Ed Feulner Returns as Heritage Foundation Interim President After DeMint Ousted for Management Failures

Ed Feulner, who had retired as Heritage Foundation president in 2013 after 36 years of leadership, returned as interim president and CEO on May 2, 2017, after Heritage’s Board of Trustees unanimously forced out Jim DeMint due to “significant and worsening management issues” that had created internal turmoil and damaged the organization’s effectiveness. Feulner’s return demonstrated Heritage’s reliance on its founder’s institutional knowledge and leadership capacity to stabilize the organization during crisis, while also highlighting the challenges Heritage faced in transitioning from Feulner’s era of institution-building to a new generation of conservative leadership under Trump.