Wayne A. Abernathy, Wild Bells
Wayne A. Abernathy is a former U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions under President George W. Bush, receiving the Alexander Hamilton Award in recognition of his service. In that office he was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Prior to his work at the Treasury, Mr. Abernathy served as Staff Director of the Senate Banking Committee, under Chairman Phil Gramm.
Following his service at the Treasury, Mr. Abernathy worked for 15 years on the staff of the American Bankers Association, as Executive Vice President for Financial Institutions Policy and Regulatory Affairs.
Previous experience with the Senate Banking Committee includes serving as Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Securities during 1995-1998. From 1989 until 1994, Mr. Abernathy was a Republican economist for the committee. He previously worked as a senior legislative assistant for Senator Gramm during 1987-1989 and as an economist for the Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on International Finance and Monetary Policy during 1981-1986, under Chairman Jake Garn.
Mr. Abernathy earned his bachelor’s degree in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University in 1978. In 1980, he received a master’s degree in International Studies from the School of Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University.
Retired, Winston & Strawn LLP
Jerry Loeser is of counsel in the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn, and his practice focuses on banking regulation. He has extensive experience in counseling financial services clients on, among other things, bank acquisitions, privacy, financial modernization, the USA PATRIOT Act, Basel II and III, lending limits, capital, trust, affiliate transactions, and Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC, and CFPB regulations.
Prior to working at large corporate law firms, Jerry was chief regulatory and compliance counsel for Comerica Bank, where he also served as senior vice president and deputy general counsel and as general counsel of its retail bank division. Before that, he served as chief regulatory in-house counsel at Wells Fargo & Co. Jerry began his legal career advising the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.
Executive Vice President of Global Governance, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Walmart Inc.
Rachel Brand is Walmart’s executive vice president of global governance, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary. She oversees the company’s global legal, compliance, ethics, corporate governance, digital citizenship, aviation, investigative, and corporate security functions, including Walmart’s Emergency Operations Center.
Immediately before joining Walmart, Rachel served as the United States Associate Attorney General and holds the distinction of being the first woman to serve in this role. She had previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy during President George W. Bush’s administration. Her other government service includes an appointment by President Obama to serve as a Member of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, service as an Associate Counsel to the President at the White House, and judicial clerkships with Justice Charles Fried of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and Justice Anthony Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States. In the private sector, Rachel was a lawyer in private practice at two law firms in Washington, D.C. and served as the Vice President and Chief Counsel for Regulatory Litigation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center.
Rachel serves on the board of directors for the Walmart Foundation and is the executive sponsor for Walmart’s Tribal Voices Associate Resource Group. Outside of Walmart, she serves on the board of directors for the International Justice Mission and is a member of The American Law Institute.
Rachel earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota-Morris and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Senior Counsel, Center for Democracy & Technology
James X. Dempsey is a Senior Counsel at CDT, working on Fourth Amendment issues, consumer privacy, and other topics. He has been with CDT since 1997, serving in a variety of roles, including as Executive Director from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, he established CDT West, in San Francisco. He coordinates the Digital Due Process coalition, a diverse group of companies, advocacy groups, and think tanks working to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. From 2001 to 2007, he led CDT’s Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI), which worked with government officials, industry and human rights organizations on Internet policy issues in developing and transitional countries.
Mr. Dempsey is the author or co-author of numerous articles in law reviews and other journals on privacy and Internet policy. He is co-author of the book Terrorism & the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security (New Press, Third edition, 2006) (with Prof. David Cole of Georgetown). He is widely quoted in the media and has testified numerous times before Congressional committees.
Mr. Dempsey began his career as an associate with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter. From 1985 to 1995, he was assistant counsel to the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. He worked on issues at the intersection of national security and constitutional rights, including terrorism, counter-intelligence, oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and electronic surveillance laws, as well as criminal justice issues. Prior to joining CDT, Jim was Deputy Director of the non-profit Center for National Security Studies and special counsel to the National Security Archive, a non-governmental organization that uses the Freedom of Information Act to gain the declassification of documents on U.S. foreign policy.
Mr. Dempsey is a graduate of Yale College (BA 1975) and Harvard Law School (JD 1979). He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia.
