Principal, Dennis R. Adams Consulting; former CEO, American Share Insurance
Dennis R. Adams is currently the Principal of Dennis R. Adams Consulting, assisting credit unions, financial organizations, and businesses around the country. He is also the former President and CEO American Share Insurance. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Dennis was an adjunct instructor of finance with undergraduates at Franklin University,Ashland University, and Capital University’s MBA programs in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Bryan Schneider is partner in Manatt’s Chicago office and a member of the firm’s industry-leading consumer financial services practice, where he focuses on advising clients through the gamut of consumer financial services regulatory and enforcement matters, particularly as it relates to supervision, enforcement and fair lending.
Prior to joining the firm, Bryan served as Associate Director for the Division of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In this role, he was tasked with overseeing issues related to student loan origination and servicing, mortgage origination/services, auto finance, credit card account management, debt collection, and payday and other small dollar lending. He was also a member of key interagency governing organizations including the Task Force of Supervision of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
Bryan’s experience also includes serving as Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, a cabinet-level agency, under Governor Bruce Rauner. During this time, Bryan led numerous initiatives to place the state at the forefront of innovation in the financial services industry, including leading the conversion to the first-ever online, paperless process for professional licensure and achieving the first credit union section accreditation by the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors. He also led the creation of the Illinois Blockchain Initiative, where he advised organizations on how they can leverage blockchain technology to create more efficient, integrated and trusted services.
Before his tenure in government, Bryan held health care-related leadership positions at the largest retail, infusion and specialty pharmacy provider in the United States. While in this role, he helped develop policies concerning health care services and reimbursement, and provided regulatory and transactional support for joint ventures with hospitals, health systems and 340B programs. Bryan also served on Corporate Compliance and Disclosure Committees responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable health care and SEC securities requirements.
Bryan has served on the Executive Committee of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and chaired its Non-Depository Supervisory Committee. He also served on the committee that was responsible for the administration of the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry (NMLS). Additionally, Bryan served on the Executive Committee of the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS).
Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Meg is head of Davis Polk's Financial Institutions practice and a member of its Fintech team. She provides strategic bank and financial regulatory advice to many of the largest U.S. and non-U.S. financial institutions, regional banks, fintechs, cryptocurrency exchanges and other digital assets companies.
In 2023, she led teams representing the Signature and Silicon Valley bridge banks and advised JPMorgan on its acquisition of First Republic. This work built on years of representing more than two dozen clients on living wills.
She has been involved in several regional bank combinations. She also advises on corporate governance, consent order remediation, bank chartering, payment systems, fintech partnerships, bank powers and activities, cryptocurrencies, digital assets, securities disclosure, capital and liquidity and the Federal Reserve’s liquidity programs.
Meg is a member of the FDIC’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee. She co-authored Financial Regulation: Law and Policy, a leading textbook, and FinTech Law: The Case Studies.
In 2023, she was named a Law360 “Banking MVP” and an NYLJ “Dealmaker of the Year.”
Policy Adviser, American Compass
Mark DiPlacido is a Policy Adviser at American Compass. Before that, he worked on Governor Ron DeSantis's campaign for President. He has also worked as the Deputy Assistant Trade Representative for Public Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Heritage Action, and the U.S. Senate. He is a graduate of Yale University.
Peter Wertheim Professor in Urban Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Gordon Hanson is the Peter Wertheim Professor in Urban Policy at Harvard Kennedy School (Remembrance for Peter Wertheim) and Academic Dean for Strategy and Engagement at Harvard Kennedy School. He is best known for his research on the labor market consequences of globalization, including pioneering work on the China trade shock. Hanson’s current research addresses the causes and consequences of regional job loss, the effectiveness of place-based policies in alleviating regional economic distress, and how the energy transition will affect local labor markets. This work is part of the Reimagining the Economy project at the Kennedy School, which Hanson co-directs with Dani Rodrik. Hanson’s related scholarship touches upon immigration, the globalization of production, and economic geography. He has published extensively in top economics journals, is widely cited for his research by scholars from across the social sciences and is frequently quoted in major media outlets. Hanson is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and past co-editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of Development Economics. He received his PhD in economics from MIT in 1992 and his BA in economics from Occidental College in 1986. Prior to joining Harvard in 2020, he spent two decades at UC San Diego, where held the Pacific Economic Cooperation Chair in International Economic Relations at UC San Diego and was founding director of the Center on Global Transformation. Hanson previously served on the economics faculties of the University of Michigan and the University of Texas.
Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Eric Kadel is engaged in a wide variety of corporate, transactional and regulatory matters. He is a member of the Firm’s Corporate and Finance, Financial Services, Investment Management, Alternative Investment Management, Cybersecurity, and Commodities, Futures and Derivatives Groups. With regard to financings, Mr. Kadel regularly represents participants in capital markets transactions, and dealers and end users in connection with structuring and documenting a wide variety of swaps and other derivatives, including equity, credit default and commodity swaps, options and forwards. Mr. Kadel’s work in the investment management area includes advising public and private investment companies and investment advisers on a wide variety of transactional, regulatory, compliance and other matters, including registration and regulation. Mr. Kadel also advises clients of the Firm regarding developments in the laws regulating the financial services industry and on cybersecurity issues. Mr. Kadel is currently an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School.
In addition, Mr. Kadel is one of the principal partners in the Firm’s International Trade and Investment practice. He counsels and represents clients on questions about U.S. economic sanctions, including those administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), United States antiboycott requirements under the Export Administration Regulations administered and enforced by the Commerce Department’s Office of Antiboycott Compliance within the Bureau of Industry and Security, Bank Secrecy Act/anti‐money laundering laws and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). Mr. Kadel’s practice includes analysis of proposed transactions and business relationships; due diligence and design and review of compliance procedures and strategies; and internal investigations, voluntary disclosures and government enforcement actions. Mr. Kadel also regularly advises clients regarding questions arising under Exon-Florio and the transaction review process administered by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), and has represented clients before CFIUS on many national security reviews.
Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, George Washington University
Steven Balla is Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, and a Senior Scholar at the George Washington Regulatory Studies Center. He researches government consultation and public participation in policymaking in the United States and China. He has on two occasions served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, drawing on his research on public commenting in the U.S. rulemaking process to make recommendations for how to improve regulatory policymaking. He has twice served as a Fulbright Scholar in China, at Peking University in Beijing and Nankai University in Tianjin. He is currently working on projects on congressional oversight of regulatory policymaking, polarization in public commenting on proposed rules, and the responsiveness of Chinese government officials to public feedback on draft laws and regulations.
Director, GW Regulatory Studies Center & Distinguished Professor of Practice, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, The George Washington University
Susan Dudley is the Founder and Director of the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, established in 2009 to raise awareness of regulations’ effects and improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. She is also a distinguished professor of practice in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. She is past-president of the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis, a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and on the Regulatory Transparency Project Regulatory Practice Working Group. Her book, Regulation: A Primer, with Jerry Brito, is available on Amazon.com.
From April 2007 through January 2009, Professor Dudley served as the Presidentially-appointed Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and was responsible for the review of draft executive branch regulations under Executive Order 12866, the collection of federal-government-wide information under the Paperwork Reduction Act, the development and implementation of government-wide policies in the areas of information policy, privacy, and statistical policy, and international regulatory cooperation efforts.
Prior to OIRA, she directed the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and taught courses on regulation at the George Mason University School of Law. Earlier in her career, Professor Dudley served as an economist at OIRA, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She was also a consultant to government and private clients at Economists Incorporated. She holds a Master of Science degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT and a Bachelor of Science degree (summa cum laude) in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
President, Center for Individual Rights
Todd Gaziano is the President of the Center for Individual Rights. Mr. Gaziano received his J.D. in 1988 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics. He received his B.A. from West Virginia University, summa cum laude in 1985. He was selected as a Truman Scholar from West Virginia while an undergraduate.
Mr. Gaziano’s previous legal work includes service as a law clerk for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Judge Edith Jones, as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, as a chief subcommittee counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives, as a Houston trial attorney, and as a chief corporate legal officer. He also served a six-year term as commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (2008-2013), where he helped conduct oversight and investigations of civil rights agencies.
For most of the last 25 years, Mr. Gaziano was a legal scholar and public interest law leader, promoting individual liberty in the Supreme Court and Congress. From 1997 to 2013, he was the founding director of the Edwin Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. From 2014 until he joined CIR, he was the Chief of Legal Policy and Strategic Research, and Director of the Center for the Separation of Powers, at Pacific Legal Foundation.
Staff Director, US Senate
Staff Director at United States Senate, Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management.
Senior Scholar, Competition Policy, International Center for Law & Economics
Daniel J. Gilman is a senior scholar of competition policy at ICLE. Before joining ICLE, Dan was an attorney advisor in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Office of Policy Planning, where he worked on competition issues in health-care and technology markets and, more broadly, on the competitive impact of regulation, with a focus on privacy regulations, among others.
