Information about David G. Bradley

David G. Bradley (born 1953^[] in Washington, D.C.^[]) is the owner of the Atlantic Media Company, which publishes several prominent news magazines and services including The Atlantic Monthly, National Journal, and The Hotline. Prior to his career as a publisher, Bradley founded the Advisory Board Company and Corporate Executive Board, two Washington-based consulting companies.

Education

Bradley was born in Washington, D.C. and attended the Sidwell Friends School. His parents were devout Christian Scientists.^[0] He graduated from Swarthmore College and briefly interned in the White House during the presidency of Richard Nixon. He received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and was also a Fulbright Scholar in the Philipines.^[0] Bradley also earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1983.

Advisory Board Company

In 1979, while only 26 years old, Bradley founded the Research Council of Washington, later renamed the Advisory Board Company. The purpose of the company, at least initially, was to do research on any question for any industry. In 1986 the company began doing special research for the health care industry, which eventually became the main focus of the Advisory Board Company.^[0]

In 1983, his company had begun advising other firms in the financial services industry. In 1997, this was completely spun off as the separate Corporate Executive Board.^[0] Both companies are now publicly traded on the NASDAQ. Bradley reportedly earned over $300 million from their sale.^[0]

Publishing

In 1997, Bradley made his first acquisition as a publisher, purchasing the National Journal. He hired Michael Kelly, a well-known journalist who had just been fired from The New Republic after frequently clashing with owner Martin Peretz. Kelly was known for his controversial criticisms of Al Gore and Bill Clinton, but he got along well with Bradley.

In 1999, Bradley purchased The Atlantic Monthly from publisher and real estate tycoon Mort Zuckerman. Bradley replaced the current editor William Whitman with Kelly. Bradley's strategy to improve the business model of The Atlantic, which had lost money for years, was to focus on improving editorial quality. Bradley doubled the newsroom budget of The Atlantic, allowing the magazine to embark on a hiring spree, offering contracts to 25 new writers. Kelly's first hire was to bring back James Fallows, one of the magazine's best-known journalists who had been hired away in 1996.^[0]

Bradley is known for the great lengths he'll go to in order to lure writers to The Atlantic. To lure away Jeffrey Goldberg, a staff writer for The New Yorker, Bradley purchased ponies for his three young children. Top salaries for journalists at The Atlantic Monthly are as high as $350,000 a year.^[0]

After originally vowing not to move The Atlantic from its home in Boston for over a year, Bradley created a controversy in 2005 by moving the offices to Washington, where his other enterprises are all headquartered. Several prominent members of The Atlantic, such as esteemed editor Cullen Murphy, left the magazine as a result of the move.^[0]

Politically, Bradley considers himself a centrist.^[0] In the 2008 U.S. presidential primaries he has donated $4,300 to Hillary Clinton and $2,300 each to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.^[0] In addition to his work in publishing, Bradley works with the CityBridge Foundation (formerly the Advisory Board Foundation), which participates in education projects in the Philippines, where Bradley had been a Fulbright Scholar.^[0] Bradley's wife, Katherine Brittain Bradley, is the president.

References

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Persondata
NAME	Bradley, David G.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	20th century American media mogul
DATE OF BIRTH	1953
PLACE OF BIRTH	Washington, D.C., United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH