President, Oklahoma City University
Robert Henry is the 17th president of Oklahoma City University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the American Bar Association, serving as Chair of the Middle East and North Africa Council, board member of the Rule of Law Initiative, and was a board member of the Committee for the Africa Law Initiative Council. He is a member of the Judicial Advisory Board of the American Society of International Law. Henry is also a member of the American Law Institute, the Oklahoma Bar Association, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law and the William J. Holloway Jr. American Inn of the Court, Master of the Court. He has served on the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group, the Oklahoma Constitutional Revision Committee and the National Association of Attorneys General (Committees on Agricultural Law, Civil Rights, and Supreme Court Advocacy).
He returns to OCU after having served as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Henry has a long-standing relationship with OCU, serving as Dean of the OCU School of Law and tenured Professor of Law from 1991-1994. He taught graduate and undergraduate courses at OCU and has been a frequent guest lecturer.
Henry has been a lifelong advocate for common and higher education. He co-authored the legislation that established the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics (OSSM), established the Sen. Penny Williams Lecture in Arts and Sciences at OSSM, and established the Henry Family Lecture Series at the University of Oklahoma College of Law and was the co-founder of the Oklahoma Symposium.
Henry has served on the Court of Appeals for 16 years. Prior to his appointment to the Court by President William J. Clinton, Henry served as Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma. He served ten years as a state representative in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, where he was Chair of the Majority Caucus, and Chair of the Committees on the Judiciary, Common Education and Appropriations and Budget Committee - General Government and Judiciary.
In addition to teaching at OCU, Henry also taught at the University of Oklahoma Honors College, Oxford Program; University of Oklahoma College of Law, served as Distinguished Judge in Residence, University of Tulsa College of Law and taught Business Law at Oklahoma Baptist University. He was a former chairman of the Board of Trustees of St. Gregory's College. He practiced law in Shawnee, Oklahoma for ten years.
Henry serves on the Committee on International Judicial Relations of the Judicial Conference of the United States, which he chaired from July 2005 – May 2008. He has also served on the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He is also a Director and Honorary Lifetime Member of the Tenth Judicial Circuit's Historical Society Committee, and a member of the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court of Appeals Lawyer's Advisory Committee. He serves on the Board of Directors of the VERA Institute of Justice in New York; the Foundation for the Future, based in Amman, Jordan; and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation; on the Board of Visitors of the University of Oklahoma International Programs Center and Honors College; and on the Board of Advisors of the Jasmine Moran Foundation Children's Museum and the Columbia University National State Attorneys General Program.
The recipient of many honors and awards, Henry was inducted into the 2008 Oklahoma Hall of Fame. He was named "The Honored One," Oklahoma Sovereignty Symposium, Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2008; received Certificate of Appreciation, US Department of State, 2008 and the Certificate of Gratitude, Council of Judges of the Russian Federation and Justice for substantial contribution to the development of relations between American and Russian Judges. Henry received the Distinguished Alumni award, University of Oklahoma Arts & Sciences, 2004; the E.T. Dunlap Award for Public Service, Southeastern Oklahoma University, 1998; Humanitarian of the Year Award, National Conference of Community and Justice, 1996. In 1993, Henry received the Myrtle Wreath Award for Humanitarianism, Oklahoma City Chapter of Hadassah; Conservationist of the Year, Oklahoma Wildlife Federation, 1989; Oklahoma Human Rights Award, Oklahoma Human Rights Commission, 1988; and Outstanding Young Oklahoman, Oklahoma Jaycees, 1988; the A. C. Hamlin Award, National Black Caucus of State Legislatures, 1984.
Henry has authored numerous chapters in a variety of volumes including: "Civil Rights Movement" in The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture; "The Rehnquist Court: A Schwartzian Critique," in The Rehnquist Court: Farewell to the Old Order?; and "The Play and The Players," in The Burger Court: Counter-Revolution or Confirmation?. He was the principal author and narrator for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority's series on arts and culture, "The People's Art," which received "Best of the Best" (program production) and also named 2008's finest news and information program for 2008 by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). In addition, Henry has authored scores of law review articles, scholarly journal articles and other published works. Henry serves as outside evaluator, reader, and columnist for World Literature Today Magazine, University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma Today, and Oklahoma Gazette.
Henry is married to Dr. Jan Ralls Henry, an Oklahoma City dentist, who will serve as first lady of Oklahoma City University. President and Dr. Henry reside in Wilson House on the OCU campus.
He has two children and four stepchildren: Rachel Henry, a recent graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University; Joshua Henry, a junior at OCU; Amie Bostian, a speech therapist in Edmond; Scott Ralls, a graphic designer in Seattle; Greg Ralls, an airline pilot in Edmond; and Daniel Ralls, an architect in Seattle.
Partner, Spencer Fane LLP
Andy Lester has a civil litigation and appellate practice in both state and federal court. His fields of emphasis include complex business, civil rights, commercial, constitutional, and state and local government law. He has faced off against the White House over the use of Executive Privilege, has appeared as counsel before committees of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, and has been a featured guest on television shows such as Hardball with Chris Matthews and The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. He has also served as Acting General Counsel for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and has twice served as Chief Counsel to Special House Committees investigating public corruption.
While in law school, Lester served on President Ronald Reagan’s Transition Team for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 2002, he chaired Governor Brad Henry’s Law Enforcement/Corrections Transition Team and, as a member of the Budget/Finance Transition Team, helped write Governor Henry’s first State budget.
He is a former United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, and has served as Adjunct Professor at Oklahoma City University School of Law, having taught State & Local Government, Employment Law, Criminal Law, and International Law. Lester has written over 100 articles and papers on professional and public policy issues, and has published one book, Constitutional Law and Democracy, a collection of speeches he gave in 1993 in the former Soviet Union.
Lester is a former member of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and in 2019 was named a State Regent Emeritus. He served on the board of Eureka College (President Reagan’s alma mater), is a former chairman of the Oklahoma Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and is a past president, past board chairman, and current board member of the Tenth Circuit Historical Society. He co-chaired the bipartisan Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, which conducted the first-ever independent, objective, and thorough review of the state’s entire capital punishment system.
In 2012, Lester was named Citizen of the Year of Edmond, Oklahoma. He is a past president of the Rotary Club of Edmond, and in 2011 was named Rotarian of the Year.
Of Counsel, Crowe & Dunlevy
Highly distinguished and respected, William G. Paul serves as an of counsel attorney in the Firm’s Oklahoma City office. His areas of practice encompass alternative dispute resolution, commercial transactions, corporate governance, and trusts and estates law.
William’s prestige and respect are evidenced by his leadership in various professional organizations. He has served as president of both the Oklahoma and American Bar Associations, the American Bar Endowment, the Oklahoma County Bar Association, and the National Conference of Bar Presidents to name a few.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
LAURENCE HIRSCH SILBERMAN, senior circuit judge; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, June 19, 2008; born in York, PA, October 12, 1935; son of William Silberman and Anna (Hirsch); married to Rosalie G. Gaull on April 28, 1957 (deceased), married Patricia Winn on January 5, 2008; children: Robert Steven Silberman, Katherine DeBoer Fischer, and Anne Gaull Otis; B.A., Dartmouth College, 1957; LL.B., Harvard Law School, 1961; admitted to Hawaii Bar, 1962; District of Columbia Bar, 1973; associate, Moore, Torkildson and Rice, 1961–64; partner (Moore, Silberman and Schulze), Honolulu, 1964–67; attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Office of General Counsel, Appellate Division, 1967–69; Solicitor, Department of Labor, 1969–70; Under Secretary of Labor, 1970–73; partner, Steptoe and Johnson, 1973–74; Deputy Attorney General of the United States, 1974–75; Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1975–77; President’s Special Envoy on ILO Affairs, 1976; senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute, 1977–78; visiting fellow, 1978–85; managing partner, Morrison and Foerster, 1978–79 and 1983–85; executive vice president, Crocker National Bank, 1979–83; lecturer, University of Hawaii, 1962–63; board of directors, Commission on Present Danger, 1978–85, Institute for Educational Affairs, New York, NY, 1981–85, member: General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, 1981–85; Defense Policy Board, 1981–85; vice chairman, State Department’s Commission on Security and Economic Assistance, 1983–84; American Bar Association (Labor Law Committee, 1965–72, Corporations and Banking Committee, 1973, Law and National Security Advisory Committee, 1981–85); Hawaii Bar Association Ethics Committee, 1965–67; Council on Foreign Relations, 1977–present; Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, 1994; member, U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court of Review, 1996–2003; Adjunct Professor of Law (Administrative Law and Labor Law) Georgetown Law Center, 1987–94; 1997; Adjunct Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, 1994-95, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University Law School, 1995–96; Distinguished Visitor from the Judiciary, Georgetown Law Center, 2003–2019; co-chairman of the President’s Commission on The Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, 2004–05; appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Reagan on October 28, 1985.
