Washington veteran Mike Franc oversees The Heritage Foundation’s outreach to Capitol Hill and the White House.
As Heritage’s vice president of government studies, Franc leads a team that helps members of Congress understand and defend conservative principles in exercising their constitutional powers to approve budgets, make laws and oversee government operations.
His extensive political knowledge and expertise are sought by leading newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. He is a frequent guest on national broadcast and cable news programs, from CBS to Fox.
Franc’s analysis and commentary appear regularly in Politico, National Review Online and other outlets. From 2003 to 2008, his column for Human Events gave its 150,000 weekly readers the inside scoop on Congress and the ups and downs of the conservative agenda.
Franc first joined Heritage in 1993 as director of congressional relations. He left in 1996 to become communications director for Rep. Richard Armey (R-Texas), at the time House majority leader. Franc returned to Heritage in February 1997 as vice president of government relations.
Before his first Heritage tour, he worked in the Office of National Drug Control Policy and as legislative counsel to then-Rep. William Dannemeyer (R-Calif.).
Franc graduated from Yale University in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in history. He received his law degree from Georgetown University in 1983.
A native of New York’s Lower East Side, he currently resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife and four children.