David Dreier

David Dreier’s Key Accomplishments Include…

David Dreier is Chairman of the Annenberg-Dreier Commission at Sunnylands, which works to advance Walter Annenberg’s vision of bringing together Asia, the Americas, and the Greater Pacific by strengthening the free flow of goods, services, capital, information, ideas, and people.  He is Founder of the Dreier Roundtable at Claremont McKenna College and was a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.

He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  A filmmaker and partner in several start-up businesses and a venture capital fund, he currently serves on numerous boards including the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Claremont McKenna College, James Madison’s Montpelier and the Los Angeles Mission Foundation.  He also served on the Board of the Pacific Council on International Policy.  Mr. Dreier is one of seven directors of tronc (parent company of 150 newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.)  He is a member of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Space Innovation Council.

In 1980, Dreier was elected as one of the youngest members of the United States Congress.  He was among the longest serving members of the House Leadership as Chairman of the Rules Committee, spearheading major institutional reforms and structuring the debate on virtually every public policy issue considered by Congress. He quipped that “the bar is not too high” when he was voted one of the most intelligent and articulate members on Capitol Hill.

He was founding Chairman of the bipartisan House Democracy Partnership, which continues to work on strengthening legislative bodies in new and reemerging democracies on five continents.  He served for more than 25 years on the board of the International Republican Institute, leading election observer missions across the globe.

As a longstanding, passionate advocate of open commerce as a driver of human opportunity and economic growth, Dreier founded the bipartisan Congressional Trade Working Group.  He worked closely with five Presidents of both parties to advance the cause of trade liberalization.  He was instrumental in shepherding through Congress every single free trade agreement into which the U.S. has entered, as well as Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China, Vietnam and Russia.  Known as a strong internationalist, he is outspoken in his support of American diplomacy, global economic engagement, and the strengthening of democratic governance worldwide.

Dreier continues to lead on these subjects in television appearances, as a contributor to the Wall Street Journal and other publications, as well as through his many board memberships and academic affiliations.

Among his many awards and honors, he has received the first Chairman’s Award from David Rockefeller and the Council of the Americas, the Spirit of the West Award, the National Foreign Trade Council’s World Trade Award, the Directors Guild of America’s Chairman’s Award, the Anne and Kirk Douglas Award from the Los Angeles Mission, the inaugural President’s Award from the City of Hope, Technet’s Founders Circle Award, the Clean Air Champion Award from the Sierra Club, IFES’ Charles Manatt Democracy Award, and the American Political Science Association’s Hubert H. Humphrey Award.

Foreign governments have acknowledged his work with their highest honors.  He is the sole recipient of special recognition from the Mexican Congress.  He became Knight Commander of the Order of St. Agatha in San Marino, the world’s oldest republic.  The Nicaraguan President bestowed on him the Order of Ruben Dario, and the President of Colombia awarded him the Order of San Carlos.

While in Congress, Dreier regularly undertook diplomatic and related missions on behalf of various U.S. administrations.  He continues to do so.  Stressing bipartisanship, he represented Secretary of State John Kerry at the Bali Democracy Forum in Indonesia.

Dreier is an honors graduate of Claremont McKenna College and holds a Master’s degree from Claremont Graduate University.  He has received several honorary doctorate degrees.

He lives in Beverly Hills and Malibu.