President, Oklahoma City University
Robert Henry is the 17th president of Oklahoma City University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the American Bar Association, serving as Chair of the Middle East and North Africa Council, board member of the Rule of Law Initiative, and was a board member of the Committee for the Africa Law Initiative Council. He is a member of the Judicial Advisory Board of the American Society of International Law. Henry is also a member of the American Law Institute, the Oklahoma Bar Association, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law and the William J. Holloway Jr. American Inn of the Court, Master of the Court. He has served on the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group, the Oklahoma Constitutional Revision Committee and the National Association of Attorneys General (Committees on Agricultural Law, Civil Rights, and Supreme Court Advocacy).
He returns to OCU after having served as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Henry has a long-standing relationship with OCU, serving as Dean of the OCU School of Law and tenured Professor of Law from 1991-1994. He taught graduate and undergraduate courses at OCU and has been a frequent guest lecturer.
Henry has been a lifelong advocate for common and higher education. He co-authored the legislation that established the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics (OSSM), established the Sen. Penny Williams Lecture in Arts and Sciences at OSSM, and established the Henry Family Lecture Series at the University of Oklahoma College of Law and was the co-founder of the Oklahoma Symposium.
Henry has served on the Court of Appeals for 16 years. Prior to his appointment to the Court by President William J. Clinton, Henry served as Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma. He served ten years as a state representative in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, where he was Chair of the Majority Caucus, and Chair of the Committees on the Judiciary, Common Education and Appropriations and Budget Committee - General Government and Judiciary.
In addition to teaching at OCU, Henry also taught at the University of Oklahoma Honors College, Oxford Program; University of Oklahoma College of Law, served as Distinguished Judge in Residence, University of Tulsa College of Law and taught Business Law at Oklahoma Baptist University. He was a former chairman of the Board of Trustees of St. Gregory's College. He practiced law in Shawnee, Oklahoma for ten years.
Henry serves on the Committee on International Judicial Relations of the Judicial Conference of the United States, which he chaired from July 2005 – May 2008. He has also served on the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He is also a Director and Honorary Lifetime Member of the Tenth Judicial Circuit's Historical Society Committee, and a member of the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court of Appeals Lawyer's Advisory Committee. He serves on the Board of Directors of the VERA Institute of Justice in New York; the Foundation for the Future, based in Amman, Jordan; and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation; on the Board of Visitors of the University of Oklahoma International Programs Center and Honors College; and on the Board of Advisors of the Jasmine Moran Foundation Children's Museum and the Columbia University National State Attorneys General Program.
The recipient of many honors and awards, Henry was inducted into the 2008 Oklahoma Hall of Fame. He was named "The Honored One," Oklahoma Sovereignty Symposium, Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2008; received Certificate of Appreciation, US Department of State, 2008 and the Certificate of Gratitude, Council of Judges of the Russian Federation and Justice for substantial contribution to the development of relations between American and Russian Judges. Henry received the Distinguished Alumni award, University of Oklahoma Arts & Sciences, 2004; the E.T. Dunlap Award for Public Service, Southeastern Oklahoma University, 1998; Humanitarian of the Year Award, National Conference of Community and Justice, 1996. In 1993, Henry received the Myrtle Wreath Award for Humanitarianism, Oklahoma City Chapter of Hadassah; Conservationist of the Year, Oklahoma Wildlife Federation, 1989; Oklahoma Human Rights Award, Oklahoma Human Rights Commission, 1988; and Outstanding Young Oklahoman, Oklahoma Jaycees, 1988; the A. C. Hamlin Award, National Black Caucus of State Legislatures, 1984.
