IFS Appoints New Executive Director, Carter Skeel

(CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA)-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: CHRIS BULLIVANT

The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) has appointed a new Executive Director, Carter Skeel, whose leadership role starts this week with a plan for aggressive growth in fundraising and team building.

Skeel leaves his post as Director of Institutional Advancement at First Things, the influential online and print magazine based in New York City. In this role, Skeel led the business management of the organization. While there, he grew charitable giving by 43.2% and the donor base by 53.3%, all with a keen eye for leveraging donor and subscription dollars for the creation of influential content from some of the world’s leading writers and thinkers.

The IFS has grown over the last 10 years to become the leading voice for the center right on education, research, and social science around family structure, family life, and society. The Institute’s research is relied upon by journalists in America’s leading news outlets, regularly cited or published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Atlantic, USA Today, CNN, and FOX News. Legislators and their staff in Washington D.C. and in state capitols across the country look to IFS for the latest, reliable, impeccably  sourced, rigorous social science on all issues related to the family.

The IFS was founded by Brad Wilcox, who is the Melville Foundation Jefferson Scholars Foundation University Professor of Sociology, and Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, as well as Future of Freedom Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, and a nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Dr. Wilcox leads the research on the IFS Get Married Initiative. The IFS team has been joined in recent months by demographer Lyman Stone who leads the IFS Pronatalism Initiative.

Michael Toscano is stepping down from his role as Executive Director to focus exclusively on leadership of the IFS Family First Technology Initiative. During his six-year tenure as Executive Director, Toscano led a 300% increase in charitable giving, expanded the IFS team from four to 12, and pioneered influential work in the space of technology and the family. This work has educated legislators in over a dozen states and contributed to the implementation of new state laws to apply age verification to pornography sites, social media, and app stores, and influenced Apple’s decision to implement age restrictions on apps prior to incoming federal legislation. Toscano also led the drafting committee of a new, unprecedented statement on Family and Technology signed by a spectrum of conservative thought leaders.

Skeel was offered the role of IFS Executive Director after an extensive nationwide search led by the IFS Board.

Commenting on his appointment, Carter Skeel, IFS Executive Director, says:

“The IFS has a world-class reputation for research that is highly influential in the national conversation. I look forward to working with the Board, the team, and our donors to build, grow, deepen, and expand our research, reach, and impact. We are set for growth. The need for actionable, pro-family public policies has never been more urgent. I'm honored to lead IFS at such a vital moment for our nation and the families that represent its backbone. And I’m grateful that Michael Toscano, who has grown IFS to this point, is not going far.”

Richard R Hough III, President of the Board of The Institute for Family Studies, says:

“The Institute for Family Studies looks forward to Carter Skeel leading a new growth phase at IFS. We greatly matured in capability and resources with Michael Toscano at the helm, and we thank him as he takes on IFS's technology initiative. Carter will help the Institute address the latest challenges families face in our culture. IFS's research and advocacy has never been more relevant or actionable.”

Brad Wilcox, Founder of IFS and Future of Freedom Fellow, says:

“I am immensely grateful to Michael Toscano for his brave, wise, and strategic leadership over the last six years. I am delighted that I get to continue to work with Michael who has grown into a formidable leader, influencing the national conversation on technology and the family. Carter Skeel was a stand-out candidate, and we are thrilled to welcome him and his family to Charlottesville—and I commend him to you with my full and warm endorsement.”

As he concludes his post as Executive Director, Michael Toscano added:

“I am exceptionally pleased to pass the leadership baton onto Carter Skeel. I couldn’t have imagined a more effective, level-headed, visionary, strategic, and competent new Executive Director, and look forward to being able to work for him in this new phase of growth. I would like to thank the rich network of donors and supporters who make this all possible, and to the founder and the Board for this incredible opportunity. As we keep saying around here, the future is family.”

ENDS

Notes.

The Institute for Family Studies is a 501(c)(3) based in Charlottesville, VA.

Download Carter Skeel headshot

The IFS team includes:

Carter Skeel, Executive Director – Previously Director of Institutional Advancement, First Things, Senior Consultant at American Philanthropic, with a Bachelors in Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania

Brad Wilcox, IFS Get Married Initiative, Future of Freedom Fellow – Melville Foundation Jefferson Scholars Foundation University Professor of Sociology and Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, Future of Freedom Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Brad Wilcox is the author of Get Married: Why Americans Should Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families and Save Civilization (Harper Collins, 2024).

Michael Toscano, IFS Family First Technology Initiative, Director – Formerly Executive Director of the IFS, with previous leadership roles at the Manhattan Institute, National Association of Scholars, and with a Bachelors in PPE from The King’s College, New York.

Lyman Stone, IFS Pronatalism Initiative, Director – Currently Director of Research at Demographic Intelligence and a Ph.D. candidate at McGill University. Lyman has a Masters in International Trade and Investment Policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University.

Wendy Wang, IFS Director of Research – Formerly Senior Researcher at Pew Research Center with a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Maryland.

Chris Bullivant, Director of Communications – Formerly Director of the Social Capital Campaign, with leadership roles at UnHerd, UK 2020, and the Centre for Social Justice, with a Masters in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics.

Alysse ElHage, Editor – Formerly served as Associate Research Director, Editor, and Communications Director at the North Carolina Family Policy Council, with a Masters in Journalism and Public Policy from Regent University.