United States Senator, Ohio
JD Vance is a United States Senator for the great state of Ohio. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 and sworn into office on January 3rd, 2023.
JD was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, a once flourishing American manufacturing town where Ohioans could live content, middle-class lives on single incomes. Over time, many of those good jobs disappeared, and JD’s family suffered the effects along with many others.
Turbulence was common at home and at school. His grandmother, called Mamaw, was his saving grace. Her tough love and discipline kept him on the straight and narrow. A “blue dog” Democrat, she owned 19 handguns and nurtured a deep Christian faith in herself and her family. She died in 2005, shortly after JD enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.
JD went on to serve our nation in the Iraq War, then graduated from The Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He wrote a bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy, which was turned into a Netflix movie. He also started a business dedicated to growing jobs and opportunity in the American heartland.
Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Co-Director, Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Adam J. White is the Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the Supreme Court and the administrative state. Concurrently, he codirects the Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
Mr. White practiced constitutional and administrative law, particularly in the regulation of energy and financial markets. He started his legal career as a law clerk for Judge David B. Sentelle at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
Mr. White has written for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Affairs, Commentary, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and Notre Dame Law Review, among other publications. He is a regular contributor to the Yale Journal on Regulation’s Notice and Comment blog, and for many years, he was one of the Weekly Standard’s lead writers on constitutional law and the Supreme Court.
Mr. White has testified often before Congress, including before the Senate’s Committees on the Judiciary; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and before the House’s Judiciary and Financial Services Committees. In 2018, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary called him to testify in Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings to advise senators on Kavanaugh’s approach to administrative law.
In 2021, he served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, where he criticized “Court packing” and other efforts to restructure the Supreme Court. In 2017, he was appointed to serve on the Administrative Conference of the United States. He also serves on the leadership council for the American Bar Association’s Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section, which he will chair in 2023–24. Before joining AEI, he was a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Mr. White has a JD from Harvard Law School and a bachelor of business administration from the College of Business at the University of Iowa.
Senior Advisor, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Mr. Clark is a Senior Advisor at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. He has extensive experience in energy and utility policy at the federal and state level. He provides clients with analysis and strategic advice on a variety regulatory and public policy matters affecting their businesses. He specializes in working with clients in the energy and telecommunications industries and at the nexus of state and federal jurisdictional issues.
Having been appointed by President Obama, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Mr. Clark served from 2012 to 2016 as a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. While at the FERC, Mr. Clark worked on matters that are at the forefront of energy policy, such as: electricity reliability, electricity-natural gas industry coordination, oversight of the nation’s Regional Transmission Organizations, electricity grid cyber and physical security regulations, major enforcement actions, energy infrastructure permitting, the integration of renewables and energy storage, FERC Order 1000 implementation, and wholesale electricity market reforms. From 2001 to 2012 he was a Commissioner of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, including over 5 years as its Chairman. During his tenure at the North Dakota Commission, Mr. Clark oversaw numerous proceedings related to the state’s historic emergence as a leader in American energy production. In 2010, he was selected by his regulatory peers across the nation to serve a term as President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. He also served a three-year term as Chairman of the NARUC Telecommunications Committee. Through his various regulatory positions, he has testified multiple times before Committees of both the US House and US Senate on matters related to energy and telecommunications.
From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Clark was Labor Commissioner of the State of North Dakota and a member of the Cabinet of Gov. Ed Schafer. In 1994 he was one of the youngest people ever elected to the North Dakota legislature, representing a portion of the City of Fargo for two terms in the State House of Representatives. He is a graduate, with honor, from North Dakota State University and holds a master’s degree from the University of North Dakota. In addition to his work at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP, Mr. Clark serves as a non-employee independent director on the Board of Directors of NorthWestern Energy Corporation. Having attained the rank of Eagle Scout in his youth, Mr. Clark has been a long-time volunteer with and supporter of the Boy Scouts of America.
Chief, Federal Regulatory Policy for PSEG
Larry Gasteiger was named chief, federal regulatory policy, Public Service Enterperise Group Incorpoated (PSEG) in October 2016.
Mr. Gasteiger served as Chief of Staff at FERC culminating a noteworthy 19-year tenure at FERC in which he held a variety of leadership roles. He previously served as the Acting Director of the Office of Enforcement from August 2014 to April 2015 after having served as the Deputy Director from 2009 to 2014. Before he joined the Office of Enforcement, Mr. Gasteiger was the Director of the Division of Tariffs and Market Development - East in the Office of Energy Market Regulation. Prior to that, he held several other positions at the Commission, including Deputy Associate General Counsel, Legal Advisor to Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher, and attorney in the FERC’s Solicitor's Office.
Before joining FERC in 1997, Mr. Gasteiger was an attorney in the General Counsel's Office at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and from 1989 to 1991 he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Edwin M. Kosik in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Gasteiger is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Dickinson School of Law. He is a former Board Member of the Northeast Chapter of the Energy Bar Association and former Board Member and Secretary of the Saint Ambrose School.
Denver Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Raymond L. Gifford counsels communications, electric and gas utilities, and information technology companies on state and federal aspects of regulation, administrative law, and competition policy. He is an expert in public utilities law, and the law and economics of regulation of network industries. Mr. Gifford’s law and policy work focuses on the convergence of broadband communications and energy, as well as environmental policy as it applies to the electric industry. He represents clients in state and federal courts and agencies, and serves as an expert witness on utility regulation and its history. He is also a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship, and Co-Directs the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics at University of Colorado Law School.
Mr. Gifford served as Chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission from 1999-2003. Following that, he served as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington DC-based think-tank that studied the digital revolution as it relates to regulation of network industries. He entered the regulatory law world as First Assistant Attorney General in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. He clerked for the Honorable Richard P. Matsch of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Mr. Gifford has authored a number of articles on communications law, public utility regulation and competition policy in network industries. He is a graduate of University of Chicago Law School and St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute
Research Director, Harvard Electricity Policy Group, Raymond Pla, Harvard University
William W. Hogan, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy, is research director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group (HEPG), which is examining alternative strategies for a more competitive electricity market, and a member of the Appointments Committee. Prof. Hogan has been a member of the faculty of Stanford University where he founded the Energy Modeling Forum (EMF), and he is a past president of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). Current research focuses on major energy industry restructuring, network pricing and access issues, market design, and energy policy in nations worldwide. Prof. Hogan received his undergraduate degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy and his PhD from UCLA. Selected papers are available on his Web site, www.whogan.com.
Acting FERC Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Acting Chairman Cheryl A. LaFleur was first nominated by President Barack Obama to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2010 and was confirmed for a second term by the Senate in 2014. On January 23, 2017 she was appointed Acting Chairman by President Donald Trump. She was previously appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Acting Chairman of the Commission from November 2013 to July 2014 and as Chairman from July 2014 until April 2015.
Acting Chairman LaFleur is honored to be a member of the Commission at a time when the nation is making substantial changes in its energy supply and infrastructure to meet environmental challenges and improve reliability and security. Since she joined the Commission, her priorities have included reliability and grid security, promoting regional transmission planning, and supporting a clean and diverse power supply. She is a member of the NARUC Committees on Electricity and Critical Infrastructure and was co-chair of the FERC/NARUC Forum on Reliability and the Environment. She is a frequent speaker on energy issues.
Prior to joining the Commission in 2010, Acting Chairman LaFleur had more than 20 years’ experience as a leader in the electric and natural gas industry. She served as executive vice president and acting CEO of National Grid USA, responsible for the delivery of electricity to 3.4 million customers in the Northeast. Her previous positions at National Grid USA and its predecessor New England Electric System included chief operating officer, president of the New England distribution companies and general counsel. She led major efforts to improve reliability and employee safety. Earlier in her career, she was responsible for leading award-winning conservation and demand response programs for customers.
