Chief Executive
Mark Dubowitz is the chief executive of FDD, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan policy institute, where he leads projects on Iran, sanctions and nonproliferation.
He is an expert on Iran’s nuclear program and global threat network, and is widely recognized as one of the key influencers in shaping sanctions policies to counter the threats from the Iranian regime.
According to The New York Times, “Mark Dubowitz’s campaign to draw attention to what he saw as the flaws in the Iran nuclear deal has taken its place among the most consequential ever undertaken by a Washington think tank leader.”
Mark was featured as one of the key “financial warriors” in the book “The Iran Wars.” Politico magazine featured Mark as one of Washington’s leading policy experts challenging Iran’s illicit behavior, observing that he is “…constantly thinking up—and promoting—new ways to squeeze the regime…” According to a former U.S. official quoted by Buzzfeed: “If you want to know what’s going to happen next in Iran policy, there’s a pretty good bet that it’s whatever has been in the latest Mark Dubowitz or FDD op-ed.” And OZY Media labeled Mark and FDD the “politicians’ brain trust on Iran sanctions … carv[ing] a niche in the charged debate on Iran with intensive research and sheer intellectual firepower.”
Mark has advised the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on Iran issues and testified more than twenty times before the U.S. Congress and foreign legislatures.
A former venture capitalist and technology executive, Mark co-founded FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power and FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power. He is the author or co-author of over twenty studies on economic sanctions and Iran’s nuclear program and is widely published and cited in U.S. and international media.
Mark has a master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies where he focused on China, and JD and MBA degrees from the University of Toronto.
Raised in Toronto, he is a proud American citizen, and has lived in Washington, D.C. since 2003.
