Senior Counsel, Litigation, Defense of Freedom Institute
Don Daugherty is Senior Counsel, Litigation, at the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies. He previously served as a Senior Counsel at the Institute for Free Speech and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Before that, he was a partner at three of Wisconsin’s largest firms, with nearly 30 years of trial and appellate litigation experience. He has been consistently recognized as among the “Best Lawyers in America,” as well as Wisconsin’s “Super Lawyers.” He received his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Northwestern University Law School. After law school, he served as a clerk to the Honorable Roger J. Miner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Don is on the Board of Advisors for the Milwaukee Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society, and on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s Litigation Practice Group.
Vice President of Washington Operations and Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government, Hillsdale College
Matthew Spalding is the Kirby Professor in Constitutional Government at Hillsdale College and the Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College’s Washington, D.C., campus. As Vice President for Washington Operations, he also oversees the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship and the academic and educational programs of Hillsdale in the nation’s capital.
He is the best-selling author of We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future, which details America’s core principles, shows how they have come under assault by modern progressive-liberalism, and lays out a strategy to recover them. Spalding is also executive editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, a line-by-line analysis of each clause of the U.S. Constitution. His other books include A Sacred Union of Citizens: Washington’s Farewell Address and the American Character; Patriot Sage: George Washington and the American Political Tradition; and The Founders’ Almanac: A Practical Guide to the Notable Events, Greatest Leaders & Most Eloquent Words of the American Founding.
Prior to joining Hillsdale, Dr. Spalding was vice president of American Studies at The Heritage Foundation and founding director of its B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics. He is a Fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, and serves on the boards of the Steamboat Institute and the Philadelphia Society.
He received his B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from the Claremont Graduate School. In addition to teaching at Hillsdale, he has taught at George Mason University, the Catholic University of America, and Claremont McKenna College. He and his wife Elizabeth, a Hillsdale alumna, reside with their two children in Arlington, Virginia.
Professor, Christopher Newport University
Dr. Jeffry Morrison is Professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, and Director of Academics at the federal government’s James Madison Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia. He graduated with distinction from Boston College and from Georgetown University, where he earned the M.A. and Ph.D. in Government. Dr. Morrison has also held faculty positions at Princeton University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Georgetown University, and Regent University. He has published as author or editor five books on American political culture, including The Political Philosophy of George Washington (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), and chapters, articles, and reviews in numerous scholarly publications in fields including history, political science, and religion. He has lectured at colleges and historic sites throughout the United States and in England (Hertford College, Oxford), and made media appearances on radio, in journalism, and on television (C-SPAN and the BBC).
Co-Owner, Salon Benders
Jessie has been working in the beauty and wellness industry since 2003 as a teacher and stylist alongside some of the industry's finest (Paul Mitchell, "THE SCHOOL," and The Aveda Institute, Los Angeles). She established a strong foundation and practice, specializing in curly hair, color, and natural hair textures. She is an excellent craftswoman who also loves shags, razor cuts, and “lived-in” easy to style hair. Some call her a “hair healer” for her intuitive ability to know exactly what your hair needs to be in optimal shape. Jessie also studied special effects makeup in 2008. That experience opened her eyes to the infinite possibilities of human presentation. She can tell you exactly what color palette will be flattering on you. Whether its clothes, makeup, or hair, she’s got your back. In 2018, Jessie opened Salon Benders allowing her to incorporate her knowledge of hair, makeup, abstract painting, reiki, and LGBTQ/POC matters to create a one of a kind salon experience.
Owner/Organizer, Salon Benders
Cal uses his background in education, innovation, and community building to influence and disrupt.
He thrives in collaborative environments that value equity, efficiency, and strong communication. With a knack for problem solving and project management, Cal brings a growth-oriented mindset and enjoy working toward goals. His background is in education and leading teams of educators, and he has developed and implemented training on operations, inclusivity, and more–building and guiding teams that are healthy and effective.
U.S. Representative, Wyoming
Congresswoman Harriet Hageman represents the state of Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives. She grew up on a ranch, attended Casper College on a livestock judging scholarship and earned both her bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Wyoming. A litigator for 34 years, Harriet is nationally known for challenging federal overreach, for protecting water and property rights, for exposing federal land and wildlife mismanagement, and for fighting back against the unconstitutional and unlawful acts of unelected bureaucrats. Harriet has extensive experience engaging in complex trials against federal agencies and has been admitted to practice in several states as well as the United States Supreme Court.
