memo stated." A producer for John Stossel is working on a program on environmental education. He needs examples of kids who have been 'scared green' by schools teaching doomsday environmentalism in the classroom. ... He has some examples, but needs more. Would you send out a notice to your group and ask if they know of some examples. Then contact Mr. Sanera ... Let's try to help Mr. Stossel. He treats industry fairly in his programs."

Prior to the program's air date in July, several California parents of children interviewed by Stossel filed a complaint with ABC, stating that they had been misled about the nature of the program and the types of leading questions their kids would be asked. Seattle teacher John Borowski also reported being approached] by ABC producer Ted Balaker, who attempted to trick him into appearing on camera by claiming that he was making a documentary about Earth Day, while denying that he was working with Stossel and Sanera.

CEI's commentaries frequently appeared in media venues such as ABC's 20/20, American Spectator, Christian Science Monitor, Consumers' Research, Crossfire, Forbes, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, Moneyline, New York Times, Policy Review, PBS, Reader's Digest, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Washington Times.

News and Controversies

Influence on Trump's Climate Change Policy

Government emails obtained through a public records request in 2019 revealed the ways in which climate change denialist groups greatly influenced policy during the Trump presidency. Myron Ebell, who served as the director of CEI's Center for Energy and Environment before retiring in late 2023, was appointed by Trump in 2016 to lead the transition team for the EPA and was instrumental in the elimination of Obama-era climate change policies. According to The New York Times, "Mr. Ebell's group [CEI] weighed in at a critical juncture in the policymaking process," influencing Trump to roll back emissions standards and freeze fuel economy standards for cars.

Corporate and Industry Sponsors of CEI's 35th Anniversary Event

In 2019, CEI held a Game of Thrones-themed dinner event in commemoration of the organization's 35th anniversary. A program, obtained by The New York Times, reveals the event's sponsors. This included Marathon Petroleum, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Credit Union National Association, the Heritage Foundation, T-Mobile, Amazon, American Beverage Association, Distilled Spirits Council, Juul, NCTA - the Internet and Television Association, Verizon, the Charles Koch Institute, Motion Picture Association of America, National Association of Broadcasters, Philip Morris International, Uber, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Atlas Society, AT&T, DonorsTrust, Union Pacific Corporation, and others.

Anti-Obamacare Lawsuits

Reporting by Mother Jones in 2015 found that CEI had been the "driving force" behind two high-profile anti-Obamacare lawsuits: King v. Burwell and Halbig v. Burwell. CEI lawyers recruited the four plaintiffs in King v. Burwell, as well as funded the litigation. Had the Supreme Court ruled in the plaintiffs favor, consequences would have included an increase in premiums by 35% or more, as well as a loss of health coverage for potentially more than 8 million people.

Participation in 2015 Coal and Investment Leadership Forum

CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner was featured as a speaker at the 2015 Coal and Investment Leadership Forum, an invitation-only retreat that brought together coal industry executives, Republican donors, and other "stakeholders," according to an invitation obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy and reported on by The Guardian. Others named in the 2015 invitation included Jeb Bush, Tennessee Valley Authority president Bill Johns, and "the owners and chief executives of coal mining and energy companies" including Alliance Resource Partners, Alpha Natural Resources, Consol Energy, Drummond Company, Arch Coal, and United Coal Company.

Mountaintop Removal

In January 2011, William Yeatman, an energy policy analyst with the the Competitive Enterprise Institute, charged that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) revocation of a permit for a West Virginia mountaintop removal mining operation - Spruce 1 Mine - "would trade jobs for protection of an insect that lives for a day and isn't even an endangered species." The EPA, however, did not veto the permit because of a bug, but because the operation would have "buried more than six miles of high-quality streams" and "polluted downstream waters as a result," with inadequate mitigations offered by petitioner Arch Coal.

CEI's "Competitive Allies"

An undated CEI report, uploaded to the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library in 2007, includes a list of companies and foundations as those who made annual contributions of $10,000 or more. These contributors include the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Carthage Foundation, Coca-Cola Company, CSX Corporation, Ford Motor Company Fund, Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, David H. Koch Charitable Foundation, Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, Philip Morris Companies, Pfizer Inc., Prince Foundation, Rodney Fund, Sarah Scaife Foundation, Texaco, Texaco Foundation, and others.

