Eric L. Motley, in January 2007, joined the Aspen Institute (Washington, DC) as a Vice President and the Managing Director of the Henry Crown Fellows Program. Established in 1997, the Henry Crown Fellows Program seeks to develop a new generation of community-spirited leaders. The program honors the memory of Chicago industrialist Henry Crown (1896-1990), whose legendary career was marked by a lifelong commitment to honor, integrity, industry and philanthropy. Prior to joining the Aspen Institute, Eric served as the Director of the U.S. Department of State's Office of International Visitors within the bureau of Public Diplomacy. As Director, he oversaw the International Visitor Leadership Program, a program that is designed to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries through carefully designed visits that reflect future foreign leader's interests and support U.S. foreign policy goals.
In 2003, he became Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Presidential Personnel, where he managed the appointment process in the White House for over 1,200 presidentially-appointed advisory board and commission positions. He joined the White House staff as Deputy Associate Director, Office of Presidential Personnel, in 2001 at the age of 27 immediately after receiving his Ph.D.
Eric is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, Class of 2003. He has written and lectured on the intellectual and political contributions of Scottish-born American Founding Father, James Wilson. He is currently engaged in developing a collection on the scholarship of the eminent Greek scholar Sir Kenneth Dover, including copies of all his books, personal papers and various items from his personal catalogue. In October 2006, he published his first volume of poetry, Luminaria, and is a contributing writer to US Airways Magazine as an essayist.
His civic involvement encompasses leadership roles with a wide range of local, state, and national organizations, including the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC; Grolier Club of New York City; Young Concert Artists of Washington; Manuscript Society of America; Dialexis Society; The Odysseus Circle; Samford University; University of St. Andrews; and the Young Executives Council. He serves on the Board of Directors of Affinity Labs in San Francisco and on the Chapter Board of the Washington National Cathedral. Eric is an avid book collector whose library consists of over 4,500 volumes which includes-but not limited to-over 1700 first editions and rare books. In June 2006, Eric's life story was featured in the Washington Post as a part of the series "Being a Black Man in America."
Eric earned his bachelor's degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Samford University in 1996. As a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, he earned a Master of Letters in International Relations and a Ph.D. in International Relations as the John Steven Watson Scholar.
