Director of Litigation, Center for Biological Diversity
Eric Glitzenstein is presently the Director of Litigation at the Center for Biological Diversity, a national conservation organization dedicated to preventing human-caused extinctions and protecting life on Earth. The Center has more than 50 attorneys nationwide who litigate in federal and state courts on a wide variety of wildlife protection and other environmental issues. Mr. Glitzenstein oversees and coordinates the Center’s litigation of cases brought under the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Administrative Procedure Act, and many other statutes on which the Center’s attorneys rely to further the protection of wildlife and imperiled ecosystems. Mr. Glitzenstein’s position entails, among other responsibilities, mentoring the Center’s new attorneys on substantive wildlife law and litigation strategy, coordinating the organization’s litigation efforts, and providing advice to all of the attorneys and other staff about litigation-related matters.
Prior to working with the Center, Mr. Glitzenstein was the co-founder (with Professor Katherine Meyer) and Managing Partner of the D.C.-based firm Meyer & Glitzenstein, one of the nation’s leading public-interest law firms. On behalf of both national and grassroots non-profit organizations, the firm specialized in the protection of wildlife and captive animals, environmental and natural resource conservation, and open government cases, among other issues. In addition to managing the firm and mentoring the firm’s new attorneys, Mr. Glitzenstein was lead counsel in many wildlife cases in federal courts throughout the country, including in various U.S. Courts of Appeals and in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lawsuits handled by Mr. Glitzenstein while with Meyer & Glitzenstein resulted in: compelling the federal government to list hundreds of animals and plants as endangered or threatened under the ESA; securing ESA protections for the Canada lynx and its critical habitat throughout the contiguous U.S.; the creation of new sanctuaries and refuges for the endangered Florida manatee; a strengthened Recovery Plan for the threatened grizzly bear; new safeguards for critically imperiled right whales in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; limitations on environmentally damaging limestone mining in the Everglades; new protections for endangered bats at risk from industrial wind power; curbs on destructive off-road vehicle use in the Big Cypress National Preserve; the halting of gray whale hunting off the coast of Washington; the end of grizzly bear hunting in Montana; and the invalidation of regulations authorizing long-term permits for the incidental killing and harming of bald and golden eagles.
Prior to co-founding Meyer & Glitzenstein in 1993, Mr. Glitzenstein was a staff attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group for seven years. In that capacity, he worked on a wide variety of public-interest issues, including open government, nuclear safety, and environmental and natural resource protection. He argued two cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, one of which established that federal prisoners have a right to obtain access to their presentence investigatory reports under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He also succeeded in obtaining rulings requiring the strengthening of regulations for valuing and restoring natural resources damaged by oil and other toxic spills; requiring the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to issue new requirements for the training of workers in nuclear power plants; precluding the National Archives from deferring to President Nixon’s claims of executive privilege in connection with public access to his Presidential records; requiring the Food and Drug Administration to ban the sale of unpasteurized milk; holding that expert panels of the National Academy of Sciences must comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act; and requiring the promulgation by the Environmental Protection Agency of stricter effluent standards under the Clean Water Act for dozens of polluting industries. While at Public Citizen, but not as part of his official work, Mr. Glitzenstein also secured a ruling granting political asylum to a refugee from El Salvador.
Mr. Gitzenstein is a 1978 graduate of Johns Hopkins University and a 1981 graduate (magna cum laude) of the Georgetown University Law Center. Following graduation from law school, he clerked for U.S. District Judge Thomas Flannery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Mr. Glitzenstein has testified before Congressional committees on a wide variety of topics, including the proper implementation of the ESA, the licensing of nuclear power plants, access to Presidential and other government records, the functioning of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the impacts of wind power projects on wildlife, and the recovery of natural resources damages resulting from oil and other toxic waste spills.
For twelve years, Mr. Glitzenstein served on the Board of Directors of Defenders of Wildlife, and was also Chair of that organization’s litigation committee. He has also served on the boards of the Center for Native Ecosystems and the Wildlife Advocacy Project. He was Vice Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Animal Law, as well as the ABA’s Committee on Open Government and Right to Privacy.
Mr. Glitzenstein has won a number of awards for his public interest advocacy, including a Manatee Hero Award (awarded by Save the Manatee Club); the Kerry Ryberg Award for Environmental Activism (awarded at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference); a Pegasus Foundation award (for running a leading public-interest law firm); and a Playboy Foundation First Amendment Award (for open government victories on behalf of federal prisoners and in furthering access to President Nixon’s records).
