President and Managing Director, The Arctic Institute
Dr. Romain Chuffart is the President and Managing Director of The Arctic Institute.
He is one of the co-hosts of The Arctic Institute’s Bookshelf Podcast. Before his appointment as Managing Director in September 2022, Romain served as Internal Communication Manager on The Arctic Institute’s Leadership board. Romain was also a contributing writer to the Institute’s weekly publication, The Arctic This Week App. He also serves as the TAI project manager for the “Challenges to Ocean Governance: Regional Disputes, Global Consequences? (OceanGov)” and Arctic Geopolitics in a New Era (GEOARC) in partnership with the Fridtjof Nansen Institute.
His research interests include human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, international environmental law, Arctic cooperation and ocean governance. Romain also conducts more theoretical research on public international law combining insights from political theory, international relations, political geography, and other social sciences.
Romain is the current Nansen Professor in Arctic Studies (2024/2025) at the University of Akureyri, Iceland. He holds a PhD in law from Durham University in the United Kingdom. Between 2019 and 2023, Romain was part of the Durham Arctic Research Centre for Training and Interdisciplinary Collaboration (DurhamARCTIC). At Durham, his research focused on Indigenous rights and Arctic environmental governance. Romain also holds a MA in Polar Law from the University of Akureyri, Iceland.
He has published several articles in Arctic-specific journals on Arctic governance and Indigenous rights, such as The Yearbook of Polar Law, the Arctic Yearbook, and the Polar Journa
Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs, American Foreign Policy Council
Alexander Gray joined AFPC as a Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs in February 2021. His work focuses on U.S. security and defense strategy in the Indo-Pacific; U.S.-China competition globally, particularly in the Pacific Islands and the Polar Regions; U.S. defense strategy and modernization for an era of Great Power competition; and the intersection of U.S. national and economic security.
Mr. Gray most recently served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House, where he was responsible for the management of the National Security Advisor’s Front Office and the budget, security, and personnel functions of the NSC. Previously, Mr. Gray served as Special Assistant to the President for the Defense Industrial Base at the White House National Economic Council (NEC). He was the principal Executive Office of the President official focused on the health and resiliency of the defense and manufacturing industrial base and U.S. maritime industry. Mr. Gray played a key role in Executive Order 13806, the first-ever whole-of-government assessment of the U.S. defense industrial base.
Additionally, Mr. Gray was the Director for Oceania & Indo-Pacific Security at the NSC, the first NSC Director ever focused primarily on Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Mr. Gray represented the U.S. at the 2019 Presidential Inauguration in the Federated States of Micronesia; the 2019 Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu; and at numerous U.S.-Australia-New Zealand strategic dialogues and intelligence exchanges.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Gray was a Member of the 2016 Presidential Transition Team at the U.S. Department of State and served as Senior Advisor to former U.S. Rep. J. Randy Forbes, a senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee. Mr. Gray is currently a Member of the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for a three-year term. He is a recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service and the National Security Council’s Outstanding Service Award.
Mr. Gray’s writings have appeared in Foreign Policy, The National Interest, National Review Online, The Weekly Standard, Naval War College Review, Strategic Studies Quarterly, and the Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute. He is a graduate of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
Judicial Law Clerk, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Nitin is a recent graduate of Cornell Law School. Before his time in Ithaca, he majored in International Studies and Political Science at Johns Hopkins University and focused on power competition in South Asia during his graduate studies at the University of Oxford.
United States Senator, Tennessee
United States Senator Bill Hagerty was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020 and is currently serving his first term representing the state of Tennessee. His committee assignments include: U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs; U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations; and the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules & Administration. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Hagerty served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
Hagerty is a life-long businessman. He started his business career with the Boston Consulting Group, where his work took him to five continents, including three years based in Tokyo, Japan. He later became a venture capital and private equity investor where he invested in and served as an executive and board member of a wide range of companies, including ones listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. From 2011 to 2014, Hagerty took leave from his business career to serve as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet and Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
Hagerty, an Eagle Scout, is originally from Sumner County, Tennessee. Today, he and his wife Chrissy are both active volunteers in several community and civic organizations, and live in Davidson County, Tennessee. They are the parents of four children.
