Grove Human Rights Scholar, Hunter College
Dr. Teng Biao is an academic lawyer, currently Grove Human Rights Scholar at Hunter College. He co-founded two human rights NGOs in Beijing –the Open Constitution Initiative, and China Against the Death Penalty. He is one of the earliest promoters of the Rights Defense Movement in China, and the manifesto Charter 08, for which Dr. Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His research includes human rights, criminaljustice, social movement and political transition in China. Teng is working on two books, one is on China’s human rights movement, and another on China’s threat to global human rights and freedom.
Faculty Director Emeritus, New York University School of Law
Jerome A. Cohen, a professor at NYU School of Law since 1990 and U.S.-Asia Law Institute Faculty Director Emeritus, is a leading American expert on Chinese law and government. A pioneer in the field, Prof. Cohen began studying and teaching about China’s legal system in the early 1960s and from 1964 to 1979 introduced the teaching of Asian law into the curriculum of Harvard Law School, where he served as Jeremiah Smith Professor, Associate Dean and Director of East Asian Legal Studies. Prof. Cohen served for several years as C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he currently is an Adjunct Senior Fellow. In addition, he has published hundreds of scholarly articles on various topics as well as a book, China Today, co-authored with his wife, Joan Lebold Cohen, and a regular series of journalistic opinion pieces for various newspapers. Today, Prof. Cohen continues his research and writing on Asian law, specifically focusing on legal institutions, criminal justice reform, dispute resolution, human rights and the role of international law relating to China and Taiwan.
Jerry has his and his wife's name in the chair professor of Harvard Law School in 2018 and received a honorary doctor degree from Yale University in 2020.
Professor of Law, Catholic University of America
Robert Destro served as Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). He has a long history as a human rights advocate and civil rights attorney with expertise in elections, employment, and constitutional law. Destro has served on the faculty at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law since 1982 and served as its interim dean from 1999 to 2001. He was founding director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Law and Religion and served as the Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies from June 2017 to September 2019. He served as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1983-1989. His legal work includes collaboration with the Peace Research Institute Oslo in a fifteen-year dialogue among Muslim, Christian, and Jewish leaders in the legal, business, and religious fields in the United States and the Middle East as well as efforts promoting the release of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in the Middle East. He has served as voting rights counsel for the Ohio Secretary of State and has advocated for the first amendment rights of individuals and organizations.
He earned a B.A. from Miami University, Ohio, and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He is an active member of the Bar in Ohio and California.
The rest of his bio including his publications are available on the Catholic University Faculty page linked here.
Professor, University of Miami
June Teufel Dreyer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, where she teaches courses on China, U.S. defense policy, and international relations. Professor Dreyer has lectured to, and taught a course for, National Security Agency analysts, consults for organizations including the National Geographic and Centra Technology. She is a senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a member of International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Formerly senior Far East specialist at the Library of Congress, Dr. Dreyer has also served as Asia policy advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations and as commissioner of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission established by the U.S. Congress. Dr Dreyer’s most recent book, Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun: Sino-Japanese Relations Past and Present, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016. The tenth edition of her China’s Political System: Modernization and Tradition, is scheduled for publication in 2018. Professor Dreyer received her BA from Wellesley College and her MA and PhD from Harvard, and has lived in China and Japan and paid numerous visits to Taiwan. She has served as a United States Information Agency lecturer, speaking in fourteen Asia-Pacific states. Professor Dreyer has published widely on the Chinese military, Asian-Pacific security issues, China-Taiwan relations, Sino-Japanese relations, ethnic minorities in China, and Chinese foreign policy. In 2017, she received the University of Miami’s faculty senate award as Distinguished Research Professor.
Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law and Faculty Director of International Programs, Hofstra University School of Law
Professor Ku’s primary research interest is the relationship of international law to constitutional law. He has also conducted academic research on a wide range of topics including international dispute resolution, international criminal law, and China’s relationship with international law. He teaches courses such as U.S. constitutional law, U.S. foreign affairs law, transnational law, and international trade and business law. Since 2014, he has served as the faculty director of international programs, overseeing Hofstra Law’s study abroad, exchange and LL.M. programs. Professor Ku also teaches Constitutional Law in our online degree programs: Master of Laws in American Law and Master of Arts in American Legal Studies. He has also been selected as the John DeWitt Gregory Research Scholar and as a Hofstra Law Research Fellow. He is a member of the American Law Institute.
He is the co-author, with John Yoo, of Taming Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World Order (Oxford University Press 2012). He also has published more than 40 law review articles, book chapters and symposia essays. He has given dozens of academic lectures and workshops at major universities and conferences in the United States, Europe and Asia.
He co-founded the leading international law weblog Opinio Juris, which is read daily by thousands worldwide. His essays and op-eds have been published in major news publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the NYTimes.com. He has been frequently interviewed for television news programs and quoted in print and electronic media. He has also signed or submitted amicus briefs to national and international courts and served as an expert witness in both domestic and international proceedings.
Before joining the Hofstra Law faculty, Professor Ku served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and as an Olin Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Virginia Law School. Professor Ku also practiced as an associate at the New York City law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, specializing in litigation and arbitration arising out of international disputes. He has been a visiting professor at the College of William & Mary Marshall- Wythe School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia; a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer in Law at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, China; and a Taiwan Fellow at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. He is a member of the New York Bar and a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.
Attorney, Newsome International Law, LLC
Saul is passionate about international law. Since his creation of the international law practice group at Breazeale, Sachse, and Wilson, LLP, one of Louisiana’s oldest law firms, Saul has advised businesses on trade and investment incentives both locally and abroad. Saul has advised clients on importing, exporting, sanction regimes, and assisted clients in pursuing offshore manufacturing, license agreements, sales agreements and other business ventures. Saul has advised on foreign investment and trade regulations in the United States, including applications to the Committee on Foreign Investments to the United States (CFIUS), export and anti-boycott regulations (EAR), international traffic in arms regulations (ITAR), anti-bribery (FCPA), asset control regulations (OFAC) and customs regulations. Saul has also successfully released assets and transactions that were incorrectly frozen under foreign assets control regulation, and participated in official bilateral meetings with foreign governments.
Saul takes his profession seriously. He is the Secretary of International Law Section of the Louisiana Bar Association and participates in the Export Control and Sanctions Committee of the American Bar Association. Saul was also appointed by the Department of Commerce to serve as a member of the Louisiana District Export Council and sits on its outreach committee. He has achieved a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer review rating. In 2016, Saul was named one of Baton Rouge’s Top Forty under 40.
Saul earned his Juris Doctor of Civil Law from the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA and his Bachelor of Arts in both International Studies and Modern Languages and Cultures (Spanish) from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Saul is a heritage Spanish speaker. To further immerse himself in the language, Saul spent a semester of college studying at the University of Havana in Cuba and a semester of law school studying international business law in Bogotá, Colombia. He also worked at the law firm Francisco Reyes & Asociados, where he focused on foreign direct investment transactions and international comparative corporate law.
After graduating college, Saul commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and worked as a Human Intelligence Officer. Saul deployed twice to Iraq where the teams he led supported infantry battalions and simultaneously trained the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police in intelligence operations. While attending law school, Saul transitioned to the Marine Corps Reserve and continued to lead and prepare Marines for intelligence and combat operations. During that time, Saul also continued foreign military training by deploying to Latin America and Africa.
Director, Americas Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Ryan C. Berg is director of the Americas Program and head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America and a course coordinator at the United States Foreign Service Institute. His research focuses on U.S.-Latin America relations, strategic competition and defense policy, authoritarian regimes, armed conflict and transnational organized crime, and trade and development issues. Previously, Dr. Berg was a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he helped lead its Latin America Studies Program, as well as visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Changing Character of War Programme. Dr. Berg was a Fulbright scholar in Brazil and is a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member. He has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed academic and policy-oriented journals, including The Lancet, Migration and Development, the SAIS Review of International Affairs, and the Georgetown Security Studies Review. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, CNN.com, Los Angeles Times, and World Politics Review, among other outlets. He routinely testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Dr. Berg obtained a PhD and an MPhil in political science and an MSc in global governance and diplomacy from the University of Oxford, where he was a Senior Hulme Fellow. Earlier, he obtained a BA in government and theology from Georgetown University. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and is conversational in Slovenian.
