David J. Lane (born c. 1960) was named president of the Annenberg Foundation Trust in September 2016. The non-profit organization operates the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and located ...

. Lane is chairman of

The Stimson Center The Stimson Center, named after American statesman, lawyer, and politician Henry L. Stimson, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that aims to enhance international peace and security through analysis and outreach. The center's stated approach ...

. Previously, Lane was

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture The United States Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture is the head of the United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome and holds the rank of Ambassador to the three United Nations agencies for food and agric ...

, serving in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and chief of the

United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome The United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome serves as a link between the Rome-based international organizations and the U.S. government. Rome is unusual in that there are three U.S. Ambassadors located there; the other U.S. diplomatic mis ...

. Before that he held several positions in the U.S. federal government and with philanthropic organizations, including being President and Chief Executive Officer of the ONE Campaign.

Early life and education

Lane was born c. 1960. Lane grew up in

Indialantic, Florida Indialantic (officially incorporated as Indialantic-By-The-Sea, though the official name is seldom used in casual parlance) is a town in Brevard County, Florida. The town's population was 2,720 at the 2010 United States Census. It is part of the ...

, and graduated from nearby

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1905, the school caters for boys from Year 9 t ...

in 1978. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, and then a

Master of Public Affairs The master of public affairs (M.P.Aff., M.P.A. or MPA) is a master-level professional degree offered in public policy schools that provides training in public policy and the operation of government. Courses required for this degree educate stud ...

from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

Early career

Lane worked as a legislative assistant focusing in the area of foreign policy in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

for Senator

Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart (''né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until he dropped out amid revelations of extramarital affairs. ...

Clinton administration

From 1993 to 2000, Lane worked for the U.S. federal government during the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

. These included being Chief of Staff to the

United States Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

William M. Daley William Michael Daley (born August 8, 1948) is an American lawyer, politician and former banker. He served as White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama, from January 2011 to January 2012. He also served as U.S. Secretary of Commer ...

, and Executive Director of the National Economic Council.

Philanthropic work

In 2001, Lane was hired by the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

, as part of expanding its presence in Washington, D.C., and maturing as a philanthropic organization. Lane served as Director of Public Policy and External Affairs, Director of Foundation Advocacy, and Director of the East Coast Office for the foundation, where he had responsibility for that organization's advocacy and public policy work on a range of matters that included global development and global health. He was a Gates Foundation representative to

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

DATA In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...

organization that focused on problems in Africa. In 2007, DATA merged into the ONE Campaign, and Lane was named as president and chief executive of the latter. He emphasized the organization's purpose in fighting global extreme poverty and disease and urged leading countries to continue their commitment to bettering Africa, even in face of the late-2000s financial crisis. Lane also served as vice-chair of the board of Transparency International USA, and is a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

Obama administration

In early 2011, Lane joined the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

during a period of staff change, serving as Assistant to the President of the United States and Counselor to the Chief of Staff in the White House, once again working for William M. Daley.

U.S. Ambassador

Lane was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

on April 16, 2012, to serve as

. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

confirmed Ambassador Lane on May 24, 2012. He was officially sworn into the position on July 19, 2012. During his time as Ambassador Lane coordinated strategies among six different agencies. He acted as a champion of the

Feed the Future Initiative The Feed the Future Initiative (FTF) was launched in 2010 by the United States government and the Obama Administration to address global hunger and food insecurity. According to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, it is "the U.S. govern ...

. He returned to the United States on August 9, 2016.

President of Sunnylands

Upon accepting the Annenberg position in September 2016, Lane said, ''"Sunnylands seems to me, especially at a time when our system so desperately needs a reset, to have the potential to bring people together across ideological boundaries."''

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, David J. 1960 births American nonprofit chief executives American philanthropists Florida Democrats Living people Melbourne High School alumni Obama administration personnel People from Indialantic, Florida Place of birth missing (living people) Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni Representatives of the United States to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture The Stimson Center United States Department of Commerce officials University of Virginia alumni