Here are the latest events.
Here are the latest events.
Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute
Neil Chilson is the Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute. Prior to this position, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. Chilson is a lawyer, computer scientist, and author of the book “Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World.”
Chilson was previously the senior research fellow for Technology and Innovation at Stand Together, where he guided efforts to understand and promote the legal and cultural paradigms that best enable people to discover, innovate, and improve all our lives.
Before Stand Together, Chilson was the Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, where he focused on the economics of privacy and blockchain-related issues. Previously, he was an attorney advisor to Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen. In both roles he advised Chairman Ohlhausen and worked with staff on nearly every major technology-related case, report, workshop, or other FTC proceeding since January 2014. Neil joined the FTC from telecom firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer. Neil is frequently quoted by the press and his work has appeared in numerous news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USAToday, and Newsweek. Neil has a J.D. from The George Washington Law School, a M.S. in computer science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in computer science from Harding University.
Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Georgetown Law
Jessica Rich, former Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, spent more than two and a half decades battling deceptive and fraudulent business practices at the Federal Trade Commission. She is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and well-respected consumer champions in the United States. Rich led the expansion of the FTC’s expertise in technology through the creation of the Office of Technology Research and Investigations (OTech). She also oversaw the development of influential FTC policy reports, including reports on the Internet of Things, Big Data, data brokers, mobile apps, and cross-device tracking.
Most recently, Rich served as the Vice President of Consumer Policy and Mobilization at Consumer Reports, where she led the organization's efforts to address the most urgent threats and pain points consumers face today, such as data privacy and security, health care costs, food safety, corporate accountability, and fairness and transparency in financial markets. She is a graduate of New York University Law School (1987) and Harvard University (1983).
Rich’s work at the Institute includes writing in her areas of expertise, participating in policy convenings, and serving as a resource to the Georgetown Law community.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Sean Royall serves as the firm’s Global Practice Head for Antitrust and Consumer Protection. He has spent his entire career handling complex litigation matters and government investigations and is among the country’s most experienced and highly regarded antitrust lawyers. He focuses broadly on antitrust and consumer protection litigation, government investigations, and counseling, and is a highly experienced courtroom litigator with a stellar track record for winning high-stakes cases. Sean is equally effective navigating complex government investigations and advising clients on the details of a wide range of strategic antitrust and consumer protection issues.
Sean previously served at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. His antitrust career, both in government and private practice, has included work on many major mergers and acquisitions, as well as lead roles in complex litigation matters that often intersect with other areas of law, including patent law, various federal regulatory regimes, consumer protection, and privacy. Sean has deep experience representing clients across a range of industries, including biopharma, healthcare, e-commerce, telecom, financial services, energy, transportation, software, and semiconductors. In addition to his work on U.S. antitrust and consumer protection matters, Sean has worked and advised on many similar cases and investigations in Europe and other parts of the world.
While in government, Sean was the lead trial lawyer in the FTC’s landmark monopolization suit against computer chip maker Rambus Inc., a novel case that established new legal standards applicable to patent disclosure within industry standard-setting consortiums. More recently, Sean played an important role on the trial team for AT&T in the company’s victory over the Department of Justice’s antitrust challenge to AT&T’s US$85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. In addition to his trial experience, Sean has successfully argued appeals in courts around the country.
Sean also has a nationally prominent reputation for his work in the consumer protection area, where he has particularly deep experience handling FTC investigations and associated litigation focused on advertising, marketing, privacy, and data security issues. In 2018-19, for example, Sean served as lead counsel for Facebook in connection with the FTC’s extensive privacy-related investigation and subsequent settlement. He brings to this area of his practice deep knowledge of applicable law and agency practice, as well as the skills of an accomplished litigator.
For well more than a decade, Sean has been given a Band 1 ranking by Chambers USA (2007-2023), which has described him as “top of the field,” “a star in the antitrust world both in counseling and litigation,” and an “extremely talented lawyer and exceptional litigator.”