Acting Chairman LaFleur has been a nonprofit board member and leader, including as a trustee of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United Way of Central Massachusetts, and several other organizations. She is also active in a number of women’s energy organizations.
Acting Chairman LaFleur was named Woman of the Year by the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment in 2015. In 2014, the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association presented her with its Vanguard Award for her long-time leadership in the development of competitive power markets. She received a Bipartisan Congressional Award in 2013 for her work on grid reliability. She has also been honored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the YWCA of Central Massachusetts, among others.
Acting Chairman LaFleur began her career as an attorney at Ropes and Gray in Boston. She has a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and an A.B. from Princeton University. A native of Massachusetts, she is married to William Kuncik, a retired attorney, and they are the parents of two grown children.
Senior Vice President for Government and Regulatory Affairs, Calpine Corp.
Mr. Steven Schleimer has been Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Calpine Corp. since January 1, 2014. Mr. Schleimer served as a Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs for Calpine’s North Region since 2010. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Schleimer served as Vice President at Barclays Capital in New York and was responsible for market design and regulatory issues. Prior to that, he had served as Calpine’s Vice President of Market and Regulatory Affairs in the West Region from 2000 to 2006. Mr. Schleimer spent the first 12 years of his career at Pacific Gas and Electric Company. He earned a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree, with highest honors, in Economics from the University of California at Santa.
Ohio Attorney General
As Attorney General, Mike DeWine’s priority is protecting Ohio’s families.
To better protect our kids, Attorney General DeWine created a special Crimes Against Children Unit to help identify, arrest, and convict sexual predators. He has also increased training for law enforcement and educators to help improve school safety, as well as human trafficking, child abuse, missing children, bullying and the needs of foster youth.
Attorney General DeWine is working to rebuild Ohio’s neighborhoods, investing $75 million from the national mortgage settlement to help demolish abandoned and blighted properties. He has also made commitments to support anti-gun violence programs and community groups that are working to repair our hardest-hit communities.
On his first day in office, Attorney General DeWine joined in the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. In addition he is working hard to make sure his office provides cutting-edge criminal investigation and law enforcement training services, is rooting out public corruption, and helping to create a legal climate in Ohio that encourages businesses to invest in the state and create jobs.
DeWine has also devoted resources to fighting Ohio’s prescription drug abuse and heroin problems, increased the number of criminal prosecutions in consumer fraud cases, and dramatically decreased the turn-around time for testing of DNA evidence. He has dedicated resources to testing all of Ohio’s old sexual assault kits, which is leading to the convictions of sexual predators.
Attorney General DeWine has a long and distinguished career in public service focusing on protecting Ohio children and families. DeWine served as Greene County Prosecuting Attorney, in the Ohio State Senate, in the United States House of Representatives, as Ohio Lieutenant Governor and in the United States Senate.
Mike DeWine grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio and married his high school sweetheart, Frances Streuwing, while both were students at Miami University. The DeWines, who have resided in Cedarville Township since Mike graduated from law school, are the parents of eight children and 22 grandchildren.
Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
Ben Flowers, a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, is an accomplished litigator with experience briefing, arguing, and winning high-stakes cases in courts throughout the country.
Before joining the law firm, Ben served as Ohio's 10th Solicitor General. In that role he regularly represented the State of Ohio before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. Most prominently, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Ben led a multi-state challenge to OSHA's vaccine mandate, ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court.
Ben is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Chicago Law School. Following law school, Ben clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of this United States. Ben lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Denise and their three very active children.
Warren County Prosecutor, State of Ohio
David P. Fornshell was sworn-in as the 38th Prosecuting Attorney of Warren County on February 17, 2011. David comes to the Prosecutor's Office after most recently serving as a partner in the litigation department at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Cincinnati. David started his legal practice with Dinsmore in 1999 and still maintains an Of Counsel affiliation with the firm. From 1999-2007, David also served as Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Blue Ash, Ohio.
David is actively involved in the community and serves as a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Ohio Prosecuting Attorney’s Association Executive and Legislative Committees, Warren County Drug Task Force Policy Board, Child Advocacy Center of Warren County Steering Committee, Ralph J. Stolle Countryside YMCA Board of Directors, and various other volunteer boards and committees. David is also the former Chairman of the Warren County Board of Elections, former Chairman of the Warren County Republican Party, former Secretary of the Warren County Board of MR/DD, and former Admissions Committee Chairperson of the Warren County Bar Association.
Since becoming Warren County Prosecutor, David has expanded the Prosecutor’s Office’s community outreach efforts. Most recently, David developed and conducted training for board members, officers, and volunteers of charitable, church, booster, youth sports, and other not-for-profit organizations on how to protect against internal organizational theft. He has also developed and conducted age-appropriate presentations for numerous Warren County high school, junior high school, middle school, and elementary school students on topics such as school threats, sexting, date rape, and juvenile decision-making.
David has prosecuted cases receiving international and national attention, including cases profiled by the BBC documentary series Life and Death Row, Good Morning America, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The UK Daily Mail, and numerous other international and national publications. David also served as a legal consultant for a network television series crime drama.
A seventh-generation Warren County resident, David grew up in the Lebanon/Turtlecreek Township area where he graduated from Lebanon High School. David graduated summa cum laude from Ohio University where he received degrees in Finance and Business Prelaw. David received his Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, finishing in the top 10% of his graduating class. While at Pepperdine, David served on the Pepperdine Law Review, Pepperdine Moot Court Board, and also worked as a legal research and writing teaching assistant. David also won the Best Advocate Award at both the 1998 National Moot Court Competition (Los Angeles) and the 1999 Sutherland Cup National Constitutional Law Competition (Washington, D.C.), and received the American Jurisprudence Award for Civil Procedure I and Civil Procedure II.
David and his wife Amy reside in the Lebanon area with their three children. Over the past decade, David has served as volunteer coach for Lebanon youth football, basketball, baseball, and fast-pitch softball organizations. He and his family are active in Lebanon Presbyterian Church.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Eric Murphy has been a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since March 2019. He previously served as the ninth State Solicitor of Ohio. In that role, Eric briefed and argued appellate cases on behalf of Ohio and its state agencies and officers in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Before his appointment as State Solicitor, Eric practiced appellate litigation at Jones Day. After graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from Miami University.
Attorney General, State of Ohio
Dave Yost was re-elected as Ohio’s 51st attorney general on Nov. 8, 2022, receiving more votes than any other attorney general in the state’s history.
During his first term as the state’s chief legal officer, he quickly gained a national reputation as a fearless advocate for the rule of law — or, as he puts it, “the same rules for everybody.”
Yost’s goal is to “do big good” for the people of Ohio by protecting consumers, rooting out corruption, defending the environment, ensuring an open and competitive marketplace, and fulfilling the many other duties of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Yost began his public-service career as Delaware County auditor, later winning election as that county’s prosecutor. From 2011 through 2018, he served as Ohio’s auditor of state and, in January 2019, began his first term as attorney general.
Yost earned his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and law degree from Capital University. He and his wife, Darlene, live in Franklin County; they have three grown children and five grandchildren.
Attorney
Maya M. Noronha is a civil rights attorney.
As special counsel for external affairs at First Liberty Institute, Maya worked for the largest legal organization in the United States dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans.
Previously, Maya worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as acting chief of staff of the Administration for Children and Families; principal advisor to the Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families; and senior advisor to the Director of the Office for Civil Rights and regulatory reform officer. She provided advice on federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of conscience, religion, race, color, national origin, limited English proficiency, sex, disability, age, and health information in both health care and human services.
