Linda Whetstone was seventeen years old in 1959 when she attended her first Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) meeting with her father, Sir Antony Fisher, at Oxford. She was studying the equivalent of high school economics at the time, and was inspired by the revolutionary ideas discussed by the attendees and presentations from speakers such as Professor Friedrich Hayek.
This would be the first of 25 MPS meetings Ms. Whetstone would attend over the following six decades, listening to many great thinkers as they debated all aspects of a free society. She said “the later part of my life has been inspired by the purpose of the MPS to facilitate an exchange of ideas on the principles and practice of a free society”. In September 2020, Ms. Whetstone was officially named the next president of the Mont Pelerin Society.
After a lifetime of involvement with the Society, Ms. Whetstone was surprised and delighted to receive this well-deserved honor. “I was amazed to be asked if I would allow my name to be put forward,” Whetstone explained. “Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined I could be president of MPS.”
Linda Whetstone has been Board Chairman at Atlas Network since 2016 and at Network for a Free Society (previously the International Policy Network) since 2000 She also serves on the board of directors for the Institute for Economic Affairs and Istanbul Liberty Network. The fruits of her labor are felt throughout the world. From Turkey, to the United Kingdom, to Kenya; people are living in greater freedom thanks to the efforts of Linda Whetstone.
"The aims of MPS are as relevant today as they were at the Society's founding, and Linda Whetstone is the perfect person to guide the organization to meet the challenges of the 2020s,” said Atlas Network CEO Brad Lips. “Having attended MPS meetings for six decades, Linda will be a faithful steward of its principles, and she is remarkably wired into younger liberty-minded communities around the world that can be essential allies to our shared cause."
While it is impossible to adequately recognize her for a life of devotion to the global liberty movement and the millions of lives that she has impacted, being named president of the Mont Pelerin Society is a fitting way to honor a long career of devotion to human flourishing.