Vice President of Law & Policy, Property and Environment Research Center
Jonathan Wood is vice president of law and policy at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). An attorney, Jonathan has litigated environmental and property-rights cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, federal and state appellate courts, and trial courts across the country. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, National Review, Reason, and other outlets. And his research has been published in journals such as Environmental Law Reporter, Yale Journal on Regulation Notice & Comment, Pace Environmental Law Review, and California Western Law Review.
Prior to coming to PERC, Jonathan was a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, where he litigated cases concerning the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and other federal environmental laws. He was co-counsel for forest landowners in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that private land could not be arbitrarily regulated as critical habitat under the ESA. He also led a successful effort to reform regulation of threatened species to better align the incentives of private landowners with the interests of rare species.
Jonathan has testified before several congressional committees on wildlife conservation and endangered species topics. He has also appeared on national television and radio, including NPR’s All Things Considered, C-Span’s Washington Journal, Stossel, Fox News, and Hill.TV.
Jonathan has a law degree from the New York University School of Law, a masters degree in economic policy from the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Texas. He is on the executive committee for the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Practice Group and a steering committee member for the Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative.
Chief Executive Officer, Equifund Crowd Funding Portal
Jordan Gillissie is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Equifund Crowd Funding Portal, a crowdfunding portal registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Equifund CFP provides a platform where entrepreneurs and investors can connect and transact in a frictionless environment.
Chief Executive Officer, CrowdCheck
Sara Hanks, co-founder and CEO of CrowdCheck, is an attorney with over 30 years of experience in the corporate and securities field. Sara brings a wealth of legal expertise in securities law and start-ups to the emerging marketplace for crowdfunding and online capital formation. CrowdCheck provides due diligence, disclosure and compliance services for online capital formation, helping investors get the information they need to avoid fraud and make informed investment decisions, and helping entrepreneurs and intermediaries avoid liability.
Her position prior to founding CrowdCheck was General Counsel of the bipartisan Congressional Oversight Panel, the overseer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), chaired by now-Senator Elizabeth Warren. At the Congressional Oversight Panel, Sara spent 18 months on Capitol Hill investigating the implementation and consequences of the TARP in depth. She examined the government’s intervention in the automotive companies, the execution of the banking “stress tests,” the rescue of AIG, and the international aspects of the financial crisis.
Chief Crowdfunding Data Analyst, Crowdfund Capital Advisors
Sherwood Neiss is a Principal and Chief Crowdfunding Data Analyst at Crowdfund Capital Advisors, a Partner at Crowd Capital Ventures, and a co-founder of GUARDD, Inc. He is an expert at building successful businesses. As a 3-time INC500 winner whose former company won E&Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Sherwood understands the keys to entrepreneurial success from concept to company to capital to sale.
As a serial entrepreneur and investor during the 2008 recession, Sherwood saw a need for a change in outdated securities laws and did something about it—as a co-founding member of Startup Exemption, Sherwood co-authored the Crowdfunding Framework used in the JOBS Act. He was invited to the Rose Garden by President Obama on April 5, 2012 when the bill was signed into law.
Within Crowdfund Capital Advisors (CCA), Sherwood works with clients ranging from governments and banks that are looking for ways to boost economic development in their countries to investment firms looking for access to increased deal flow that crowdfunding creates. As the Chief Data Analyst he oversees a team responsible for aggregating data from all registered offerings taking place on Online Investment Platforms and bringing that over to Bloomberg. At Crowd Capital Ventures (CCVF), Sherwood researches, analyses and invests in promising FinTech companies focusing on all sectors of the crowdfunding market. And at GUARDD, Sherwood helps issuers navigate around Blue Sky laws as they relate to secondary trading of exempt, unregistered securities.
Sherwood serves as an advisor to several crowdfunding platforms and crowdfunding technologies giving him a unique understanding and view of the industry and market. As an industry leader, Sherwood contributes to several publications including VentureBeat and TechCrunch. He additionally co-authored Crowdfund Investing for Dummies through Wiley & Son’s as well as the World Bank Report Crowdfunding’s Potential for the Developing World.