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Gates Corporation
Matthew R. A. Heiman joined the Company in May 2026 and has served as the Company’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since June 2026. As Chief Legal Officer, Mr. Heiman is responsible for all legal functions for Gates, including securities and corporate governance, M&A, litigation, commercial, regulatory, compliance, patents and trademarks, real estate, employment and labor, sustainability and environmental matters. Prior to joining Gates, Mr. Heiman held senior legal leadership roles at Waystar, where he served as Chief Legal & Administrative Officer from 2023 to 2025 and as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from 2020 to 2023. Prior to that, he was with Johnson Controls, where he served as Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and Associate General Counsel. Mr. Heiman has been a Senior Fellow for the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law since 2018.
Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Stewart Baker is a partner in the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. From 2005 to 2009, he was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security. His law practice covers cybersecurity, data protection, homeland security, and travel and foreign investment regulation; he has been awarded one patent.
Mr. Baker has been General Counsel of the National Security Agency and General Counsel of the commission that investigated WMD intelligence failures prior to the Iraq war. He is the author of Skating on Stilts, a book on terrorism, cybersecurity, and other technology issues; he also hosts the weekly Cyberlaw Podcast.
Senior Policy Counsel and Deputy Director, Project on Freedom, S, the Center for Democracy and Technology
Harley Geiger is Senior Counsel and Deputy Director of the Freedom, Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT). Mr. Geiger works on issues related to civil liberties and government surveillance, computer crime, and cybersecurity.
From 2012-2014, Mr. Geiger served as Senior Legislative Counsel for U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren of California. There he was the lead staffer for technology and Internet issues, and was instrumental in helping develop Rep. Lofgren’s Internet freedom agenda, including legislation to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, ECPA, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and copyright laws.
From 2008-2012, Mr. Geiger worked at CDT as Staff Attorney and Senior Policy Counsel, focusing on surveillance, consumer privacy, health information technology, and data security. Prior to working at CDT, Mr. Geiger clerked with the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, where he worked on information security public awareness campaigns. In 2007, Mr. Geiger clerked with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, where he worked on health privacy, telephone network security, employee verification, and human rights issues. In 2006, he clerked with the Minority Leader of the Missouri House of Representatives, where he testified before a Missouri Senate Committee on technology policy.
Mr. Geiger earned a BA in Journalism, MA in Journalism, and JD from the University of Missouri – Columbia. He is CIPP/US certified and Politico named him one of the Emerging Tech Leaders of 2013.
Founder, Latitude, LLC
Brian Hook is the founder of Latitude, LLC, an international strategic consulting firm based in Washington, DC.
Mr. Hook worked on the Romney campaign as senior advisor on foreign policy. He chaired the foreign policy and national security task forces of the Romney Readiness Project. From 2010-2011, he was the foreign policy director of Governor Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign.
Mr. Hook served in a number of positions during the Bush Administration, including Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations; Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Special Assistant to the President for Policy, Office of the Chief of Staff; and Counsel, Office of Legal Policy, at the Justice Department.
From 1999-2003, he practiced corporate law at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C.
Before practicing law, he served as a policy advisor to Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and to U.S. Congressman James Leach.
Senior Fellow in National Security, Human Rights First
Heather Hurlburt is a Senior Fellow in National Security at Human RIghts First. Previously, she served as the Executive Director of the National Security Network, an organization whose priorities include working with political leaders, experts, and advocates to create a safer, saner foreign policy. The 2008 presidential election cycle provided the impetus for NSN's progressive national security rapid response structure to augment efforts of candidates and campaigns.
Ms. Hurlburt brings nearly two decades of experience developing, shaping and communicating U.S. foreign policy. For five years she ran her own communications and strategy practice, with a broad client list including individual political, entertainment, and educational leaders, as well as groups such as DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa), the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Stanley Foundation, and many others. She is a Senior Adviser to the U.S. in the World Project of the New America Foundation.
Ms. Hurlburt served in the Clinton Administration, both in the State Department and as a Special Assistant and Speechwriter to President Clinton. She was the Washington Deputy Director of the International Crisis Group (ICG) and served as a Program Director at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She spent four years as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Ms. Hurlburt is co-author of US in the World: Talking Global Issues with Americans, published by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Aspen Institute in 2004 to help foreign policy experts and advocates communicate effectively with American citizens. She has published opinion pieces widely in print and online, comments frequently on presidential speech-making and other topics, and blogs regularly at www.democracyarsenal.org.
She is a graduate of Brown University and the George Washington University and lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and son.
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