Our Chairman of the Board (UIF), Dr. John M. Albertine

Dr. John M. (Jack) Albertine is a nationally recognized leader in business, public policy, and corporate governance, with an exceptional career spanning senior roles in government, finance, academia, and the boardrooms of major American companies.

He is widely regarded as one of America’s foremost authorities on corporate governance, having served on the boards of 17 publicly traded companies, including American Precision Industries (now API Heat Transfer, acquired by Audax, Antares, and Apollo Global Management); Thermo Electron (now Thermo Fisher Scientific, NYSE: TMO); BBN (now Raytheon BBN, NYSE: RTX); Intermagnetics General Corporation (now Philips Medical Systems MR, part of Philips, NYSE: PHG); Fruit of the Loom (OTC: FTLAF); DynaTech Corporation (now Lumentum Holdings Inc., NASDAQ: LITE, and Viavi Solutions Inc., NASDAQ: VIAV); Intersections Inc. (NASDAQ: INTX); Integral Systems Inc. (now part of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc., NASDAQ: KTOS); Acterna (formerly NASDAQ: ACTR); and several other companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange.

Notably, he was appointed Vice Chairman of Fruit of the Loom following its acquisition by Warren Buffett, and also served as Vice Chairman of Semco Energy Inc. (NYSE: SEN), Intermagnetics General Corporation (NYSE: PHG), and Integral Systems (NASDAQ: ISYS).

He is currently a Director of Kadant Inc. (NYSE: KAI) and Tecogen Inc. (NASDAQ: TGEN). He is Chairman and CEO of Albertine Enterprises, Inc.; Chairman of the Crest Foundation; and Executive Chairman of Global Delta, LLC, a Washington, DC-based government contractor specializing in advanced sensor, radio frequency, and electro-optical technologies. He is also the founder of High Street Capital Management, a private equity firm, and JJ&B, LLC, an investment bank providing integrated financial, legal, and policy services.

In public service, he is a Trustee of the Virginia Retirement System, where he helps oversee an investment portfolio exceeding $62 billion.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Albertine served as a top legislative aide to Senator Lloyd Bentsen and later as Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress—a bipartisan congressional committee responsible for economic research, policy oversight, and analysis of fiscal impacts across sectors, including defense and national security. During his tenure, the committee played a key role in evaluating the economic implications of federal procurement strategies, particularly in high-stakes areas such as military readiness, defense contracting, and national security technology investments. Dr. Albertine helped guide policies that balanced strategic defense needs with long-term economic sustainability.

He was also appointed to two Presidential Commissions by President Ronald Reagan. He chaired the Presidential Commission on Air Safety and Terrorism, created in response to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Under his leadership, the commission issued sweeping recommendations to improve airline security protocols, intelligence coordination, and counterterrorism measures—many of which were adopted into federal policy. He also served on the Presidential Commission on Industrial Competitiveness, where he helped shape national strategies for revitalizing American manufacturing, advancing technology policy, and enhancing U.S. competitiveness in global markets.

Dr. Albertine also served as the first President of the American Business Conference, a national policy organization of growth-oriented CEOs founded and chaired by former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Arthur Levitt. In that role, he played a central part in establishing the group as an influential advocate for mid-sized companies in Washington policy circles.

He is also recognized for his contributions to education and public service, having served as Chair of the Department of Economics at Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington) and as an adjunct professor at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia.

Dr. Albertine is a prominent voice in national economic and policy discussions, regularly appearing on NPR’s Marketplace and national news networks such as ABC and NBC. His insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, and Fortune.

He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from King’s College, where he later received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.

Brussels: Yevghen Shulgha to Speak at Atlas Network’s Europe Liberty Forum

We are pleased to announce that our General Secretary, Yevghen Shulgha, will take part in the 2025 Europe Liberty Forum, hosted by Atlas Network in Brussels on May 22-23. This major gathering brings together economists, policymakers, and leaders committed to advancing economic freedom, individual liberty, and open markets across Europe.

Yevghen Shulgha will share key insights from Ukraine’s Price of the State project, an initiative aimed at making economic policy accessible to everyday citizens. He will emphasize the core challenge that even many policymakers struggle to understand basic economic concepts. His proposed rule is simple: always explain economics as if your audience were “a grandma from a village,” avoiding jargon, abstract statistics, and complex logic.

He will present several successful communication tools from the project: visual aids like the Price of the State Calculator and Sankey charts, relatable analogies such as the “$1,500 sandwich” to explain trade, and interactive tools like the Customs Meter Game. These approaches work because they simplify, visualize, and humanize abstract data—translating macroeconomic indicators into real-life impact, such as days of labor or years of development lost. By using surprise, humor, and intuitive comparisons, economic literacy can become not only achievable, but engaging for all.

At a time when Europe confronts new economic and geopolitical pressures, his perspective will contribute vital ideas on how to foster growth, innovation, and freedom in challenging environments. His intervention promises to enrich the Forum’s conversations about building a freer and more prosperous future for all.

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