# Richard Fink

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{{Short description|American businessman and academic|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox person
| name                      = Richard Fink
| honorific_prefix          = 
| honorific_suffix          = 
| image                     =
| image_size                =
| birth_name                = Richard Harold Fink
| birth_date                = {{birth date and age|1951|5|31}}
| birth_place               = [New Jersey](/source/New_Jersey), U.S.
| caption                   =
| education                 = [Economics](/source/Economics)
| alma_mater                = [Rutgers University](/source/Rutgers_University) <br> [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles) <br> [New York University](/source/New_York_University)
| employer                  = [Koch Industries](/source/Koch_Industries)
| organization              =
| notable_works             =
| occupation                =[Executive vice president](/source/Executive_vice_president)  [Koch Industries](/source/Koch_Industries)
| boards                    = [Americans for Prosperity](/source/Americans_for_Prosperity) Foundation, [Institute for Humane Studies](/source/Institute_for_Humane_Studies), [Mercatus Center](/source/Mercatus_Center) at [George Mason University](/source/George_Mason_University)
|
}}

'''Richard Harold Fink''' (born May 31, 1951)<ref>"Richard Harold Fink." ''Who's Who in Finance and Business, 25th Edition.'' The Complete Marquis Who's Who Biographies. 2001. Accessed via LexisNexis on September 3, 2014.</ref> is an American businessman and academic. He is the former executive vice president of [Koch Industries](/source/Koch_Industries), the second largest privately held company in the U.S.<ref name="forbes">{{cite journal | url = https://www.forbes.com/2009/10/28/largest-private-companies-business-private-companies-09_land.html  | journal = [Forbes](/source/Forbes) | title = America's Largest Private Companies | date = 2009-10-28 | editor = Andrea D. Murphy and John J. Ray }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Alberta|first1=Tim|last2=Johnson|first2=Eliana|title=Exclusive: In Koch World 'Realignment,' Less National Politics|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/435418/koch-brothers-campaign-activity-slows|accessdate=29 August 2016|publisher=National Review|date=May 16, 2016}}</ref>

==Education and academic career==
Fink received a B.A. in [economics](/source/economics) from [Rutgers University](/source/Rutgers_University), an M.A. in economics from the [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles), and a Ph.D. in economics from [New York University](/source/New_York_University). Between 1980 and 1986, Fink was on the economics faculty at [George Mason University](/source/George_Mason_University),<ref name="mercatus">{{cite web | url = http://mercatus.org/richard-fink | title = Richard Fink, Board Member }}</ref> where he was the founder and director of the Center for Market Processes, which later became the [Mercatus Center](/source/Mercatus_Center). Under his leadership, during the 1980s, George Mason was a center of [Austrian Economics](/source/Austrian_Economics).<ref name="doherty">{{cite book | author = Doherty, Brian | author-link = Brian Doherty (journalist) | title = [Radicals for Capitalism](/source/Radicals_for_Capitalism): A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement | publisher = [PublicAffairs](/source/PublicAffairs) | year = 2007 }}</ref>

==Relationship with Charles Koch==

In the late '70s, Richard Fink met Charles Koch to discuss founding a research center devoted to teaching [Austrian economics](/source/Austrian_economics) thought at Rutgers. Fink met with Koch in Wichita and planned what became the [Mercatus Center](/source/Mercatus_Center) in 1999.<ref name=Continetti>{{cite news|first=Matthew |last=Continetti|author-link=Matthew Continetti|title=The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics|work=[The Weekly Standard](/source/The_Weekly_Standard)|date=April 4, 2011|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/paranoid-style-liberal-politics_555525.html?nopager=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110329092753/http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/paranoid-style-liberal-politics_555525.html?nopager=1|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 29, 2011}}</ref>

==Koch Industries==
Fink served as an executive vice president of Koch Industries, Inc. He was also chairman and CEO of Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC, which provides legal and government and public affairs services to Koch Industries and its affiliate. He was on the board of directors of Koch Industries Inc., [Georgia-Pacific](/source/Georgia-Pacific) and [Flint Hills Resources, LLC](/source/Flint_Hills_Resources%2C_LLC).

==Koch Family Foundations==
Fink was a member of the boards of directors and President of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation. He was also on the board of the [Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation](/source/Fred_C._and_Mary_R._Koch_Foundation).<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography: Richard Fink |url=https://www.mercatus.org/people/richard-fink |publisher=Mecatus Center - George Mason University |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>

==Board memberships==
Fink served on the board of trustees of the [Democratic Leadership Council](/source/Democratic_Leadership_Council).<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://prospect.org/article/how-dlc-does-it
|title=How the DLC Does It
|first=Robert
|last=Dreyfuss
|publisher=American Prospect
|date=December 19, 2001}}</ref>

Fink co-founded [Citizens for a Sound Economy](/source/Citizens_for_a_Sound_Economy),<ref name="philmag">{{ cite journal | title = Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation: Teaching the principles of free enterprise to the nonprofit leaders of tomorrow | date = May 1, 2008 | author = Torres, Justin | journal = Philanthropy Magazine | publisher = [Philanthropy Roundtable](/source/Philanthropy_Roundtable) }}</ref> where he served as president,<ref name="Mayer">{{cite journal|url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer |title=Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama |journal=[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker) |date=August 30, 2010 |first=Jane |last=Mayer |author-link=Jane Mayer }}</ref> and co-founded the Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, which is now the [Americans for Prosperity](/source/Americans_for_Prosperity) Foundation.{{disputed inline|CSE AfP|date=January 2011}} 
He also sat on the board of the [Institute for Humane Studies](/source/Institute_for_Humane_Studies), and the [Mercatus Center](/source/Mercatus_Center) at George Mason University. He previously served on the Consumer Advisory Council<ref>{{cite web |last1=Knutson |first1=Ted |title=Kochs To Get A Seat – Indirectly -- At The SEC? |url=https://www.fa-mag.com/news/kochs-to-get-a-seat---indirectly----at-the-sec-22101.html?print |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref> of the [Federal Reserve Board](/source/Federal_Reserve_Board) and the Commission on Privatization{{clarify|date=July 2012}}.

Fink was a member of the boards of directors of the [Charles Koch Foundation](/source/Koch_family_foundations), the [Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation](/source/Koch_family_foundations), the [Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation](/source/Koch_family_foundations), the [Institute for Humane Studies](/source/Institute_for_Humane_Studies), the [Market-Based Management Institute](/source/Market-Based_Management_Institute), and [Americans for Prosperity Foundation](/source/Americans_for_Prosperity_Foundation).<ref name=Continetti/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://mercatus.org/richard-fink Fink's bio] at the [Mercatus Center](/source/Mercatus_Center)
* {{C-SPAN|1132}}

{{Koch Industries}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Richard H.}}
Category:1951 births
Category:Living people
Category:Rutgers University alumni
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:New York University alumni
Category:George Mason University faculty
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:Academics from New Jersey
Category:Businesspeople from New Jersey
Category:Koch Industries
Category:21st-century American businesspeople
Category:Mercatus Center
Category:New Jersey Democrats

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Richard Fink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fink) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fink?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.