About the Forum: The Quarterly Leadership Lecture provides a forum for professionals across the Southeast to hear and discuss how they can show up as more moral and ethical leaders in their professions, at home, and their service to others. Lecture presenters are selected from leaders in business, government, education and the arts.
Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge
President and Chief Executive Officer
David Harmer is chief executive officer of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.
A graduate of Brigham Young University, David served as counsel to a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Taking his expertise in constitutional law to Pacific Legal Foundation, he litigated in defense of personal and economic freedoms recognized by the First and Fifth Amendments. As a fellow…
David Harmer is chief executive officer of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.
A graduate of Brigham Young University, David served as counsel to a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Taking his expertise in constitutional law to Pacific Legal Foundation, he litigated in defense of personal and economic freedoms recognized by the First and Fifth Amendments. As a fellow of the Heritage Foundation and an author published by the Cato Institute, he advocated practical expansion of freedom through education reform. He also held leadership roles in various education-focused nonprofits.
Private practice at the Los Angeles-based law firm of O’Melveny & Myers prepared David to spend the heart of his career as counsel to several major financial institutions. Inspired by his father, who served as lieutenant governor of California under Ronald Reagan, he twice won nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives, turning previously uncompetitive San Francisco Bay Area districts into hotly contested battlegrounds.
On March 2, 2022, at Alta, Utah, David achieved a personal best of 84.1 mph on skis. He and his wife, Elayne, have four bright and delightful children. Their daughter-in-law won a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics.
