Leslie Ann Touma

Leslie A. Touma is president and founder of the Michigan Security Network, which was established in May 2008 to promote homeland security business, investment and job creation in Michigan. Prior to founding Michigan Security Network, Touma provided strategic consulting services to Fortune 500 and start-up companies, nonprofit organizations and Michigan universities. In January 2002, Touma founded the Best Friends Company, which designed and marketed unique, quality automotive aftermarket products for specialty markets. Before launching her own company, she was the vice president of corporate relations at a Fortune 500, tier-one, global automotive supplier. Touma was named the company’s first female corporate officer and vice president in 2000. Automotive News magazine also named her one of the 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive Industry that same year. Prior to gaining her automotive experience, Touma had a lengthy career in government, international trade and defense. In 1990, she served as policy advisor to Michigan Governor John M. Engler on international trade issues, working with the governor’s Export Development Board to establish new programs to enhance export opportunities for Michigan’s business community. She was later named executive director of the Michigan International Trade Coalition (MITC), a statewide business coalition that promoted passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Before working with the governor, she assisted Robert M. Teeter, a prominent Republican political strategist and pollster, on several U.S. Senate and gubernatorial campaigns. Prior to her work in Michigan, Touma served as a policy analyst on strategic and theater nuclear defense issues at the U.S. Defense Department from 1984 to 1991. In this capacity, she was a member of the U.S. Strategic Arms Control Delegation in Geneva, Switzerland, and served at the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium. In 1984, Touma was selected as a presidential management intern. Touma received a B.A. in history and political science from Kalamazoo College in Michigan and an M.A. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C.