In the area of election law, Maya has advised officials elected to or candidates for President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Governor, state legislature, city council, and magisterial district judge. She practiced law at Baker Hostetler LLP, where she was on the Political Law and Federal Advocacy Teams, advising clients on voting rights, redistricting, election integrity, campaign finance, financial reporting, ethics compliance, as well as conducting trial and appellate litigation. She also has delivered legislative testimony, planned continuing legal education conferences on election law, and published about voting rights and election administration.
In addition to addressing the Federalist Society, she has delivered remarks to the White House Initiative on Asian American Pacific Islanders, United States Senate, Women in Government Relations, Georgetown University, George Mason University School of Law, the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America, and Arizona State University Cronkite School of Journalism.
Maya is in Phi Beta Kappa, a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society, and a John Carroll Scholar. Forbes Magazine recognized Maya as one of its 30 under 30 in Law and Public Policy.
She serves concurrently on the Federalist Society’s Free Speech & Election Law Executive Committee and the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Election Law.
Education
· J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 2011
· A.B., Georgetown University, 2005
Ohio Attorney General
As Attorney General, Mike DeWine’s priority is protecting Ohio’s families.
To better protect our kids, Attorney General DeWine created a special Crimes Against Children Unit to help identify, arrest, and convict sexual predators. He has also increased training for law enforcement and educators to help improve school safety, as well as human trafficking, child abuse, missing children, bullying and the needs of foster youth.
Attorney General DeWine is working to rebuild Ohio’s neighborhoods, investing $75 million from the national mortgage settlement to help demolish abandoned and blighted properties. He has also made commitments to support anti-gun violence programs and community groups that are working to repair our hardest-hit communities.
On his first day in office, Attorney General DeWine joined in the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. In addition he is working hard to make sure his office provides cutting-edge criminal investigation and law enforcement training services, is rooting out public corruption, and helping to create a legal climate in Ohio that encourages businesses to invest in the state and create jobs.
DeWine has also devoted resources to fighting Ohio’s prescription drug abuse and heroin problems, increased the number of criminal prosecutions in consumer fraud cases, and dramatically decreased the turn-around time for testing of DNA evidence. He has dedicated resources to testing all of Ohio’s old sexual assault kits, which is leading to the convictions of sexual predators.
Attorney General DeWine has a long and distinguished career in public service focusing on protecting Ohio children and families. DeWine served as Greene County Prosecuting Attorney, in the Ohio State Senate, in the United States House of Representatives, as Ohio Lieutenant Governor and in the United States Senate.
Mike DeWine grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio and married his high school sweetheart, Frances Streuwing, while both were students at Miami University. The DeWines, who have resided in Cedarville Township since Mike graduated from law school, are the parents of eight children and 22 grandchildren.
Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
Ben Flowers, a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, is an accomplished litigator with experience briefing, arguing, and winning high-stakes cases in courts throughout the country.
Before joining the law firm, Ben served as Ohio's 10th Solicitor General. In that role he regularly represented the State of Ohio before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. Most prominently, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Ben led a multi-state challenge to OSHA's vaccine mandate, ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court.
Ben is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Chicago Law School. Following law school, Ben clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of this United States. Ben lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Denise and their three very active children.
Warren County Prosecutor, State of Ohio
David P. Fornshell was sworn-in as the 38th Prosecuting Attorney of Warren County on February 17, 2011. David comes to the Prosecutor's Office after most recently serving as a partner in the litigation department at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Cincinnati. David started his legal practice with Dinsmore in 1999 and still maintains an Of Counsel affiliation with the firm. From 1999-2007, David also served as Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Blue Ash, Ohio.
David is actively involved in the community and serves as a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Ohio Prosecuting Attorney’s Association Executive and Legislative Committees, Warren County Drug Task Force Policy Board, Child Advocacy Center of Warren County Steering Committee, Ralph J. Stolle Countryside YMCA Board of Directors, and various other volunteer boards and committees. David is also the former Chairman of the Warren County Board of Elections, former Chairman of the Warren County Republican Party, former Secretary of the Warren County Board of MR/DD, and former Admissions Committee Chairperson of the Warren County Bar Association.
Since becoming Warren County Prosecutor, David has expanded the Prosecutor’s Office’s community outreach efforts. Most recently, David developed and conducted training for board members, officers, and volunteers of charitable, church, booster, youth sports, and other not-for-profit organizations on how to protect against internal organizational theft. He has also developed and conducted age-appropriate presentations for numerous Warren County high school, junior high school, middle school, and elementary school students on topics such as school threats, sexting, date rape, and juvenile decision-making.
David has prosecuted cases receiving international and national attention, including cases profiled by the BBC documentary series Life and Death Row, Good Morning America, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The UK Daily Mail, and numerous other international and national publications. David also served as a legal consultant for a network television series crime drama.
A seventh-generation Warren County resident, David grew up in the Lebanon/Turtlecreek Township area where he graduated from Lebanon High School. David graduated summa cum laude from Ohio University where he received degrees in Finance and Business Prelaw. David received his Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, finishing in the top 10% of his graduating class. While at Pepperdine, David served on the Pepperdine Law Review, Pepperdine Moot Court Board, and also worked as a legal research and writing teaching assistant. David also won the Best Advocate Award at both the 1998 National Moot Court Competition (Los Angeles) and the 1999 Sutherland Cup National Constitutional Law Competition (Washington, D.C.), and received the American Jurisprudence Award for Civil Procedure I and Civil Procedure II.
David and his wife Amy reside in the Lebanon area with their three children. Over the past decade, David has served as volunteer coach for Lebanon youth football, basketball, baseball, and fast-pitch softball organizations. He and his family are active in Lebanon Presbyterian Church.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Eric Murphy has been a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since March 2019. He previously served as the ninth State Solicitor of Ohio. In that role, Eric briefed and argued appellate cases on behalf of Ohio and its state agencies and officers in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Before his appointment as State Solicitor, Eric practiced appellate litigation at Jones Day. After graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from Miami University.
Attorney General, State of Ohio
Dave Yost was re-elected as Ohio’s 51st attorney general on Nov. 8, 2022, receiving more votes than any other attorney general in the state’s history.
During his first term as the state’s chief legal officer, he quickly gained a national reputation as a fearless advocate for the rule of law — or, as he puts it, “the same rules for everybody.”
Yost’s goal is to “do big good” for the people of Ohio by protecting consumers, rooting out corruption, defending the environment, ensuring an open and competitive marketplace, and fulfilling the many other duties of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Yost began his public-service career as Delaware County auditor, later winning election as that county’s prosecutor. From 2011 through 2018, he served as Ohio’s auditor of state and, in January 2019, began his first term as attorney general.
Yost earned his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and law degree from Capital University. He and his wife, Darlene, live in Franklin County; they have three grown children and five grandchildren.
Ohio Attorney General
As Attorney General, Mike DeWine’s priority is protecting Ohio’s families.
To better protect our kids, Attorney General DeWine created a special Crimes Against Children Unit to help identify, arrest, and convict sexual predators. He has also increased training for law enforcement and educators to help improve school safety, as well as human trafficking, child abuse, missing children, bullying and the needs of foster youth.
Attorney General DeWine is working to rebuild Ohio’s neighborhoods, investing $75 million from the national mortgage settlement to help demolish abandoned and blighted properties. He has also made commitments to support anti-gun violence programs and community groups that are working to repair our hardest-hit communities.
On his first day in office, Attorney General DeWine joined in the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. In addition he is working hard to make sure his office provides cutting-edge criminal investigation and law enforcement training services, is rooting out public corruption, and helping to create a legal climate in Ohio that encourages businesses to invest in the state and create jobs.