During the 2014-15 academic year, while on leave from his FTC duties, he visited Harvard Law School as the Victor H. Kramer Foundation Fellow in antitrust law and economics. Prior to the FTC, Dan taught law and economics, as well as health and science law, at the University of Maryland. He has also taught at Penn State University and at Washington University in St. Louis, and has experience in private practice in the District of Columbia.
Dan holds a JD degree from Georgetown University, a PhD from the University of Chicago, and an AB from Dartmouth College.
Partner, Dechert, LLP
Rani A. Habash advises clients on the antitrust aspects of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures. He has helped guide industry-leading companies to successful strategic transactions in the face of intense antitrust scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Senate and House Judiciary Committees, state attorneys general, and international competition authorities.
Using his expertise in economics and significant experience in dealing with antitrust agencies, Mr. Habash has helped clients secure regulatory clearance in numerous high-profile transactions, including deals between American Airlines/US Airways, Albertsons/Safeway, CVS Health/Aetna, CVS Health/Target Corporation, FMC Corporation/DowDuPont, Medco/Express Scripts, Monster.com/Yahoo! HotJobs, and OfficeMax/Office Depot, among others. In addition, Mr. Habash defends companies in government antitrust investigations and helps them further key corporate strategies by providing antitrust counseling on conduct, distribution, government affairs, and public relations issues.
Mr. Habash was recognized as a "Future Leader" by Who's Who Legal in its 2020, 2021, and 2022 Competition guide. The National Law Journal named Mr. Habash a “D.C. Rising Star” in 2019. This award recognized lawyers for the substantial legal influence they wield within their practice areas and as innovators with strong leadership qualities, superior legal expertise, and a commitment to pro bono, charitable, and professional volunteer work.
Mr. Habash has held leadership positions in the ABA’s Section of Antitrust Law on the Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Counseling, and Membership and Diversity Committees. He also served as the editor of The Antitrust Counselor, an ABA newsletter with practical antitrust guidance for in-house counsel.
Mr. Habash is a frequent author and speaker on cutting-edge antitrust issues. Notably, he has helped develop the Dechert Antitrust Merger Investigation Timing Tracker (DAMITT), which tracks and reports on U.S. antitrust merger investigation trends. Data from DAMITT has been cited by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Time, TheStreet, and many other leading publications.
Counsel, Rule Garza Howley
Derek Moore brings nearly twenty years of experience inside and outside of government to advise clients on antitrust, regulatory, and consumer protection matters, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and state law enforcers and regulators, as well as civil litigation involving government law enforcers and private parties.
Derek held numerous positions during nearly a decade at the Federal Trade Commission, including Attorney Advisor to a Commissioner, Attorney Advisor in the Office of Policy Planning, and Staff Attorney (on detail) in the Technology Enforcement Division of the Bureau of Competition. Derek worked on law enforcement matters pursued in federal court as well as in the Commission’s Part 3 administrative court. Derek played a leading role in numerous policy initiatives, including as a lead drafter of various antitrust enforcement guidelines.
Derek has worked on matters involving a wide variety of industries, such as software and technology, retail, health care and pharmaceuticals, media and entertainment, consumer goods, energy, financial services, manufacturing, and distribution.
Derek received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia. He previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for the Honorable Claude M. Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Associate Professor, University of Connecticut
Professor Shor is an associate professor at the University of Connecticut, teaching the subject areas of industrial organization, experimental economics, and game theory. He's been awarded several honors and appointments, including the Grillo Awards for Teaching Excellence and Research Excellence (UConn) and the James A. Webb Award for Excellence in Teaching (Vanderbilt).
His research surrounds such topics as the theory of auctions, decision making and choice overload, antitrust and collusion, and game theory.
Shor recieved his B.A. in Economics and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. in Eceonomics from Rutgers University.
Government Affairs Director, National Employment Law Project
Judy Conti, National Employment Law Project's government affairs director, joined NELP in 2007, after spending seven years as the co-founder and executive director of the D.C. Employment Justice Center, a legal service provider devoted to workplace justice in the D.C. metro.
Judy has years of experience lobbying on issues including raising the minimum wage, fair chance hiring, unemployment insurance, wage theft, immigration reform, and other issues involving turning low-wage work into good jobs with a pathway to the middle-class. In her time with NELP, Judy has made significant achievements in developing the organization’s presence in the Capitol, where she is committed to bringing the expertise and experience of NELP’s staff and allies to the halls of Congress and relevant Cabinet and Executive agencies. In early 2017, Judy played an instrumental role in guiding the coalition of workers’ rights and other advocates who ensured that fast-food CEO Andy Puzder would not become the next secretary of labor.
