Foundation for Fair Civil Justice

Legal Reform Leaders

Dan Pero Biography

Articles by Dan Pero

Dan Pero is President of the American Justice Partnership (AJP), a nationwide coalition to advocate for legal reform at the state level. Mr. Pero is a leading expert in political campaigns and issues management with more than 25 years experience in state government, grassroots organizing, communications and public affairs.  He was recently named Michigan’s best Republican political consultant of the past 50 years by the Michigan Political History Society.

In 2004, he was executive director of the highly successful state legal reform effort that has since become the Foundation for Fair Civil Justice, an affiliate of the National Manufacturers Association. 

Mr. Pero served as Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager for former three-term Michigan Governor John Engler.  The legal reform successes achieved in Michigan are widely viewed as the definitive model for legal reform at the state level.

Mr. Pero managed the 1996 presidential campaign for former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander and served as a strategist, media producer and consultant to candidates for President of the United States, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and for successful ballot initiatives in Texas and Michigan. 

He was a founding partner of Sterling Corporation, a public affairs, issues management and political consulting firm based in Lansing, MI.  His clients included a diverse range of highly-respected business organizations, companies and political campaigns, including the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, SBC Ameritech, Johnson Controls, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Bush-Cheney ’04. 

Prior to Sterling, Mr. Pero was Managing Director of the Michigan office of Weber-Shandwick Worldwide, the largest public relations company in the world, where he provided clients with message development, branding, marketing, communications and strategic counsel. 

Previously, Mr. Pero served as vice-president of public affairs for Eckerd Corporation, one of the nation’s largest retail drug store companies, where he served as corporate spokesperson, managed government and pharmacy relations, directed internal and external communications, and administered Eckerd’s political action committee.

He is a member of the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees and the Michigan Film Commission.  Mr. Pero has also served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, a member of the Pontiac Stadium Building Authority, and an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University where he taught campaign planning and communications. In addition, Mr. Pero is a regular contributing author to the influential MIRS newsletter that comments daily on Michigan politics. He earned a Bachelor of Science at Western Michigan University and is a graduate of the Harvard School of State and Local Executives.