Joe Lehman
Visiting Senior Fellow for Leadership Development

Joe is president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which led Michigan’s transition to a right-to-work state and delivered the strongest legal rebuke to any governor’s Covid lockdown policies. He helped build the Mackinac Center from a sub-$1 million enterprise in 1995 to more than $13 million in 2022. SPN has recognized Joe with its Roe Award for “leadership, innovation, and accomplishments in public policy.” He has trained more than 600 think tank executives in leadership, strategy, communications, and fundraising.

He is the leading instructor on the Overton Window model of policy change. Joe is a long-time mentor to think tank leaders in the State Policy Network and the international Atlas Network.