Henry has authored numerous chapters in a variety of volumes including: "Civil Rights Movement" in The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture; "The Rehnquist Court: A Schwartzian Critique," in The Rehnquist Court: Farewell to the Old Order?; and "The Play and The Players," in The Burger Court: Counter-Revolution or Confirmation?. He was the principal author and narrator for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority's series on arts and culture, "The People's Art," which received "Best of the Best" (program production) and also named 2008's finest news and information program for 2008 by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). In addition, Henry has authored scores of law review articles, scholarly journal articles and other published works. Henry serves as outside evaluator, reader, and columnist for World Literature Today Magazine, University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma Today, and Oklahoma Gazette.
Henry is married to Dr. Jan Ralls Henry, an Oklahoma City dentist, who will serve as first lady of Oklahoma City University. President and Dr. Henry reside in Wilson House on the OCU campus.
He has two children and four stepchildren: Rachel Henry, a recent graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University; Joshua Henry, a junior at OCU; Amie Bostian, a speech therapist in Edmond; Scott Ralls, a graphic designer in Seattle; Greg Ralls, an airline pilot in Edmond; and Daniel Ralls, an architect in Seattle.
Partner, Spencer Fane LLP
Andy Lester has a civil litigation and appellate practice in both state and federal court. His fields of emphasis include complex business, civil rights, commercial, constitutional, and state and local government law. He has faced off against the White House over the use of Executive Privilege, has appeared as counsel before committees of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, and has been a featured guest on television shows such as Hardball with Chris Matthews and The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. He has also served as Acting General Counsel for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and has twice served as Chief Counsel to Special House Committees investigating public corruption.
While in law school, Lester served on President Ronald Reagan’s Transition Team for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 2002, he chaired Governor Brad Henry’s Law Enforcement/Corrections Transition Team and, as a member of the Budget/Finance Transition Team, helped write Governor Henry’s first State budget.
He is a former United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, and has served as Adjunct Professor at Oklahoma City University School of Law, having taught State & Local Government, Employment Law, Criminal Law, and International Law. Lester has written over 100 articles and papers on professional and public policy issues, and has published one book, Constitutional Law and Democracy, a collection of speeches he gave in 1993 in the former Soviet Union.
Lester is a former member of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and in 2019 was named a State Regent Emeritus. He served on the board of Eureka College (President Reagan’s alma mater), is a former chairman of the Oklahoma Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and is a past president, past board chairman, and current board member of the Tenth Circuit Historical Society. He co-chaired the bipartisan Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, which conducted the first-ever independent, objective, and thorough review of the state’s entire capital punishment system.
In 2012, Lester was named Citizen of the Year of Edmond, Oklahoma. He is a past president of the Rotary Club of Edmond, and in 2011 was named Rotarian of the Year.
Of Counsel, Crowe & Dunlevy
Highly distinguished and respected, William G. Paul serves as an of counsel attorney in the Firm’s Oklahoma City office. His areas of practice encompass alternative dispute resolution, commercial transactions, corporate governance, and trusts and estates law.
