John Tamny is editor of RealClearMarkets and Forbes Opinions, a senior economic adviser to H.C. Wainwright Economics, and a senior economic adviser to Toreador Research and Trading (www.trtadvisors.com).
Speaker Information
Josh Blackman
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Biography
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Biography
Judge Carlos Bea serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Stanford University in 1956 and his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1958. Judge Bea was born in San Sebastian, Spain, and immigrated with his family to Cuba in 1939. In 1952, he represented Cuba on the Cuban National basketball team in the Helsinki Olympics. Judge Bea became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1958. He engaged in private practice in San Francisco, principally in the area of civil trials (jury and non-jury), from 1959-75 at Dunne, Phelps & Mills and from 1975-90 at Carlos Bea, A Law Corporation. He taught courses in civil litigation advocacy at Hastings College of Law and Stanford Law School. From 1990 to 2003, Judge Bea served as a judge of the San Francisco Superior Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was confirmed in 2003.
Judge Bea and his wife Louise reside in San Francisco, where they raised their four sons, Sebastian, Alexander, Nicholas, and Dominic.
Robert Alt is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Buckeye Institute where he has catalyzed exponential growth since he took the organization’s helm in 2012. He has since founded Buckeye’s renowned Economic Research Center and established its impactful Legal Center.
Alt is a distinguished scholar and attorney with particular expertise in legal policy, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional law. He previously worked for former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, regularly provides commentary on television and radio programs, and his writings have appeared in countless outlets.
In 2004, Alt spent five months in Iraq as an embedded war correspondent.
Alt has testified before Congress multiple times—including at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan—the Federal Election Commission regarding matters of constitutional and administrative law, and numerous state legislatures.
Alt serves as an officer on the boards of The Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyers Chapter. He taught national security law, criminal law, and legislation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as constitutional law and political parties and interest groups at Ashland University.
Alt earned his Doctor of Law degree from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Symposium Editor and the winner of the Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy as well as research assistant to Professor Richard Epstein. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alt graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science magna cum laude from Azusa Pacific University where he also won the Outstanding Senior Award in Political Science.
Alt is an accomplished high-altitude alpinist and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed 6.75 of the famed Seven Summits of the World including Mount Everest. He is the creator of PROFOUND CLIMBING™ and a frequent speaker across the country and around the world on legal and public policy topics as well as effective leadership, management, decision-making, and teamwork in contexts ranging from extraordinary life/death situations to ordinary professional/business settings.
Paul Beard II is an environmental and land-use partner with FisherBroyles LLP.
Speaker Information
Scott Walker
Governor, State of Wisconsin
Biography
Born on November 2, 1967 to Llew and Pat Walker in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Scott spent his early years in Plainfield, Iowa, where Llew served as pastor of a local church.
The family moved to Delavan, Wisconsin, in 1977 when Scott’s father was called to pastor a church there. Scott was involved in sports, band, church, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, remaining active in the Boy Scouts of America to this day.
While in high school, Scott was selected to attend the American Legion’s Badger Boys State Program in Ripon. He was subsequently selected as one of two representatives to Boys Nation in Washington, D.C., and the experience opened Scott’s eyes to public service.
In 1986, Scott moved to Milwaukee to attend Marquette University. While still in school, he worked for IBM before leaving to work full-time in financial development for the American Red Cross.
Scott was elected to the State Assembly in 1993. While there, he chaired several committees and authored important pieces of legislation. He was re-elected four times.
In 2002, Scott was elected as Milwaukee County Executive and went to work reforming the scandal-ridden county government. For the next eight years, Scott faithfully kept his promise to spend taxpayer money as if it were his own. He cut the county’s debt by 30 percent, reduced the county workforce by more than 25 percent, and authored nine consecutive budgets without increasing the property tax levy from the previous year.
Walker was first inaugurated as Governor on January 3, 2011, and immediately set our state on a path toward government reform and fiscal order. When he took office, Wisconsin faced a projected $3.6 billion deficit, more than $800 million in unpaid bills, and the loss of nearly 134,000 jobs over the previous four years. Governor Walker made tough, but prudent, decisions to ensure our children and grandchildren were not buried under a mountain of economically crippling debt; he paid the bills, balanced the budget, cut taxes, and put in place reforms that are growing jobs in Wisconsin.
Governor Walker was sworn in to his second term on January 5, 2015. He is focused on continuing to move Wisconsin forward with his vision of freedom and prosperity for all who live in this great state. He will continue to reform education to ensure accountability for all schools receiving public funds, as well as make sure no school district in the state is required to adopt the Common Core standards. He will also continue cutting bureaucratic red tape so government is more effective, more efficient, and more accountable.
Scott is married to Tonette, and they have two sons in college. They are active in the community and their church.