Dave Lapan

David Lapan is a recognized expert in media and currently serves as the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Vice President of Communications. His career in public service spans more than three decades, with service in the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.   

Mr. Lapan is a retired Marine Colonel, with more than 30 years of Military service and 22 years of communications and public affairs experience at the highest levels of the Defense Department.

As a public affairs officer, he served as a spokesman and advisor for the Defense Department; for the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; for the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and U.S. Forces—Afghanistan; and for multinational forces during Military operations in Haiti and Iraq.

Following his retirement from the Marine Corps, Dave served as senior director for the National Capital Region of the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC), a global, nonprofit organization focused exclusively on the well-being and needs of America’s 4 million Military and Veteran-connected children. Lapan has served as the press secretary and deputy assistant secretary for media operations for the Department of Homeland Security.