David Wilezol,

Founder and President

David Wilezol is the founder and president of Seventh Floor Strategies.

From 2017-2021, David served as Chief Speechwriter to the Secretary at the U.S. State Department, helping deliver on President Trump’s America First foreign policy commitments. In 2019, David received the Secretary’s Superior Honor Award.

David is currently a Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the American Foreign Policy Council. He is also an Advisory Council Member at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. He was previously a 2023 Foundation for Defense of Democracies National Security Fellow, and a Claremont Institute Publius Fellow and Speechwriting Fellow.

Prior to his State Department service, David wrote for former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, helping to deliver President Trump’s historic victory and Republican wins up and down the ballot during the 2016 election cycle.

David started his career as a writer and radio producer for former U.S. Secretary of Education Bill Bennett. Their work together included co-authoring the book Is College Worth It? — an incisive look at the economics of higher education. They also collaborated on Tried by Fire, a history of the Christian church’s first thousand years.

David is a graduate of American University (B.A., History) and The Catholic University of America (M.A., Latin; Graduate Certificate, Ancient Greek).