[ARLINGTON, VA – February 2, 2021] Atlas Network is pleased to announce that Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute, will serve as co-director for our Center for U.S. and Canada for a one-year term beginning February 1, 2021.
In this leadership role, Veldhuis joins John Tillman, Chairman of Illinois Policy Institute, who will also serve as Co-Director, to advance the mission of Atlas Network’s Center for U.S. and Canada, which seeks to increase the connectivity, innovation, and impact for U.S. and Canadian-based think tanks.
“The role of think tanks is more important than ever and that is why I am excited to partner with Atlas Network to serve in new and important ways,” Veldhuis said. “I am optimistic that together we can expand our shared vision for think-tank impact both here in Canada and throughout the United States.”
Launched in 2019, the Center for the U.S. and Canada is part of a proven strategy for improving the efficacy and impact of Atlas Network partners in the region. By leveraging Atlas Network's strengths in training, competitive grants, media outreach, and events—and by building new capacity through coalition engagement—the Center has fostered a peer-to-peer network that is advancing innovation and idea diffusion across the think-tank community. With 169 active and independent organizational partners in the United States and Canada, Atlas Network is well-positioned to play an important role in addressing complex social and economic challenges with locally-led solutions.
“As president of one of the most respected think tanks in our network, Niels offers a wealth of expertise and leadership insights on key topics related to think-tank capacity and impact,” said Matt Warner, president of Atlas Network. “We are thrilled to welcome him in this new capacity and look forward to working together to take the Center to new heights.”
A special priority of the Center is to seek solutions for achieving a more inclusive prosperity among low-income communities through an engagement strategy that has yielded success for Atlas Network throughout the globe. Under Veldhuis’s leadership, the Fraser Institute has long demonstrated impact in Canada and across the world as their widely celebrated Economic Freedom of the World Report, first released in 1996, continues to provide a rich cache of data and analysis for more than 160 countries each year.
For more information, please visit AtlasNetwork.org.
About Niels Veldhuis
Niels Veldhuis is President of the Fraser Institute, Canada’s top-ranked think-tank and among the top 15 globally, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go To Think Tanks Report. Niels has written six books and more than 50 peer-reviewed studies on a wide range of economic topics. In 2011, he was awarded (along with his co-authors) the prestigious Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for the best-selling book, The Canadian Century. Niels is in high demand for his opinions and perspectives on major economic and social issues, appearing regularly on radio and television programs across Canada and in the United States. He has written more than 200 articles that have appeared in over 50 newspapers including the Globe and Mail, Wall Street Journal, National Post, and the Economist. Niels is best known for his ability to explain matters of government policy in a down-to-earth manner, making them easily understandable. He travels widely across North America, speaking to business groups, corporate gatherings, voluntary organizations, and students. Niels holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, with joint majors in business and economics, and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University. In 2010, he was named one of Vancouver’s Top 40 under 40 by Business in Vancouver.
About Atlas Network
Atlas Network advances opportunity and prosperity by strengthening a global network of independent civil society organizations that promote individual freedom and remove barriers to human flourishing. We cultivate a network of partners—currently more than 461 in 97 countries—that share a vision of a free, prosperous, and peaceful world where the rule of law, private property, and free markets are defended by governments whose powers are limited.
Atlas Network’s vision is to create greater opportunity for individuals to use their talents freely and contribute to increasing levels of peace, civility, and prosperity, and we invest in civil society organizations that are working toward a free society. Through a unique “Coach, Compete, Celebrate” model, Atlas Network provides training and mentorship designed to improve the efforts of free-market organizations and encourages friendly competitions that elevate performance and celebrate achievement. The Doing Development Differently initiative is helping partners around the world advance, implement, and market locally-grown solutions to poverty that improve established measurements of economic freedom, and regional centers in Latin America, Africa, and the United States and Canada are focusing international attention on the political, social, and economic challenges of free-market reforms.
