Kay Coles James

Kay Coles James, who served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush, will fill the vacancy left this year when Heritage’s board unexpectedly removed Jim DeMint, the former senator from South Carolina who became a leading practitioner of the uncompromising, no-apologies style of conservatism that characterized the Tea Party revolt. Ms. James has been a member of Heritage’s board of trustees for over a decade and is close to the interim president, Edwin J. Feulner, a founder of the organization. Until recently, she had been leading the search committee for a new president. Outside government, she worked for the National Right to Life Committee and the Family Research Council and was dean of the school of government at Regent University, a Christian school founded by Pat Robertson. Ms. James held smaller roles in the first Bush and Reagan administrations. Anti-abortion activism has been one of her most personal causes. President and Founder of The Gloucester Institute (non-profit); Senior Partner, The J.C. Watts Companies (international business and public affairs consulting); Former Senior Executive Vice President, MZM, Inc. (consulting); Former Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management.