President, International Tax and Investment Center
Daniel A. Witt has been working to promote free markets and helping to lower the barriers to tax, trade, and investment in transition economies for nearly 30 years. Having worked with 85 countries, he has co-developed a unique neutral table to bring together the public sector, private sector, and academics to advance pro-investment economic policy reforms. Being among the first foreigners to discuss international tax and investment issues with the Russian Federation (1991), the Republic of Kazakhstan (1993), Vietnam (1996), Iraq (2004), Libya (2006), and Myanmar (2012), Mr. Witt is a recognized expert in newly opened-up frontier markets.
Mr. Witt is the President of the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC), which he helped found in September 1993. ITIC is a global brand that is trusted as a reliable source of tax and investment policy and administration expertise.
Mr. Witt is the co-founder of the Asia-Pacific Tax Forum, Eurasia Fiscal Experts’ Seminar, Middle East/North Africa (MENA) Tax Forum, and the Africa Tax Forum that annually bring together hundreds of government officials and legislators with industry representatives, academics, and other experts to propose tax and investment climate reforms.
Prior to assuming the duties as President of ITIC, Mr. Witt was Executive Director of the Tax Foundation, the oldest tax and budget research organization in the United States. Prior to joining the Tax Foundation, Mr. Witt was Vice President and Director of Membership with Citizens for a Sound Economy, a 250,000-member Washington-based public interest group. He also served as a consultant to President Reagan’s Commission on Privatization.
Mr. Witt spent two years traveling in the Pacific and Southeast Asia as a Rotary International Foundation Fellow, making over 70 speeches on international tax and trade policy, including his most-requested speech, U.S. Protectionism Begs World Retaliation. He was a visiting economist with the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research and Victoria University of Wellington, where he published a book on the deregulation of the New Zealand motorcar industry.
The Republic of Kazakhstan has recognized Mr. Witt for his contribution to economic development. In 1999, he was elected an Honorary Professor of Economics at the Kazakh State Academy of Management. In 2011, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev presented Mr. Witt with the Order of Dostyk (Friendship), the highest honor bestowed to a foreigner.
Mr. Witt actively contributes to international and local nonprofit organizations. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Eurasia Foundation. He also serves on the Council Executive Board and is the former District Chairman for the Boy Scouts of America in Washington, DC. He is also a Director of the Hermitage Museum Foundation.
Mr. Witt received a BBA (magna cum laude) in public administration and an MBA in finance from Western Michigan University.