Eli Lehrer

Eli Lehrer is the President of the R Street Institute. He co-founded R Street in 2012 and has played a key role in establishing it as an important voice in the Washington, D.C. policy scene. 

Prior to R Street he served as vice president for Washington, D.C. operations at the Heartland Institute, overseeing its D.C. office. Earlier in his career, he worked as a speechwriter to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.); as a project manager for the Unisys Corp.; as senior editor of The American Enterprise magazine; and as a fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Eli started his career as a reporter for The Washington Times. 

He is a widely published writer whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, and The New York Times, among other publications. Eli also serves as a contributing editor of National Affairs. He loves science fiction television, visiting museums and hiking.

Eli graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a bachelor’s in medieval studies. He received his master’s in government with honors from The Johns Hopkins University.

He lives in Herndon, Virginia with his wife, Kari, son, Andrew and cat, Mia.