Edwin J. Feulner

Edwin J. Feulner (born August_12 1941 in Chicago, Illinois) is a founder and current President of the Heritage Foundation and was a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989. He is also past president and current Treasurer and Trustee of the Mont Pelerin Society.

He holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, and has also studied at the London School of Economics, Wharton School of Business and Georgetown University.

In 1997, Feulner formed a for-profit entity, Belle Haven Consultants, together with Kenneth Sheffer, Feulner's chief personal adviser on Asia policy. Feulner's wife, Linda, later took his place as a partner until, 2001, when she became a paid senior adviser in the firm.

In 2001 Feulner traveled to Malaysia on a Heritage-funded trip with his wife, Ken Sheffer, Tom DeLay and two other Republican congresspeople and their spouses, and Alexander Strategy Group president Edwin Buckham. By the end of 2001, Belle Haven had hired Alexander Strategy for help "promoting and advocating Malaysia's positive investment climate and business opportunities" in connection with a company called PK Baru Energy. Megat Junid, an associate of then-prime minister Mahathir Mohammed, said in a 2004 interview that he organized Malaysia Exchange after talks with Edwin Feulner. Though in past years Heritage had been publicly critical of Mahathir, Feulner hosted a dinner reception to honor the prime minister.

According to US Senate records, Belle Haven paid Alexander Strategy at least $620,000 since September 2001. Belle Haven also hired three other Washington lobbying firms, including one run by Heritage senior fellow and former US Senator Malcolm Wallop, around the same time to support its Malaysian campaign, paying them a total of $780,000.