DeWine has also devoted resources to fighting Ohio’s prescription drug abuse and heroin problems, increased the number of criminal prosecutions in consumer fraud cases, and dramatically decreased the turn-around time for testing of DNA evidence. He has dedicated resources to testing all of Ohio’s old sexual assault kits, which is leading to the convictions of sexual predators.
Attorney General DeWine has a long and distinguished career in public service focusing on protecting Ohio children and families. DeWine served as Greene County Prosecuting Attorney, in the Ohio State Senate, in the United States House of Representatives, as Ohio Lieutenant Governor and in the United States Senate.
Mike DeWine grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio and married his high school sweetheart, Frances Streuwing, while both were students at Miami University. The DeWines, who have resided in Cedarville Township since Mike graduated from law school, are the parents of eight children and 22 grandchildren.
Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
Ben Flowers, a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, is an accomplished litigator with experience briefing, arguing, and winning high-stakes cases in courts throughout the country.
Before joining the law firm, Ben served as Ohio's 10th Solicitor General. In that role he regularly represented the State of Ohio before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. Most prominently, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Ben led a multi-state challenge to OSHA's vaccine mandate, ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court.
Ben is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Chicago Law School. Following law school, Ben clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of this United States. Ben lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Denise and their three very active children.
Warren County Prosecutor, State of Ohio
David P. Fornshell was sworn-in as the 38th Prosecuting Attorney of Warren County on February 17, 2011. David comes to the Prosecutor's Office after most recently serving as a partner in the litigation department at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Cincinnati. David started his legal practice with Dinsmore in 1999 and still maintains an Of Counsel affiliation with the firm. From 1999-2007, David also served as Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Blue Ash, Ohio.
David is actively involved in the community and serves as a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Ohio Prosecuting Attorney’s Association Executive and Legislative Committees, Warren County Drug Task Force Policy Board, Child Advocacy Center of Warren County Steering Committee, Ralph J. Stolle Countryside YMCA Board of Directors, and various other volunteer boards and committees. David is also the former Chairman of the Warren County Board of Elections, former Chairman of the Warren County Republican Party, former Secretary of the Warren County Board of MR/DD, and former Admissions Committee Chairperson of the Warren County Bar Association.
Since becoming Warren County Prosecutor, David has expanded the Prosecutor’s Office’s community outreach efforts. Most recently, David developed and conducted training for board members, officers, and volunteers of charitable, church, booster, youth sports, and other not-for-profit organizations on how to protect against internal organizational theft. He has also developed and conducted age-appropriate presentations for numerous Warren County high school, junior high school, middle school, and elementary school students on topics such as school threats, sexting, date rape, and juvenile decision-making.
David has prosecuted cases receiving international and national attention, including cases profiled by the BBC documentary series Life and Death Row, Good Morning America, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The UK Daily Mail, and numerous other international and national publications. David also served as a legal consultant for a network television series crime drama.
A seventh-generation Warren County resident, David grew up in the Lebanon/Turtlecreek Township area where he graduated from Lebanon High School. David graduated summa cum laude from Ohio University where he received degrees in Finance and Business Prelaw. David received his Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, finishing in the top 10% of his graduating class. While at Pepperdine, David served on the Pepperdine Law Review, Pepperdine Moot Court Board, and also worked as a legal research and writing teaching assistant. David also won the Best Advocate Award at both the 1998 National Moot Court Competition (Los Angeles) and the 1999 Sutherland Cup National Constitutional Law Competition (Washington, D.C.), and received the American Jurisprudence Award for Civil Procedure I and Civil Procedure II.
David and his wife Amy reside in the Lebanon area with their three children. Over the past decade, David has served as volunteer coach for Lebanon youth football, basketball, baseball, and fast-pitch softball organizations. He and his family are active in Lebanon Presbyterian Church.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Eric Murphy has been a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since March 2019. He previously served as the ninth State Solicitor of Ohio. In that role, Eric briefed and argued appellate cases on behalf of Ohio and its state agencies and officers in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Before his appointment as State Solicitor, Eric practiced appellate litigation at Jones Day. After graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from Miami University.
Attorney General, State of Ohio
Dave Yost was re-elected as Ohio’s 51st attorney general on Nov. 8, 2022, receiving more votes than any other attorney general in the state’s history.
During his first term as the state’s chief legal officer, he quickly gained a national reputation as a fearless advocate for the rule of law — or, as he puts it, “the same rules for everybody.”
Yost’s goal is to “do big good” for the people of Ohio by protecting consumers, rooting out corruption, defending the environment, ensuring an open and competitive marketplace, and fulfilling the many other duties of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Yost began his public-service career as Delaware County auditor, later winning election as that county’s prosecutor. From 2011 through 2018, he served as Ohio’s auditor of state and, in January 2019, began his first term as attorney general.
Yost earned his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and law degree from Capital University. He and his wife, Darlene, live in Franklin County; they have three grown children and five grandchildren.
Ohio House of Representatives, District 27
Representative Tom Brinkman is currently serving his second term as state representative, after serving as a member of the Ohio House for four 2-year terms from 2001 to 2008. He represents the 27th Ohio House District, which includes portions of eastern Hamilton County.
An experienced life insurance salesman and a life-long resident of Cincinnati, Representative Brinkman is a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (1979), with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science.
Rep. Brinkman has received various awards as a legislator, being recognized as Mt. Lookout Civic Club Man of the Year in 2008 and also as Most Principled Legislator twice. He has also received the Watchdog of the Treasury Award three times.
He lives in Mt. Lookout with his wife, Cathy, and six children.
Justice, Ohio Supreme Court
On November 3, 2020 Judge Jennifer Brunner was elected Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Previously she served as a judge of the Tenth District Court of Appeals for 6 years and the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for nearly 5 years. As a trial court judge Brunner founded the county’s adult felony drug court, known as the TIES (Treatment is Essential to Success) Program, now in its seventeenth year of operation. She was elected Ohio’s first woman Secretary of State on November 7, 2006 and held the office for four years. While in that office, she became the first Ohioan to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award from the bipartisan board of the JFK Library and Museum in Boston. Justice Brunner has 17 years of private law practice experience and has provided rule of law technical expertise to the government of the Republic of Serbia, election observation in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and rule of law instruction at the bar association of Sri Lanka through the U.S. state department (USAID), as well as provided remote rule of law and civic participation training through the American Bar Association to the Republic of Kazakhstan. She has gained a deep understanding of the importance of a strong and well-functioning judiciary to preserving peace and growing democracy through the rule of law. A native of Springfield, Ohio, Justice Brunner has been married to Rick Brunner since 1978. They have 3 adult children and 6 grandchildren, 2 dogs and 2 cats and spend time at their home in Columbus and at their farm in Columbiana County in Northeast Ohio.
Judge, Ohio Twelfth District Court of Appeals
Judge Matthew R. Byrne was elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Twelfth District in 2020, and his first term began on January 1, 2021. He is currently serving as the court's elected Administrative Judge. The Twelfth District Court of Appeals hears civil and criminal appeals from the trial courts in eight counties in southwest Ohio. Judge Byrne is active in the Ohio Judicial Conference and the Ohio Court of Appeals Judges Association. He also currently serves as a member and vice chair of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure (where he previously chaired the Appellate Rules Committee). He previously served as a member of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on Character and Fitness.
