Elena Leontjeva, co-founder and chair of the Board of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), will serve as the organisation’s president. Elena led LFMI from its inception until 2001.
“Elena brings an unparalleled belief in liberty as the springboard for human flourishing. She has an exceptional ability to reinvigorate the message of freedom. We applaud her leadership experience of growing one of the first independent think-tanks in Central and Eastern Europe,” said LFMI’s Acting President Edita Maslauskaite.
Elena Leontjeva played a key role in building the legal and institutional foundations for Lithuania’s economy, including the Currency Board and the Litas Credibility Law, the securities market, banking, tax and budget reforms, private pension insurance, downsizing state functions and deregulation known as the Sunset and Sunrise initiatives.
„LFMI was born together with Lithuania’s post-Soviet independence, and this year we are celebrating the 30th anniversary. Today, as never before, we have to deepen the understanding that liberty is not just a value that some may accept and others reject. Liberty is an innate feature of a human being, and LFMI will continue to stand strong and firm in its defense,” said Elena Leontjeva.
Vice Presidents Edita Maslauskaitė and Aneta Vainė will continue to lead the organization’s policy, institutional development and operations. LFMI’s long-term research leaders Vytautas Žukauskas and dr. Guoda Azguridienė will reinforce the analytical team.
Elena Leontjeva served as senior economic advisor to President Valdas Adamkus and state counsellor on economic reform issues under six administrations. She has originated and led an interdisciplinary project Scarcity, Morality and Public Policy and co-created a documentary Sublime Thirst. At the start of this year 2020 Elena finished writing a novel.
The Lithuanian Free Market Institute is a private non-profit non-partisan organization founded in 1990 with a mission to promote individual freedom and responsibility, free market and limited government. LFMI produces original research and policy analysis, develops reform proposals, conducts advocacy and awareness raising campaigns, produces timely media commentaries and conferences. Over the past decade youth education has become one of the organization’s priorities. LFMI has won three Templeton Freedom Awards for institutional excellence and accomplishments in public policy and education. LFMI’s award-winning Economics in 31 Hours and Municipal Performance Index have been replicated across the region and beyond. LFMI is ranked among top 2% think-tanks in the Global Go To Think Tank Index.