2006 Ad Campaign

Between May 18 and 28 of 2006, CEI's aired two television ads in 14 cities. These ads promoted carbon dioxide as a positive factor in the environment, as well as argued that global warming was not a concern. One ad asserted that CO2 was misrepresented as a pollutant, stating that "it’s essential to life. We breathe it out. Plants breathe it in... They call it pollution. We call it life." The other stated that the world's glaciers are "growing, not melting... getting thicker, not thinner." Both ads cited Science articles as evidence. However, the editor for Science stated that the ad "misrepresents the conclusions of the two cited Science papers... by selective referencing". The author of the articles, Curt Davis, director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said CEI was deliberately misrepresenting his previous research. "These television ads are a deliberate effort to confuse and mislead the public about the global warming debate," Davis said.

Sponsors of CEI's Annual Dinner in 2005

In a 2006 profile of CEI and other global warming skeptics, Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach noted that "the most generous sponsors" of CEI's 2005 annual dinner were "the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Exxon Mobil, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and Pfizer. Other contributors included General Motors, the American Petroleum Institute, the American Plastics Council, the Chlorine Chemistry Council and Arch Coal."

Opposition to the First National Climate Assessment

Published in 2000, the First National Climate Assessment was the earliest assessment produced as part of the US federal government's initiative on climate change science. In October of that year, CEI filed a lawsuit against the federal government with Senator James Inhofe as a co-plaintiff. The suit alleged procedural issues in the report's preparation, and demanded that the court block the report's production or utilization. It was ultimately settled when the Bush administration admitted that the National Assessment was a government report, and not official policy.

However, the passage of the Data Quality Act created a new means for parties to submit complains over the scientific quality of government information. As a result, CEI filed the very first suit under the Data Quality Act in 2003, demanding a stop to the National Assessment's dissemination by the government. The White House settled with CEI once again, resulting in the administration's discontinued use of the key findings and results from the National Assessment in its strategic plan on climate change.

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

Between 2000 and 2021, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation donated $3,265,000 to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. CEI board member Roger Ream was awarded a Bradley Prize Bradley Foundation in 2021 which, according to the Bradley Foundation website, is awarded for a recipient's "contributions to the belief that individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom lead to greater opportunity, prosperity, and quality of life."

Bradley detailed the grants in internal documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Below is a description of grants distributed between 2013-2015, as prepared by CMD, with quoted text written by Bradley staff.

2015: $200,000 to support general operations and litigation. Emphasis of work will be on energy and the environment. CEI's Center for Energy and the Environment is "working closely with Bradley supported conservative think tanks and the Bradley supported American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on public education about energy and the environment." CEI's "work on energy and the environment in particular is helping to expose and cut back onerous federal regulations that choke economic growth and prosperity." CEI's litigation agenda "includes a reinvigorated challenge to Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and other cases in areas ranging from government transparency to climate science."

2014: $150,000 to support general operations and litigation. The grant request notes that the support of general operations is "with an emphasis on its work on energy and environment. This grant is separate and apart from that for CEI's litigation efforts… Among other things, (CEI's) Center for Energy and Environment is also working closely with Bradley supported conservative state think tanks and the Bradley supported American Legislative Exchange Council on public education about the likely economic and other effects of the proposed XL pipeline and the repeal of renewable energy standards in Kansas, Ohio and North Carolina. It aggressively used the Freedom of Information Act process to expose the collusion between officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and green and global warming alarmist groups. As well, including their attempt to rely on the federal Endangered Species Act to stymie energy development." CEI's litigation program included challenges to Dodd Frank, the CPA and the Affordable Care Act, which Bradley called "ambitiously creative."

2013: $200,000 to support general operations and Dodd Frank Litigation. "In 2014 CEI will expand its reach in the areas of energy, environment, labor and finance." CEI was working to "expose" President Obama's "war on coal" and efforts to build a carbon tax. CEI also focused on public sector collective bargaining and its Center for Advancing Capitalism advocates for economic policies "compatible" with "liberty, security and fairness…A moral case for capitalism will be promoted through the Center's narrative on the relationship between labor and finance." CEI filed a challenge to Dodd Frank in 2012 with the 60 Plus Association and State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas. CEI wants to expand its Strategic Litigation Program, currently (2013) it supports 6 businesses and individuals who have challenged the ACA's mandate and it uses FOIA's to "expose" the EPA, and has other local and state court suits related to global warming. The two year budget for the Dodd Frank litigation was $2.5 million, most of which spent on the retained outside counsel.