Sean’s other recognitions include being ranked in Chambers Global for Antitrust – USA (2020-2023); endorsed as “Highly Recommended (Texas)” by Global Competition Review (2022); named a “Litigation Star” for Intellectual Property, Competition/Antitrust, Appellate, and Commercial work by Benchmark Litigation (2023). He is named in Who’s Who Legal in Competition (2021); The Best Lawyers in America as “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2015, 2018); and The Best Lawyers in America as “Litigation: Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2019). He has also been named to the “All-Star List” by BTI Services (2017) and deemed a “National Antitrust MVP” by Law360 (2015); a “Mergers and Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer” by National Law Journal (2015); and a “Life Sciences Star” in Antitrust (2022) and Competition and Antitrust (2018–2019) by LMG Life Sciences. Sean was also named one of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” in 2022.
Partner, Reed Smith LLP
Gerry is a partner in Reed Smith's IP, Tech & Data Group. He focuses his practice on corporate governance, intellectual property, and Internet issues, especially as they relate to privacy, information security and consumer protection. An experienced and pragmatic litigator, Gerry focuses a significant part of his practice on prelitigation and advisory services relating to business strategy for privacy by design, data protection, intellectual property, and emerging technologies and markets, often acting as outside product counsel to leading innovators and disruptive technology companies.
Gerry is designated as a Certified Information Privacy Professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. In recent years, he has helped many automotive, health information technology, data management, advertising and consumer technology companies with information management and protection strategy, including some of the most popular consumer products and services of the past decade.
Deputy Secretary of Transportation, US Department of Transportation
Steven G. Bradbury was sworn in as the Deputy Secretary of Transportation on March 13, 2025, following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate on March 11, 2025. In this role, he oversees the Department’s operating administrations and spearheads initiatives to ensure a safe, efficient, and modern transportation system that strengthens economic productivity and global competitiveness. Deputy Secretary Bradbury also assists Secretary Duffy in managing the Department’s activities, including its workforce of over 58,000 employees and an annual budget exceeding $109 billion.
Bradbury previously served as the 23rd General Counsel of the Department of Transportation from 2017 to 2021, as the Acting Deputy Secretary from 2019, and as Acting Secretary of Transportation in 2021. As General Counsel, he was the chief legal officer, advising on all legal matters and ensuring the integrity and compliance of the Department’s policies and programs.
Before rejoining DOT, Bradbury was a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation from December 2022 to March 2025. He has extensive experience in the public and private sector, having served as Principal Deputy and Acting Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Dechert LLP. Earlier in his career, he clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge James L. Buckley.
Bradbury holds a J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. in English from Stanford University.
Director, Clean Air, Climate & Clean Energy Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
John Walke has spearheaded the organization’s national clean-air advocacy before Congress, in the courts, at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and before the public since 2000. Before joining NRDC, he spent three years working as an attorney in the EPA’s Office of General Counsel, where he handled cases related to permitting, air toxins, monitoring, and enforcement under the Clean Air Act. Prior to that, he was an associate in a private law firm based in Washington, D.C. Walke is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School. He is based in Washington, D.C.
Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Co-Director, Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Adam J. White is the Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the Supreme Court and the administrative state. Concurrently, he codirects the Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
Mr. White practiced constitutional and administrative law, particularly in the regulation of energy and financial markets. He started his legal career as a law clerk for Judge David B. Sentelle at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
Mr. White has written for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Affairs, Commentary, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and Notre Dame Law Review, among other publications. He is a regular contributor to the Yale Journal on Regulation’s Notice and Comment blog, and for many years, he was one of the Weekly Standard’s lead writers on constitutional law and the Supreme Court.
Mr. White has testified often before Congress, including before the Senate’s Committees on the Judiciary; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and before the House’s Judiciary and Financial Services Committees. In 2018, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary called him to testify in Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings to advise senators on Kavanaugh’s approach to administrative law.
In 2021, he served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, where he criticized “Court packing” and other efforts to restructure the Supreme Court. In 2017, he was appointed to serve on the Administrative Conference of the United States. He also serves on the leadership council for the American Bar Association’s Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section, which he will chair in 2023–24. Before joining AEI, he was a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Mr. White has a JD from Harvard Law School and a bachelor of business administration from the College of Business at the University of Iowa.
