Eric Kessler

Eric Kessler is the founder and senior managing director of Arabella Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based for-profit consulting company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network.

Background
Kessler's family owned Fel-Pro, an auto-parts manufacturer in the Chicago area. They sold the company for $750 million when Kessler was 26 years old. Kessler worked for the Family Alliance Foundation, a philanthropic organization formed with some of the proceeds of the Fel-Pro sale. Kessler also worked for the League of Conservation Voters. He was a United States Department of the Interior appointee during the presidency of Bill Clinton. He then spent six years working for the National Democratic Institute. In 2005, Kessler founded Arabella Advisors. Since its founding, Arabella Advisors has distributed billions of dollars to various liberal political causes.

Kessler was the president and board chair of the Hopewell Fund at its September 2015 founding.