Bradley Files

In 2017, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. 56,000 previously undisclosed documents laid bare the Bradley Foundation's highly politicized agenda. CMD detailed Bradley's efforts to map and measure right wing infrastructure nationwide, including by dismantling and defunding unions to impact state elections; bankrolling discredited spin doctor Richard Berman and his many front groups; and more. Find the series here at ExposedbyCMD.org.

Funding

Competitive Enterprise Institute is not required to disclose its donors, but some of its funding sources are known through the IRS filings of other organizations. CEI's known funders include:

• Achelis and Bodman Foundation: $50,000 (2021)
• Adolph Coors Foundation: $50,000 (2020)
• American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers: $170,000 (2015-2021)
• American Gaming Association: $50,000 (2016-2017)
• Armstrong Foundation: $160,500 (2015-2022)
• Atlas Network: $5,000 (2020)
• Bader Family Foundation: $517,700 (2015-2022)
• Barbee Family Foundation: $15,000 (2020-2022)
• Bartley J Madden Foundation: $120,000 (2016-2020)
• Beach Foundation: $75,000 (2020-2022)
• Beth and Ravenel Curry Foundation: $200,000 (2020-2022)
• Biotechnology Innovation Organization: $10,000 (2014)
• Bradley Impact Fund: $439,000 (2014-2022)
• Charles F De Ganahl Family Foundation: $12,000 (2019-2022)
• Charles Koch Foundation: $301,680 (2014-2021)
• Charles Koch Institute: $93,020 (2014-2021)
• Chase Foundation of Virginia: $1,950,000 (2014-2022)
• Claws Foundation: $690,000 (2015-2020)
• Consumer Technology Association: $15,000 (2016)
• Diana Davis Spencer Foundation: $725,000 (2014-2020)
• Distilled Spirits Council of the United States: $107,500 (2014-2021)
• DonorsTrust: $8,487,550 (2014-2022)
• Dunn Foundation: $750,000 (2016-2022)
• Ed Uihlein Family Foundation: $15,000 (2022)
• Elizabeth Ring Mather and William Gwinn Mather Fund: $20,000 (2019-2022)
• ExxonMobil Corporate Giving: $490,000 (1998-2005)
• ExxonMobil Foundation: $1,515,000 (2000-2005)
• Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund: $66,025 (2017-2018)
• Freedom and Justice Foundation: $130,000 (2019-2022)
• Holman Foundation: $240,000 (2014-2022)
• J.P. Humphreys Foundation: $400,000 (2019-2022)
• Jaquish & Kenninger Foundation: $150,000 (2017-2019)
• John J Pohanka Family Foundation: $400,000 (2019-2022)
• John Templeton Foundation: $15,000 (2017)
• John William Pope Foundation: $245,000 (2019-2021)
• Luddy Charitable Foundation: $15,000 (2017)
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $3,265,000 (2000-2021)
• Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust: $17,500 (2016-2022)
• Motion Picture Association: $130,000 (2015-2019)
• mywireless.org: $15,000 (2022)
• NCTA The Internet & Television Association: $103,984 (2014-2022)
• National Association of Broadcasters: $130,000 (2014-2022)
• National Automobile Dealers Association: $18,000 (2020-2022)
• National Philanthropic Trust: $1,836,500 (2014-2021)
• National Restaurant Association: $65,000 (2016-2017)
• Network For Good: $307,698 (2015-2018)
• North American Region of the Airports Council International: $7,500 (2019)
• Offerdahl Family Foundation: $6,500 (2022)
• Personal Care Products Council: $5,500 (2014)
• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America: $295,000 (2014-2022)
• Roe Foundation: $20,000 (2020)
• Sarah Scaife Foundation: $3,705,000 (2014-2022)
• Sayers Foundation: $35,000 (2016-2022)
• Schwab Charitable Fund: $145,250 (2014-2019)
• Searle Freedom Trust: $4,565,000 (2014-2022)
• Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association: $35,000 (2017-2018)
• The 85 Fund: $250,000 (2020)
• The Dabney Point Fund: $10,000 (2016)
• The David Herro Charitable Foundation: $250,000 (2018-2020)
• The Doherty Foundation: $5,000 (2022)
• The Seattle Foundation: $30,500 (2018-2021)
• The Steve & Lana Hardy Foundation: $175,000 (2016-2022)
• Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program: $2,303,000 (2020-2021)
• William H Donner Foundation: $43,948 (2020-2021)
• Winston Salem Foundation: $300,000 (2020-2022)
• Woodhouse Family Foundation: $58,500 (2014-2022)

