Mitch Daniels to join Carmel-based Liberty Fund as scholar, advisor

Casey Smith, Indiana Capital Chronicle

Former Indiana Governor and Purdue University President Mitch Daniels will soon begin a new role at the Liberty Fund, a private education foundation based in Carmel.

Daniels — who was named a distinguished scholar and senior advisor — will focus on “the creation of educational programs and partnerships that will strengthen Liberty Fund’s existing educational programs,” the foundation announced Tuesday.

He begins his new role April 1.

“I have watched for decades as the Liberty Fund, with impeccable scholarship and fidelity to principle, has labored to keep lit the lamp of freedom, and spread understanding of its historical and intellectual underpinnings,” Daniels said in a statement. “Now, with individual liberty under relentless threats foreign and domestic, I’m grateful for the Funds’ invitation that I try to assist it in its noble and essential mission.”

After serving two terms as governor from 2005 to 2013, Daniels spent the last near-decade as the president of Purdue University, stepping down in December and fueling rumors that he would re-enter politics.

After much speculation, however, Daniels announced in January that he would not run for a soon-to-be-open seat in Congress after sitting U.S. Sen. Mike Braun launched his own 2024 bid for governor.

The Liberty Fund was founded by Indianapolis businessman and lawyer Pierre F. Carter in 1960. The foundation said it “conducts its own educational programs to encourage research and discussion on the values and institutions of a society of free and responsible individuals.”

Socratic seminars and conferences hosted globally by the foundation focus on topics like politics, history and education. Programs especially emphasize individual liberty and “preservation” of a “free society.”

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