In her freshman term in the 118th Congress, Harriet has been selected to serve on the House Natural Resources committee where she is Chair of the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, and also serves on the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries. Representative Hageman also serves on the Judiciary Committee and Subcommittees on the Constitution and Limited Government; the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust; and the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. She has shown her support for American energy independence by serving as Co-Chair of the Congressional Coal Caucus.
Legislation sponsored by Representative Hageman has been focused on reining in the regulatory state, ending the weaponization of our federal government and its proxies against American citizens, and ending the de facto moratorium on American energy production.
Director, Capital Center for Law & Policy Justice and Anthony M. Kennedy Professor of Law, University of the Pacific
Professor Jacobs has been a Professor at McGeorge since 1993. During this time, she has authored a substantial and important body of scholarship on constitutional doctrine, governance and national security, and particularly on government speech. Professor Jacobs' articles have appeared in law journals at Yale, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio State, UC Davis, Rutgers, Tulane, Florida and Indiana. Her separate pieces of scholarship on bioterrorism and national security have appeared as invited submissions to Homeland Security: Law and Policy (William Nicholson, ed. 2005), Encyclopedia of Bioterrorism Defense (J. Wiley, 2005), the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, and the interdisciplinary journal, Biosecurity & Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice & Science. Professor Jacobs is co-author of law review pieces addressing law reform in Indonesia and two volumes in the McGeorge Global Issues series designed to bring international and comparative law into core law school classes, Global Issues in Constitutional Law and Global Issues in Freedom of Speech and Religion.
Currently, Professor Jacobs serves as Director of the McGeorge Capital Center for Law & Policy, dedicated to studying issues of federalism and government structure and aiding government policymakers who must navigate their complexities. Before this appointment, Professor Jacobs served as Director of McGeorge's Institute for Development of Legal Infrastructure. Located within the McGeorge Center for Global Business and Development, the Institute generates scholarship on development issues and provides service to developing nations seeking to strengthen their legal systems. In February 2008, Professor Jacobs taught a course at Zhejiang Gongshang University in Hangzhou, China, as part of a USAID legal education grant administered by the Institute. Professor Jacobs has also led the McGeorge Bioterrorism and Public Health Initiative, which focused on introducing issues related to those topics into the law school curriculum. Professor Jacobs received her BA from Wesleyan University, graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, and served as a law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
Wayne A. Abernathy, Wild Bells
Wayne A. Abernathy is a former U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions under President George W. Bush, receiving the Alexander Hamilton Award in recognition of his service. In that office he was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Prior to his work at the Treasury, Mr. Abernathy served as Staff Director of the Senate Banking Committee, under Chairman Phil Gramm.
Following his service at the Treasury, Mr. Abernathy worked for 15 years on the staff of the American Bankers Association, as Executive Vice President for Financial Institutions Policy and Regulatory Affairs.
Previous experience with the Senate Banking Committee includes serving as Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Securities during 1995-1998. From 1989 until 1994, Mr. Abernathy was a Republican economist for the committee. He previously worked as a senior legislative assistant for Senator Gramm during 1987-1989 and as an economist for the Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on International Finance and Monetary Policy during 1981-1986, under Chairman Jake Garn.
Mr. Abernathy earned his bachelor’s degree in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University in 1978. In 1980, he received a master’s degree in International Studies from the School of Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University.
Managing Partner, Federal Financial Analytics, Inc.
Karen Shaw Petrou is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Federal Financial Analytics, Inc., a privately-held company that, since 1985, has provided analytical and advisory services on legislative, regulatory, and public-policy issues affecting financial services companies doing business in the U.S. and abroad. The firm’s practice is a unique blend of strategic advice and policy analysis that does not include lobbying or any other projects that would compromise its objectivity and independence. This, Petrou believes, gives boards of directors, senior management and regulators the best advice on emerging issues on which to base their own strategic planning and advocacy.