From January 2010 to December 2020, Judge Byrne practiced law at the national law firm of Jackson Lewis P.C. He was a member of the firm's General Employment Litigation Practice Group and the Wage and Hour Practice Group. From 2007 to 2010 he practiced at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. At both firms, Judge Byrne represented clients ranging from small businesses to international corporations in state and federal trial and appellate litigation, including multiple class and collective actions. He also represented clients in arbitration and before numerous administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
Judge Byrne earned his law degree, cum laude, from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. During law school he was symposium editor of the Ohio State Law Journal and the winner of the Donald S. Teller Memorial Award for student writing contributing most significantly to the Ohio State Law Journal. During law school he clerked for the Acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Treasury. Judge Byrne earned his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Xavier University, where he majored in International Affairs (Business) and Political Science.
Prior to entering law school Judge Byrne served in President George W. Bush's Administration as a member of the White House staff in the Office of Presidential Personnel, the office responsible for selecting candidates to recommend to the President for appointment or nomination to high-level government positions, and for coordinating with the Offices of White House Counsel, Press Secretary, and Executive Clerk regarding candidate background clearances, press announcements, and the status of appointments/nominations.
Judge Byrne has been a member of the Federalist Society since law school and he served for five years as president of the Federalist Society's Cincinnati Lawyers Chapter. He is a member of a number of other community and civic organizations, including the Ohio State Bar Association and the bar associations of Butler, Clermont, and Warren Counties. Judge Byrne previously was a member of the Advisory Board of Pregnancy Center East and a board member and president of the St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild of Greater Cincinnati.
Judge Byrne is an active parishioner at his church, where he is a lector, a former member and president of the Education Commission, and a former member of the Finance and Administration Commission.
Judge Byrne resides in Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio with his wife Julie and their three children.
Garwood Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow, James Madison Pr, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. This fall, Professor Forte will be the Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics, and Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.
During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association’s President’s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecturer at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and he has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Center. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts.
He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006), 2d edition (2014), published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States.
His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, the Presidency, and Constitutional History.
Ohio State Senate, District 12
Senator Matt Huffman is currently serving his first term in the Ohio Senate, representing the 12th Senate district which includes all of Allen, Champaign, Mercer and Shelby counties, as well as portions of Auglaize, Darke and Logan counties. He previously served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, the last two in leadership positions, including being elected by his fellow legislators to serves as the second highest-ranking member, Speaker Pro Tempore.
Born and raised in Lima, Ohio, Senator Huffman has practiced law for the past 30 years in his family’s private practice law firm in downtown Lima. He has been admitted to practice in all of the state and federal courts in Ohio and is an “AV” rated attorney by the Martindale-Hubbell rating service, the highest rating an attorney can receive. He has represented dozens of small businesses in West Central Ohio.
Senator Huffman began his public service on Lima City Council in 1992, serving until 2006, including the final seven years as City Council President. In 2007, he began his service in the Ohio House of Representatives. During his time in the Ohio Legislature, Senator Huffman championed bills to reform the medical delivery system, protect life at all stages and repeal common core. He has always maintained a strong commitment to the preservation of gun rights.
Senator Huffman has been a tireless advocate of removing unnecessary government regulations and fees and lowering taxes for all Ohioans; he defeated an income tax increase while on Lima City Council and supported the reduction of state income taxes on small business owners and the elimination of the Ohio estate tax. While in the Ohio House, he was named a “Guardian of Small Business” and earned three “Watchdog of the Treasury” awards.
Senator Huffman is deeply concerned about our nation’s debt and was a primary sponsor of a resolution in the Ohio House to call for a convention of the states, as authorized by Article V of the U.S. Constitution, to propose a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. He believes the states must take back the power they have relinquished to the federal government in order for our nation’s debt crisis to be solved.
Senator Huffman is the fifth of nine children born to Lawrence and Shirley Huffman. He graduated from Lima Central Catholic High School in 1978. He then went on to earn his degree in Government from the University of Notre Dame in 1982 and his law degree from the University of Cincinnati School of Law in 1985.
Married for 30 years, Senator Huffman and his wife Sheryl (nee Simoneau) have made their home in Lima, where they have raised four children: Clare, Matthew, Ellen and Sam. In addition to being members of St. Charles Church, he and Sheryl belong to several community organizations including Heartbeat of Lima and the Knights of Columbus. In his free time, he enjoys watching his youngest son, Sam, play collegiate football and referees CYO basketball.
Partner, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Larry builds on a wide range of experiences – including as an accomplished attorney, a former President of the Ohio Senate, and a legal academic – to help solve his clients’ most challenging legal problems. Larry focuses on complex litigation, including high-stakes appeals.
Larry is a Partner in the firm’s Litigation practice. He focuses his practice on litigation at both the trial and appellate levels and has experience in a variety of matters involving antitrust, fiduciary duties, torts, contracts, securities, and employment law. These range from standard contract disputes to constitutional challenges against federal statutes to defending against complex class actions.
In addition to his litigation practice, Larry served as a member of the Ohio Senate for nearly a decade. His colleagues unanimously elected him to serve as Senate President, the presiding officer of the 33-member chamber, from 2017-2020. During his time in the Senate, Larry successfully sponsored legislation on a wide range of topics, including education, tax law, elections administration, criminal law, and corporate law. These included a comprehensive update to Ohio’s corporate code and limited liability company law, including the sections setting out fiduciary duties for officers and shareholders. Larry also sponsored significant updates to Ohio’s Control Share Acquisition Act (which governs corporate takeovers). In 2018, he received the Ohio State Bar Association’s Lawyer-Legislator Distinguished Service Award.
Larry has also taught courses on Civil Procedure and Legislation as an adjunct law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He has published legal scholarship on a range of issues including constitutional law, education, law and economics, and securities. He has been cited in roughly 75 law journals throughout the country and by a member of the United States Supreme Court.
Larry began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has worked at some of the nation’s largest law firms and began his private practice by spending more than five years with Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
From 2018-2020, Larry was a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a program designed to bring greater civility to public discourse. He is active in the Federalist Society and is a former board member of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation (now known as the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation), the statewide umbrella organization for legal aid.
Ohio House of Representatives, District 27
Representative Tom Brinkman is currently serving his second term as state representative, after serving as a member of the Ohio House for four 2-year terms from 2001 to 2008. He represents the 27th Ohio House District, which includes portions of eastern Hamilton County.
An experienced life insurance salesman and a life-long resident of Cincinnati, Representative Brinkman is a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (1979), with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science.
Rep. Brinkman has received various awards as a legislator, being recognized as Mt. Lookout Civic Club Man of the Year in 2008 and also as Most Principled Legislator twice. He has also received the Watchdog of the Treasury Award three times.
He lives in Mt. Lookout with his wife, Cathy, and six children.
Justice, Ohio Supreme Court
On November 3, 2020 Judge Jennifer Brunner was elected Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Previously she served as a judge of the Tenth District Court of Appeals for 6 years and the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for nearly 5 years. As a trial court judge Brunner founded the county’s adult felony drug court, known as the TIES (Treatment is Essential to Success) Program, now in its seventeenth year of operation. She was elected Ohio’s first woman Secretary of State on November 7, 2006 and held the office for four years. While in that office, she became the first Ohioan to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award from the bipartisan board of the JFK Library and Museum in Boston. Justice Brunner has 17 years of private law practice experience and has provided rule of law technical expertise to the government of the Republic of Serbia, election observation in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and rule of law instruction at the bar association of Sri Lanka through the U.S. state department (USAID), as well as provided remote rule of law and civic participation training through the American Bar Association to the Republic of Kazakhstan. She has gained a deep understanding of the importance of a strong and well-functioning judiciary to preserving peace and growing democracy through the rule of law. A native of Springfield, Ohio, Justice Brunner has been married to Rick Brunner since 1978. They have 3 adult children and 6 grandchildren, 2 dogs and 2 cats and spend time at their home in Columbus and at their farm in Columbiana County in Northeast Ohio.