Sherwood co-founded Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) and the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CPA), and served as Governing Board Member and co-chair where he led the fight to ensure investors are protected while entrepreneurs have access to the capital they need to start and grow promising companies.
Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Health Law & Policy, Georgetown University
David A. Hyman, M.D., J.D., is the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Health Law & Policy at Georgetown University. Professor Hyman focuses his research and writing on the regulation and financing of health care. He teaches or has taught health care regulation, civil procedure, insurance, medical malpractice, law & economics, professional responsibility, and tax policy.
While serving as Special Counsel to the Federal Trade Commission, Professor Hyman was principal author and project leader for the first joint report ever issued by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, “Improving Health Care: A Dose of Competition” (2004). He is also the author of Medicare Meets Mephistopheles, which was selected by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce/National Chamber Foundation as one of the top ten books of 2007, and the co-author (with Charles Silver) of Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care (2018). He has published widely in student-edited law reviews and peer-reviewed medical, health policy, law, and economics journals.
Former Associate Director for Social Sciences, FDA
Dr. Richard A. Williams was at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Nutrition for twenty-seven years. He ended up as the Director of Social Science and received the agency’s highest honor: the Award of Merit. Since leaving the agency, he has continued to study and write about food safety issues and has written professional articles in the Risk Analysis, the Journal of Food Science and Technology, Regulation magazine, and the Dickinson Law Review. He has written op-eds for the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune. He has appeared on television (CNN, C-SPAN) and radio (The Diane Rehm Show, NPR). Dr. Williams has given presentations throughout the U.S., Europe, South Korea, Australia, and China on food safety and nutrition issues. He regularly gives talks at the Society for Risk Analysis and Arizona State Universities Governance of Emerging Technologies and Science conference, in addition to the food industry and various academic settings.
Former President, St. John's College
John Agresto is a long-time professor of American history, politics, and political thought and retired president of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM. He was also the Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Higher Education in Iraq and subsequently chancellor and academic dean at the American University of Iraq, which he helped found just over 10 years ago. He is presently finishing a book on liberal education and American Democracy.
Chairman, Center for Equal Opportunity
Linda Chavez is Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity. She has published opinions and columns in newspapers across the country and appears regularly on cable news. Chavez is the author of the three books: Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation, An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal, and Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics. She has been honored by the Library of Congress as a "Living Legend" and as nominee for Secretary of Labor by President George W. Bush.
Chavez has held many appointed positions and has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards. Among her appointed positions has been Chairman, National Commission on Migrant Education (1988-1992); White House Director of Public Liaison (1985); Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983-1985); and member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1984-1986). Chavez was also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1986 and was elected by the United Nations' Human Rights Commission to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
Chavez earned her BA from the University of Colorado.
President, National Association of Scholars
Peter W. Wood is president of the National Association of Scholars. A former professor of anthropology and college provost, he is the author most recently of 1620: A Critical Response to the 1619 Project (November 2020). He is also the author of several other books about American culture, including Diversity: The Invention of a Concept (2003); A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in America Now (2007); and Diversity Rules (2020). He is editor-in-chief of the journal Academic Questions and a widely published essayist. In 2019, he received the Jeane Kirkpatrick Prize for contributions to academic freedom.
Co-Owner, Salon Benders
Jessie has been working in the beauty and wellness industry since 2003 as a teacher and stylist alongside some of the industry's finest (Paul Mitchell, "THE SCHOOL," and The Aveda Institute, Los Angeles). She established a strong foundation and practice, specializing in curly hair, color, and natural hair textures. She is an excellent craftswoman who also loves shags, razor cuts, and “lived-in” easy to style hair. Some call her a “hair healer” for her intuitive ability to know exactly what your hair needs to be in optimal shape. Jessie also studied special effects makeup in 2008. That experience opened her eyes to the infinite possibilities of human presentation. She can tell you exactly what color palette will be flattering on you. Whether its clothes, makeup, or hair, she’s got your back. In 2018, Jessie opened Salon Benders allowing her to incorporate her knowledge of hair, makeup, abstract painting, reiki, and LGBTQ/POC matters to create a one of a kind salon experience.
Owner/Organizer, Salon Benders
Cal uses his background in education, innovation, and community building to influence and disrupt.
He thrives in collaborative environments that value equity, efficiency, and strong communication. With a knack for problem solving and project management, Cal brings a growth-oriented mindset and enjoy working toward goals. His background is in education and leading teams of educators, and he has developed and implemented training on operations, inclusivity, and more–building and guiding teams that are healthy and effective.
