Vice President of Development
Coley is the Vice President of Development. He manages the direct marketing, digital communications, donor communications, and development operations teams.
Coley is a twenty-five year veteran of the free-market movement and has dedicated himself to helping public policy organizations across the nation more effectively advance liberty.
Before coming to the Media Research Center, he ran a consulting firm for nonprofit organizations. Their areas of focus were in senior nonprofit management, development, communications, and grassroots mobilization. He trained these organizations on how to better achieve their goals and helped them successfully affect significant policy changes at state and federal levels.
Prior to that, Coley served as the Vice President of External Affairs at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and served as President of Americans for Competitive Enterprise. Before joining CEI in 2013, he directed the development team at Americans for Prosperity, after serving as the Director of the Mercatus Center, and working at the National Rifle Association. Coley also spent seven years with the National Right to Work Committee in development, government relations, and communications.
Coley has been a regular speaker on numerous policy topics, and his work has been published in the Washington Times, Washington Examiner, and Human Events, among others. He regularly lectures on fundraising topics for organizations like the Leadership Institute, America’s Future Foundation, and the State Policy Network.
Coley is originally from Nashville, Tennessee. He received his bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University, majoring in Aerospace.
He spends his free time enjoying the shooting sports, playing guitar, and piddling around in his garage workshop.