Tobacco Industry Funding

A list of documents about contributions and support from tobacco companies to CEI:

• 1991: $10,000 donation to CEI from Philip Morris (PM)
• 1993: Letter from Fred Smith of CEI to Thomas Borelli at PM thanking PM for support.
• 1994: Letter from Fred Smith thanking the PM Director of Scientific Affairs for a $50,000 contribution made the previous year. PM gives CEI a $25,000 grant.
• 1995: PM gives $200,000 grant to CEI for "general operating support"; PM gives an additional $10,000 to CEI.
• 1997: PM gives $120,000 to CEI.
• 1998: PM paid CEI $25,000. An activity report by Beverly McKittrick of PM states, "Worked on plan for mobilization of third--party conservative groups. Met with CSE, ATRA, Chamber of Commerce,Frontiers of Freedom, and Competitive Enterprise Institute."
• 1999: PM paid CEI $5,000. PM also budgeted $25,000 for CEI. An activity report of PM's Thomas Borelli states, "Secured policy group committee funding to support the Competitive Enterprise Institute dinner."
• Undated Brown & Williamson (BW) document listing pro-business organizations to which BW contributes, totaling $325,000. CEI is included on the list.

Core Financials

2022

• Total Revenue: $10,125,447
• Total Expenses: $8,429,275
• Net Assets: $5,608,562

2021

• Total Revenue: $7,758,776
• Total Expenses: $6,681,965
• Net Assets: $3,547,608

2020

• Total Revenue: $6,735,306
• Total Expenses: $6,582,265
• Net Assets: $2,470,797

2019

• Total Revenue: $7,118,816
• Total Revenue: $6,805,470
• Total Expenses: $6,170,171
• Net Assets: $2,317,765

2018

• Total Revenue: $7,118,816
• Total Expenses: $6,213,282
• Net Assets: $1,682,457

2017

• Total Revenue: $6,397,876
• Total Expenses: $6,797,063
• Net Assets: $776,923

2016

• Total Revenue: $7,287,515
• Total Expenses: $8,354,004
• Net Assets: $1,176,126

2015

• Total Revenue: $7,703,763
• Total Expenses: $7,811,133
• Net Assets: $2,242,585

2014

• Total Revenue: $7,444,817
• Total Expenses: $7,356,910
• Net Assets: $2,350,111

2013

• Total Revenue: $7,009,846
• Total Expenses: $6,427,052
• Net Assets: $2,262,204

2012

• Total Revenue: $6,344,624
• Total Expenses: $7,749,317
• Net Assets: $1,679,306

2011

• Total Revenue: $6,354,832
• Total Expenses: $5,385,796
• Net Assets: $3,300,774

Personnel

Staff

As of April 2024:

• Matthew Adams, Senior Government Affairs and Coalitions Manager
• Daren Bakst, Director of the Center for Energy & Environment and Senior Fellow
• Nicole Bayhurst, Executive Assistant to the President
• John Berlau, Director of Finance Policy and Senior Fellow
• James Broughel, Senior Fellow
• Heather Browning, Vice President of Philanthropy
• Travis Burk, Vice President of Communications
• Clyde Wayne Crews, Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
• Carrie Diamond, Vice President for Administration
• Bob DiCostanzo, Major Gifts Officer
• Cibeles Duran, Marketing and Development Writer
• Amanda France, Director of Events
• Phoebe Gersten, Senior Digital Marketing Manager
• Rick Gowdy, Major Gifts Officer
• Dan Greenberg, General Counsel
• Christine Hall, Director of Communications
• Anthony Harris, Sales Force Administrator
• Sharon Higel, Communications Media Associate
• Sean Higgins, Research Fellow
• Nicole Hoegler, Events Manager
• Ryan Kracinski, Digital Media Associate
• Paige Lambermont, Research Fellow
• Kent Lassman, President and CEO
• Marlo Lewis, Jr., Senior Fellow
• Ben Lieberman, Senior Fellow
• Jeremy Lott, Managing Editor
• Ryan Lynch, Senior IT Director
• David S. McFadden, Attorney
• Jessica Melugin, Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation
• Richard Morrison, Senior Fellow
• Iain Murray, Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow
• Patricia Patnode, Research Fellow
• Alex Reinauer, Research Fellow
• Scooter Schaefer, Senior Director of Marketing
• Ryan Smith, Editor
• Veronica Sturdivant, Receptionist
• Stone Washington, Research Fellow
• Devin Watkins, Attorney
• Ryan Young, Senior Economist
• Joel Zinberg, Senior Fellow

