Bruce F. Freed is president and co-founder of the Center for Political Accountability (CPA), a Washington, D.C. based NGO whose mission is to bring transparency and accountability to corporate political spending. Founded in 2003, CPA is successfully reshaping how companies engage in political spending.
Under his leadership, CPA produces the annual CPA-Zicklin Index that benchmarks the Russell 1000 on their political disclosure and accountability policies and practices and TrackYourCompany.org, a searchable, sortable database on company political spending. He helped develop CPA’s innovative strategy of using corporate governance to address the risks companies face from political spending. As a result of CPA’s efforts, political disclosure and accountability is recognized as the norm.
Freed played a key role in overseeing the development of the CPA-Zicklin Model Code of Conduct for Corporate Political Spending. The Code provides companies with a framework for approaching and managing election-related spending that includes societal, democracy and ethical considerations.
He draws on his long experience in journalism and on Capitol Hill. Freed speaks widely and co-authored major CPA reports including Collision Course and Conflicted Consequences, the first examinations of the heightened risks to companies of conflicted political spending. He also co-authored CPA’s Practical Stake report on corporations, political spending and democracy. In addition, he co-authored The Conference Board Handbook on Corporate Political Activity and articles in the Harvard Business Review, Washington Post, Financial Times, USA Today, Barron’s and more.
Freed has two adult children and lives in the Washington, D.C. suburbs with his wife and their West Highland White Terrier. He graduated from the University of Chicago with honors in history and has an M.A. in American history from Brandeis University.
