He was also a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.[3] As of 2018[update] he was on the board of directors of Zions Bancorporation, a large bank holding company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He attended Brigham Young University (BYU) for two years and was a member of the varsity men's tennis team[5] before serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United Kingdom.

[7] Porter returned to government service at the beginning of Ronald Reagan's administration, serving as executive secretary of the Cabinet Council on Economic Affairs and as director of White House Office of Policy Development.

He returned to the White House at the beginning of George H. W. Bush's administration, where he served as Assistant to the President for Economic and Domestic Policy from 1989 to 1993.

Grain Agreement, and edited volumes on Efficiency, Equity, and Legitimacy: The Multilateral Trading System at the Millennium, and most recently, New Directions in Financial Services Regulation.