James Rosebush

Mr. Rosebush is a pioneer in the field of impact philanthropy and investing. Beginning in the early 1970s, he became an advocate of employing robust investment-like management practices to measure the effectiveness of charitable giving.  He also became a proponent of using program-related investment funds (PRIs), as well as corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs to make a positive impact in the community.

Mr. Rosebush held leadership roles in private and corporate foundations, including Mott, DeWaters, US Chamber, New England, Standard Oil and others, at a time when the Sullivan Principles and other reform initiatives were being proposed and causing foment in management practices and board governance. In response to this new movement, he was involved in the creation of collaborative industry impact groups such as Grantmakers in Health, which sought to increase the effectiveness of every contributive dollar in the field of health. His philanthropic work has included helping to found several schools including the first school without walls, a school for youthful offenders, and, the Challenger Memorial Center for Space Science Education.  He integrated corporate engagement with public investment in K-12 education, seeking measurable, documentable, advances in competency. This was the focus of his work as the CEO of the Fairfax Education Foundation—the first public school education foundation in the US-- and as founder and CEO of Technology Transforming Education Compact, Inc.—an industry-led effort to turn around the public schools of our nation’s capital by integrating instructional technology in the classroom.

In 1981, Mr. Rosebush was appointed to create and manage the first White House office focused on impact philanthropy and investing for President Reagan.  This initiative became the president’s favorite domestic policy program and was patterned by successive administrations. As a senior advisor to the President, he was an advocate for the integration of corporate and philanthropic initiatives to be combined and focused on societal issues for maximum impact. He organized and managed the President’s Commission on Private Sector Initiatives, and was appointed by the President to the National Museum Services Board, the federal government’s grantmaking arm to museums. He also became the longest servicing Chief of Staff to the First Lady and managed her philanthropic global anti-drug crusade as well as establishing the Nancy Reagan Foundation.

Following his White House years, he has been an advisor to many investment firms, family offices, and philanthropies.  Among these are: Tudor Investment Corporation, JP Morgan, Bankers Trust, Alex. Brown and Sons, Columbia Capital, The Carlyle Group, Stargazer Funds, Hillview Capital, CapitalSource, The American Stock Exchange, and Bessemer Trust, as well as, The Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation, The Museum of the International Red Cross, The Urban Monuments Foundation, The Impact Incubator at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and World Healers Network.  He is a designated philanthropy advisor to Fidelity Investments and UBS.

In addition to serving on various boards, Mr. Rosebush has taught corporate social responsibility in the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University; the history of philanthropy at The George Washington University; and a course entitled Crisis in the Classroom at Principia College, his undergraduate alma mater.  His graduate degree in public affairs is from Boston University.  Among numerous awards, he was selected as was a Woodrow Wilson Scholar at Princeton University and was nominated by President Reagan to serve as Ambassador to UNESCO.  His most recent book, a best seller, is TRUE REAGAN, What Made Ronald Reagan Great and Why It Matters.