Judge, Ohio Twelfth District Court of Appeals
Judge Matthew R. Byrne was elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Twelfth District in 2020, and his first term began on January 1, 2021. He is currently serving as the court's elected Administrative Judge. The Twelfth District Court of Appeals hears civil and criminal appeals from the trial courts in eight counties in southwest Ohio. Judge Byrne is active in the Ohio Judicial Conference and the Ohio Court of Appeals Judges Association. He also currently serves as a member and vice chair of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure (where he previously chaired the Appellate Rules Committee). He previously served as a member of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on Character and Fitness.
From January 2010 to December 2020, Judge Byrne practiced law at the national law firm of Jackson Lewis P.C. He was a member of the firm's General Employment Litigation Practice Group and the Wage and Hour Practice Group. From 2007 to 2010 he practiced at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. At both firms, Judge Byrne represented clients ranging from small businesses to international corporations in state and federal trial and appellate litigation, including multiple class and collective actions. He also represented clients in arbitration and before numerous administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
Judge Byrne earned his law degree, cum laude, from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. During law school he was symposium editor of the Ohio State Law Journal and the winner of the Donald S. Teller Memorial Award for student writing contributing most significantly to the Ohio State Law Journal. During law school he clerked for the Acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Treasury. Judge Byrne earned his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Xavier University, where he majored in International Affairs (Business) and Political Science.
Prior to entering law school Judge Byrne served in President George W. Bush's Administration as a member of the White House staff in the Office of Presidential Personnel, the office responsible for selecting candidates to recommend to the President for appointment or nomination to high-level government positions, and for coordinating with the Offices of White House Counsel, Press Secretary, and Executive Clerk regarding candidate background clearances, press announcements, and the status of appointments/nominations.
Judge Byrne has been a member of the Federalist Society since law school and he served for five years as president of the Federalist Society's Cincinnati Lawyers Chapter. He is a member of a number of other community and civic organizations, including the Ohio State Bar Association and the bar associations of Butler, Clermont, and Warren Counties. Judge Byrne previously was a member of the Advisory Board of Pregnancy Center East and a board member and president of the St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild of Greater Cincinnati.
Judge Byrne is an active parishioner at his church, where he is a lector, a former member and president of the Education Commission, and a former member of the Finance and Administration Commission.
Judge Byrne resides in Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio with his wife Julie and their three children.
Garwood Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow, James Madison Pr, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. This fall, Professor Forte will be the Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics, and Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.
During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association’s President’s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecturer at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and he has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Center. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts.
He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006), 2d edition (2014), published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States.
His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, the Presidency, and Constitutional History.
Ohio State Senate, District 12
Senator Matt Huffman is currently serving his first term in the Ohio Senate, representing the 12th Senate district which includes all of Allen, Champaign, Mercer and Shelby counties, as well as portions of Auglaize, Darke and Logan counties. He previously served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, the last two in leadership positions, including being elected by his fellow legislators to serves as the second highest-ranking member, Speaker Pro Tempore.
Born and raised in Lima, Ohio, Senator Huffman has practiced law for the past 30 years in his family’s private practice law firm in downtown Lima. He has been admitted to practice in all of the state and federal courts in Ohio and is an “AV” rated attorney by the Martindale-Hubbell rating service, the highest rating an attorney can receive. He has represented dozens of small businesses in West Central Ohio.
Senator Huffman began his public service on Lima City Council in 1992, serving until 2006, including the final seven years as City Council President. In 2007, he began his service in the Ohio House of Representatives. During his time in the Ohio Legislature, Senator Huffman championed bills to reform the medical delivery system, protect life at all stages and repeal common core. He has always maintained a strong commitment to the preservation of gun rights.
Senator Huffman has been a tireless advocate of removing unnecessary government regulations and fees and lowering taxes for all Ohioans; he defeated an income tax increase while on Lima City Council and supported the reduction of state income taxes on small business owners and the elimination of the Ohio estate tax. While in the Ohio House, he was named a “Guardian of Small Business” and earned three “Watchdog of the Treasury” awards.
Senator Huffman is deeply concerned about our nation’s debt and was a primary sponsor of a resolution in the Ohio House to call for a convention of the states, as authorized by Article V of the U.S. Constitution, to propose a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. He believes the states must take back the power they have relinquished to the federal government in order for our nation’s debt crisis to be solved.
Senator Huffman is the fifth of nine children born to Lawrence and Shirley Huffman. He graduated from Lima Central Catholic High School in 1978. He then went on to earn his degree in Government from the University of Notre Dame in 1982 and his law degree from the University of Cincinnati School of Law in 1985.
Married for 30 years, Senator Huffman and his wife Sheryl (nee Simoneau) have made their home in Lima, where they have raised four children: Clare, Matthew, Ellen and Sam. In addition to being members of St. Charles Church, he and Sheryl belong to several community organizations including Heartbeat of Lima and the Knights of Columbus. In his free time, he enjoys watching his youngest son, Sam, play collegiate football and referees CYO basketball.
Partner, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Larry builds on a wide range of experiences – including as an accomplished attorney, a former President of the Ohio Senate, and a legal academic – to help solve his clients’ most challenging legal problems. Larry focuses on complex litigation, including high-stakes appeals.
Larry is a Partner in the firm’s Litigation practice. He focuses his practice on litigation at both the trial and appellate levels and has experience in a variety of matters involving antitrust, fiduciary duties, torts, contracts, securities, and employment law. These range from standard contract disputes to constitutional challenges against federal statutes to defending against complex class actions.
In addition to his litigation practice, Larry served as a member of the Ohio Senate for nearly a decade. His colleagues unanimously elected him to serve as Senate President, the presiding officer of the 33-member chamber, from 2017-2020. During his time in the Senate, Larry successfully sponsored legislation on a wide range of topics, including education, tax law, elections administration, criminal law, and corporate law. These included a comprehensive update to Ohio’s corporate code and limited liability company law, including the sections setting out fiduciary duties for officers and shareholders. Larry also sponsored significant updates to Ohio’s Control Share Acquisition Act (which governs corporate takeovers). In 2018, he received the Ohio State Bar Association’s Lawyer-Legislator Distinguished Service Award.
Larry has also taught courses on Civil Procedure and Legislation as an adjunct law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He has published legal scholarship on a range of issues including constitutional law, education, law and economics, and securities. He has been cited in roughly 75 law journals throughout the country and by a member of the United States Supreme Court.
Larry began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has worked at some of the nation’s largest law firms and began his private practice by spending more than five years with Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
From 2018-2020, Larry was a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a program designed to bring greater civility to public discourse. He is active in the Federalist Society and is a former board member of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation (now known as the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation), the statewide umbrella organization for legal aid.
Senior Advisor, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Mr. Clark is a Senior Advisor at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. He has extensive experience in energy and utility policy at the federal and state level. He provides clients with analysis and strategic advice on a variety regulatory and public policy matters affecting their businesses. He specializes in working with clients in the energy and telecommunications industries and at the nexus of state and federal jurisdictional issues.
Having been appointed by President Obama, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Mr. Clark served from 2012 to 2016 as a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. While at the FERC, Mr. Clark worked on matters that are at the forefront of energy policy, such as: electricity reliability, electricity-natural gas industry coordination, oversight of the nation’s Regional Transmission Organizations, electricity grid cyber and physical security regulations, major enforcement actions, energy infrastructure permitting, the integration of renewables and energy storage, FERC Order 1000 implementation, and wholesale electricity market reforms. From 2001 to 2012 he was a Commissioner of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, including over 5 years as its Chairman. During his tenure at the North Dakota Commission, Mr. Clark oversaw numerous proceedings related to the state’s historic emergence as a leader in American energy production. In 2010, he was selected by his regulatory peers across the nation to serve a term as President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. He also served a three-year term as Chairman of the NARUC Telecommunications Committee. Through his various regulatory positions, he has testified multiple times before Committees of both the US House and US Senate on matters related to energy and telecommunications.
