John Braun (ICPES 90) has a soft spot in [his] heart for TFAS.
In fact, he credits his present occupation, Vice President of Operations at Teledyne Brown Engineering, to a good education, working hard and a lot of luck and believes that TFAS was certainly a part in deciding the future of his career.
Braun’s initial interest in TFAS was sparked by the promise of attending Georgetown University, a school he had always admired.
Although he could not afford to attend Georgetown as an undergraduate, he was encouraged by the political science department and the dean at the University of Alabama to apply to ICPES.
His decision to apply for the summer classes and internship through TFAS was fueled by an interest in politics and, for Braun, it just made sense to come to Washington.
He interned for six weeks at the Embassy of Australia, where he assisted the Minister of Trade. One of his main tasks during the summer was to provide an American perspective on the midterm elections of 1990. He built profiles on Congressmen and tried to predict their future political influence on the American election system.
After his summer with TFAS, Braun completed his bachelor’s degree with honors in political science from the University of Alabama and earned his law degree in 2001 from The Catholic University of America Law School, where he specialized in international law.
Since then, his career in Washington has included service as an appropriations associate to Congressman Bud Cramer (D-Ala.), senior policy analyst at the Pentagon and congressional analyst in the office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition.
A native of Huntsville, Alabama, Braun also worked as political director for Senator Roger Bedford’s campaign for Lt. Governor of Alabama.
He serves as a board member of Research, Analysis and Engineering (RAE) and belongs to other organizations like the National Aviation Education Council and the Northern Virginia chapter of Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN).
Fifteen years later, the self-described scholarship kid from Alabama says he owes a significant portion of his current success to his summer with TFAS. The people were wonderful, the internship was amazing to be 20 years old and working at the Australian embassy was incredible, he relates.
As an alumnus, Braun and his company Teledyne, have contributed $25,000 towards the scholarship fund, which provides money to students attending TFAS programs in the U.S. and abroad. According to him, if you’re doing well, you owe it to students and the program.
He also contributes his time and energy to hosting an intern. This summer, IBGA student Law Armstrong (H 05) from Texas Christian University worked at Teledyne. In addition, Braun was a mentor to ICPES student Clark Bowers (E 05) of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.