Meet AF Board Member Richard Lorenc!
Get to know Richard Lorenc, former chair of the AF Board of Directors.
While Richard continues to serve on our board, he recently stepped down as chair, and became a new father! AF extends its thanks to Richard for his time as chair and wishes him well on his parenting journey.
Find out more about Richard below!
What moment or opportunity in your life played the most significant part in getting you to where you are today?
My dad was born in Communist Poland. We would have conversations regularly at the dinner table about why his family, knowing no English and having only what they could carry, left everything they knew to begin new lives in a free country. I remember once when I was eight we attended an event sponsored by MCI to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. MCI connected me to another kid in East Berlin (who spoke perfect English), who told me, when I asked what was happening, that he now could see his family members in West Berlin. I thought this was so outrageous that they hadn’t been permitted to do this beforehand, but that’s how it was behind the Iron Curtain.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career so far?
I’ve been proud to be a member of teams that have done incredible things to advance freedom–from FEE to Iron Light. Ultimately the biggest challenge in every role I’ve had is interpersonal communication. Sometimes it’s difficult to breakthrough to another but once you do, it’s incredibly satisfying. The ideas of liberty are not always intuitive. This is why communications and marketing are so important to advancing freedom.
What piece of work or accomplishment are you most proud of?
In my nearly nine years at FEE, we transformed one of the oldest organizations in the liberty movement into an online, multimedia powerhouse that reached millions each year with our message.
In your words, what motivates your belief in freedom?
Now that I have two newborn sons, it is thinking about the world that they will inherit. That’s a brand new feeling for me over the past six weeks, but it’s the most powerful motivation I’ve ever felt and is a much more personal feeling than before when I might have thought much more generally about the progress of humanity that’s only possible through liberty.
What do you believe is the greatest challenge facing America today?
So many of us have continued the singular hobby of politics that we were able to engage in during the Covid-19 pandemic. But politics is not all there is to life. We need to break out of the politicization of everything, and stop assuming that public policy is the solution to our individual and community concerns.
What is the next big goal or project you’re working on? How can the AF community help?
Right now I am working to help people across the country who are advancing school choice. If you are interested in activating new audiences who are already aboard for school choice, I can help because I know exactly who each of these people are!
What advice do you have for those who want to advance liberty and make a difference in our society?
You can advance liberty in ways big and small, but it always begins at home with yourself and your family. Work on yourself and expand your own perspectives to understand how to first achieve your own happiness before helping others to find theirs.
What are some hobbies/side gigs/secret skills no one knows about?
I played the double bass in the Emory University symphony orchestra for 16 seasons until just before the pandemic. These days I am getting into beautifying our yard for all of the twins’ visitors. Those who know me also know that I collect Star Trek memorabilia, but that’s a whole other story.
What are you watching/reading right now?
Lots of books about how to get twins to sleep.