From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Clark was Labor Commissioner of the State of North Dakota and a member of the Cabinet of Gov. Ed Schafer. In 1994 he was one of the youngest people ever elected to the North Dakota legislature, representing a portion of the City of Fargo for two terms in the State House of Representatives. He is a graduate, with honor, from North Dakota State University and holds a master’s degree from the University of North Dakota. In addition to his work at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP, Mr. Clark serves as a non-employee independent director on the Board of Directors of NorthWestern Energy Corporation. Having attained the rank of Eagle Scout in his youth, Mr. Clark has been a long-time volunteer with and supporter of the Boy Scouts of America.
Chief, Federal Regulatory Policy for PSEG
Larry Gasteiger was named chief, federal regulatory policy, Public Service Enterperise Group Incorpoated (PSEG) in October 2016.
Mr. Gasteiger served as Chief of Staff at FERC culminating a noteworthy 19-year tenure at FERC in which he held a variety of leadership roles. He previously served as the Acting Director of the Office of Enforcement from August 2014 to April 2015 after having served as the Deputy Director from 2009 to 2014. Before he joined the Office of Enforcement, Mr. Gasteiger was the Director of the Division of Tariffs and Market Development - East in the Office of Energy Market Regulation. Prior to that, he held several other positions at the Commission, including Deputy Associate General Counsel, Legal Advisor to Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher, and attorney in the FERC’s Solicitor's Office.
Before joining FERC in 1997, Mr. Gasteiger was an attorney in the General Counsel's Office at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and from 1989 to 1991 he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Edwin M. Kosik in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Gasteiger is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Dickinson School of Law. He is a former Board Member of the Northeast Chapter of the Energy Bar Association and former Board Member and Secretary of the Saint Ambrose School.
Denver Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Raymond L. Gifford counsels communications, electric and gas utilities, and information technology companies on state and federal aspects of regulation, administrative law, and competition policy. He is an expert in public utilities law, and the law and economics of regulation of network industries. Mr. Gifford’s law and policy work focuses on the convergence of broadband communications and energy, as well as environmental policy as it applies to the electric industry. He represents clients in state and federal courts and agencies, and serves as an expert witness on utility regulation and its history. He is also a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship, and Co-Directs the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics at University of Colorado Law School.
Mr. Gifford served as Chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission from 1999-2003. Following that, he served as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington DC-based think-tank that studied the digital revolution as it relates to regulation of network industries. He entered the regulatory law world as First Assistant Attorney General in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. He clerked for the Honorable Richard P. Matsch of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Mr. Gifford has authored a number of articles on communications law, public utility regulation and competition policy in network industries. He is a graduate of University of Chicago Law School and St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute
Research Director, Harvard Electricity Policy Group, Raymond Pla, Harvard University
William W. Hogan, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy, is research director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group (HEPG), which is examining alternative strategies for a more competitive electricity market, and a member of the Appointments Committee. Prof. Hogan has been a member of the faculty of Stanford University where he founded the Energy Modeling Forum (EMF), and he is a past president of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). Current research focuses on major energy industry restructuring, network pricing and access issues, market design, and energy policy in nations worldwide. Prof. Hogan received his undergraduate degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy and his PhD from UCLA. Selected papers are available on his Web site, www.whogan.com.
Acting FERC Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Acting Chairman Cheryl A. LaFleur was first nominated by President Barack Obama to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2010 and was confirmed for a second term by the Senate in 2014. On January 23, 2017 she was appointed Acting Chairman by President Donald Trump. She was previously appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Acting Chairman of the Commission from November 2013 to July 2014 and as Chairman from July 2014 until April 2015.
Acting Chairman LaFleur is honored to be a member of the Commission at a time when the nation is making substantial changes in its energy supply and infrastructure to meet environmental challenges and improve reliability and security. Since she joined the Commission, her priorities have included reliability and grid security, promoting regional transmission planning, and supporting a clean and diverse power supply. She is a member of the NARUC Committees on Electricity and Critical Infrastructure and was co-chair of the FERC/NARUC Forum on Reliability and the Environment. She is a frequent speaker on energy issues.
Prior to joining the Commission in 2010, Acting Chairman LaFleur had more than 20 years’ experience as a leader in the electric and natural gas industry. She served as executive vice president and acting CEO of National Grid USA, responsible for the delivery of electricity to 3.4 million customers in the Northeast. Her previous positions at National Grid USA and its predecessor New England Electric System included chief operating officer, president of the New England distribution companies and general counsel. She led major efforts to improve reliability and employee safety. Earlier in her career, she was responsible for leading award-winning conservation and demand response programs for customers.
Acting Chairman LaFleur has been a nonprofit board member and leader, including as a trustee of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United Way of Central Massachusetts, and several other organizations. She is also active in a number of women’s energy organizations.
Acting Chairman LaFleur was named Woman of the Year by the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment in 2015. In 2014, the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association presented her with its Vanguard Award for her long-time leadership in the development of competitive power markets. She received a Bipartisan Congressional Award in 2013 for her work on grid reliability. She has also been honored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the YWCA of Central Massachusetts, among others.
Acting Chairman LaFleur began her career as an attorney at Ropes and Gray in Boston. She has a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and an A.B. from Princeton University. A native of Massachusetts, she is married to William Kuncik, a retired attorney, and they are the parents of two grown children.
Senior Vice President for Government and Regulatory Affairs, Calpine Corp.
Mr. Steven Schleimer has been Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Calpine Corp. since January 1, 2014. Mr. Schleimer served as a Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs for Calpine’s North Region since 2010. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Schleimer served as Vice President at Barclays Capital in New York and was responsible for market design and regulatory issues. Prior to that, he had served as Calpine’s Vice President of Market and Regulatory Affairs in the West Region from 2000 to 2006. Mr. Schleimer spent the first 12 years of his career at Pacific Gas and Electric Company. He earned a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree, with highest honors, in Economics from the University of California at Santa.
Senior Advisor, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Mr. Clark is a Senior Advisor at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. He has extensive experience in energy and utility policy at the federal and state level. He provides clients with analysis and strategic advice on a variety regulatory and public policy matters affecting their businesses. He specializes in working with clients in the energy and telecommunications industries and at the nexus of state and federal jurisdictional issues.
Having been appointed by President Obama, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Mr. Clark served from 2012 to 2016 as a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. While at the FERC, Mr. Clark worked on matters that are at the forefront of energy policy, such as: electricity reliability, electricity-natural gas industry coordination, oversight of the nation’s Regional Transmission Organizations, electricity grid cyber and physical security regulations, major enforcement actions, energy infrastructure permitting, the integration of renewables and energy storage, FERC Order 1000 implementation, and wholesale electricity market reforms. From 2001 to 2012 he was a Commissioner of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, including over 5 years as its Chairman. During his tenure at the North Dakota Commission, Mr. Clark oversaw numerous proceedings related to the state’s historic emergence as a leader in American energy production. In 2010, he was selected by his regulatory peers across the nation to serve a term as President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. He also served a three-year term as Chairman of the NARUC Telecommunications Committee. Through his various regulatory positions, he has testified multiple times before Committees of both the US House and US Senate on matters related to energy and telecommunications.
