Ted Halstead
Who was the chief executive officer of New America (organization) from 1999 to 2007?
New America ( organization ) New America , formerly the New America Foundation , is a think tank and civic innovation platform in the United States . It focuses on a range of public policy issues , including national security studies , technology , asset building , health , gender , energy , education , and the economy . The organization is based in Washington , D.C. , with additional offices in New York City and Oakland . As of July 2020 the President was Anne-Marie Slaughter ; David G . Bradley was the acting chairman of the foundations board of directors . Although the organization describes itself as non-partisan , its policy views have been characterized as centrist , liberal or left-leaning . The New America Foundation has been criticized for its perceived close ties with Google , including its decision to fire an employee who criticized Google as a monopoly . Googles Executive Chairman , Eric Schmidt , is a former chairman . The organization , however , has denied improper influence . History , mission and funding . New America was founded in 1999 by Ted Halstead , Sherle Schwenninger , Michael Lind , and Walter Russell Mead as a non-profit , public policy institute whose stated mission is to invest in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States . The organization has a staff of over a hundred employees and fellows with offices in Washington , D.C. , and New York City . The organization continues to emphasize work that is responsive to the changing conditions and problems of our 21st-century information-age economy with big ideas , impartial analysis and pragmatic solutions . Newsweeks Howard Fineman called it a hive of state-of-the-art policy entrepreneurship . With 140 donors in 2013 , the top donors , giving more than $1,000,000 each , were the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , the Lumina Foundation , Eric and Wendy Schmidt , and the US Department of State . Ted Halstead served as New Americas founding President and CEO from 1999 to 2007 . Steve Coll served as New Americas second President , before being replaced by Anne-Marie Slaughter in 2013 . Affiliation with Google . New America has been criticized for its close links with Google , a leading sponsor . According to media reports , to please Google , New America in 2017 closed a whole research group—the Open Markets group—and terminated its employee Barry Lynn , who had criticized Google as a monopoly and called for it to be broken up . Reportedly , Google made New America take this action because the researchers , including prominent young competition law scholar Lina Khan , had lauded the EUs antitrust ruling against Google . New Americas president Anne-Marie Slaughter denied the allegations of improper influence by Google . Organization and structure . The organization houses programs and initiatives that focus on domestic , economic and global issues ; and also houses a fellowship program . Foreign policy . The organizations Security Studies Program researches and analyzes global issues , from the inner workings of al-Qaeda to overall national foreign policy strategy . With the presence of journalists such as Steve Coll and Peter Bergen , it has carved out a policy niche in the issues of Afghanistan and counter-terrorism . Bergen , who leads the program , is a CNN national security analyst and author of several best-selling books , including The Longest War : The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda . Coll , former president of New America , has also written several books on al-Qaeda and Afghanistan , including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for general non-fiction , Ghost Wars : The Secret History of the CIA , Afghanistan , and Bin Laden . James Risen in The New York Times complimented Coll on revealing how Saudi Arabia and its intelligence operations aided the rise of Osama bin Laden and Islamic extremism in Afghanistan . The foundation also has a policy focus on the Middle East with its Middle East Task Force , directed by Leila Hilal , which covers analysis and commentary on the Middle East and North Africa . Economics . The foundations Economic Growth Program , directed by New America co-founders Sherle Schwenninger and Michael Lind , aims to take a policy look at America and the worlds economic problems . In 2011 , the program commissioned a paper The Way Forward : Moving From the Post-Bubble , Post-Bust Economy to Renewed Growth and Competitiveness which warned of the severe economic problems America would face if continued on its current path . The program did not believe in immediate government deficit reduction ; it believed that will only make the situation worse . Instead , as stated in the paper , it had other suggestions , including investing in a sustained infrastructure program , lasting from five to seven years , to create jobs and demand . Formerly , the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget was a part of New America until it separated to become the Fix the Debt campaign . The bipartisan Committee ran a number of projects , including U.S . Budget Watch , a project funded by Pew Charitable Trusts which reports on important fiscal issues relating to the 2008 election and afterwards . One of its more recent initiatives is the Go Big initiative , which was created after the Budget Control Act of 2011 , enacted in early August to raise the debt-ceiling and avoid default . The effort urged a bipartisan 12-member Joint Congressional Committee on Deficit Reduction , also known as the Super Committee , with finding an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by November 23 . Maya MacGuineas , who has worked at the Brookings Institution as well as on Wall Street , led the Committee and now leads Fix the Debt . After advising politicians from both parties , she serves as a trusted mediator on budget talks between Democrats and Republicans . In addition , in April 2010 the Committees policy director , Marc Goldwein , joined President Obamas bipartisan Fiscal Commission . Goldwein , 26 , was also named one of the Forbes 30 under 30 . Education Policy Program . New Americas Education Policy Program comprises scholars on pre-k to K-12 through higher education and into the workforce . The policy staff produce the EdCentral blog . It also comprises the Federal Education Budget Project , which serves as a source of information on federal education funding for policymakers , the media , and the public . Fellows program . The organization provides fellowships to foster the next generation of thinkers and public intellectuals through the Bernard L . Schwartz Fellows program . The fellowship supports talented journalists , academics and other public policy analysts who offer a fresh and often unpredictable perspective on the major challenges facing our society . Alumni of the program include Jacob Hacker , Megan McArdle , Katherine Boo , Robert Wright , Tim Wu , Chris Hayes , Romesh Ratnesar , David Auerbach , and Dayo Olopade . Open Technology Institute . The Open Technology Institute ( OTI ) is the technology program of the New America Foundation . OTI formulates policy and regulatory reforms to support open architectures and open-source innovations and facilitates the development and implementation of open technologies and communications networks . Additionally , OTI is actively developing open-source , low-cost community wireless networks , particularly in underserved areas . Th OTI led by Kevin Bankston has become one of the largest programs within the organization . Focus areas of OTI include wireless community networks building , the creation and management of an open source platform that supports broadband research tools and speed tests , the development of a platform ( called Commotion Wireless ) to lower barriers for building distributed communications networks , among other projects . In the same vein of technology , the foundation Future Tense initiative , a partnership with Arizona State University and Slate Magazine , explores emerging technologies and their effects on society and public policy . Central to the partnership is a series of events in Washington , D.C. , that take an in-depth look at issues that , while little-understood today , could reshape the policy debates of the coming decade . New America NYC . Launched in winter 2011–12 , New America NYC is an initiative that aims to further the foundations goals of research and policy innovation . The space , located in SoHo , hosts several events each month generally focused on politics , media , and culture . Measurement Lab . Measurement Lab ( M-Lab ) is an open , distributed server platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools founded in 2009 by Vint Cerf , Sascha Meinrath , and several other academics , researchers , and institutions . The project has grown to have 45 servers at 15 locations around the globe and currently supports five tools . All the data collected by M-Lab is made available to the research community . Commotion Wireless . Commotion is an open source device-as-infrastructure communication platform that integrates users existing cell phones , Wi-Fi-enabled computers , and other wireless-capable devices to create community- and metro-scale , peer-to-peer communications networks . The project builds on existing mesh wireless technologies and gained widespread attention when , in 2011 , the U.S . State Department announced funding for Commotion to lower barriers for building distributed communications networks . The project has been described as the Internet in a Suitcase by The New York Times . Red Hook Wi-Fi . Founded in 2011 through a collaboration with OTI and Commotion Wireless , Red Hook Wi-Fi is a mesh network which services residents of Red Hook , Brooklyn , in New York City . The Wi-Fi network reached prominence in 2012 , when Hurricane Sandy shutdown many internet and communication systems throughout the city , but Red Hook remained connected through its mesh network . Assets . As of 2017 , the New America had net assets of $26,788,098 . Funding details . Funding details as of 2018 : Board of Directors . As of 2020 : - Helene D . Gayle ; Chicago Community Trust , President and Chief Executive Officer - William W . Gerrity , Treasurer ; Gerrity Group , Chief Executive Officer - Anne-Marie Slaughter , Chief Executive Officer - Robert J . Abernethy ; American Standard Development Company , Chairman - David G . Bradley , Secretary ; Atlantic Media , Chairman - David Brooks ; The New York Times , op-ed columnist - Maxine Clark ; Build-A-Bear Workshop , Founder - Michael M . Crow ; Arizona State University , President - R . Boykin Curry ; Eagle Capital , Partner - James Fallows ; The Atlantic , National Correspondent - Tom Freston ; Firefly3 LLC , Principal - Atul Gawande ; Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health , Professor - Katherine Gehl ; Venn Innovations , Founder - Reid Hoffman ; LinkedIn , Co-Founder - Zachary Karabell ; River Twice Research , President - Ashton Kutcher ; A-Grade Investments , Co-Founder - Walter Russell Mead ; Foreign Affairs & Humanities , Bard College , James Clarke Chace Professor - Mona Mourshed ; Global Social Responsibility and McKinsey & Company , Senior Partner & Head - Sally R . Osberg ; Camfed USA , Chair - Ashley Swearengin ; Central Valley Community Foundation , President and Chief Executive Officer - Fareed Zakaria ; Fareed Zakaria GPS and CNN , Host ; The Washington Post , columnist External links . - Open Technology Institutes website - Commotion Wireless webpage - Measurement Lab webpage - List of fastest ISPs in USA based on M-Labs data - New America webpage - VIDEO – See Elizabeth Carpenter speak at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health – Health Care Reform : A Nonpartisan Look at the Issue Under Debate - Interactive Demographic : Home Grown Terrorist Study