Jim Lakely

Jim Lakely is the director of communications and the primary media contact at The Heartland Institute.

Reporters and producers can reach him at jlakely@heartland.org or 312/731-9364.

Backups: Keely Drukala (kdrukala@heartland.org)
or Billy Aouste (baouste@heartland.org).

Prior to joining Heartland in 2008, Lakely spent 16 years in daily-deadline journalism. He covered Capitol Hill and was a member of the White House Press Corps from The Washington Times in the George W. Bush administration. Lakely has appeared on C-SPAN, the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, and many national and local television and radio news programs. He’s been an editorial writer and columnist for the Tribune-Review in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia; and The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.

He often serves as “master of ceremonies” at The Heartland Institute's public events. Lakely was honored to introduce “columnist to the world” Mark Steyn at the Tenth International Conference on Climate Change for C-SPAN. Lakely also led Heartland's 2015 contingents to Rome to bring climate realism to Pope Francis and the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP-21) in Paris. Lakely can speak with authority on environment and climate issues from a “climate realist“ perspective, as he has to various audiences around the world.

Lakely's writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Post, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Examiner, American Thinker, Breitbart, Daily Caller, and many other publications around the world. He has shared his insight on politics and policy on many nationally syndicated radio programs, including The Hugh Hewitt Show and the G. Gordon Liddy Show. Lakely is executive producer of the Heartland Daily Podcasts, which listeners have downloaded nearly two million times in the last 12 months. He is also the editor-in-chief of Heartland's blog, Freedom Pub, and a contributing author at Ricochet.

Born in New York City, Lakely spent his formative years in Dayton, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1992 with a degree in English writing. Lakely is an avid fan of the Steelers and Penguins.

Follow Jim's personal tweets on Twitter. Also follow @HeartlandInst on Twitter, as well as Heartland's Facebook page and Instagram account to keep up with the organization on social media.