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AI Overview

Brian Hooks is the chairman and CEO of Stand Together and the president of the Charles Koch Foundation. He serves on the board of directors for the Institute for Humane Studies, a nonprofit that promotes classical liberalism and provides academic support within higher education. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Hooks and Charles Koch co-authored the book Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World. He is a prominent nonprofit executive who has been recognized for his leadership shaping civil society and philanthropy. [1, 2, 3]

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The title of this page is, “Brian Hooks (philanthropist).” A philanthropist is generally understood to be someone who donates lots of money to charity.

From my reading, Brian Hooks is not a philanthropist (in the manner of Bill Gates), nor does he run a philanthropy (in the manner of the Novo Nordisk Foundation). He is more accurately described as a leader of nonprofits that advocate for certain causes.

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Brian Hooks - Stand Together | LinkedIn

xperience

[Chairman & CEO Stand Together

Jul 2015 - Present · 11 yrs](https://www.linkedin.com/company/35640218/)

[President Charles Koch Foundation

Jul 2014 - Present · 12 yrs

Arlington, VA](https://www.linkedin.com/company/80892/)

[President Charles Koch Institute

Aug 2014 - Present · 11 yrs 11 mos](https://www.linkedin.com/company/2446474/)

Mercatus Center at GMU 13 yrs 10 mos

Education

University of Michigan BA, Political Science

SCRAPE

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Brian Hooks is an American nonprofit executive who is CEO and chairman of Stand Together. He is also the president of the Charles Koch Foundation and president of the Stand Together Fellowship.^[1][2]

Hooks is currently on the boards of the Mercatus Center, the Cosmos Institute, the Economic Policy Innovation Center, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Reason Foundation, the Just Trust, Believe in People, and Movement Musick.

Early life and education

He attended the University of Michigan from 1996 to 2000, graduating with a B.A. in political science.

Career

Hooks was chief operating officer and executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University from 2006 until 2014 when he became president of the Charles Koch Foundation.^[3][4]

In July 2018, Hooks was named chairman and CEO of Stand Together, which describes itself as "a philanthropic community that helps America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems, from education to the economy, broken communities, and toxic division, among dozens of other pressing issues."

In recent years, Hooks has emphasized partnerships in philanthropy and bridging divides. His work has included bipartisan efforts on criminal justice reform which brought together Van Jones and the ACLU together with Senate Republicans and The Heritage Foundation to pass the First Step Act in 2018.^[5] He was a co-signer to a 2023 opinion piece in The Chronicle of Philanthropy titled "We Disagree on Many Things, but We Speak with One Voice in Support of Philanthropic Pluralism" along with prominent philanthropists Heather Templeton Dill, Kathleen Enright, Sam Gill, Darren Walker, and Elise Westhoff.^[6]

Hooks was named to the TIME 100 Next list in 2021.^[7]

Personal life

Hooks lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.

References

Joanie Greve; Mariana Alfaro; The Daily 202: The Koch network is reorganizing under a new name and with new priorities; Washington Post; [1] Archived 2019-05-20 at the Wayback Machine
Why we no longer count on politics to solve America's problems; Washington Post; [2] Archived 2020-05-11 at the Wayback Machine
Berg, Rebecca; Top Koch network official: 'The divisiveness of this White House is causing long-term damage'; CNN; [3] Archived 2020-11-04 at the Wayback Machine
An American approach to the coronavirus crisis: Find innovative ways to contribute; USA Today; [4] Archived 2024-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
USA Today; COVID-19 compels America to rethink who we lock up in prison; https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/12/22/covid-19-should-drive-prison-reform-priscilla-chan-brian-hooks-column/3989099001/
The Chronicle of Philanthropy; We Disagree on Many Things, but We Speak With One Voice in Support of Philanthropic Pluralism; https://www.philanthropy.com/article/we-disagree-on-many-things-but-we-speak-with-one-voice-in-support-of-philanthropic-pluralism
2021 TIME100 Next - TIME - https://time.com/collection/time100-next-2021/5937620/brian-hooks/

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In 2001, the Mercatus Center’s board of directors still included its co-founders, Charles Koch and Richard Fink.153 At the time, Fink was a top officer of at least four Koch foundations: as president the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, president of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, director of Knowledge & Progress Fund and director of the Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation, as well as boards of Charles Koch’s Institute for Humane Studies and the GMU Center for the Study of Public Choice. 154

Fink was also on the GMU board of visitors, along with top officials at other Koch-funded organizations, like James C. Miller III of Citizens for a Sound Economy, Ed Meese III and Ed Fuelner, Jr of the Heritage Foundation, and Manuel Johnson.155 2001 Mercatus Center staff at the time included two up and coming officers who later took significant jobs working closely with Charles Koch: Kevin Gentry, who later joined Koch Industries, and Brian Hooks, who now oversees the entire Stand Together network.156 Charles Koch and Richard Fink remain affiliated with the Mercatus Center’s board of directors, along with other top Koch personnel, including Brian Hooks.157

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Brian Hooks of Stand Together on Practicing Pluralism in Philanthropy | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

Brian Hooks is Chairman and CEO of Stand Together and the President of the Charles Koch Foundation. He joins The Art of Association podcast to talk with host Daniel Stid about Stand Together’s efforts to advance pluralism and human flourishing through a vibrant, entrepreneurial civil society. They reflect on Brian’s long partnership with Charles Koch and a new edition of their co-authored book, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World. The conversation also explores Be the People, a major new initiative that Stand Together is launching with a broad network of partners. Timed to launch during the nation’s 250th anniversary, Be the People will be a ten-year campaign. Its goal is to strengthen and highlight bottom-up civic renewal. Brian also discusses his cross-ideological collaboration with fellow philanthropists on what he calls “Team Liberalism” to defend pluralism and philanthropic freedom from illiberal critics on both the Left and the Right.

_Chapters_

(0:58): Stand Together’s vision, mission and methods for using philanthropy to empower people

(3:53): How and why Brian came to work at Stand Together

(9:03): Brian’s working relationship with Charles Koch and their principle based approach to management in civil society

(13:28): Why Brian and Charles Koch wanted to bring out a new “America at 250” edition of Believe in People

(21:20): Purpose and plans for the Be the People initiative and problem-solving platform

(31:13): Brian’s spirited defense of philanthropic freedom and pluralism – and the growing threats to them from illiberalism on both the Left and Right

(41:32): Whom Brian has learned from in his work

Additional Resources

Stand Together’s overview of Principle Based Management

Charles Koch and Brian Hooks, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World, America’s 250th Anniversary Edition, with a new preface by the authors and a new foreword by Martin Luther King III

Heather Templeton Dill, Kathleen Enright, Sam Gill, Brian Hooks, Darren Walker, and Elise Westhoff, “We Disagree on Many Things, but We Speak with One Voice in Support of Philanthropic Pluralism,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy, April 13, 2023

Brian Hooks, “In Defense of Philanthropic Freedom,” Stanford Social Innovation Review,June 17, 2025

Larry Kramer, “Listening to the People Who Think We Are Wrong,” Hewlett Foundation blog, January 10, 2019

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