President, Harned Strategies LLC
Karen Harned is President at Harned Strategies LLC. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, a post she held from 2002-2022. Prior to joining the Legal Center, Ms. Harned was an attorney at a Washington, D.C. law firm specializing in food and drug law, where she represented several small and large businesses and their respective trade associations before Congress and federal agencies. She also served as Assistant Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma from August of 1989 to March of 1993. Ms. Harned received her B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1989 and her J.D. from The George Washington University National Law Center in 1995. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
As Executive Director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center, Ms. Harned commented regularly on small business cases before federal and state courts, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. She has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, NBC Nightly News, CNN, CNBC and MSNBC, as well as National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and radio outlets across the country. Her opinion editorials and articles regarding healthcare, lawsuit abuse, regulation, and other issues important to small business have been published in newspapers and other publications nationwide.
Ms. Harned has testified before Congress on the small business impact of regulation and the civil justice system. Additionally, she has conducted numerous webinars and legal compliance seminars for small business owners across the country on issues relating to employment law, including unionization and immigration.
Senior Executive & Director, Center for City Solutions, National League of Cities
Brooks Rainwater is the senior executive and director of the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Center for City Solutions. Rainwater drives the organization’s research agenda, community engagement efforts, and leadership education programming to help city leaders create strong local economies, safe and vibrant neighborhoods, world-class infrastructure, and a sustainable environment.
As an advocate for strong local leadership, Rainwater leads a team of experts across the field of urban policy, and regularly advises cities both in the United States and globally on critical issues faced now and yet to come. He has published a wide variety of reports and articles on innovative solutions that lead to vibrant and successful cities.
Rainwater speaks regularly across the country and overseas on issues facing city leaders. Under his leadership of the Center, it has grown and developed a host of new programs from land use and equitable development to alternative energy and resilience to urban innovation and enhanced city governance strategies.
Rainwater’s research and interests include advancements in technology and city innovation, the sharing economy, and how the rise of state preemption is impacting local authority. His expertise is a draw for media outlets, including the TODAY Show, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, and the New York Times. Rainwater also frequently contributes to publications such as Fast Company, Forbes, CityLab, Business Insider, TechCrunch, and Fortune.
Prior to joining NLC, Rainwater was Director of Public Policy for the American Institute of Architects (AIA). While there he developed the Local Leaders research series and spearheaded the Cities as a Lab initiative focused on the key role cities play as creative instigators of innovative practices.
Rainwater serves on numerous boards with current and past service to the STAR Communities Board, the American Library Association Public Policy Advisory Council, the International Advisory Board for the City of Rotterdam, and the Arlington County Environment and Energy Conservation Commission.
Vice President for Litigation & General Counsel, Goldwater Institute
Jon Riches is the Vice President for Litigation for the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and General Counsel for the Institute. He litigates in federal and state trial and appellate courts in the areas of economic liberty, regulatory reform, free speech, taxpayer protections, public labor issues, government transparency, and school choice, among others.
Jon has developed and authored several pieces of legislation, including the landmark Right to Earn a Living Act, which provides some of the greatest protections in the country to job-seekers and entrepreneurs facing arbitrary licensing regulations. He also developed legislation eliminating deference to administrative agencies in Arizona—a first-of-its-kind regulatory reform that can serve as a model for the rest of the country.
His work at the Institute has been covered by national media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CBS This Morning, Bloomberg News, and Politico. Jon is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project: State and Local Working Group.
Prior to joining the Goldwater Institute, Jon served on active duty in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. While on active duty, Jon represented hundreds of clients, litigated dozens of court-martial cases, and advised commanders on a vast array of legal issues.
He previously clerked for Sen. Jon Kyl on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, worked for the Rules Committee in the Arizona State Senate, and clerked in the Office of Counsel to the President at the White House. Jon received his B.A. from Boston College, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. from the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law.
Jon served as a presidentially appointed Panel Member on the Federal Service Impasses Panel. He is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and an Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University School of Law. Jon is a native of Phoenix.
Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Noah Joshua Phillips is Co-Chair of the Antitrust Practice and previously served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. He advises clients on a range of antitrust issues, including mergers and acquisitions, business conduct and compliance, litigation and investigations, and data security and privacy.
