Ted Halstead is an American author, public speaker and social entrepreneur who founded two public policy think tanks, including New America, where he served as founding President & Chief Executive Officer from 1999 to 2007.
Education
Halstead earned his bachelor"s degree in 1990 from Dartmouth College, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in philosophy. He received his Master of Public Administration in 1998 from Harvard"s Kennedy School of Government, where he was a Montgomery Fellow.
Career
His areas of expertise include economic policy, environmental policy, healthcare and political reform, among others Halstead has published numerous articles and two books, including The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics (co-authored with Michael Lind). His articles have appeared in The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times and the Harvard Business Review, among other publications.
New America
Halstead founded New America (formerly known as New America Foundation) in 1999, at the age of 30, and served as founding President & Chief Executive Officer until 2007.
Under his leadership, the organization grew rapidly to a staff of 100 and an annual budget of $10 million. New America’s mission is to bring new voices and new ideas into the public debate, and to break out of the traditional liberal and conservative categories.
James Fallows was the original chairman of New America’s board of directors. Google"s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, is the current chairman.
On December 10, 2001, The Washington Post published a Styles Section profile on Halstead entitled “Big Thinker: Ted Halstead’s New America Foundation Has lieutenant All: Money, Brains and Buzz.”
New America Foundation began life as Vision Trust.
Bill Moyers, president of the Florence and John Schuman Foundation, funded the trust with a seed of $200,000, on the condition that Halstead change the name. Steve College succeeded Halstead as President and Chief Executive Officer of New America in 2007. Anne-Marie Slaughter became New America’s third President and Chief Executive Officer in 2013.
Redefining Progress
In 1993, at age 25, Halstead founded Redefining Progress, a green economic think tank based in San Francisco, with a $15,000 seed grant from Echoing Green.
Halstead served as Executive Director from 1993 to 1997. In 1995, Redefining Progress released the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), an alternative to the Gross Domestic Product that takes social and environmental costs into accountant
Redefining Progress and Halstead also promoted the idea of a revenue-neutral carbon tax, which the government of British Columbia was the first to implement in 2008. Halstead stepped down as Executive Director of Redefining Progress in 1997, and moved to a board of directors role.
Redefining Progress closed its doors in 2008.