David Miscavige (born April 30, 1960) is Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center (RTC), a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology, and "holds the ultimate ecclesiastical authority regarding the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard’s religious technologies." Although Religious Technology Center is a separate corporation from the Church of Scientology, Miscavige is officially described as "worldwide ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion." Behar, Richard blank">The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power _Time Magazine May 6, 1991 page 50 In January 2008, when questioned about the allegation that Tom Cruise was second in command of the Church, Elliot Abelson, general counsel for the Church of Scientology stated: "The only person who runs the Church and makes policy decisions is David Miscavige."

A second-generation Scientologist, Miscavige was an assistant to Hubbard while still a teenager, and rose to a leadership position within the organization by the early 1980s. He was named Chairman of the Board RTC in 1986, some months after Hubbard's death. He reportedly lives at Scientology's Gold Base, which is also the main RTC headquarters, near Hemet, California.