Neal B. Freeman

Neal B. Freeman is the founder and former Chairman of The Blackwell Corporation, an advisory firm with clients in the communications, defense, and wealth management businesses. He currently serves as Chairman, Foundation Management Institute; Director, National Civic Art Society; and Chairman, Neal and Jane Freeman Foundation.

As a television producer, Freeman has produced more than one thousand programs for national broadcast. His productions have won many awards for journalistic excellence, including the Peabody, the Emmy and, for three consecutive years, the Documentary Medal of the International Film and Television Festival. In addition to his work for American networks, he has produced top-rated series in Japan and Korea.

Active in the international communications industry since his appointment as President Reagan’s representative, Freeman became the architect of Reagan’s signature privatization initiative. Freeman was elected to the inaugural board of the global satellite consortium, Intelsat, Ltd., and served as chairman of its compensation committee. Originally an intergovernmental organization (IGO) of 146 countries, Intelsat was sold to private investors for $5 billion.

In his work with the Foundation Management Institute, Freeman has counselled scores of families in establishing and managing their foundations. As the principal advisor to the Robertson family in their landmark lawsuit against Princeton, he helped win a $100 million settlement from the university, the largest award ever in a donor intent case.

Earlier in his career, Freeman founded Jefferson Communications, Inc., a feature syndicate that grew to serve 1,200 newspaper and magazine clients worldwide. Subsequently, Jefferson expanded into books, animated entertainment, and licensed products. Jefferson contributors won five Pulitzer prizes. Freeman served as President and CEO until the firm was sold.

Prior to starting his own businesses, Freeman was an executive with the Hearst Corporation in New York. He was Editor of King Features, then the world’s largest newspaper syndicate, and Director of King Features Television Productions, producer of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. Freeman began his career with the New York book publisher, Doubleday & Co.

Freeman is an experienced corporate director, having served on the boards of seven public and sixteen private companies. He has enjoyed a long association with the White House Fellows program, serving as both Commissioner and Chairman, White House Fellows Selection Panel, Washington, DC.

Freeman has also served as Director, Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts; Chairman of Agents, Yale Alumni Fund; Vice Chairman, Ethics and Public Policy Center; Chairman, Novak Journalism Fellowships; Founding Chairman, Foundation for Government Accountability; Founding Director, Buckley Program at Yale; Trustee, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, where he won the Meritorious Service Award (2019); and Director, Colorado Avalanche Professional Hockey Club (Stanley Cup champion, 1996) and Denver Nuggets Professional Basketball Club. Freeman also served, by presidential appointment, as Director of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, where he authored CPB’s initial study of satellite transmission. He is a Trustee Emeritus at the Fund for American Studies, where he chaired the Institute on Political Journalism and founded the Institute on Philanthropy and Voluntary Service, and the Maine Policy Institute, where he won the Freedom & Opportunity Award (2017).

Freeman was associated for many years with his friend, William F. Buckley, Jr. Freeman was an editor and columnist for National Review magazine, founding producer of the Firing Line television series, editor and syndicator of the Buckley newspaper column, manager of the Buckley for Mayor campaign in New York City, and for 38 years a director of National Review, Inc.

Freeman’s articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, American Spectator, Washington Post, International Economy, Claremont Review and other publications. He is the author of the acclaimed book, Skirmishes (2017).