Senior Attorney, Sensient Technologies Corporation
Editor-in-Chief, Americas Quarterly
Brian Winter is editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly and the vice president for policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas. A best-selling author, analyst and speaker, Brian has been living and breathing Latin American politics for the past 20 years.
Brian spent a decade living in Latin America as a journalist for Reuters, based in São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Since 2015 he has been based in New York City, overseeing Americas Quarterly’s growth into a must-read for Latin America's most influential investors and opinion leaders, while more than tripling its readership online. Brian is also the author or co-author of four books including Why Soccer Matters, a New York Times bestseller he wrote with Brazilian soccer legend Pelé; The Accidental President of Brazil, co-authored with President Fernando Henrique Cardoso; No Lost Causes, with President Álvaro Uribe; and Long After Midnight, a memoir about his time in Argentina.
Brian is a regular presence in TV, radio and print media, from NPR and CNN en Español to Folha de S.Paulo and The Wall Street Journal. Proficient in Spanish and Portuguese, he speaks frequently about Latin America's past, present and future to investors and general-interest audiences.
Senior Fellow, United States Studies Centre
Dr Charles Edel is Senior Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Prior to this appointment, he was Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the US Naval War College, and served on the US Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff from 2015-2017. In that role, he advised Secretary of State John Kerry on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.
He worked at Peking University's Center for International and Strategic Studies as a Henry Luce Scholar and was also awarded the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship.
He is the co-author of The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (2019) and author of Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (2014).
In addition to his scholarly publications, his writings have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The American Interest, and various other outlets. He holds a PhD in History from Yale University, and received a BA in Classics from Yale College.
Director and Senior Fellow, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, University of California at Berkeley
Mark Cohen heads the Asia IP Project at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at Berkeley Law School. He is also responsible for teaching international trade law and research and writing on IP issues. Previously, Cohen was Senior Counsel, China in the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, after serving as a visiting professor at Fordham Law School (2011-2012). Prior to that time, he served in such functions as: Director, International Intellectual Property at Microsoft Corporation; Of Counsel to Jones Day’s Beijing office; and Senior Intellectual Property Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing (2004- 2008). In total, he has over 30 years private, public sector, in-house and academic experience in China and transition economies, with a focus on technology trade and intellectual property.
Cohen was the first IPR Attaché posted by USPTO to handle IPR issues in a foreign country. In addition, he launched the annual “Ambassador’s IPR Roundtable” which he co-chaired for five years, devised IPR “toolkits”, “road shows”, pro-bono programs, internal training programs for the US government and external training programs, and worked with USPTO and other US agencies to engage China and Chinese IP agencies. Cohen led a China team at USPTO consisting of 21 individuals in DC, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, China on all aspects of USPTO’s activities in China. Among his book-length publications are Antimonopoly Law and Practice in China (Oxford University Press 2011, with Steve Harris et al.). He was also the editor of Chinese Intellectual Property Law and Practice (Kluwer Law International 1999) and has edited or published a number of on-line publications, including the blog www.chinaipr.com.
Mr. Cohen has taught and lectured at numerous universities in the United States, Asia and Europe. Amongst other honors, he was the recipient of the US Chamber of Commerce’s “IP Champion” award in 2014. Mr. Cohen holds a J.D. degree from Columbia University (1984), an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in Chinese Language and Literature (1979) and a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany in Chinese Studies (1977).
Partner, Arent Fox LLP
Dave Hanke is a go-to national security lawyer for domestic and foreign companies navigating the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and its implementation of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) – the most sweeping overhaul of CFIUS in 40 years – as well as new export controls on emerging and foundational technologies under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.