From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Clark was Labor Commissioner of the State of North Dakota and a member of the Cabinet of Gov. Ed Schafer. In 1994 he was one of the youngest people ever elected to the North Dakota legislature, representing a portion of the City of Fargo for two terms in the State House of Representatives. He is a graduate, with honor, from North Dakota State University and holds a master’s degree from the University of North Dakota. In addition to his work at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP, Mr. Clark serves as a non-employee independent director on the Board of Directors of NorthWestern Energy Corporation. Having attained the rank of Eagle Scout in his youth, Mr. Clark has been a long-time volunteer with and supporter of the Boy Scouts of America.
Chief, Federal Regulatory Policy for PSEG
Larry Gasteiger was named chief, federal regulatory policy, Public Service Enterperise Group Incorpoated (PSEG) in October 2016.
Mr. Gasteiger served as Chief of Staff at FERC culminating a noteworthy 19-year tenure at FERC in which he held a variety of leadership roles. He previously served as the Acting Director of the Office of Enforcement from August 2014 to April 2015 after having served as the Deputy Director from 2009 to 2014. Before he joined the Office of Enforcement, Mr. Gasteiger was the Director of the Division of Tariffs and Market Development - East in the Office of Energy Market Regulation. Prior to that, he held several other positions at the Commission, including Deputy Associate General Counsel, Legal Advisor to Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher, and attorney in the FERC’s Solicitor's Office.
Before joining FERC in 1997, Mr. Gasteiger was an attorney in the General Counsel's Office at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and from 1989 to 1991 he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Edwin M. Kosik in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Gasteiger is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Dickinson School of Law. He is a former Board Member of the Northeast Chapter of the Energy Bar Association and former Board Member and Secretary of the Saint Ambrose School.
Denver Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Raymond L. Gifford counsels communications, electric and gas utilities, and information technology companies on state and federal aspects of regulation, administrative law, and competition policy. He is an expert in public utilities law, and the law and economics of regulation of network industries. Mr. Gifford’s law and policy work focuses on the convergence of broadband communications and energy, as well as environmental policy as it applies to the electric industry. He represents clients in state and federal courts and agencies, and serves as an expert witness on utility regulation and its history. He is also a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship, and Co-Directs the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics at University of Colorado Law School.
Mr. Gifford served as Chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission from 1999-2003. Following that, he served as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington DC-based think-tank that studied the digital revolution as it relates to regulation of network industries. He entered the regulatory law world as First Assistant Attorney General in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. He clerked for the Honorable Richard P. Matsch of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Mr. Gifford has authored a number of articles on communications law, public utility regulation and competition policy in network industries. He is a graduate of University of Chicago Law School and St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute
Research Director, Harvard Electricity Policy Group, Raymond Pla, Harvard University
William W. Hogan, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy, is research director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group (HEPG), which is examining alternative strategies for a more competitive electricity market, and a member of the Appointments Committee. Prof. Hogan has been a member of the faculty of Stanford University where he founded the Energy Modeling Forum (EMF), and he is a past president of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). Current research focuses on major energy industry restructuring, network pricing and access issues, market design, and energy policy in nations worldwide. Prof. Hogan received his undergraduate degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy and his PhD from UCLA. Selected papers are available on his Web site, www.whogan.com.
Acting FERC Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Acting Chairman Cheryl A. LaFleur was first nominated by President Barack Obama to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2010 and was confirmed for a second term by the Senate in 2014. On January 23, 2017 she was appointed Acting Chairman by President Donald Trump. She was previously appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Acting Chairman of the Commission from November 2013 to July 2014 and as Chairman from July 2014 until April 2015.
Acting Chairman LaFleur is honored to be a member of the Commission at a time when the nation is making substantial changes in its energy supply and infrastructure to meet environmental challenges and improve reliability and security. Since she joined the Commission, her priorities have included reliability and grid security, promoting regional transmission planning, and supporting a clean and diverse power supply. She is a member of the NARUC Committees on Electricity and Critical Infrastructure and was co-chair of the FERC/NARUC Forum on Reliability and the Environment. She is a frequent speaker on energy issues.
Prior to joining the Commission in 2010, Acting Chairman LaFleur had more than 20 years’ experience as a leader in the electric and natural gas industry. She served as executive vice president and acting CEO of National Grid USA, responsible for the delivery of electricity to 3.4 million customers in the Northeast. Her previous positions at National Grid USA and its predecessor New England Electric System included chief operating officer, president of the New England distribution companies and general counsel. She led major efforts to improve reliability and employee safety. Earlier in her career, she was responsible for leading award-winning conservation and demand response programs for customers.
Acting Chairman LaFleur has been a nonprofit board member and leader, including as a trustee of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United Way of Central Massachusetts, and several other organizations. She is also active in a number of women’s energy organizations.
Acting Chairman LaFleur was named Woman of the Year by the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment in 2015. In 2014, the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association presented her with its Vanguard Award for her long-time leadership in the development of competitive power markets. She received a Bipartisan Congressional Award in 2013 for her work on grid reliability. She has also been honored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the YWCA of Central Massachusetts, among others.
Acting Chairman LaFleur began her career as an attorney at Ropes and Gray in Boston. She has a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and an A.B. from Princeton University. A native of Massachusetts, she is married to William Kuncik, a retired attorney, and they are the parents of two grown children.
Senior Vice President for Government and Regulatory Affairs, Calpine Corp.
Mr. Steven Schleimer has been Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Calpine Corp. since January 1, 2014. Mr. Schleimer served as a Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs for Calpine’s North Region since 2010. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Schleimer served as Vice President at Barclays Capital in New York and was responsible for market design and regulatory issues. Prior to that, he had served as Calpine’s Vice President of Market and Regulatory Affairs in the West Region from 2000 to 2006. Mr. Schleimer spent the first 12 years of his career at Pacific Gas and Electric Company. He earned a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree, with highest honors, in Economics from the University of California at Santa.
Hillbilly Elegy
TeleforumNew Applications of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to Vote Denial Cases
Maya Noronha
Note from the Editor: This article discusses recent federal appellate court decisions with respect to...
Fighting Federal Encroachment
Mike DeWine, Benjamin M. Flowers, David P. Fornshell, Eric E. Murphy, Dave Yost
In our nation's federalist system, the federal government's powers are limited to those that have...
Fighting Federal Encroachment
Mike DeWine, Benjamin M. Flowers, David P. Fornshell, Eric E. Murphy, Dave Yost
In our nation's federalist system, the federal government's powers are limited to those that have...
Convention of the States
Thomas Brinkman, Jennifer Brunner, Matthew R. Byrne, David F. Forte, Matt Huffman, Larry J. Obhof
Article V of the United States Constitution permits state legislatures to call a constitutional convention...
Convention of the States
Thomas Brinkman, Jennifer Brunner, Matthew R. Byrne, David F. Forte, Matt Huffman, Larry J. Obhof
Article V of the United States Constitution permits state legislatures to call a constitutional convention...
State ‘Around Market’ Action and FERC: The End of Competitive Wholesale Electric Markets?
Anthony T. Clark, Larry Gasteiger, Raymond L. Gifford, William W. Hogan, Cheryl A. LaFleur, Steven Schleimer
For the past two decades, the U.S. has experimented with “market”-based competitive wholesale electric markets. ...
State ‘Around Market’ Action and FERC: The End of Competitive Wholesale Electric Markets?
Anthony T. Clark, Larry Gasteiger, Raymond L. Gifford, William W. Hogan, Cheryl A. LaFleur, Steven Schleimer
For the past two decades, the U.S. has experimented with “market”-based competitive wholesale electric markets. ...
State ‘Around Market’ Action and FERC: The End of Competitive Wholesale Electric Markets?
Telecommunications & Electronic Media and Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Groups
Washington, DCFighting Federal Encroachment
Inaugural Ohio Chapters Conference
Columbus, OH