Take Back Action Fund Team Members

As Take Back Action Fund expands into new states, we present this update list of our team members.

Our Team

1. John Pudner (President) - Pudner spent 25 years running Republican political campaigns

including the faith-based turnout in 16 states for George W. Bush and was first featured on Fox

News after running Republican Dave Brat’s campaign to the historic upset of Republican Majority

Leader Eric Cantor.

2. Charles Hellwig (Board Chair) - Hellwig, Wiechmann, and Pudner first worked together when

all three lived in Virginia - recruiting well over 10,000 delegates to the 2-day Republican convention

to nominate candidates. They worked the Virginia GOP conventions that set world records for a

political convention in 1993, 1994 and 1997. Hellwig then moved to South Carolina where he built

a real estate business and won political campaigns and now splits time between Myrtle Beach, SC

and Raleigh, NC where he has been elected County GOP Chair, a position he left before taking

over the Chair spot for TBAF.

3. Randy Brooks (At-Large Board Member) - Brooks is the CEO of Avast Real Estate and built

his real estate operation of more than 100 people with his method of personal coaching ­- this

following years of experience having interactions with politicians involving development deals.

Randy is one of the greatest promoters of multifaceted efforts from Take Back Our Republic’s

mission to supporting local youth sports. As a developer, he learned to build in acres for holding

ponds and other methods to prevent developments from flooding due to a lack of infrastructure

planning.

4. Perry O. Hooper, Jr. (At-Large Board Member) - Hooper, a key power player in Alabama

politics, is named after his father, who in 1994 became the state’s first elected Republican Justice

and first Republican Chief Justice to the Supreme Court since Reconstruction.  Hooper Jr.,

however, is a political force in his own right. First elected to the Alabama State House in 1983,

Hooper helped guide the conservative movement in Alabama as a leader on tort reform, the

creation of enterprise zones, banning partial birth abortions, and paving the way for new business

development. Having a hand in most conservative victories in the state, he has also been

instrumental nationally as a six-time delegate to the Republican National Convention.

5. Maria Yost (Board Secretary) - After impressing other Action Fund Board Members with

her scheduling and logistical prowess for Take Back Our Republic, the sister organization of

the Action Fund, Yost was elected to the Action Fund Board. 

6. Lars Wiechmann (National Field Director) - Wiechmann brings his skills and experience

in field organization and grassroots mobilization gained through his career in Republican

political campaigns and issue advocacy efforts across the country.  Now based in South Carolina,

he started at a young age in his native Virginia, first as a Field Director in races for Congress and

Governor, then as a Campaign Manager for Virginia legislative candidates that included upset

defeats of entrenched incumbents.  He also served as Finance Director and built from scratch

the fundraising operation that elected a first-time candidate as Virginia’s Lt. Governor - an

upset victory over a popular member of Congress.  After the election, he served in the Lt.

Governor’s Office as Policy and Legislative Affairs Director. (See also notes on Charles

Hellwig above). 

7. Kristi Fortenberry (Georgia State Director) - Fortenberry’s combination of military and

political backgrounds tie directly into TBAF’s current effort in Georgia to advocate the

advantages of using an instant runoff system to allow voters to have their votes counted

without requiring casting a second ballot - a particular hardship for military voters overseas.

7. Joshua Jones (lobbyist) - Jones and Pudner worked on various campaigns together

from Bush 2000 to Dave Brat's upset of Eric Cantor in 2014.

7. Baron Coleman (general counsel) - Coleman is more than just an excellent election

lawyer. His work as a conservative talk radio host and tested political consultant that led

campaigns unseating entrenched multi-term members of state legislatures prepare him

for harding hitting battles, which have included leading the research team in the case that

led to the indictment and removal of a House Speaker. Prior to the formation of TBAF,

Coleman helped Pudner win local fights to stop zoning variances in the Midwest that would

have led to traffic, flooding, and other environmental issues for communities.