Fred L. Smith Jr. is president and founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market public policy group established in 1984. Smith combines intellectual and strategic analysis of complex policy issues ranging from the environment to corporate governance with an informative and entertaining presentation style. Well-known in academic and professional circles, Smith is a popular speaker at universities and conferences around the world. Smith’s works have been published in leading newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Economic Affairs, and The Washington Times. His academic articles have appeared in journals such as Harvard Journal of Law and Economics, CATO Journal, and Economic Affairs, and he is a contributing editor to Liberty magazine. Smith is co-editor of Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards and the Field Guide for Effective Communication. Before founding CEI, Smith served as director of government relations for the Council for a Competitive Economy, as a senior economist for the Association of American Railroads, and for five years as a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, he sits on the Institute Turgot in Belgium. Smith holds a B.S. degree in Theoretical Mathematics and Political Science from Tulane University where he earned the Arts and Sciences Medal (Tulane’s highest academic award) and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He has also done graduate work in mathematics and applied mathematical economics at Harvard, SUNY at Buffalo, and the University of Pennsylvania.