He has assisted large multinational corporations, early-stage technology companies, and venture capital firms on various CFIUS issues, ranging from advising on the CFIUS implications of various transactions to preparing CFIUS filings. In addition, he helps U.S. companies prepare informal submissions to CFIUS to identify problematic foreign investments in their domestic competitors that may raise U.S. national security concerns and that have not already been filed with CFIUS.
Hanke also advises defense contractors and other companies on issues of foreign ownership, control, or influence (FOCI) in accordance with the government’s National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM). He has experience advising clients on security clearance issues, and he helps companies ensure they have in place policies, procedures, training, and systems relevant for access to classified information. Hanke also provides cybersecurity advice and representation to companies that contract with federal agencies.
Principal, Navigators Global
Andy Keiser served 14 years on Capitol Hill for former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers - as Senior Advisor to the Committee, Chief of Staff, and Legislative Director handling all national security policy issues.
As Deputy National Security Senior Advisor to the pre-election phase of the Trump for America transition team, Mr. Keiser prepared and advised the transition's policy, personnel and agency action teams on all aspects of the national security portfolio. This included work in the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, Homeland Security, the Intelligence Community, and the National Security Council.
He was also the head writer for a nationally-syndicated radio program and assisted in the production of the CNN series “Declassified.”
Mr. Keiser has written extensively on intelligence, space and cyber policy, missile defense, Afghanistan, China, Iran, ISIS, North Korea, and Russia. He also helped shepherd six Intelligence Authorization Acts into law and managed Chairman Rogers’ cyber threat sharing legislation, which passed the House twice and the core of which was later signed into law by President Obama.
He has a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University and a Master of Arts from the United States Naval War College. He is active on various national security-focused policy projects at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, where he serves as a Senior Advisor, and at the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where he serves as a Fellow. He also is a member of the OSS Society and serves on the Meridian International Center’s Global Leadership Council.
Mr. Keiser is currently a Principal at Navigators Global, where he focuses on cybersecurity and other national security priorities. Dubbed a “national security expert” by the Washington Post, Andy is a regular media commentator on national security issues.
Professor of Law, Southern Illinois University School of Law
Professor Mark F. Schultz joined the faculty in 2003. He teaches and writes primarily in the area of intellectual property.
Professor Schultz is a frequent author and speaker known for his work on the law and economics of the global intellectual property system. In one of his most influential projects, he worked with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to construct a groundbreaking global trade secret protection index (the TSPI). The TSPI is influencing policy discussions on this cutting-edge topic in capitals around the world. Other recent projects have included an empirical study that quantified for the first time the backlogs in patent offices worldwide, a report on how patented innovation is meeting global health challenges, and the construction of a new global index of copyright strength.
Professor Schultz is an influential voice in public policy debates regarding intellectual property. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on copyright law at the invitation of the House Judiciary Committee and has briefed the staff of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on trade secret legislation. He speaks frequently around the world about the connection between secure and effective intellectual property rights and flourishing national economies and individual lives, with invitations from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Trade Representative, and the U.S. Copyright Office, as well as numerous academic institutions, think tanks, and industry groups. He served as an NGO delegate to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for several years during the WIPO Development Agenda talks. He is also one of the organizers of an ongoing multilateral diplomatic dialogue on best practices in national trade secret laws, and is co-founder of the Center for Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) at George Mason University in Washington, D.C.
Among the awards and recognition he has received for his scholarship was the School of Law's Outstanding Scholar of the Year award in 2008. He has been a distinguished visiting scholar at the University of Botswana and a visiting professor at DePaul University College of Law.
Professor Schultz graduated with honors from the George Washington University School of Law. Following law school, he was a judicial clerk for the Hon. Daniel M. Friedman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., and the Hon. Eric G. Bruggink of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Prior to joining academia, he practiced law for a decade, serving as outside general counsel to several tech startups and helping technology companies to expand their businesses and commercialize their intellectual property in dozens of countries. He holds a B.A. in International Economics from George Washington University and has done PhD level coursework in development economics at Southern Illinois University.
