WCF Leadership

Allan C. Carlson Ph.D.

President of the World Congress of Families

Born 1949 in Des Moines, Iowa, Carlson received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Augustana College (1971) and his Ph.D. in Modern European History from The Ohio University (1978). He is married and has four children.

From 1975-78, Carlson served as Assistant Director, Governmental Affairs Office, Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. In 1977, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Labor Movement Archive in Stockholm and, in 1979, an NEH Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (Washington, DC). Later that year, he became Assistant to the President and Lecturer in History at Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania). In 1981, Carlson became Executive Vice President of The Rockford Institute (Illinois) and editor of Persuasion at Work. In 1986, he became Institute President and Publisher of Chronicles, The Family in America, and The Religion & Society Report. In 1988, President Reagan appointed him to the National Commission on Children ("The Rockefeller Commission"), where he played a key role in crafting its 1991 "Final Report," Beyond Rhetoric. Carlson served as General Secretary of The World Congress of Families (WCF), held March, 1997, in Prague, The Czech Republic. In October, 1997, he created and became President of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society. He served as General Secretary of WCF II, held November, 1999, in Geneva, Switzerland, with 1600 delegates. During 2001-03, he was a History Team Member of The Pew Foundation/Woodrow Wilson Center project on "the nature of the human person." In 2002-05, Carlson held the additional post of Distinguished Fellow for Family Policy Studies at the Family Research Council (Washington, DC). In 2003 he served on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Faculty at Oriel College, Oxford University. In March, 2004, he was International Secretary for the WCF III, held in Mexico City, with 3300 delegates; he held the same position for the WCF IV, held May 2007 in Warsaw, Poland, with 3900 participants and for the WCF V, held August 2009 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has received research grants from Ohio University, The American Scandinavian Foundation, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The Institute for Educational Affairs, Earhart Foundation, and Fieldstead and Company. During the 2008/10 academic years, Carlson has also served as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Political Science and History at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan and as Visiting Professor at The John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.

Carlson is the author of ten books.

Carlson has testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Family and Human Services, the U.S. Attorney General's Taskforce on Family Violence, The Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces, the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families, Swedish, Polish, and Mexican Parliamentarians, and in State and Federal Court. He has lectured for Colgate University, Moscow Lomonosov University, St. Benet's Hall-Oxford Uninversity, City-University (Sweden), Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Grove City College, University of Wisconsin, The North American College (the Vatican), Wabash College, Hastings College, Brigham Young University, Georgetown University, The Swedish Employers Federation, The Children's Defense Fund, The Kellogg Foundation, the North American Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, The Australian Family Association, The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, and The Civic Institute (Czech Republic). He has prepared commissioned research papers for the Institute of Medicine--National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Education, and has consulted for the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.

For more information about Dr. Carlson, please visit http://www.profam.org/people/xthc_acc.htm.

Lawrence D. Jacobs MA, MFS

Vice President and Managing Director of WCF

Larry Jacobs is Vice President of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society. Jacobs is an experienced leader with diverse background in business, non-profit organizations, Christian ministries and Fortune 500 companies. In 2006, he was named an American Swiss Foundation Young Leader by the American Swiss Foundation and US Ambassador Faith Whittlesey. He was also honored as one of the Top 40 Leaders Under 40 in 2003 by the Cincinnati Business Courier.

As Vice President and Managing Director, Larry is responsible for operations, development, and public relations for The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society and the World Congress of Families. The Howard Center is an educational non-profit organization that conducts research, publishes and advocates ideas to help the traditional family. The Howard Center also operates the World Congress of Families (an organization representing pro-family groups from 65 countries) and is an official U.S. nongovernmental organization (NGO) delegate to the United Nations. Larry handles global media relations for the World Congress of Families and has been appeared on various TV and radio shows including Point of View, 700 Club, The Don Kroah Show, American Family Radio, Focus on the Family News, Ave Maria Radio, Catholic Radio Network, USA Radio Network, and The Bob Dutko Show. Larry has spoken at various pro-family events and conferences around the world including the Azusa Street Centennial at the LA Convention Center, the American Swiss Foundation Young Leaders Conference in Switzerland, The World Congress of Families (Poland, Latvia, Netherlands, England and Bolivia), The National Press Club, Family Research Council, Heartbeat International Annual Conference and the National Right To Life Annual Meeting.

