David P. Zanotti
Biography
President & CEO, The American Policy Roundtable

David Zanotti prefers to be introduced as the grandson of Italian immigrants, a nobody from nowhere in particular. A kid raised in a family of six in a small home by parents of the WWII generation. He considers himself a debtor to all who gave him the privilege of being born and raised in America.

He was elected class president in the 8th grade at Holy Family School because his fellow students thought he could speak well in public. Not long after, he was in trouble with the principal for doing comic impersonations of the school faculty. He was elected to student council and served as Vice-President at Valley Forge High School in the early 1970’s. As a student activist, he protested the war in Viet Nam and helped bring Dennis Kucinich to his high school as a special speaker, at a program called Rap Week. Fortunately no photos or audio tapes have survived.

Mr. Zanotti’s first visit to a statehouse and first political campaign work began as a college student in 1978. He attended Cuyahoga Community College, Mt. Vernon Nazarene College, and did graduate work at Ashland University. He left the world of manufacturing in 1985 to join the Roundtable.

Today David Zanotti serves as President/CEO of the American Policy Roundtable, a non-profit, non-partisan, independent public policy organization founded in 1980. He also serves as President of Roundtable Freedom Forum, a legislative organization and is Chairman of The Liberty Committee, a federal Political Action Committee.
The Roundtable works everyday to tell the story of American liberty and the founding principles upon which it stands. Over the years the Roundtable has built a network of citizen support in several battle ground states including Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

The Roundtable and Freedom Forum have helped citizens overcome a number of challenges by providing positive alternatives in public policy. The Roundtable has effectively led numerous ballot issue campaigns and assisted in the passage and defeat of legislation. From the local school board to the US Supreme Court, the Roundtable has participated in several reform efforts in education policy, including the landmark US Supreme Court decision on school choice. Roundtable and Freedom Forum alliances have also helped defeat several initiatives including the expansion of casino gambling and the federal takeover of health care.

In 1989, Roundtable began a daily news and commentary broadcast titled, The Public Square®, which is one of the longest running daily radio broadcasts in America. Mr. Zanotti has hosted The Public Square® from its first broadcast. Today, The Public Square®, co-hosted with Wayne Shepherd, is heard daily in eight states and across the nation via the Internet and on special national broadcasts. In October 2007, The Public Square® hosted the national radio special, “The God Delusion Debate” featuring Oxford Professors John Lennox and Richard Dawkins. In 2008 Mr. Zanotti and Mr. Shepherd co-hosted the national radio broadcast of the Presidential Forum from Saddleback Church, moderated by Rick Warren.

Mr. Zanotti and the work of the Roundtable have appeared on ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, PBS Frontline, The McNeil/Lehrer Report, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, C-SPAN, National Public Radio, The National Press Club, The Wall Street Journal, USAToday, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Daily News, The LA Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, the BBC and several foreign media services. He also bumped into Larry King at a coffee shop in Beverly Hills, but has yet to make an appearance on Larry King Live.

Mr. Zanotti has been blessed in marriage to the same wonderful wife since 1976. Together, they have worked to raise three children in the hope of faith, family and liberty. His favorite movies are all comedies. He would still rather have lunch with Billy Crystal or Bill Cosby than attend a meeting in the White House or on Capitol Hill.