I St, NE
Washington, DC 20002
Who is American Ideologue?
I hope you will allow me the opportunity to challenge your first impression of someone who calls himself an ideologue. Far from the extreme, dogmatic and incurious zealot the word conveys, I am actually a centrist who has been both a Reagan Republican and a ticket-spltting Democrat. I've spent most of my life as a heterodox thinker, before anyone knew what that meant: a gay (former) Republican; a former spouse of an Episcopal priest; an American expat who lived in Brussels and London where I came to appreciate European social democracy while my love of America grew even more.
I call myself an American Ideologue because of the nexus between my two greatest and most enduring passions, my love of ideas and my love of America. I believe America is a nation of ideas; a creedal nation. To say that America is a nation of ideas does not mean that America is only an idea, but rather that ideas are at the center of who we are as a nation, and that America cannot persist in their absence. I believe the American Ideology is real, it is vital, and it is dying.
The American Ideology was to be the topic of my doctoral dissertation before I cut my studies short to came to Washington to be where I thought the ideology came to life. (Let's chalk that one up to youthful naivete). The brief, obligatory stint on Capitol Hill turned into a busy and rewarding career helping companies build their reputation. But this project has always been my passion. The urgency to pull the trigger at this moment needs no explanation. If the work I began thirty years ago leads one or two people to remember who we really are as Americans, it shall be worth it.
Professional Background
I am a statistican and pollster by trade and a corporate communications leader by vocation. I was an early pioneer in applying advanced statistical methods in corporate reputation research (latent class modeling). My career has spanned roles across the globe in politics, management consulting, brand marketing, public affairs and corporate communications. I've been a strong advocate for a greater focus in data-driven strategy and measurement in corporate affairs and have worked both in-house (Exelon Corporation), as well as a senior leader at agencies including as President of APCO Insight and a Partner at the Brunswick Group in London. I have conducted reserch in over forty countries and have lived in Washington, Brussels and London, and can count a majority of the Fortune 100 as clients of the reputation model I pioneered.
Currently I lead the Health Analytics & Insights Group (HAIG) and am Executive Vice President at Reservoir Communications Group - one of the premier health care communications agencies in DC. I love my work, my clients and my colleagues--some of whom I have worked with for nearly twenty-five years. I count myself extremely fortunate to have a job that never fails to fulfill an insatiable curiosity. Please don't ask me to moderate another focus group though!
I hope my clients and colleagues will forgive me for admitting my true passion, however, is the American Ideology. My mentor and graduate advisor was one of the most acclaimed political scientists who, along with his close friend and colleague Seymour Martin Lipsett, were among the last to teach the American Ideology in political science. The late Everett Carll Ladd is better known as the long-time Executive Director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (the field I would ultimately adopt professionally), but was also part of a rich academic tradition that studied the American Ideology. He passed away shortly after I dropped out to pursue my adventure in Washington, DC. He said that I was needed in the academy more than in DC and instead of living with regret, I dedicate this project to his memory - The Original American Ideologue, Everett Carll Ladd (1937-1999).