1. Mitchell B Reiss was born on June 12,1957 and is an American diplomat, academic, and business leader who served as the 8th President and CEO of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the 27th president of Washington College and in the United States Department of State.
Mitchell Reiss served as Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State from 2003 to 2005.
Mitchell Reiss concurrently served as the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, with the title of Ambassador, from 2003 to 2007.
Mitchell Reiss was selected to be a White House Fellow and was assigned to the National Security Council, where he worked both as Special Assistant for Brent Scowcroft and Colin Powell.
Mitchell Reiss was instrumental in the denying of Gerry Adams a visa to the United States, to spur the endorsement of policing and justice in Northern Ireland by Adams and his political party, Sinn Fein.
Mitchell Reiss has served on the National Security Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, the State Department, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and has consulted for Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Mitchell Reiss served as a national security advisor to then-Governor Mitt Romney during his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.
Mitchell Reiss was the 27th President of Washington College from 2010 to 2014, where he internationalized the student body, raised SAT scores and lowered the discount rate, created an innovative three-year pathway to graduation to reduce student and family debt, and balanced the budget for four straight years.
Mitchell Reiss was the 8th President and CEO of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, America's largest living history museum, from October 2014 until October 2019, where he focused on restoring the institution's financial health and fulfilling its educational mission.
Mitchell Reiss managed $1.1 billion of assets, led 2,000 employees and 1,000 volunteers, and stewarded over 100,000 donors.
Mitchell Reiss defunded research and interpreter training and introduced less traditional activities, such as an escape room and a "Halloween zombie pirate adventure".
Mitchell Reiss generated profitable commercial operations for the first time in Foundation history, achieved four straight years of record fund-raising, won reaccreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, and recruited and retained the most diverse leadership team in Foundation history.