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Robert “Bud” Cramer leads Center Forward’s Board of Directors as its Chairman. Bud was one of the founding members of the organization to support the pragmatic policymakers and influencers in Washington D.C. and across the country.

Bud represented the 5th congressional district of Alabama from 1991 to 2009. During his time in the House of Representatives, Bud served on the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and was the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations within the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Bud co-founded the Blue Dog Coalition to help bring fiscally-responsible Democrats together, and many of the principles from his work with the Coalition continue to guide Center Forward in its mission.

As a former congressman, Bud has deep expertise in advocacy, community relations, government relations, and issues management. Throughout his career, Bud has been an advocate for commonsense policy on aerospace and defense, criminal justice, intelligence, and transportation issues. In 1998, the Minority Leader of the House appointed him to the Open World program board of the Library of Congress. In Congress, he co-chaired the Missile Defense and House TVA caucuses and co-founded the Anti-Terrorism and Missing & Exploited Children caucuses.

Since departing Congress, Bud was managing director at FTI Consulting, vice chairman of Capitol Hill Consulting Group, and chairman of Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates.

Bud holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a law degree from The University of Alabama, and an honorary doctorate of law from The University of Alabama in Huntsville.