Goettler joined the board of the Cato Institute in September 2014. He serves on the board of trustees for the New York City‐Southern New York Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, where he is a past board chair. Goettler is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and has traveled extensively meeting and assisting free‐market and libertarian organizations and freedom advocates in such countries as Nigeria, Namibia, Morocco, Iran, Nepal, Vietnam, and many others.
Goettler received BS and MS degrees in 1986 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.