Michael Needham

Michael Needham

CEO, Heritage Action for America

Michael A. Needham is Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Action <br /> for America, a grassroots advocacy organization created in April <br /> 2010 by The Heritage Foundation, America’s largest and most <br /> influential conservative think tank. With 661,000 active members, <br /> Heritage Action will pressure members of Congress on behalf of <br /> the mission of The Heritage Foundation to build an America where <br /> freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish. <br /> <br /> Prior to becoming CEO of Heritage Action, Needham worked on <br /> former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s presidential <br /> campaign as Special Assistant to Policy Director William E. Simon. <br /> In this capacity, he helped oversee all aspects of policy development <br /> on the campaign including speech writing, debate preparation, and production of policy <br /> white papers. Needham served as the policy liaison to the morning communications meeting <br /> and had responsibility for the campaign’s health care, immigration and homeland security <br /> policies. <br /> <br /> Prior to joining the Giuliani campaign, Needham was director of The Asian Studies Center <br /> at the Heritage Foundation where he oversaw the think tank’s research and analysis of the <br /> United States’ bilateral security, economic and political relationships with Asia. Before <br /> running the ASC, he served as Chief of Staff of The Heritage Foundation, Washington’s <br /> largest and most influential conservative public policy organization. <br /> <br /> Needham is a native New Yorker and holds a MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of <br /> Business and a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Williams College.