Carl Helstrom was chairman of State Policy Network from 1999 to 2024.

He is currently executive director of The JM Foundation and The Milbank Foundation and serves on the boards of the A. P. Kirby Jr. Foundation, the Chase Foundation of Virginia, and the National Review Institute.

He has also been a program consultant for individual donors and private foundations and served as vice president for programs at The Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation from 2017 to 2023. Early in his career, Carl worked with Atlas Economic Research Foundation (now the Atlas Network), Capital Research Center, and the Foundation for Economic Education.