U.S. Representative, Wyoming
Congresswoman Harriet Hageman represents the state of Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives. She grew up on a ranch, attended Casper College on a livestock judging scholarship and earned both her bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Wyoming. A litigator for 34 years, Harriet is nationally known for challenging federal overreach, for protecting water and property rights, for exposing federal land and wildlife mismanagement, and for fighting back against the unconstitutional and unlawful acts of unelected bureaucrats. Harriet has extensive experience engaging in complex trials against federal agencies and has been admitted to practice in several states as well as the United States Supreme Court.
In her freshman term in the 118th Congress, Harriet has been selected to serve on the House Natural Resources committee where she is Chair of the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, and also serves on the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries. Representative Hageman also serves on the Judiciary Committee and Subcommittees on the Constitution and Limited Government; the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust; and the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. She has shown her support for American energy independence by serving as Co-Chair of the Congressional Coal Caucus.
Legislation sponsored by Representative Hageman has been focused on reining in the regulatory state, ending the weaponization of our federal government and its proxies against American citizens, and ending the de facto moratorium on American energy production.
Director, Capital Center for Law & Policy Justice and Anthony M. Kennedy Professor of Law, University of the Pacific
Professor Jacobs has been a Professor at McGeorge since 1993. During this time, she has authored a substantial and important body of scholarship on constitutional doctrine, governance and national security, and particularly on government speech. Professor Jacobs' articles have appeared in law journals at Yale, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio State, UC Davis, Rutgers, Tulane, Florida and Indiana. Her separate pieces of scholarship on bioterrorism and national security have appeared as invited submissions to Homeland Security: Law and Policy (William Nicholson, ed. 2005), Encyclopedia of Bioterrorism Defense (J. Wiley, 2005), the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, and the interdisciplinary journal, Biosecurity & Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice & Science. Professor Jacobs is co-author of law review pieces addressing law reform in Indonesia and two volumes in the McGeorge Global Issues series designed to bring international and comparative law into core law school classes, Global Issues in Constitutional Law and Global Issues in Freedom of Speech and Religion.
Currently, Professor Jacobs serves as Director of the McGeorge Capital Center for Law & Policy, dedicated to studying issues of federalism and government structure and aiding government policymakers who must navigate their complexities. Before this appointment, Professor Jacobs served as Director of McGeorge's Institute for Development of Legal Infrastructure. Located within the McGeorge Center for Global Business and Development, the Institute generates scholarship on development issues and provides service to developing nations seeking to strengthen their legal systems. In February 2008, Professor Jacobs taught a course at Zhejiang Gongshang University in Hangzhou, China, as part of a USAID legal education grant administered by the Institute. Professor Jacobs has also led the McGeorge Bioterrorism and Public Health Initiative, which focused on introducing issues related to those topics into the law school curriculum. Professor Jacobs received her BA from Wesleyan University, graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, and served as a law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
Former Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration
Reggie Govan is former Chief Counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA). The Office of the Chief Counsel provides legal advice in support of the FAA Administrator and all aspects of agency operations at headquarters, regions, and centers and works closely with the Department of Transportation’s Office of General Counsel on issues of national significance to the aviation industry.
Mr. Govan previously served as a corporate counsel, litigator, and legislative counsel. Prior to joining the FAA, he served as Managing Associate General Counsel of Freddie Mac. He also served as Counsel to Chairmen Augustus H. Hawkins and William D. Ford of the United States (U.S.) House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, and as Counsel to the then-Chairman (now Vice President) Joseph R. Biden of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. His litigation experience includes service as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan and as plaintiffs’ counsel in federal civil rights litigation, including school desegregation and voting rights cases.
After acquiring a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Philosophy from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he clerked for the Honorable Nathaniel Jones of U.S. Court of Appeals for Sixth Circuit.
Mr. Govan is the author of several professional journal and law review articles. He lives in the District of Columbia.