On the FTC, Mr. Phillips played an integral role in precedent setting enforcement actions and regulatory efforts concerning antitrust, consumer protection and privacy. He decided dozens of merger and other antitrust enforcement matters across the economy, including in the consumer product, defense, energy, entertainment, healthcare, technology, pharmaceutical and retail industries. Mr. Phillips’ written antitrust opinions were consistently upheld by federal appellate courts.
As Commissioner, Mr. Phillips frequently testified before Congress and represented the FTC before international bodies, including the G7, the Competition Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. He speaks and writes frequently on a range of antitrust, consumer protection and privacy issues.
Prior to the FTC, Mr. Phillips served as Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator John Cornyn, of Texas, on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He advised Senator Cornyn on a variety of legal and policy issues, as well as judicial nominations.
Mr. Phillips received an A.B. magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2000 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2005. He began his career at a New York-based investment bank. After law school, Mr. Phillips clerked for Hon. Edward C. Prado of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and joined Cravath’s Litigation Department in 2006. He left the Firm in 2010, and he rejoined Cravath as a partner in December 2022.
President, Harned Strategies LLC
Karen Harned is President at Harned Strategies LLC. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, a post she held from 2002-2022. Prior to joining the Legal Center, Ms. Harned was an attorney at a Washington, D.C. law firm specializing in food and drug law, where she represented several small and large businesses and their respective trade associations before Congress and federal agencies. She also served as Assistant Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma from August of 1989 to March of 1993. Ms. Harned received her B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1989 and her J.D. from The George Washington University National Law Center in 1995. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
As Executive Director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center, Ms. Harned commented regularly on small business cases before federal and state courts, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. She has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, NBC Nightly News, CNN, CNBC and MSNBC, as well as National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and radio outlets across the country. Her opinion editorials and articles regarding healthcare, lawsuit abuse, regulation, and other issues important to small business have been published in newspapers and other publications nationwide.
Ms. Harned has testified before Congress on the small business impact of regulation and the civil justice system. Additionally, she has conducted numerous webinars and legal compliance seminars for small business owners across the country on issues relating to employment law, including unionization and immigration.
Shareholder, Littler Mendelson P.C.
James A. Paretti, Jr. is an experienced management-side employment and labor relations attorney with in-depth political and policy knowledge of labor, pension, healthcare and employment law, regulations and legislation. Jim is well versed in all aspects of legislative and political processes with demonstrated knowledge in the substance of federal labor and employment policy. He has over two decades of experience working with federal legislators and policymakers, including former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Chairmen of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and senior level administration officials.
Prior to joining Littler, Jim was chief of staff and senior counsel to the acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He provided legal and political counsel with respect to all aspects of agency business, administered and managed the Office of the Chair where he was responsible for over 2,200 employees and a 375 million dollar annual budget, and served as primary liaison to regulated stakeholders and Capitol Hill.
His extensive experience includes developing policy and providing legal counsel on the Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as coordinating external communications and media relations for a senior member of Congress. Jim represented corporate and nonprofit clients in employment litigation in federal and state court, before administrative agencies and in private arbitration while with two Boston firms.
Grosscurth Professor of Law, University of Louisville
John Cross joined the Louisville faculty in 1987 after several years in private practice in Minneapolis. Since coming to Louisville, he has taught and published in a wide variety of areas, ranging from the first-year course in Civil Procedure to Animal Law. In recent years, however, he has increasingly focused his efforts in two broad areas: intellectual property law (both domestic and international), and the law governing court systems (Civil Procedure, Conflicts, Federal Jurisdiction, and Comparative Systems). Because of his exemplary work in the intellectual property field, Cross was named the Grosscurth Chair in Law in 2005.
His teaching interests reflect this same focus. He currently oversees the intellectual property curriculum at Louisville, and teaches many of the courses in that curriculum, including the Intellectual Property Survey, Trademark Law, Intellectual Property and Competition, Authors' and Performers' Rights, International Intellectual Property Law, Law and Computers, and Design Protection Law. He also continues to teach courses in court law, especially the first-year Civil Procedure Course and the capstone course in Federal Jurisdiction.
