Realizing the Worldwide Vision of Antony Fisher
Date and time
Location
One Washington Circle Hotel
1 Washington Circle Northwest Washington, DC 20037Description
Antony Fisher is the “Freedom Fighter you Forget.” But his vision – of how think tanks can influence public policy, and how the independent think tank model can be replicated on a worldwide basis – is having a tremendous influence on the world around you.
Inspired by F.A. Hayek, Fisher pioneered the modern think tank by founding the Institute of Economic Affairs in London in 1955. Thatcher credited the Institute with laying the groundwork for her path-breaking economic reforms.
In 1981, Fisher created the Atlas Network to replace this think tank model wherever possible. Today, Atlas Network connects 471 institutes in 94 countries.
At our event, “Realizing the Worldwide Vision of Antony Fisher,” you will hear from prominent think tank leaders about how they are working for economic freedom in parts of the former Soviet Union, in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and right here in the U.S.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
William H. (Chip) Mellor serves as President and General Counsel of the Institute for Justice, which he co-founded in 1991. He litigates cutting-edge constitutional cases nationwide protecting economic liberty, property rights, school choice, and the First Amendment. IJ is headquartered in Arlington, Va., and has offices in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, and Washington state. IJ pursues strategic public interest litigation that combines courtroom advocacy with award-winning media relations, activism, and strategic research to secure constitutional protection for individual rights. Under Mellor’s leadership, the Institute for Justice has litigated five U.S. Supreme Court cases, winning all but one. Mellor co-authored with the Cato Institute’s Bob Levy The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom, which examines 12 Supreme Court cases that effectively amended the Constitution and profoundly reshaped the role of government in America.
Prior to founding IJ, Mellor served as president of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, a nationally recognized “think tank” located in San Francisco. Mellor also served in the Reagan Administration as Deputy General Counsel for Legislation and Regulations in the Department of Energy, and from 1979 to 1983, he practiced public interest law with Mountain States Legal Foundation in Denver. Mellor received his J.D. from the University of Denver School of Law in 1977. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1973.
Brad Lips is the CEO of the Atlas Network, a non-profit that strengthens the freedom movement by connecting and providing services to more than 400 free-market think tanks in 90 countries. He joined Atlas Network in 1998 believing sound policy ideas are best spread by organizations using sound business practices. Brad received his MBA from Emory University and his BA from Princeton University. Prior to joining Atlas Network in 1998, he worked on Wall Street at Smith Barney Inc. Earlier in his career, he worked with online businesses and dabbled in music journalism. Brad is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and the John Templeton Foundation. He coauthored The Reagan Vision, published by the Goldwater Institute in 2004, and contributed to Freedom Champions, published by Atlas Network in 2011. More recently, his articles have appeared in American Thinker, RealClearPolitics, National Review Online, Forbes, Fox News, American Spectator and The Daily Caller. He speaks widely on the morality of free enterprise and the international freedom champions connected by the Atlas Network.
Tom G. Palmer is the executive vice president for international programs at Atlas Network and is responsible for establishing operating programs in 14 languages and managing programs for a worldwide network of think tanks. He is also a senior fellow at Cato Institute and director of Cato University. Before joining Cato, he was an H. B. Earhart Fellow at Hertford College, Oxford University, and a vice president of the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. He frequently lectures in North America, Europe, Eurasia, Africa, Latin America, India, China and throughout Asia, as well as the Middle East on political science, public choice, civil society, and the moral, legal, and historical foundations of individual rights. He has published reviews and articles on politics and morality in scholarly journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Ethics, Critical Review, and Constitutional Political Economy, as well as in publications such as Slate, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Die Welt, Caixing, Al Hayat, the Washington Post, and The Spectator of London. He is the author of Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice (expanded edition 2014), and the editor of The Morality of Capitalism (2011), After the Welfare State (2012), Why Liberty (2013), and Peace, Love & Liberty (2014). Palmer received his B.A. in liberal arts from St. Johns College in Annapolis, Maryland, his M.A. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and his doctorate in politics from Oxford University.
Zilvinas Silenas joined the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) in 2006, after graduating from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 2005. He became president of LFMI in 2011. His field of analysis at LFMI encompasses energy, transport and competition policies. Zilvinas participated in several high-level working groups of legislation of energy, was a member of working groups of “Sunset” (reform and closing down government agencies), and “Sunrise” (cutting red tape, improving conditions for businesses) commissions for the Lithuanian government. Zilvinas has also worked as a teacher of Economics and an adviser to a CEO of an energy company.
LFMI was the winner of Atlas Network's 2014 prestigious $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award for its Municipal Performance Index for Freedom and Free Enterprise.
If you have any questions, please email Katherine.price@atlasnetwork.org.