Innovation, Cyber, and National Security Analyst, Lincoln Network
Alexiaa Jordan is a South-Side Chicagoan and new D.C transplant from Bologna, Italy. She recently attained her master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). There she focused on international economics, Strategic Studies, and Portuguese. During her time at Johns Hopkins, she started working with the international strategic consulting firm RiceHadleyGatesManuel, LLC. Before Hopkins, she’s served as a Chief of Staff within the Illinois House of Representatives and as the youngest female campaign manager in Chicago’s history; prior to that, she served with City Year Chicago to teach inner city students. As an undergraduate, she majored in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Illinois; successfully published several pieces of health policy research. With her unique intersection of STEM, economics, national security, and government affairs, she looks forward to bridging public-private relationships to improve the national security of the United States. Aside from work, she enjoys spending time with her younger sister, working with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, serving on various boards to increase the participation of women and people of color into national security spaces.
Legal Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Brent Skorup is a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Before joining Cato, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at the George Mason University. His research areas include free speech, technology law, Fourth Amendment protections, regulation, and property law. Skorup has published pieces in economics and law journals and in popular media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, and Wired. He’s appeared as a TV and radio interview guest for news outlets like C‑SPAN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, and CNBC Asia.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a dissenting opinion at the Illinois Supreme Court, and the ALI's Restatement of the Law of Property have cited his legal research and he has testified as a technology and legal expert in legislative hearings in several states. Skorup has been appointed to several federal and state advisory bodies and he is currently a member of the Texas Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Committee.
Skorup has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law, where he was articles editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal. He was a legal clerk at the FCC’s wireless bureau and Office of General Counsel and at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Senior Vice President, Regulatory & Environmental Affairs, National Milk Producers Federation
Clay Detlefsen is Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Environmental Affairs and Staff Counsel for NMPF. He is responsible for issues related to food safety and defense, dairy food labeling and environmental issues. He is engaged in numerous homeland security activities and is co-chair to the Food and Agricultural Sector Coordinating Council (FASCC). Clay has a bachelor of science in microbiology, an MBA in finance and a law degree. He has been a member of the Maryland Bar since 1997.
Co-Owner and Operator, Misty Meadow Farms
Jennifer Malott is co-owner and operator of Misty Meadow Farms in Ringgold, Maryland.
S. Hallock du Pont Professor, Director of the Center for Experimental & Applied Economics, University of Delaware
Kent Messer is the S. Hallock du Pont Professor of Applied Economics and the director of the Center for Experimental & Applied Economics at the University of Delaware. He also co-directs the Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR), a USDA Center of Excellence.
Messer’s research interests include the behavioral response to food risks and the interface between agriculture and the environment. He has over 85 published works, served as editor of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Review and is an associate editor for the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Messer has been an investigator of interdisciplinary proposals worth over $70 million from numerous sources including NSF, EPA, NOAA and USDA. His most recent book is The Science of Strategic Conservation: Protecting More with Less published by Cambridge University Press.
Communications Director, Animal Legal Defense Fund
Elizabeth has been dedicated to animal issues for most of her life. Throughout her time at Virginia Tech she was active in animal rights groups, and upon graduation she started her career at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as a Media Spokesperson and Animals in Entertainment Campaign Coordinator. She went on to run the communications department for a national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting cats, before working for a full service marketing firm, managing state and federal government campaigns. In 2011, Elizabeth returned to the animal protection field as a strategy consultant, and in 2016 joined the staff of the Animal Legal Defense Fund—a previous client. Having followed the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s work for many years, Elizabeth is proud to work for an organization that creates real change for animals.
Outside of the office, Elizabeth is the founder of For All Animals, a nonprofit organization with the mission to inspire positive change on behalf of animals, especially those who would be otherwise overlooked and marginalized. She also loves to craft and explore nature with her photographer husband Jason. They live in Baltimore with Joey, a Pomeranian who survived a decade at a puppy mill, Wally and Pippa, their rescue poodles, and their felines Lulu and Miffy.
Founder & CEO, Miyoko's Creamery
Miyoko Schinner is an American chef, cookbook author, animal sanctuary founder and owner of dairy-free cheese brand Miyoko's Creamery. She is a leading advocate for the right of vegan food products to use traditional meat and dairy terms on their labels.
Executive Director, International Center for Law & Economics
Ian Adams joined ICLE as Executive Director in April 2020. He is responsible for ICLE’s strategic planning, programmatic implementation, and organizational growth. Ian’s substantive policy work focuses on the disruptive impact of burgeoning technologies on law and regulation, with a particular concentration on automation and the future of work, privacy and insurance.