Cross' recent research parallels his teaching. This work has delved into various issues - both historic and contemporary - in intellectual property. For example, a recent article argues for the abolition of the current dual system of federal and state trademark law, proposing a unitary system in its place. Another article, published in a South African journal and reprinted in a German publication, argues that it is feasible to use an intellectual property model to protect folklore and traditional scientific knowledge. John is also a co-author of a casebook for the first year Civil Procedure course, along with Les Abramson at Louisville and Ellen Deason at Ohio State.
Because of the broad scope of Cross' research, his work has been recognized both in the United States and abroad. Most significantly, in 2006 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws H.C. from the University of Turku in Finland, in recognition of his significant contributions to legal scholarship. He has also received two Fulbright awards (the maximum allowable), one in Finland (1995), the other in Ireland (2000). John has been invited to teach classes and/or give lectures in a number of foreign locales, including institutions in Argentina, Canada, Germany, England, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Sweden. In January of 2008, he was a visiting professor at the University of Western Ontario.
Pravel, Hewitt, Kimball and Kreiger Professorial Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Patent Law, George Washington University Law School
Ralph Oman practices and teaches copyright law at The George Washington University Law School as the Pravel Professorial Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Patent law. He also serves as a Fellow on the faculty of the law school’s Creative and Innovative Economy Center. He has taught at The George Washington University Law School since 1993. From 1994 to 2008, he was counsel to the international law firm, Dechert LLP. He has more than 36 years of experience in intellectual property law and legislation.
Before entering private practice in 1994, Mr. Oman was the register of copyrights of the United States (1985-93), the chief government official charged with administering the national copyright law. During his tenure as register, he helped move the United States into the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the oldest and most prestigious international copyright treaty, a goal sought by U.S. Registers for 100 years.
Prior to his appointment as register, Mr. Oman served as chief counsel for the Senate Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In his total of 10 years on Capitol Hill working for Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania and Senator Charles McCurdy Mathias of Maryland, he participated directly in many legislative enactments, most notably the 1976 revision of the copyright law. In 2002 he received the Jefferson Medal in recognition of his lifelong contribution to strong intellectual property protection.
Mr. Oman continues to promote intellectual property protection. He often serves in judicial proceedings as an expert witness, and he lectures frequently at venues around the world.
At Georgetown University Law Center, Mr. Oman served as executive editor of the Journal of International Law. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable C. Stanley Blair of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Prior to law school, Mr. Oman was a Naval Flight Officer, and he spent two tours of duty in Vietnam with his squadron. He was also a Foreign Service Officer and served as the U.S. Vice Consul in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
CoFounder, RightsClick
Steven’s extensive background in IP law and policy began as an attorney for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, after which, he served as senior counsel for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office and then as Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for the Global Intellectual Property Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Before co-founding RightsClick, he started the IP consultancy Sentinel Worldwide, and teaches copyright law at George Washington University Law School.
Alston & Bird Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law
Professor Young teaches constitutional law, federal courts, and foreign relations law. He is one of the nation's leading authorities on the constitutional law of federalism, having written extensively on the Rehnquist Court's "Federalist Revival" and the difficulties confronting courts as they seek to draw lines between national and state authority. He also is an active commentator on foreign relations law, where he focuses on the interaction between domestic and supranational courts and the application of international law by domestic courts. Professor Young also writes on constitutional interpretation and constitutional theory. He has been known to dabble in maritime law and comparative constitutional law.
A native of Abilene, Texas, Professor Young joined the Duke Law faculty in 2008, after serving as the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, where he had taught since 1999. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1990 and Harvard Law School in 1993. After law school, he served as a law clerk to Judge Michael Boudin of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (1993-94) and to Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court (1995-96). Professor Young practiced law at Cohan, Simpson, Cowlishaw, & Wulff in Dallas, Texas (1994-95) and at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. (1996-98), where he specialized in appellate litigation. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School (2004-05) and Villanova University School of Law (1998-99), as well as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center (1997).
