Charles Stalzer

Biography

Charlie Stalzer comes from a family with a long tradition of public service. Both his father and grandfather served in the U.S. Navy as naval aviators, and though he didn’t follow his forebears into the Navy, Charlie served as a C-130J pilot in the U.S. Air Force. While on active duty, he completed a deployment to East Africa in 2020 before leaving the service in early 2022.

In addition to his interest in aviation, Charlie always possessed a drive to understand politics and the forces that drive American life. After leaving the Air Force, Charlie served as an analyst for New Founding, a conservative startup seeking to connect aligned firms with conservative-minded talent wishing to exit from an increasingly progressive corporate world.

Charlie matriculated at Hillsdale College’s Graduate School of Statesmanship in the Fall of 2023 to pursue a Masters degree in politics, taking classes from leading scholars of political theory and American political institutions and development. Charlie first interacted with ISI while a graduate student – though he “wishes he had known about ISI much earlier.” After hearing about ISI’s programming from fellow students, Charlie applied to the George Washington Statesmanship Program. Through participating in this fellowship, he not only met eminent public intellectuals such as Harvey Mansfield & Robert George, but became intellectual comrades with eleven other like-minded young professionals motivated to achieve a common political vision.

Attending the Tocqueville Conversations in France with ISI bolstered his confidence to continue pursuing the intellectual life. “Whether in DC or academia, my experience with ISI has undoubtedly prepared me for a morally serious career”, says Charlie.