William’s prestige and respect are evidenced by his leadership in various professional organizations. He has served as president of both the Oklahoma and American Bar Associations, the American Bar Endowment, the Oklahoma County Bar Association, and the National Conference of Bar Presidents to name a few.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
LAURENCE HIRSCH SILBERMAN, senior circuit judge; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, June 19, 2008; born in York, PA, October 12, 1935; son of William Silberman and Anna (Hirsch); married to Rosalie G. Gaull on April 28, 1957 (deceased), married Patricia Winn on January 5, 2008; children: Robert Steven Silberman, Katherine DeBoer Fischer, and Anne Gaull Otis; B.A., Dartmouth College, 1957; LL.B., Harvard Law School, 1961; admitted to Hawaii Bar, 1962; District of Columbia Bar, 1973; associate, Moore, Torkildson and Rice, 1961–64; partner (Moore, Silberman and Schulze), Honolulu, 1964–67; attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Office of General Counsel, Appellate Division, 1967–69; Solicitor, Department of Labor, 1969–70; Under Secretary of Labor, 1970–73; partner, Steptoe and Johnson, 1973–74; Deputy Attorney General of the United States, 1974–75; Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1975–77; President’s Special Envoy on ILO Affairs, 1976; senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute, 1977–78; visiting fellow, 1978–85; managing partner, Morrison and Foerster, 1978–79 and 1983–85; executive vice president, Crocker National Bank, 1979–83; lecturer, University of Hawaii, 1962–63; board of directors, Commission on Present Danger, 1978–85, Institute for Educational Affairs, New York, NY, 1981–85, member: General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, 1981–85; Defense Policy Board, 1981–85; vice chairman, State Department’s Commission on Security and Economic Assistance, 1983–84; American Bar Association (Labor Law Committee, 1965–72, Corporations and Banking Committee, 1973, Law and National Security Advisory Committee, 1981–85); Hawaii Bar Association Ethics Committee, 1965–67; Council on Foreign Relations, 1977–present; Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, 1994; member, U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court of Review, 1996–2003; Adjunct Professor of Law (Administrative Law and Labor Law) Georgetown Law Center, 1987–94; 1997; Adjunct Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, 1994-95, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University Law School, 1995–96; Distinguished Visitor from the Judiciary, Georgetown Law Center, 2003–2019; co-chairman of the President’s Commission on The Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, 2004–05; appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Reagan on October 28, 1985.
Founder and Senior Director, Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance
Stanley Carlson-Thies is the Founder and Senior Director of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance (IRFA), a division of the Center for Public Justice. As part of this role, he convenes the Coalition to Preserve Religious Freedom, a multi-faith alliance of social-service, education, and religious freedom organizations that advocates for the religious freedom of faith-based organizations to Congress and the federal government. In addition he is also a Senior Fellow at the Canadian think tank Cardus.
From 2009-2010 he served on a task force of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, helping to draft recommendations on how to clarify the church-state rules that apply to federal funding of social-service providers, and has consulted with federal departments and several states.
He served with the White House Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives from its inception in February 2001 until mid-May 2002. He assisted with writing “Unlevel Playing Field: Barriers to Participation by Faith-Based and Community Organizations in Federal Social Service Programs,” a report released by the White House in August 2001, and “Rallying the Armies of Compassion,” the initial blueprint for President George W. Bush’s faith and community agenda.
Previously, he was Director of Social Policy Studies for CPJ and directed CPJ’s project to track the implementation and impact of the Charitable Choice provision of the 1996 federal welfare reform law. Following his term in the White House, he returned to CPJ as the Director of Faith-based Policy Studies.
He received the William Bentley Ball Life and Religious Liberty Defense Award from the Center for Law and Religious Freedom and the Christian Legal Society in October 2004. He was named as one of 12 advocates who are “reinterpreting God and country” by the National Journal in May 2004. He holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Toronto. His dissertation is on the role of Protestants and Catholics in the development of Dutch politics in the 19th and 20th centuries. Besides the United States, he has lived in Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan, where he was born of missionary parents. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with his wife, Christiane. They are the proud parents of Simon.
Nonresident Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, The Brookings Institute
Melissa Rogers is a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies. She recently served as special assistant to the president and executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, during the Obama administration. Melissa previously served as chair of the inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Prior to that she was director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University Divinity School. She has also served as executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Her area of expertise includes the First Amendment's religion clauses, religion in American public life, and the interplay of religion, policy, and politics. Rogers co-authored a case book on religion and law for Baylor University Press, Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court (2008). She holds a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Baylor University.
Government Affairs Program Manager, Energy Northwest
Daniel Himebaugh is a lawyer working in government affairs.
Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence, Independence Institute
Professor Robert G. Natelson is a constitutional scholar and author.
Rob’s constitutional scholarship has been cited repeatedly by justices and parties at the U.S. Supreme Court—as well as by federal appeals courts, and at least 18 state supreme courts.
Rob’s research into the Constitution’s original meaning has carried him to libraries throughout the United States and in Britain, including four months at Oxford University. His books and articles span many different parts of the Constitution, including groundbreaking studies of the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Indian Commerce Clause, federalism, Founding-Era interpretation, regulation of elections, and the amendment process of Article V. He created the first-ever online bibliography for 18th century materials used in constitutional research. He is a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (on Magna Carta). He contributed eight essays to the third edition of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution: five on the amendment procedure and one each on the Guarantee Clause, the Postal Clause, and the Recess Appointments Clause.