Elected to the American Law Institute in 2006, Professor Young is an active participant in both public and private litigation in his areas of interest. He has been the principal author of amicus briefs on behalf of leading constitutional scholars in several recent Supreme Court cases, including Medellin v. Texas(concerning presidential power and the authority of the International Court of Justice over domestic courts) and Gonzales v. Raich (concerning federal power to regulate medical marijuana).
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP
Ed Burbach is a Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP.
As a focused litigation lawyer, Ed Burbach represents corporations, individuals and governmental entities in matters involving local, state and federal governments – with emphasis on the state of Texas. He has special experience as a Medicaid fraud attorney, with deceptive trade practices, FTC, FOIA litigation /Public Information Act litigation and attorney general opinions. Ed also has nearly 30 years of experience litigating significant government, energy, maritime, insurance, financial services, pharmaceutical, health care provider, retailer, corporate, multistate and class action claims.
Appointed by now-Texas Governor Greg Abbott as his original Deputy Attorney General for Litigation, Ed served as Texas’ lead litigator and directly supervised all of Attorney General Abbott’s 11 civil litigation divisions, including 250 attorneys, over 600 employees and a $35 million budget. Ed also served as Texas’ main litigation liaison with the National Association of Attorneys General during Attorney General Abbott’s first and second terms. Ed maintained a heavy litigation docket representing the state and its leadership in high-profile litigation, such as Medicaid fraud, energy, financial services, environmental, Public Information Act, the historic Texas Tobacco Settlement, school finance, congressional redistricting and election law challenges brought by major political candidates. Upon announcing Ed’s return to private practice Governor Abbott advised:
“For more than three years, Ed Burbach has been a trusted advisor whose expert legal skills and careful management have yielded real results for the State of Texas,” said Attorney General Abbott.
“Under Ed’s leadership, our Consumer Protection Division obtained tens of millions of dollars in restitution for Texas consumers, and our Civil Medicaid Fraud Division uncovered more than a hundred million dollars in fraudulent Medicaid overpayments. Ed also guided the State through its most difficult legal disputes, including lawsuits challenging the Texas tobacco settlement and the state’s school funding plan. We all appreciate Ed’s distinguished service to this agency and wish him well on his return to the private sector.”
Ed’s clients often face costly, multiyear, high-stakes claims. For example, in State of Texas v. Petroleum Wholesale, et al., Ed defended claims brought by the state of Texas alleging $200 million in civil penalties for allegedly misrepresenting the amount of fuel delivered at retail gasoline and diesel pumps in Texas. He also served as lead counsel in the defense of the state Multidistrict Litigation Panel proceeding and as lead counsel in defense of various state purported class action litigation.
Ed serves as the Austin Office Chair for Corporate, and he remains active with the attorney’s general offices throughout the United States.
Co-CEO, Neora
Deborah Heisz is the Co-CEO of Neora, a Texas-based global relationship marketing company offering proprietary age-fighting skincare and wellness products.
With more than 20 years of leadership experience in a variety of roles within the multibillion dollar direct selling industry, Deborah Heisz has successfully built and led strong teams to achieve strategic goals.
Deborah has successfully chaired Neora’s global steering committee and directed the leadership team to position the company for new growth domestically and internationally. Deborah is driven to ensure that Neora continues to move forward as a unique model of positivity, diversity, innovation and integrity in the worldwide direct selling industry.
In addition to her position as Neora’s Co-CEO, Deborah maintains her role as Chief Executive Officer of Live Happy, LLC. Deborah is the co-founder and editorial director of the positive lifestyle magazine Live Happy and the happiness movement. A graduate of Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in English, Deborah also holds an MBA from The University of Dallas.
Founder & CEO of The Hargan Group
Eric D. Hargan is the Founder and CEO of The Hargan Group, a healthcare consulting firm. Eric previously served as the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 2017 to 2021; he also served as Acting Secretary for several months in 2017-2018. HHS is the largest department in the federal government and has an annual budget of more than $1.3 trillion and over 80,000 employees across 26 divisions. As Deputy Secretary, he oversaw the development and approval of all HHS, CMS and FDA regulations and significant guidances, as well as the day-to-day operations and management of the department, and he led policy and strategy development. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Hargan also served at HHS in a variety of capacities, including holding the position of Acting Deputy Secretary.