Charlie Firestone is President of the Rose Bowl Institute, which champions sportsmanship, leadership, and citizenship, and leverages the power of sports to unite people everywhere. Previously, he was a Vice President and Executive Vice President of The Aspen Institute, and for 30 years was the Executive Director of its Communications and Society Program. While at Aspen, Firestone also led the first Socrates Seminar and helped start the Sports and Society Program.
Before coming to the Aspen Institute in 1990, Firestone was Director of the Communications Law Program and Adjunct Professor of Law at UCLA Law School. He was also the first President of the Los Angeles Board of Telecommunications Commissioners. Firestone argued two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and many before the U.S. Courts of Appeals as an appellate attorney at the Federal Communications Commission, director of litigation for a public interest law firm, and in private practice in Los Angeles.
Firestone graduated from Amherst College, where he captained the wrestling team, and Duke Law School. He resides with his wife, sculptor Pattie Porter Firestone, in Santa Barbara, California.