U.S. Supreme Court justices have relied explicitly on Rob’s research in 41 citations in 13 separate cases.
United States Senator from Oklahoma
Senator Lankford of Oklahoma served four years in the U.S. House of Representatives and was elected to the U.S. Senate to complete an unexpired term on November 4, 2014 and re-elected to a full six-year senate term on November 8, 2016.
As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management, Lankford fights unnecessary and burdensome regulation and advocates for a more restrained federal government.
Personal faith, local decision-making, and opportunity for every person, regardless of their background, are core values for Senator Lankford. Before his time in Congress, from 1995 to 2009, the Senator served as Director of Student Ministry at the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma and Director of the Falls Creek Youth Camp, the largest youth camp in the United States, with more than 51,000 individuals attending each summer.
Committee Assignments:
President, Ira Shapiro Global Strategies, LLC
Ira Shapiro is the President of Ira Shapiro Global Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in international trade, U.S.-Japan relations, and American politics, which he founded in 2014. He brings to the firm 40 years of experience in senior staff positions in the U.S. Senate, the Clinton administration, and private law practice. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Last Great Senate: Courage and Statesmanship in Times of Crisis, published in 2012.
Mr. Shapiro came to Washington, D.C., in October 1975, to work as Legislative Legal Counsel to Senator Gaylord Nelson (D.-Wisconsin), probably the greatest environmentalist ever to serve in the Senate. In his 12 years working in the Senate, Mr. Shapiro also worked for other Senators. He served as Minority Staff Director to the Governmental Affairs Committee, Staff Director and Chief Counsel to the special Senate Committee on Official Conduct, counsel to Senator Majority Leader Robert Byrd, and the first chief of staff for Jay Rockefeller.
During the deep recession of the early 1980’s, Mr. Shapiro began to focus on America’s position in international trade. He became one of a handful of Senate staffers seeking to define a new U.S. trade and competitiveness policy, working closely with leaders in business, labor, and academia concerned about the same issues. When Bill Clinton became president, Mr. Shapiro became General Counsel to United States Trade Representative Mickey Kantor in February 1993. As General Counsel, he played a central role in the negotiation and legislative approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the multilateral Uruguay Round that created the World Trade Organization and the current trade rules.
In 1995, President Clinton nominated Mr. Shapiro for Ambassadorial rank, which the Senate rapidly and unanimously approved. Ambassador Shapiro served as the principal U.S. trade negotiator with Japan and Canada, helping to successfully resolve some of the most contentious bilateral disputes with America’s two leading trading partners: autos and auto parts, semiconductors and insurance with Japan, and softwood lumber with Canada.
Mr. Shapiro has experience in dealing with the European Union, Canada, Mexico and China, but he has focused particularly on Japan, and U.S-Japan relations. He has 30 years of extensive and diverse experience in dealing with the Japanese government and business community. He first worked with Japan as Chief of Staff to Senator Rockefeller and played a key role in the efforts to save Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel through a joint venture with Nisshin Steel of Japan. After his work in the Clinton administration, as many other trade lawyers and consultants shifted their focus to China, Mr. Shapiro continued to concentrate his work on U.S.-Japan relations. In September 2012, Mr. Shapiro became the Chairman of the National Association of Japan-America Societies (NAJAS), the Washington-based organization that supports the activities of 36 Japan-America Societies around the country. As Chairman, he speaks frequently about U.S.-Japan relations and the importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, appearing in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, San Diego, Cincinnati, Chicago, Denver, Seattle and San Francisco. On December 10, 2015, during a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the end of the War, Japanese Ambassador to the U.S., Ken-Ichiro Sasae, gave Mr. Shapiro the Foreign Minister’s Commendation, an award from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recognition of his outstanding achievements in promoting friendship between Japan and the United States.
Mr. Shapiro is well known in Tokyo, where he has spoken regularly and been received considerable press coverage. In February 2014, he came to Tokyo at the invitation of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), and spoke to several leading business organizations, including Keidanren, the Japan Electronics Association (JEITA), and the Japan Foreign Trade Council. In September 2013, his remarks at the Japan National Press Club attracted 45 reporters. Mr. Shapiro’s interviews have appeared in Asahi Shimbun, Japan Times, Nikkei, and on NHK, where Tokyo’s best known interviewer, Kaori Iida, interviewed him for 30 minutes.