Earlier in his career, Ian was Vice President of Policy at TechFreedom. Before that, he worked as Associate Vice President of Government Affairs at the R Street Institute and held staff roles in the California and Oregon state legislatures. Ian is also a public policy attorney at the international law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
Ian is a graduate of Seattle University, with bachelor’s degrees in history and philosophy, and received his juris doctor from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the California, District of Columbia, and Illinois bars.
Policy Director, Community Living Policy Center, University of California, San Francisco
Henry Claypool is the former Director of the Health and Human Services Office on Disability and a founding Principal Deputy Administrator of the Administration for Community Living. He also served as a presidentially-appointed member of the Federal Commission on Long-Term Care, advising Congress on how long-term care can be better provided and financed for the nation’s older adults and people with disabilities, now and in the future, and was Executive Vice President of the American Association of People with Disabilities, which promotes equal opportunity, economic power, independent living and political participation for people with disabilities. He is Affiliated Faculty at the Institute for Health & Aging at UCSF and principal of Claypool Consulting.
Executive Director, Jernigan Institute, National Federation of the Blind
Anil Lewis was born in 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the third of four children. Both his older brother and older sister became legally blind at an early age from retinitis pigmentosa. Lewis was originally labeled educably mentally retarded but eventually became the first member of his family to graduate from college. He has excelled academically, received many awards, participated as a leader in many extracurricular activities, and received several college scholarships. Although he was finally diagnosed at age nine with retinitis pigmentosa, his vision was fairly unaffected until age twenty-five.
Currently employed as the executive director for Blindness Initiatives for the National Federation of the Blind, located in Baltimore, Maryland, he coordinates outreach, marketing, and fundraising activities for a national nonprofit organization. He leads a dynamic team of individuals responsible for the creation, development, implementation, and replication of innovative projects and programs throughout a nationwide network of affiliates that work to positively affect the education, employment, and quality of life of all blind people.
As the director of Advocacy and Policy for the NFB, Lewis was responsible for a variety of public policy and strategic programs. Most notably, he was the legislative lead of the NFB’s efforts to repeal Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, an obsolete provision that allows employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. As the director of Strategic Communications for the NFB, Lewis coordinated the public relations campaign for the NFB’s Blind Driver Challenge™, an innovative research project to develop nonvisual access technology that made it possible for a blind person to safely and independently operate an automobile.
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.
The Avian Crisis: Investigating the Impact of a Century-Old Treaty
Eric Glitzenstein, Jonathan Wood
Over the past several decades, North American migratory bird populations have declined by nearly 30%....
Equity Crowdfunding: Risk, Reward, & Regulation
Jordan Gillissie, Sara Hanks, Sherwood Neiss
In April 2012, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS)...
Deep Dive Episode 201 – Fixing Food: An FDA Insider Unravels the Myths and the Solutions
David Hyman, Richard A. Williams
In this episode, Professor David Hyman interviews Dr. Richard Williams about Dr. Williams' new book,...
Deep Dive Episode 186 – Teaching About Race in the Curriculum
John Agresto, Linda L. Chavez, Peter Wood
This episode features a panel discussion on Critical Race Theory, the 1619 Project and the current...
Cutting Through Government Action in COVID-19: Reasonable or Arbitrary?
Jessie Santiago, Cal Bigari, Harriet Hageman, Leslie Jacobs
In March of 2020, governors across the United States implemented "lockdowns" to combat the COVID-19...
Topics
Two RTP Short Films Recognized by Film Festivals
The Regulatory Transparency Project is pleased to share that two short films from its “Fourth Branch” series...
Deep Dive Episode 153 – Reboot Conversations: The Future of Drone Policy
Reggie Govan, Alexiaa Jordan, Brent Skorup
There are nearly 500,000 commercial drones registered in the United States, far exceeding recent FAA...
Food & Free Speech: Debating the Role of Labeling Regulation
Clay Detlefsen, Jennifer Malott, Kent Messer, Elizabeth Putsche, Miyoko Schinner
Though the average grocery shopper would never know it, the proliferation of vegan and non-dairy...
Driverless Cars: Technology & Regulation
Ian David Adams, Henry Claypool, Anil Lewis
The progression of driverless car technology towards widespread availability has raised a number of important...
Government Surveillance: The National Security Perspective
Matthew R. A. Heiman
Many national security experts argue that lawful surveillance activities, such as those authorized by the...