She has been widely recognized for her work, with awards from the American Bar Association, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C., William and Mary Law School, and DC Jobs with Justice.
In addition to her advocacy, Judy is a widely-respected media resource. She has appeared on C-Span’s Washington Journal, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox Business News, CBS News, the BBC, and many other television outlets, she has been widely quoted in the print media, and has written for The Hill, Fortune, and other outlets. Judy has also testified before Congress on numerous occasions, particularly regarding unemployment insurance, and regularly speaks at conferences and on panels addressing hot topics in labor and employment law.
Partner, O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Gregory Jacob is a partner in O’Melveny’s Washington, D.C. office. Greg Jacob represents financial services companies including banks, investment managers, health care payors, and insurers, as well as other employers, in class action and other litigation concerning ERISA and other labor and employment matters. A former Solicitor of Labor, Greg has extensive knowledge on a wide variety of labor and employment issues including ERISA, FLSA, OFCCP, and whistleblower law. He regularly litigates in federal courts throughout the country, defends clients against Department of Labor investigations, and provides counseling to plans and plan sponsors.
Prior to rejoining O’Melveny in 2021, Greg served as Counsel to Vice President Pence and Deputy Assistant to the President. He directly advised the Vice President on all legal issues relating to the Office of the Vice President, and advised the White House Coronavirus Task Force concerning the Defense Production Act and other legal issues related to bolstering the domestic supply chain.
Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Philip A. Miscimarra is the former Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Phil leads the firm’s NLRB special appeals practice and is co-leader of Morgan Lewis Workforce Change, which manages all employment, labor, benefits, and related issues arising from mergers, acquisitions, startups, workforce reductions, and other types of business restructuring. He represents clients on a wide range of labor and employment issues, with a focus on labor-management relations, business acquisitions and restructuring, and employment litigation. Phil is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and the Wharton Center for Human Resources. He is admitted in Illinois only, and his practice is supervised by DC Bar members.
Phil was named Chairman of the NLRB by President Donald J. Trump on April 24, 2017, after previously serving as Acting Chairman and a Board Member. He was appointed to the NLRB by President Barack Obama on April 9, 2013, and was approved unanimously by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on May 22, 2013. He was confirmed by voice vote in the US Senate on July 30, 2013, and served from August 7, 2013, to December 16, 2017. Upon the completion of his term, Phil served on the NLRB longer than 26 other board members over the past 30 years.
Phil is the author or co-author of several books involving labor law issues, including The NLRB and Managerial Discretion: Subcontracting, Relocations, Closings, Sales, Layoffs, and Technological Change (2d ed. 2010) (by Miscimarra, Turner, Friedman, Callahan, Conrad, Lignowski and Scroggins); The NLRB and Secondary Boycotts (3d ed. 2002) (by Miscimarra, Berkowitz, Wiener and Ditelberg); and Government Protection of Employees Involved in Mergers and Acquisitions (1989 and 1997 supp.) (by Northrup and Miscimarra); and other publications. He has also testified on labor and employment law issues in the United States Congress.
Chambers USA named Phil one of the leading lawyers for employment law in the United States from 2004 to 2012, based on the views of clients, peers, and other industry professionals. He has been described as a "fantastic lawyer" and "prolific writer," with clients admiring his "multilayered abilities and business savvy" and his "high level of integrity."
Partner, Holland & Knight LLP
Timothy Taylor is an employment and litigation partner with Holland & Knight LLP, where he was also previously an associate. He represents clients in federal courts and before federal agencies in a variety of disputes. He has special expertise in employment law, the Administrative Procedure Act, the False Claims Act, and appeals. Before rejoining Holland & Knight, Mr. Taylor served as the Deputy Solicitor of Labor. In that position, he oversaw a wide portfolio of litigation, enforcement, rulemaking, and legal counseling for the agency’s more than 450 attorneys. He previously served as the Department of Labor’s Chief of Staff, and in other senior policy positions in the Department. He also served as the employment counsel and as an investigative attorney for the Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery.
Mr. Taylor clerked for the Honorable Harris Hartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Charles Lettow of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Brigham Young University and cum laude with a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.
John Tamny is editor of RealClearMarkets and Forbes Opinions, a senior economic adviser to H.C. Wainwright Economics, and a senior economic adviser to Toreador Research and Trading (www.trtadvisors.com).
John Tamny is editor of RealClearMarkets and Forbes Opinions, a senior economic adviser to H.C. Wainwright Economics, and a senior economic adviser to Toreador Research and Trading (www.trtadvisors.com).
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Richmond, Virginia