Larry is the also the founder and CEO of Jabez Consulting, a nonprofit consulting business that assists pregnancy centers with medical services, Medicaid reimbursement, business strategy, development and community relationship building. He is the former President, CEO and Development Director of Healthy Beginnings, a medical practice and healthcare ministry that worked with more than 18 pro-life pregnancy centers in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. Prior to Healthy Beginnings, Larry spent 8 years as a manager at The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), culminating in his position as Manager of Product Safety, Environmental and Public Affairs for new business development in laundry and cleaning products. He has served on various committees and boards of directors, including Trinity Christian School, Rockford Kiwanis and Northern Illinois Community Foundation. He has two Master's degrees from Yale University, in Economics (M.A.) and Natural Resource Policy (M.F.S.), and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree, cum laude, Phi Betta Kappa, in Environmental Science from Allegheny College. Larry has been married 18 years to his bride and high school sweetheart, Jennifer, who is a Licensed Practical Nurse. They have two children, Amanda and Aaron and live in Rockford, Illinois.

Feder, Don, J.D.

Communications Director of WCF. President of Don Feder Associates. Former syndicated columnist. Free-lance writer.

Don Feder was a Boston Herald editorial writer and syndicated columnist from June 1983 to June 2002. For 19 years, his column appeared in the Herald, New England's second largest newspaper. On February 28, 2002, the paper published his 2,000th column.

Feder's column was syndicated by Creator's Syndicate in Los Angeles, and carried by more than 40 newspapers and e-magazines nationwide.

His writings have appeared in USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, National Review, American Enterprise, Readers Digest, Front Page Magazine, Insight and Human Events. The author of two books – "A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America" (1993) and "Who's Afraid of the Religious Right?" (1996), Feder has traveled extensively in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He was in Belgrade two weeks after the bombing ended in 1999.

Feder is the 1998 recipient of the International Communications Award of the Republic of China on Taiwan and the winner of the first-place prize in the Amy Foundation Writing Awards for 1993. The Amy Foundation recognizes writers who project Biblical truths in the secular media.

Feder has addressed the annual conventions or meetings of the Rabbinical Council of America, Concerned Women for America, Toward Tradition, the Christian Coalition, Nation Right to Life Committee, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the College Republicans, Empower America, the Council for National Policy, the Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, the Interfaith Zionist Leadership Summit, the World Affairs Councils of Boston and Portland, Maine, World Congress of Families II in Geneva in 1999, The World Congress of Families III in Mexico City, in March 2004 and World Congress of Families IV in Warsaw, May 2007.

Feder has lectured or debated at Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton, Hillsdale College, Bates College, Carlton College, NYU, Regent University, UCLA, Hampshire College, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Boston University and Boston College.

He has appeared on network and syndicated radio and television shows, including "The O'Reilly Factor, " "C-Span," "Politically Incorrect," "The 700 Club," "Focus on the Family," "Beverly LaHaye Live," "Coral Ridge Ministries," "Fox& Friends," and Jerry Falwell's "Listen America." His columns have been read on the air by Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura and Michael Savage.

Feder is a 1969 graduate of the Boston University College of Liberal Arts and a 1972 graduate of the Boston University Law School. He is admitted to the practice of law in New York and Massachusetts.

Besides practicing law and writing a syndicated column, Feder served as executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation (a Massachusetts taxpayers group that passed a cap on property taxes), executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation and editorial director of WEEI Newsradio in Boston.

He has a media/political consulting firm -- Don Feder Associates -- is a frequent contributor to various publications, and has a website – www.donfeder.com.

For a complete bio, please visit http://www.donfeder.com/DON_FEDER_BIO.pdf