Recognizing the glaring need for an organized effort to support legal reform efforts at the state level, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, former Governor John Engler and nationally recognized legal reform leader Steve Hantler founded AJP. Each brought a unique perspective to AJP allowing them to see the flaws of the legal system and where it needed to be corrected.

Current AJP President Dan Pero brings over 30 years of political and policy experience to the cause. His team of battle tested communication and campaign experts has a proven record of success in going toe-to-toe with the trial bar.

Dan Pero is President of the American Justice Partnership, 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 30 years experience in state government, grassroots organizing, communications and public affairs and was 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 American Justice Partnership.

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. Prior to Sterling, Mr. Pero was Managing Director of the Michigan office of Weber-Shandwick Worldwide, then 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 was corporate spokesperson and managed government and pharmacy relations, directed internal and external communications, and administered Eckerd's political action committee.

He was a member of the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees for 9 years and served as Chairman in 2007. Mr. Pero also was a gubernatorial appointee to the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, the Pontiac Stadium Building Authority and the Michigan Film Commission. Mr. Pero has also been an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University where he taught campaign planning, message development and communications. He earned a Bachelor of Science at Western Michigan University and is a graduate of the Harvard School of State and Local Executives.

Dan lives with his wife, Colleen, and their two children in Laingsburg, Michigan.