Eric Motley

Eric L. Motley, Ph.D., is an executive vice president at the Aspen Institute, responsible for Institutional Advancement and governance. He previously served as Vice President and Executive Director of National Programs and prior to that he served as Vice President and Managing Director of the Henry Crown Fellows Program from January 2007 until April 2014. In addition to managing the Henry Crown Fellowship Program, he served as the Executive Director of the Aspen-Rockefeller Foundation’s Commission to Reform the Federal Appointments Process, an independent, nonpartisan effort to evaluate the Federal government’s vetting and clearance procedures. Prior to joining the Aspen Institute, he served as the Director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Visitors within the bureau of Public Diplomacy. In 2003, he became Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Presidential Personnel, where he managed the appointment process in the White House for over 1,200 presidentially-appointed advisory board and commission positions. He joined the White House staff as Deputy Associate Director, Office of Presidential Personnel in 2001. Eric is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, Class of 2003. He has written and lectured on the intellectual and political contributions of Scottish-born American Founding Father, James Wilson. He is currently engaged in developing a collection on the scholarship of the eminent Greek scholar Sir Kenneth Dover, including copies of all his books, personal papers and various items from his personal catalogue. In October 2006 he published his first volume of poetry Luminaria. His civic involvement includes the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC; Grolier Club of New York City; Board of Directors of Young Concert Artists; Samford University; and the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. He serves on the Board of Directors of Barry-Wehmiller Companies, the Library Cabinet for the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s National Council, and the Chapter Board of the Washington National Cathedral. He is a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary International Foundation. Eric is an avid book collector of first editions and rare books with a concentration on the English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson. Eric earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Samford University in 1996. As a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, he earned a Master of Letters in International Relations and a Ph.D. in International Relations as the John Steven Watson Scholar.