Senior Legal Fellow, Courts and the Constitution, Legal Policy Center, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Senior Legal Fellow of Courts and the Constitution at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
United States Senator, Tennessee
United States Senator Bill Hagerty was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020 and is currently serving his first term representing the state of Tennessee. His committee assignments include: U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs; U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations; and the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules & Administration. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Hagerty served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
Hagerty is a life-long businessman. He started his business career with the Boston Consulting Group, where his work took him to five continents, including three years based in Tokyo, Japan. He later became a venture capital and private equity investor where he invested in and served as an executive and board member of a wide range of companies, including ones listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. From 2011 to 2014, Hagerty took leave from his business career to serve as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet and Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
Hagerty, an Eagle Scout, is originally from Sumner County, Tennessee. Today, he and his wife Chrissy are both active volunteers in several community and civic organizations, and live in Davidson County, Tennessee. They are the parents of four children.
Senior Legal Fellow, Courts and the Constitution, Legal Policy Center, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Senior Legal Fellow of Courts and the Constitution at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Principal, Spero Law LLC
Christopher Mills is the founder of Spero Law LLC. He was previously a partner at a national law firm and a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court during October Term 2018. He also clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has authored briefs and motions in the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, and trial courts, and successfully argued before the D.C. Circuit. He has served as special counsel to South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Charleston School of Law.
A 2012 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Christopher was a senior editor of the Harvard Law Review, an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and served on the Executive Board of the Harvard Federalist Society. In 2009, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a degree in economics from Furman University.
Christopher lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife, children, and golden retriever.
Legal Fellow, Spero Law LLC
Anna Edwards graduated magna cum laude from Regent University School of Law where she was named the 2022 Most Outstanding Graduate and where she served as the Executive Editor of Regent Law Review. During her time in law school she has worked as a legal intern for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy, as law clerk on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a legal fellow at Spero Law, LLC. Following graduation, Anna is completing several federal clerkships. Specifically, Anna will serve as a law clerk for the Honorable Paul B. Matey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit during the 2024-2025 term. Anna is a native of South Carolina and received her B.S. in Economics from Clemson University in 2019.
Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One
The Honorable Jennifer M. Perkins began service on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, on October 30, 2017. At the time of her appointment by Governor Douglas Ducey, Judge Perkins was Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Arizona.
Judge Perkins was born in Portales, New Mexico, and primarily raised in Albuquerque. She attended the prestigious Albuquerque Academy from 1988-1995, before moving to Washington D.C. to attend the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University as a National Merit Scholar. Therafter, she relocated again to Dallas, Texas, and earned her juris doctor from the SMU Dedman School of Law, graduating cum laude in 2002.
Judge Perkins started her career at the law firm of Browning & Peifer (now Peifer, Hanson, Mullins, and Baker) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there, she litigated complex commercial matters including class action plaintiff and defense work, and assisted with employment and contract litigation. In 2003, the judge accompanied the Honorable James O. Browning in transitioning to the federal district court bench, serving as his first law clerk.
After her clerkship, Judge Perkins moved to Arizona to work for the Institute for Justice, Arizona Chapter, a public interest law firm. She spent five years with IJ-AZ litigating civil rights cases in Arizona and across the country. In 2009, the judge became Disciplinary Counsel for the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct, where she reviewed and prosecuted ethics complaints against state court judges throughout Arizona. After five years serving the state in this capacity, Judge Perkins entered private practice by joining an appellate law firm in Phoenix. While there, she worked on state and federal appeals involving a wide range of legal subjects, including complex business disputes, property rights, judicial ethics, and personal injury matters.
In January 2015, Judge Perkins joined the Office of the Arizona Attorney General to serve as the first Assistant Solicitor General; in that capacity, she was responsible for oversight of Attorney General Opinions and served as ethics counsel to the entire office. In addition to these two primary roles, the judge assisted on a variety of matters including trial and appellate litigation of election-related matters; federal appellate litigation with the Federalism Unit; state criminal appeals; and drafting amicus briefs on behalf of Arizona in state and federal courts.
Julius E. Davis Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
Ilan Wurman is the Julius E. Davis Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota, where he teaches administrative law and constitutional law. He previously taught at Arizona State University. He writes primarily on the Fourteenth Amendment, administrative law, separation of powers, and constitutionalism. His academic writing has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, the Duke Law Journal, the Minnesota Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, and the Texas Law Review among other journals.
Professor Wurman is the author of the new book The Constitution of 1789: A New Introduction (Cambridge 2026). His previous books include A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism (Cambridge 2017), and The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment (Cambridge 2020). He is also the author of the casebook, Administrative Law Theory and Fundamentals: An Integrated Approach (Foundation Press 3d ed. 2025).
Professor Wurman practices law with the firm Tully Bailey. He has litigated a variety of administrative law and constitutional law cases, including cases involving COVID-19 restrictions, transmission lines, and Appointments Clause challenges. He also devised winning public nuisance theories to force city governments to address the increasingly challenging public camping crises throughout the country.
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