Ms. Petrou is a frequent speaker on topics affecting the financial services industry. In addition to presentations to Congress, foreign legislatures and government agencies, she has spoken before such organizations as the Japanese Diet, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, various Federal Reserve Banks, the Economist’s Buttonwood conference, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the American Bankers Association, The Clearing House, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Institute of International Bankers, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, the American Bar Association, the Brookings Institution, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Manufacturers, and many other industry, academic and policy-maker audiences. She has also authored numerous articles in professional publications such as the American Banker and International Economy, as well as general-interest media like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Ms. Petrou appears frequently in the media as an expert on banking legislation and regulation.
Prior to founding her own firm in 1985, Ms. Petrou worked in Washington as an officer at Bank of America, where she began her career in 1977. She is an honors graduate in Political Science from Wellesley College and also was a special student in an honors program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned an M.A. in that subject from the University of California at Berkeley, and was a doctoral candidate there. She has served on the boards of banking organizations and sits as a director on the board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness and the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation. She is also an advisory member of the board of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law.
Professor of the Practice of Law and Executive Director, Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, Duke University Law School
Charles J. Dunlap Jr. joined the Duke Law faculty in July 2010 where he is currently a professor of the practice of law and Executive Director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security. His teaching and scholarly writing focus on national security, law of armed conflict, the use of force under international law, civil-military relations, cyberwar, airpower, military justice, and ethical issues related to the practice of national security law.
Dunlap retired from the Air Force in June 2010, having attained the rank of major general during a 34-year career in the Judge Advocate General Corps. In his capacity as Deputy Judge Advocate General spanning from May 2006 to March 2010, he assisted the Judge Advocate General in the professional supervision of more than 2,200 judge advocates, 350 civilian lawyers, 1,400 enlisted paralegals, and 500 civilians around the world. In addition to overseeing an array of military justice, operational, international, and civil law functions, he provided legal advice to commanders and civilian leaders at all levels.
In the course of his career, Dunlap has been involved in various high-profile interagency and policy matters, including his testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives concerning the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
Dunlap previously served as the senior lawyer (staff judge advocate) at Air Combat Command Headquarters at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, at Air Education and Training Command Headquarters at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, and at U.S. Strategic Command, Omaha, Nebraska, among other leadership posts. Additionally, he served on the faculty of the Air Force Judge Advocate General School where he taught various civil and criminal law topics. An experienced trial lawyer, he also spent two years as a military trial judge for a 22-state circuit. He served tours in the United Kingdom and Korea, and deployed for operations in the Middle East and Africa. He also led military-to-military delegations to Colombia, Uruguay, South Africa, and the Czech Republic.
A prolific author and accomplished public speaker, Dunlap’s commentary on a wide variety of national security topics has been published in leading newspapers and military journals. His 2001 essay written for Harvard University’s Carr Center on “lawfare,” a concept he defines as “the use or misuse of law as a substitute for traditional military means to accomplish an operational objective,” has been highly influential among military scholars and in the broader legal academy.
Dunlap is also the author of the prize-winning essay, “The Origins of the Military Coup of 2012”, originally published in 1992, which was selected for the 40th Anniversary Edition of Parameters (Winter 2010-2011).
Dunlap’s legal scholarship has been published in the Stanford Law Review, the Yale Journal of International Affairs, the Harvard Law’s National Security Journal, the Wake Forest Law Review, the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, the University of Nebraska Law Review, the Texas Tech Law Review, Temple Law’s Journal of International & Comparative Law, the University of North Carolina’s Journal of International Law, the Connecticut Law Review, the Tennessee Law Review, and the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, among others.
He’s also authored numerous articles and opinion pieces in a range of publications including The Atlantic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Air Force Times, Strategic Studies Quarterly, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Business Insider, the Journal of Genocide Research, The Hill, Small Wars Journal, and the blogs, Lawfare and Just Security.
Maj Gen Dunlap founded his blog Lawfire in 2015 and has since written over 300 posts on a wide variety of subjects.
Dunlap's wife, Joy, was a vice president of the National Association of Broadcasters, and later a deputy director of Government Relations for the Military Officers Association of America. She served as the elected president of Duke Campus Club, and is a recipient of the prestigious Order of the Emerald by Kappa Delta sorority. Her blog, Speaking Joyfully, won 3rd place in the blog category at the 2021 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. They reside in Durham.
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Ann Arbor, MI