He is active in leadership roles in local and national organizations. He has served as chair of the Federalist Society's Intellectual Property Practice Group and the AALS Section on Internet and Computer Law. He is an officer of the American Bar Association's International IP Committee of the International Law Section and the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Trade Secret Law Committee. He currently is chair of the Academic Advisory Board of the Copyright Alliance.
Professor Schultz teaches Copyright Law, Trade Secret Law, Trademark Law, and a senior seminar on Intellectual Property and Global Development. He established and directs both the Specialization in Intellectual Property Law and the IP Semester in Practice Externship Program. He also co-founded a Legal Globalization Class, offered every other year, that takes students to South Africa and Botswana after spending a semester learning about the legal system, culture, history, and politics of southern Africa. The popular course is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that introduces students to leading lawyers, judges, government officials, and human rights advocates, taking them from Cape Town to Johannesburg to Gaborone as well as many popular destinations including game reserves, national parks, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Cradle of Humankind.
Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP
John P. Carlin, former Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD), chairs Morrison & Foerster’s global risk and crisis management team and advises industry-leading organizations in sensitive cyber and other national security matters, white collar investigations, and government enforcement actions.
Mr. Carlin has served as a top-level official in both Republican and Democratic administrations, most recently as Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the DOJ’s highest-ranking national security lawyer. In this capacity, for which Mr. Carlin was nominated by the President and overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis, he oversaw nearly 400 employees responsible for protecting the nation against terrorism, espionage, and cyber and other national security threats.
Prior to assuming his role in the NSD, Mr. Carlin served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel to Robert S. Mueller, III, former director of the FBI, where he helped lead the FBI’s evolution to meet growing and changing national security threats, including cyber threats. Mr. Carlin also held positions as National Coordinator of the DOJ’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program and Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he prosecuted cyber, fraud, and public corruption matters, among others, trying more than 40 cases to verdict.
Mr. Carlin is an inaugural Fellow of Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Homeland Security Project, focused on the unique challenges and choices around protecting the American homeland. He also chairs the Aspen Institute’s Cybersecurity and Technology policy program, which provides a cross-disciplinary forum for industry, government, and media to address the rapidly developing landscape of digital threats and craft appropriate policy solutions. Mr. Carlin was recently invited to address the governors of every U.S. state and territory on cybersecurity issues at the National Governors Association’s Winter 2017 meeting, and has been featured or cited as a leading authority on cyber and economic espionage matters by numerous major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, CBS’s 60 Minutes, NBC’s Meet the Press, PBS’s Charlie Rose and Newshour, ABC’s Nightline and Good Morning America, NPR, CNN, and Vanity Fair, among others.
Mr. Carlin, who joined DOJ through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, is a five-time recipient of the Department of Justice Award for Special Achievement, was awarded the National Intelligence Superior Public Service Medal by the Director of National Intelligence, and drew bipartisan praise, with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling him “a trusted and tireless leader” and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey calling him “a superb civil servant.” He earned his Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School, where he received the Samuel J. Heyman Fellowship for Federal Government Service and served as Articles editor for the Harvard Journal on Legislation, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Williams College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Vice President of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Cogeco Inc.
Paul Beaudry is Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs at Cogeco Inc. He leads Cogeco’s regulatory function in Canada and the United States, and represents the company in proceedings before the CRTC, the Federal Communications Commission and other government departments and regulatory agencies. He also oversees compliance with regulatory requirements imposed on the company at each level of government, in both countries. In addition, Paul leads Cogeco’s Sustainability team and the strategy for public disclosure of ESG matters. He joined Cogeco in November 2020 and has since held progressively larger leadership roles within the organization.
Prior to joining Cogeco, Paul served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at TELUS in Calgary. He also practiced competition and foreign investment law at Stikeman Elliott LLP and Ogilvy Renault LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and served as a senior policy advisor to Canada’s Minister of Industry.
Paul is a graduate of the University of Montreal Faculty of Law and is a member of the Quebec Bar. He serve on the boards of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), La Fondation La Rue des Femmes and the Canadian chapter of the International Institute of Communications. He also sits on the Governors Council of Golf Canada.
