David Ibsen serves as Executive Director of Americans for Free Markets (AFFM), leading the organization’s efforts to advance pro-growth policy, defend free market principles and push back against government overreach in America’s financial system.
In his role, Ibsen engages directly with federal policymakers, including participation on a U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board panel on debanking, appearances on national media programs including Fox Business and The Mike Gallagher Show and opinion pieces in major outlets including The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner and The Hill –all in service of advancing sound, free-market policies across party lines.
Ibsen is equally active at the state level, engaging directly in legislative and regulatory battles in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana – working alongside local advocates, engaging with state legislators and contributing to regional media to advance free market principles on the ground.
Before his role with AFFM, Ibsen served as Executive Director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) for nine years, where he led efforts addressing the misuse of financial systems and emerging technologies by extremist groups. He also spent over 15 years as Executive Director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), building bipartisan coalitions and engaging Congress, businesses and financial institutions on the importance of strong financial standards to protect global peace and stability.
Earlier in his career, Ibsen served as a policy analyst and as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Fifth Committee – the UN’s principal committee on budgetary and financial matters – developing a foundation in international financial policy and institutional governance that has informed his work ever since.
David Ibsen holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Pat Toomey represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2023. As a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Toomey helped to develop and pass the 2017 tax reform leading The Wall Street Journal editorial page to name him “the Senate’s most valuable player.”
Capping his twelve-year service on the Senate Committee on Banking, Senator Toomey served as the Ranking Member (senior most Republican) from 2021 through 2023. In that post, he helped recruit and confirm nominees to the nation’s most powerful financial regulatory bodies. He also focused on restoring disciplined monetary policy post-Covid; overseeing all Federal financial regulators; and he developed a blueprint for the regulation of stablecoins.
Senator Toomey previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives for six years. Honoring his pledge to limit himself to three terms, he did not seek re-election to the House in 2004.
Prior to his House and Senate service, the senator worked in the financial services industry as a fixed income derivatives trader. Later, he served as president of the Club for Growth, owned and operated a small restaurant chain in the Lehigh Valley, PA with his brothers, and helped launch a community bank in eastern PA and western NJ.
Pat Toomey serves on the Board of Directors for Apollo Global Management and several private companies. He is an advisor to firms across a range of industries including private equity and crypto technology firms.
Senator Toomey has been a frequent guest on CNBC, NBC, Bloomberg, FOX, and FOX Business. His editorials have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among many other publications.
In addition to his capacity as an advisor to Americans for Free Markets (AFFM), he also serves on the Board of Trustees of National Review Institute and La Salle Academy, Providence, RI. Senator Toomey is a 1984 graduate of Harvard University.
Kevin Brady served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 26 years, representing the 8th congressional district of Texas, including northern Houston and The Woodlands.
As Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee from 2015 to 2019, Brady led the Committee’s efforts to deliver the first comprehensive, pro-growth tax reform blueprint in 30 years, culminating in his authorship of the historic 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) – the first major reform of the Internal Revenue Code since 1986. He also served as Chairman of both the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, earning a reputation as a highly regarded leader within the Republican caucus and cultivating strong relationships with policymakers and staff members across both parties.
A national leader in free trade, Brady chaired the Trade Subcommittee and helped secure approval of 13 of America’s 15 free trade agreements, as well as multiple trade promotion authority, trade facilitation and WTO accession bills. He played a critical role in the record bipartisan passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
As Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, Brady led efforts to make permanent the research and development tax credit, incentivizing American-led research in crucial medical advancements and technologies and played a leadership role in Medicare modernization and health care innovation. In the energy sector, he negotiated an end to the 40-year ban on selling U.S. crude oil overseas and worked across the aisle to pass two landmark bipartisan retirement security reforms: Secure and Secure 2.0.
Prior to Congress, Brady spent 18 years as a Chamber of Commerce executive, and he served for six years in the Texas House of Representatives, where he was named a Top Ten Legislator for Families and Children and one of Five Outstanding Young Texans.
Brady is an advisor to Americans for Free Markets (AFFM) and serves on the Board of Directors of the Tax Foundation and the American Action Forum. He also advises clients at Akin, providing expertise across a range of public policy and economic issues including tax, trade, health care and energy.
Kevin Brady holds a B.A. from the University of South Dakota.
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