John Gardner

John Gardner has a strong background in the work of the Executive Branch and in the intersection of politics and policy on a variety of issues, notably telecommunications, healthcare, and international affairs. He served as General Counsel of the United States Agency for International Development from July 2001 to June 2005; before that, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Staff Secretary at the White House for President George W. Bush. He held a similar office in the Administration of President George Bush from 1989 to 1992. In the Administration of President Reagan, Gardner was a speechwriter for the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration and for Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.

At USAID, Gardner was deeply involved in social responsibility and partnerships. He served as the U.S. representative to the Governance and Partnership Committee of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for over two years, was a founding member of its Ethics Committee, and served as a member of the U.S. delegation to several meetings of the Global Fund. Gardner was also involved with issues of international health such as malaria, drug and device development, and intellectual property rights. He provided legal advice with respect to the Global Development Alliance, USAID's effort to build public-private partnerships to address specific development challenges and to provide an outlet for corporations to engage in socially responsible development, in areas ranging from forestry to agriculture as well as assisting with the organization of the effort. He also provided legal advice to USAID's Development Credit Authority, which works with host-country financial institutions to provide financing, with partial U.S. loan guarantees, for development efforts in a wide variety of countries. He served as an election observer in Cambodia in 2002.

In politics, Gardner has worked on four Presidential campaigns, most notably as Assistant Director of Research for George Bush for President and Bush-Quayle '88. In the private sector, he was associated with the law firm of Davis, Polk & Wardwell in New York. Gardner also has worked as a research analyst for the Schwab Capital Markets division of Charles Schwab & Co., focusing on antitrust issues in both the U.S. and Europe and transportation companies, and as vice president, Federal Government Affairs, for AT&T Corporation.

Gardner has an AB degree cum laude from Harvard College, an M. Litt. in Modern History from Oxford University, and a J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Law School. He has published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal, the European Administrative Law Journal, the Weekly Standard, First Things, and Tech Central Station. He has a deep knowledge of international development, particularly with regard to East and South Asia, and international health issues and food and drug law. His article on the European Medicines Evaluation Agency was the first published academic treatment of the subject. He has written for the Federalist Society on intellectual property rights in international law.

He resides in Alexandria, VA.