Principal, MHRyan Law
Michael H. Ryan is a lawyer specialising in international telecommunications, Internet and media law and regulation, withexperience in policy analysis and regulatory economics.
Senior Policy Counsel and Director, Government Affairs, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
Dileep Srihari is Senior Policy Counsel and Director, Government Affairs at the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). He represents information and communications technology companies – those that manufacture chips, routers, switches, cell phones, base stations, and more – through policy development and advocacy before Congress and the FCC.
Srihari currently focuses on spectrum and broadband infrastructure deployment issues, including topics ranging from millimeter-wave spectrum for 5G to regulatory reform and funding for broadband deployment. He also provide counsel and supervise others on work spanning across TIA's Government Affairs department, including leading projects on national security issues related to the ICT supply chain as well as Internet of Things issues.
Srihari was previously an associate at law firm WilmerHale where he was a member of the firm’s Communications practice group. His work involved regulatory advocacy and appellate litigation on topics including wireless interference protections, television program access, and process safety management. He also previously worked on Capitol Hill for a somewhat-recognizable U.S. senator.
He holds a J.D. from Georgetown and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Cornell.
Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
David Cohen, who leads the firm's Financial and Business Integrity Group, provides clients with anti-money laundering, financial and trade sanctions advice; represents US and foreign-based clients in matters implicating national security, including CFIUS and cybersecurity; conducts internal investigations; and defends clients facing government investigations. His practice has a strong emphasis on disputes involving US and foreign regulators and enforcement agencies, often involving cross-border issues, as well as proceedings in US and foreign adjudicative venues.
Before rejoining the firm in 2017, Mr. Cohen served for eight years in senior presidentially appointed positions. From 2015–2017, Mr. Cohen was Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where he helped manage the Agency's domestic and worldwide operations, oversee its strategic modernization, and lead foreign intelligence collection, all-source analysis, covert action, counter-intelligence and foreign liaison relationships. Mr. Cohen also directed special projects on the impact of new technologies on the Agency and on how best to work with US companies to advance the CIA's mission. At the conclusion of his tenure, Mr. Cohen was awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA's highest honor.
Previously, Mr. Cohen served for four years in the US Department of the Treasury as Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, where he managed the department's policy, regulatory, enforcement and intelligence functions aimed at combating illicit finance, including money laundering and other financial crime, and disrupting financial support to nations, organizations and individuals posing a threat to national security. He directly supervised the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which implements financial and economic sanctions, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the anti-money laundering regulatory and enforcement agency. Mr. Cohen was instrumental in developing and implementing sanctions against Iran, Russia, North Korea, ISIS, al Qa'ida and other terrorist organizations, for which he was described as “President Obama's favorite combatant commander” and as the administration's “financial Batman.”
Mr. Cohen previously served for two years as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing, overseeing policy development related to sanctions and money laundering. Earlier in his career, Mr. Cohen served in Treasury's general counsel's office, where he helped craft legislation that formed the basis of Title III of the USA PATRIOT Act, the post-9/11 legislation that provided new tools to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Prior to his most recent government service, Mr. Cohen practiced law in Washington DC for nearly 20 years, including as a partner at WilmerHale. His practice at WilmerHale focused on complex civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations, and anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance advice.
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.
Principal in the International, BGR Group
Lester Munson is a Principal in the International at BGR Group, a leading government relations firm in Washington, D.C., where he consults with foreign governments, corporations and advocacy groups. He also serves as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University and speaks regularly on the foreign policy role of Congress and on U.S. foreign assistance issues. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, a Visiting Fellow at George Mason’s National Security Institute and a commentator on Fox News Channel and the China Global Television Network.
Mr. Munson joined BGR Group in November 2015 after a 26-year career on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch. He was most recently Staff Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he led policy, oversight, legislative and communications efforts for a staff of 25 and negotiated committee priorities with the White House, the State Department and Congressional leadership.
