James Rosebush is a widely recognized leader in building and growing corporate, family office, and philanthropic organizations as well as serving as an advisor to families on the complex issues of wealth management. He recently published his third book and best-seller, WINNING YOUR AUDIENCE: Speak with The Authority of a President. This follows his bestseller TRUE REAGAN: What Made Ronald Reagan Great and Why It Matters, a rare insight into the fortieth President’s mysterious character as Rosebush discerned it from his years of working for him. Rosebush is a frequent public speaker before various audiences and the media on leadership, politics, philanthropy, and the Reagans.
His weekly columns on leadership and public speaking appear on BusinessInsider.com and Real Leaders Magazine. He co-created Deal Ring, a platform to train investment managers to make the perfect pitch and compete successfully for investment dollars. He coaches business leaders to become impact speakers through www.impactspeakercoach.com.
He is the founder and CEO of an international advisory firm, GrowthStrategy, Inc. focused on management strategies, finance, marketing, and communications, that result in measurable growth for Fortune 500 companies as well as startups. In 2018 he launched Intersection Impact Fund, following his life-long passion for impact investing and philanthropy.
At the request of President Bush, he established and was the first CEO of the Challenger Memorial Foundation, with forty-six space science education centers around the world. He served as the president and board member of the Fairfax County Education Foundation, Chief Executive of the Howe School—a leadership academy, as founder and CEO of The Technology Transforming Education Compact, and President of the Urban Monuments Foundation. He has served on the Board of and was finance committee chair for The Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art, where he originated the Duncan Phillips Collectors Medal awarded to Leonard Lauder and David Rockefeller among other leaders in philanthropy and the arts.
He was awarded a “Telly” for his documentary “Hands on the Wall” a Discovery Channel program on Thomas Jefferson’s building of Monticello. He has been Board Chairman for two US-based trust companies.
In The White House Mr. Rosebush was President Reagan’s “point man” on philanthropy and public-private partnerships. As a commissioned officer at The White House, he inaugurated and managed the President’s favorite domestic policy program, PRIVATE SECTOR INITIATIVES, designed to engender private sector solutions for public problems, a precursor of today’s social impact investing.
Mr. Rosebush was also the longest-serving Chief of Staff to the First Lady. In this role, he was one of a small group of top aides to President Reagan and served as a member of the President’s historic Theme for The Day communications team. He managed all the official activities of the First Lady including press and media, scheduling, projects and policy (including the anti-drug campaign), as well as the official functions held in The White House.
During his tenure Nancy Reagan’s public approval rating increased to an all-time high. He managed worldwide State Visits for the Reagans, traveled with them, and negotiated with host country government leaders including China, Japan, Korea, France, England, and Germany. He negotiated with Russian officials for the historic bi-lateral meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev.
Mr. Rosebush has also had significant management experience in philanthropy. He was director of corporate contributions for The Standard Oil Company, founding vice president for the National Chamber Foundation, and held management positions with the New England Association of Grantmakers and the CS Mott Foundation and was a founder of Grantmakers in Health, Inc. He has published on the topic of strategic philanthropy, given many speeches and hosted conferences on the subject as well. The titles of two recent speeches were: “I’ve Made it—Now How do I Give It Away?” designed for new philanthropists, and “Using the Power of Wealth for Good.” He recently crafted a web-based Philanthropy Toolbox for a leading asset management firm.
He earned an MA degree in Public Affairs from Boston University and a BA in Business from The Principia College. He has lectured and taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown and George Washington Universities on corporate public issues and the history of philanthropy. His book, First Lady Public Wife, was lauded as the first book that assessed the non-elected job of First Lady. He has authored numerous articles, has appeared before many television, radio, and other audiences. He was appointed by the President to become US Ambassador to UNESCO, and as a member of the National Museum Services Board, the grantmaking arm of the government to museums. He was invited to tour and lecture in Austria as a goodwill ambassador at the guest of the Austrian government. He was cited as an “Outstanding Young Man in America,” received the Rotary International Award for studies in Russia and has been listed in Who’s Who since 1976. He was appointed a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Princeton University, elected at-large to the Republican Committee of the District of Columbia, and has served as the chairman of the board of his church, and a trustee of the art panel of the Federal Reserve Board. He is Chairman, Proactive School, Inc. and has served on the Board of the Cleveland Music School Settlement and the outreach committee of the Cleveland Orchestra and the grant selection committee of United Way and on the Board of the Concord Art Association.
A native of Flint, Michigan, Mr. Rosebush resides in Washington, DC area with his wife of forty-six years, the former Nancy Paull. They have two grown daughters and six grandchildren.