PERSON: Fergus Cullen

Fergus Cullen is the founder of Americans By Choice, a national advocacy group supporting immigration reform that makes it easier for the world’s most talented and motivated people to live and work in America, create jobs here, and contribute to a growing American economy.

Fergus brings 20 years of experience in public policy, advocacy, and politics to Americans By Choice. As Executive Director of the Yankee Institute, a free-market think tank based in Connecticut, Cullen worked on market-based and private sector solutions to public policy issues. At the Center for Research & Public Policy, a national consulting firm, he worked on a variety of public policy issues for public and private sector clients.

Fergus was chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party in 2007-08 and was the youngest state chairman in the country when elected at age 34. His term included the nationally-watched First In The Nation presidential primary. He has managed statewide, legislative, and municipal campaigns.

An editorial page columnist for the New Hampshire Union Leader, Fergus is a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of several newspapers and has been published in periodicals ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Runner’s World magazine. He has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including nationally broadcast interviews on C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX.

Previously he built a small business, a contracting company, to a million dollars in annual sales before selling that company.

A New Hampshire native, Cullen is the son of two Americans By Choice. His parents are naturalized Americans who immigrated to the United States from Ireland as adults. His father served in the United States Army, including a year in Vietnam as an Army surgeon, before obtaining his American citizenship. His mother served as chairwoman of their local school board.

Fergus is a graduate of Yale College (BA, History, 1994), and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (Masters in Public Administration, 2002). A competitive distance runner with personal bests ranging from 15:23 for 5K to a 2:32 marathon, Fergus coaches a high school cross country running team. He has hiked the Appalachian Trail across New Hampshire and is a member of the 4,000 Footer Club, having climbed all 48 such peaks throughout the White Mountains. He and his wife are raising three children.