Previously, Mr. Munson was Chief of Staff for Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois. During his tenure, Senator Kirk became the leading Republican voice in the Senate on Iran and other national security issues.
During the Bush Administration, Mr. Munson served as Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he focused on legislative affairs as well as global health issues. He led legislative efforts to develop and implement the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and won an award for his contribution to the creation of the President’s Malaria Initiative.
Mr. Munson is a 1989 graduate of the University of Chicago and holds a Master’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis. He is married with two children.
Vice President of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Cogeco Inc.
Paul Beaudry is Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs at Cogeco Inc. He leads Cogeco’s regulatory function in Canada and the United States, and represents the company in proceedings before the CRTC, the Federal Communications Commission and other government departments and regulatory agencies. He also oversees compliance with regulatory requirements imposed on the company at each level of government, in both countries. In addition, Paul leads Cogeco’s Sustainability team and the strategy for public disclosure of ESG matters. He joined Cogeco in November 2020 and has since held progressively larger leadership roles within the organization.
Prior to joining Cogeco, Paul served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at TELUS in Calgary. He also practiced competition and foreign investment law at Stikeman Elliott LLP and Ogilvy Renault LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and served as a senior policy advisor to Canada’s Minister of Industry.
Paul is a graduate of the University of Montreal Faculty of Law and is a member of the Quebec Bar. He serve on the boards of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), La Fondation La Rue des Femmes and the Canadian chapter of the International Institute of Communications. He also sits on the Governors Council of Golf Canada.
Principal, MHRyan Law
Michael H. Ryan is a lawyer specialising in international telecommunications, Internet and media law and regulation, withexperience in policy analysis and regulatory economics.
Senior Policy Counsel and Director, Government Affairs, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
Dileep Srihari is Senior Policy Counsel and Director, Government Affairs at the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). He represents information and communications technology companies – those that manufacture chips, routers, switches, cell phones, base stations, and more – through policy development and advocacy before Congress and the FCC.
Srihari currently focuses on spectrum and broadband infrastructure deployment issues, including topics ranging from millimeter-wave spectrum for 5G to regulatory reform and funding for broadband deployment. He also provide counsel and supervise others on work spanning across TIA's Government Affairs department, including leading projects on national security issues related to the ICT supply chain as well as Internet of Things issues.
Srihari was previously an associate at law firm WilmerHale where he was a member of the firm’s Communications practice group. His work involved regulatory advocacy and appellate litigation on topics including wireless interference protections, television program access, and process safety management. He also previously worked on Capitol Hill for a somewhat-recognizable U.S. senator.
He holds a J.D. from Georgetown and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Cornell.
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China-Taiwan Relations and International Law in a Post-COVID World
June Teufel Dreyer, Julian Ku, Saul R. Newsome
This teleforum will provide a wide-ranging discussion on the recent developments in the China-Taiwan relationship....
Latin America: Restive Trends and Great Power Encroachment - Developments that Matter for U.S. Policy
Ryan C. Berg, James C. Dunlop, Brian Winter
Recent elections in Latin America have brought about abrupt shifts in government in Argentina, Brazil,...
Book Review: Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order
Charles Edel
As Thucydides recorded Pericles’ famous funeral oration, the mayor of Athens exhorted citizens: “[J]udging happiness...
Chinese Misappropriation of U.S. Technology: Assessing the U.S. Response
Mark Cohen, David Hanke, Andy Keiser, Mark F. Schultz
Chinese targeting and misappropriation of U.S. technology has increasingly been identified as a threat to...
Book Review: Dawn of the Code War
John P. Carlin
In Dawn of the Code War, authors John P. Carlin and Garrett M. Graff describe...
Supply-chain Security in a 5G World: What to do about Huawei and ZTE?
Paul Beaudry, Michael H. Ryan, Dileep Srihari
On March 6th, Huawei announced it was suing the United States government over policies banning...
Supply-chain Security in a 5G World: What to do about Huawei and ZTE?
TeleforumThe JCPOA Withdrawal
David S. Cohen, Matthew R. A. Heiman, Lester Munson
In 2015, the United States, along with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and...