Mr. Shapiro has considerable experience working at the intersection of trade and health. From 2001-2003, representing the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, he played a prominent role in the negotiation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first global treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization. He authored an article contending that cigarettes should be treated as an exception to the normal trade rules, because of their lethal nature. Most recently, Mr. Shapiro served on a Council on Foreign Relations task force studying the spread of non-communicable diseases in the developing world.
Since leaving government, Mr. Shapiro has practiced international trade law in Washington, D.C., and been a partner in several major law firms, most recently Greenberg Traurig, LLP. In August 2015, while continuing his own law work, he became a Senior Advisor to the Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG), a premier consulting firm with tremendous global reach co-chaired by Madeleine Albright, Sandy Berger and Carlos Gutierrez. He has specialized in WTO disputes, and played an important role in the landmark cases brought by the United States against China for copyright piracy, representing the motion picture, recording and publishing industries.
Mr. Shapiro has a long history of deep involvement in Democratic presidential campaigns, and was part of the legal teams that helped Bill Clinton and Al Gore make their vice presidential choices. Mr. Shapiro ran an unsuccessful, but widely admired, race for Congress in Maryland in 2002. A local newspaper described his campaign as the “antidote to cynicism that he promised to deliver.”
He writes and speaks frequently about U.S. politics, and particularly the U.S. Senate. After the publication of his book in 2012, Mr. Shapiro spoke in 19 states, including appearances at four Presidential Libraries (Kennedy, Ford, Carter and Clinton). His articles have been published in the New York Times, Bloomberg Review, ccn.com, and local newspapers in Seattle, Detroit, and Portland, Maine.
Mr. Shapiro graduated from Brandeis University, magna cum laude with honors in politics, in 1969, received his Master’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970, and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973. Before coming to Washington to work in the Senate, Mr. Shapiro clerked for a federal district judge in Philadelphia and practiced law in Chicago.
E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in Law, University of Richmond School of Law
Professor Kurt Lash teaches and writes about constitutional law. Founder and director of the Richmond Program on the American Constitution, Professor Lash has published widely on the subjects of constitutional law and constitutional history, including The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges or Immunities of American Citizenship (Cambridge University Press, 2014), The Lost History of the Ninth Amendment (Oxford University Press, 2009), and The American First Amendment in the Twenty-first Century: Cases and Materials(with William W. Van Alstyne) (5th ed., Foundation Press, 2014). An elected member of the American Law Institute, Professor Lash’s work has appeared in numerous legal journals including the Stanford Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, Virginia Law Review, andNotre Dame Law Review. He has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University School of Law and is the former director of the University of Illinois College of Law Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law.
Senior Public Policy Advisor, Wiley Rein LLP
Nova Daly, an experienced international investment and trade policy professional, has held senior leadership positions at the U.S. Departments of the Treasury and Commerce, the White House, and the U.S. Senate. Drawing on his experience in the management, development, and implementation of the U.S. economic and national security policies and programs, he provides both high-level insight and deep operational experience to help clients navigate the policy and regulatory environment surrounding cross-border business activities, especially through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
Global Public Policy, AT&T, Director
Ms. Geffroy is based in AT&T’s Washington, DC office. She represents AT&T in a wide range of cybersecurity and national security policy issues. Ms. Geffroy also serves as a Senior Fellow with the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.
Prior to assuming her current role, Ms. Geffroy’s experience included serving as Chief Counsel to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and as Counselor to Board Member Elisebeth Collins on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. As Chief Counsel, Ms. Geffroy led the Committee’s efforts to pass cyber threat information sharing legislation, developed and implemented the Committee’s legislative and parliamentary operations and managed the legal issues arising in the Committee’s regular oversight of the seventeen Intelligence Community elements. Ms. Geffroy also served as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs where she represented the Department in legislative and oversight matters before Congress on various national security, criminal, and civil matters.
Ms. Geffroy began her career in private practice with a law firm in Washington, D.C. She holds an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law School, a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, and a BA in Business Administration from Michigan State University. She lives in Alexandria, VA with her husband and four children.
Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Mr. Johnson provides advice and advocacy to clients navigating the complex terrain at the intersection of technology and security. Having served in a wide variety of national security and cybersecurity leadership roles on Capitol Hill, in the national security and intelligence communities, in the regulatory arena, and in the Executive Branch, Mr. Johnson focuses in particular on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of government-industry collaboration.
Mr. Johnson was Secretary Penny Pritzker’s Senior Adviser for Cybersecurity and Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he coordinated the Department’s cybersecurity initiatives and the Department’s support for the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. He was also the Department’s representative for National Security Council staff deliberations on cybersecurity, encryption, and other policy issues at the intersection of technology and security.
Previously, Mr. Johnson was appointed by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler as the FCC’s first Chief Counsel for Cybersecurity. In this position, he helped develop the FCC’s cybersecurity mission, focusing on creating new legal mechanisms for government collaboration with private sector stakeholders to improve the security and reliability of communications infrastructure. He was also the primary drafter of the charter for the Cybersecurity Forum for Independent and Executive Branch Regulators, a coordinating body of regulatory agencies which is presently chaired by the FCC.
Prior to his time at the FCC, Mr. Johnson was Senator John D. Rockefeller IV’s designated counsel on the Senate Intelligence Committee and counsel for defense, foreign policy, and international trade. In these roles, he was a leading staffer on bipartisan Senate cybersecurity initiatives and the primary staff drafter of the legislation that codified the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s collaborative process to work with industry to develop and update the widely-praised Cybersecurity Framework.
Before his government service, Mr. Johnson worked for a major Washington-based law firm, where he practiced in the areas of international trade, defense, and security. Earlier, he served as an Army officer in Germany, Korea, and the Balkans. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was the editor-in-chief of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, and he received a master of science degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard, where he graduated cum laude, cross-enrolled at MIT for service as Executive Officer of its Army ROTC Paul Revere Battalion, and played varsity football.
Clete lives in Alexandria, Va. with his wife, Sheila, and their two children.
Founder and Senior Director, Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance
Stanley Carlson-Thies is the Founder and Senior Director of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance (IRFA), a division of the Center for Public Justice. As part of this role, he convenes the Coalition to Preserve Religious Freedom, a multi-faith alliance of social-service, education, and religious freedom organizations that advocates for the religious freedom of faith-based organizations to Congress and the federal government. In addition he is also a Senior Fellow at the Canadian think tank Cardus.
From 2009-2010 he served on a task force of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, helping to draft recommendations on how to clarify the church-state rules that apply to federal funding of social-service providers, and has consulted with federal departments and several states.
He served with the White House Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives from its inception in February 2001 until mid-May 2002. He assisted with writing “Unlevel Playing Field: Barriers to Participation by Faith-Based and Community Organizations in Federal Social Service Programs,” a report released by the White House in August 2001, and “Rallying the Armies of Compassion,” the initial blueprint for President George W. Bush’s faith and community agenda.
Previously, he was Director of Social Policy Studies for CPJ and directed CPJ’s project to track the implementation and impact of the Charitable Choice provision of the 1996 federal welfare reform law. Following his term in the White House, he returned to CPJ as the Director of Faith-based Policy Studies.
He received the William Bentley Ball Life and Religious Liberty Defense Award from the Center for Law and Religious Freedom and the Christian Legal Society in October 2004. He was named as one of 12 advocates who are “reinterpreting God and country” by the National Journal in May 2004. He holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Toronto. His dissertation is on the role of Protestants and Catholics in the development of Dutch politics in the 19th and 20th centuries. Besides the United States, he has lived in Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan, where he was born of missionary parents. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with his wife, Christiane. They are the proud parents of Simon.
Nonresident Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, The Brookings Institute
Melissa Rogers is a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies. She recently served as special assistant to the president and executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, during the Obama administration. Melissa previously served as chair of the inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Prior to that she was director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University Divinity School. She has also served as executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Her area of expertise includes the First Amendment's religion clauses, religion in American public life, and the interplay of religion, policy, and politics. Rogers co-authored a case book on religion and law for Baylor University Press, Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court (2008). She holds a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Baylor University.
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