Preston Cornish

Preston Cornish is the Chief Development Officer for the Goldwater Institute. In this position, he provides leadership, direction, and coordination for the fundraising strategies and activities that provide the financial capacity to fund programs that empower all Americans to live freer, happier lives. Before joining the Goldwater team, he was Director of Development Communications at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he led the team tasked with producing all of AEI’s donor-facing communications, including grant proposals, digital communications, and donor mailings. Prior to that, he worked at Reason Foundation for nearly nine years, where he led efforts to grow the organization’s base of institutional supporters. At Reason, he served as project manager for multiple special initiatives, including the Savas Award for Privatization, Reason in Guatemala, and Reason’s Reaching Hispanics project. During his time at Reason, annual revenues increased over 70%. Prior to working at Reason, Preston spent five summers working at Goshen Scout Reservation in Goshen, Virginia, where he taught sailing, rowing, and waterskiing. He also taught CPR to thousands of Boy Scouts, several of whom used their knowledge to help save the life of a man suffering from cardiac arrest. He is a 2011 graduate of Furman University, where he was on the board of Conservative Students for a Better Tomorrow, a host of the thrice-weekly “Mainstream Radio” program on WPLS-FM, a resident assistant, a volunteer reader with Ready for Reading, and a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon. Preston was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Maryland. His hobbies include traveling and playing golf.