Former Staff

• Hans Bader, Senior Attorney
• Frank Bednarz, Attorney
• Annie Dwyer, Vice President Of Communications
• Myron Ebell, Director, Center For Energy And Environment
• Ted Frank, Director Of Litigation And Senior Attorney, Director Of The Center For Class Action Fairness
• Laurel Heiskell Macleod, Vice President Of Philanthropy
• Melissa A. Holyoak, Senior Attorney
• Christopher C. Horner, Senior Fellow
• Jennifer Jones, Director Of Data Systems
• Sam Kazman, General Counsel
• Trey Kovacs, Policy Analyst
• Angela Logomasini, Senior Fellow
• Daniela Lozano, Manager, Foundation And Policy Grants
• Michelle Minton, Senior Fellow
• Ivan Osorio, Editorial Director
• Daniel Press, Policy Analyst
• Ryan Radia, Research Fellow and Regulatory Counsel
• Adam Schulman, Attorney
• Marc Scribner, Senior Fellow
• Fred L. Smith, Jr., Founder, Director Of Center For Advancing Capitalism
• Robert J. Smith, Distinguished Fellow
• Anna St. John, Attorney
• Andy Yuan, Philanthropy Associate

Board of Directors

As of April 2024:

• Roger Ream
• Sarah Atkins
• Kristina Crane
• Michael S. Greve
• Kent Lassman
• Dana Modzelewski
• Geoffrey Pohanka
• Fred L. Smith, Jr., Chairman Emeritus
• Richard Tren
• Todd Zywicki

Experts

As of April 2024:

• Daren Bakst
• John Berlau
• James Broughel
• Clyde Wayne Crews
• Dan Greenberg
• Sean Higgins
• Sam Kazman
• Paige Lambermont
• Kent Lassman
• Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• Ben Lieberman
• Jeremy Lott
• David S. McFadden
• Jessica Melugin
• Richard Morrison
• Iain Murray
• Patricia Patnode
• Brian A. Rankin
• Alex Reinauer
• Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• Stone Washington
• Devin Watkins
• Kevin D. Williamson
• Ryan Young
• Joel Zinberg

Contact Information

Competitive Enterprise Institute
1310 L Street NW, 7th floor
Washington, DC 20005

Website: wwww.cei.org
Phone: (202) 331-1010
Email: info@cei.org
Facebook: Competitive Enterprise Institute
LinkedIn: Competitive Enterprise Institute
Twitter: @ceidotorg

Articles and Resources

IRS Form 990 Filings

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

Internal CEI Correspondence With Tobacco Companies

• Competitive Enterprise Institute, "The Human Cost of Regulation, Reframing The Debate on Risk Management: A Proposal of The Competitive Enterprise Institute", Competitive Enterprise Institute, 1994.
• Fred Smith, Letter to Thomas Borelli, Director of Scientific Affairs, Philip Morris Management Corporation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, May 11, 1994.
• Competitive Enterprise Institute, CEI Science Policy Clips and Highlights (January 1993 - April 1994), Competitive Enterprise Institute, May 11, 1994.
• Philip Morris, Invoice and Copy of Cheque to Competitive Enterprise Institute, Philip Morris, July 20, 1994.
• Thomas Borelli, Letter to Fred Smith, Philip Morris, July 27, 1994.
• Fred Smith, Letter to Ms. Maura Payne, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, Competitive Enterprise Institute, October 16, 2000.

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• The Competitive Enterprise Institute And Global Warming

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