Kent Lassman
Kent Lassman (born June 17, 1974, Moline, Illinois) is the president and CEO of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an American free market think tank. His analysis and commentaries focus on regulatory law and economics. Early life and education. Lassman was raised and educated in Geneseo, Illinois. In 1994 he began a career in public policy as a research assistant at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, one of the first technology-focused policy think tanks. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and politics from The Catholic University of America and a master's degree in public administration  from North Carolina State University. Career. Lassman held a series of positions at free market organizations throughout the 1990s and 2000s. He was an American Swiss Foundation Young Leader in 2017, awarded the E.A. Morris Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in 2006 by the John Locke Foundation. and named an Abraham Lincoln Fellow in Constitutional Government at the Claremont Institute for 1998–2000. At Citizens for a Sound Economy, Lassman authored Congressional testimony and policy analyses on emerging Internet policy, telecommunications regulation, and reforms of the Federal Communications Commission. At the Progress and Freedom Foundation, he was the founding director of a  program to teach regulatory economics to state utility commissioners. He also led a campaign to get candidates in the 2000 United States presidential election to speak on internet issues. Since 2016, Lassman has led the Competitive Enterprise Institute. His work has appeared in the Washington Post. Vital Speeches, the Washington Times, CNS, FoxNews, MSN, the Washington Examiner, and on CSPAN. In addition to economic regulatory policy, he has delivered international speeches and presentations in more than half a dozen countries, including Switzerland, Montenegro, the Republic of China, and the Dominican Republic which have covered the rise of populism, federalism, and  free speech issues. Personal life. Lassman lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Dana and 4 children. He is an endurance athlete who has competed in open-water marathon swimming, ultramarathon running, Xtreme triathlon, and Ironman triathlon. Since 2015 he has served on the board of Tri Equal, an organization dedicated to fairness and the development of gender equity in triathlon.