Daniel A. Witt

President

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 over 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 Arab Regional Tax Forum, Asia-Pacific Tax Forum, Eurasia Fiscal Experts’ Seminar, and the Africa Tax Forum that regularly 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 is currently a G100 Denim Club Partner, part of the Group of 100 He-for-She Champions advocating for gender equality and economic empowerment of woman. Mr. Witt is also Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Eurasia Foundation; an Advisory Board Member of Crystol Energy; and a founding member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the BRI Tax Journal. He also serves on the Council Executive Board and is the former District Chairman for the Boy Scouts of America in Washington, DC.

Mr. Witt received a BBA (magna cum laude) in public administration and an MBA in finance from Western Michigan University (WMU). In 2021, Mr. Witt received the 2021 WMU Distinguished Alumni Award, the University’s highest honor for alumni who have risen to a level of distinction throughout their professional lives.