Red Cavaney is the President and Chief Executive Office of American Petroleum Institute. Prior to joining API in 1997, Cavaney spent 12 years as president and CEO of three other trade associations.  Earlier, he served as president and CEO of Irvine, CA-based Ericson Yachts, a major U.S. yacht manufacturer, and as a senior member of the White House staffs of U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.  In 1997, he was named "Association Executive of the Year" by Association Trends magazine and earned his Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation.                   

On Inauguration Day in 1981, Cavaney joined the Reagan White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison, where he developed successful strategies for building private sector coalitions in support of President Reagan's legislative initiatives.  In 1983, he joined the American Paper Institute, two years later becoming president and CEO.  He was instrumental in merging the Institute with two other trade groups, becoming the first president and CEO of the new entity, the American Forest & Paper Association.  In 1994, he was selected as the first president and CEO of the American Plastics Council, where he served until joining API.                 

Cavaney is a director of API, The United States Energy Association and Buckeye Technologies, Inc. (NYSE), and former director of the boards of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), among others.  He has served as chairman of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and of the Associations Division of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Cavaney also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation and the Center for Excellence in Education. He is a 1964 NROTC graduate in Economics and History from the University of Southern California, served three tours of combat duty in Vietnam and was honorably discharged with the rank of U.S. Navy Lieutenant in 1969.