June 4, 2019
For Immediate Release
June 4, 2019
Contact: John Hood
[email protected]
919-871-3322
North Carolina think tank searching for new chief executive
RALEIGH — After two decades in leadership roles at the John Locke Foundation, including five as president and CEO, Kory Swanson is departing to pursue a new career opportunity. The JLF board of directors is currently conducting a search for his replacement.
Under Swanson’s leadership, first as executive vice president and then as president, JLF greatly enhanced its programs, services, and influence on public policy in North Carolina. Its research team grew significantly in size and output. Its outreach team built strong relationships with key decisionmakers, influencers, civic leaders, and citizen activists across North Carolina.
Its journalism arm, Carolina Journal, vastly expanded its coverage of politics and public affairs — and in the process exposed waste and corruption in government, won prestigious journalism awards, and regularly delivered news and commentary to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians through its print, broadcast, and online editions and news services.
“The results of Kory’s creative thinking and engaged leadership are impossible to miss,” said John Hood, chairman of the JLF board. “You can see it in the ‘look and feel’ of what the John Locke Foundation produces, the prominent role it plays in the policy debate, and enthusiasm it generates among North Carolinians for restoring and applying the timeless principles of a free society to today’s issues and challenges.”
The board has retained the firm FireSeeds to conduct a nationwide search for a new CEO to build on JLF’s rich traditions of integrity, innovation, insight, and influence.
“In my career, I have had the privilege and great fortune to work for two history-making think tanks — a decade with the Social Philosophy & Policy Center, and then the past two decades with the John Locke Foundation,” Swanson said. “I came to JLF to help create a vibrant and sustainable beacon for liberty in North Carolina. An extraordinary group of freedom-loving individuals has made this a reality. I’ve been blessed to be part of this group. I now move on to explore new ways to create more beacons of liberty.”
The John Locke Foundation was founded in 1989 and opened its doors in early 1990 as a free-market, limited-government institute devoted “to truth, to freedom, and to the future of North Carolina.” With a new headquarters in Raleigh and a talented team of professionals serving audiences across the state, JLF is poised for a new season of growth and influence.
“All who are associated with the John Locke Foundation, from directors and employees to supporters and volunteers, feel a deep sense of gratitude to Kory and pride in what he has done for JLF and the free-market movement in North Carolina,” Hood said. “We can’t wait to see what he will accomplish next.”