Fellow in Economic Studies and Policy Director, Center on Regulation and Markets, Brookings Institution
Aaron Klein is a fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he also serves as policy director of the Center on Regulation and Markets. He focuses on financial regulation and technology, macroeconomics, and infrastructure finance and policy. Previously, Klein directed the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative. Klein served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Treasury Department from 2009-2012. While at Treasury, Klein worked on multiple issues ranging from implementing aspects of the financial recovery program to developing new policy for financial regulation, housing finance, transportation and infrastructure, and Native American issues.
Prior to his appointment, he served as Chief Economist of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee for Chairmen Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Paul Sarbanes (D-MD). While working in the Senate Klein played a key role in a series of major legislation including, the Economic Emergency Stabilization Act of 2008 (better known as TARP), the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the SAFETEA Act of 2005 that re-wrote America's surface transportation policy, the Check Truncation Act of 2003, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Princeton University, Klein lives in his hometown of Silver Spring, MD with his wife and two daughters.
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, Cato Institute
George Selgin is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute and Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Georgia. He is the author of The Theory of Free Banking (Rowman & Littlefield, 1988), Bank Deregulation and Monetary Order (Routledge, 1996), Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage (University of Michigan Press, 2008), Money: Free and Unfree (The Cato Institute, 2015), Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (The Cato Institute, 2018), and Floored! How a Misguided Fed Experiment Deepened and Prolonged the Great Recession (The Cato Institute 2018). Selgin holds a B.A. in economics and zoology from Drew University, and a Ph.D. in economics from New York University.
Associate Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Associate Professor of Law J.W. Verret joined the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University faculty in 2008. In 2013, he took leave for two years to serve as the Chief Economist and Senior Counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. He received his JD and MA in Public Policy from Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, respectively, in 2006. While in law school, Professor Verret served an Olin Fellowship in Law and Economics at the Harvard Program on Corporate Governance under the guidance of Prof. Lucian Bebchuk.
Professor Verret then served as a law clerk for Vice-Chancellor John W. Noble of the Delaware Court of Chancery. Prior to joining the faculty at Scalia Law, Professor Verret was an associate in the SEC Enforcement Defense Practice Group at Skadden, Arps in Washington, D.C. He has written extensively on corporate law topics, including Delaware's Guidance, co-written with Chief Justice Myron T. Steele of the Delaware Supreme Court. His academic work has been featured in the Yale Journal on Regulation, The Business Lawyer, the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, and the Virginia Law and Business Review. Professor Verret was selected by the Northwestern Law School Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth for a 2009-2010 Searle-Kaufmann Research Fellowship.
Professor Verret is also a Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center Working Group on Financial Markets, where he regularly briefs Congressional staff, members of Congress, SEC Commissioners and other financial regulatory agencies on financial regulation topics. He also directs the Corporate Federalism Initiative, where he obtains research grants for a network of students and faculty scholars who study the division between states and the federal government as sources of corporate law. Professor Verret has been invited to testify before various House and Senate Committees four times during the financial crisis of 2009 regarding all of the central provisions of the Obama Administration's 2009 financial regulatory reform proposals. For a full list of Professor Verret's C-Span appearances, including testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, see http://www.c-spanvideo.org/jwverret.
Professor Verret has been an invited panelist for various television appearances, including an interview on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Professor Verret has been quoted in various media on financial regulation and corporate law topics, including the New York Times, CNN Money, the CNN Political Ticker, CNBC, ABC News, Investor's Business Daily, ESPN.com, The American Banker, The American Lawyer, The Huffington Post, CBS.com, and AP News. Professor Verret's op-eds have been featured in Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, The Orange County Register, and The Wall Street Journal. Professor Verret is also a regular guest contributor to three of the most noted corporate law and financial regulation law blogs: the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation Forum, Deallawyers.com, and The Conglomerate.
U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (1983-1989); U.S. Solicitor General (1989-1993)
Kenneth Starr is a former United States Federal Court of Appeals Judge, U.S. Solicitor General, and Independent Counsel. He is the former President and Chancellor of Baylor University where he held the Louise L. Morrison Chair of Constitutional Law at Baylor University Law School.
U.S. Attorney, District of Massachusetts
Before his appointment as U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Andrew Lelling was a federal prosecutor for over 15 years, serving first in the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department and later at the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Massachusetts.
During his time as a prosecutor in the District of Massachusetts, Mr. Lelling served as Senior Litigation Counsel and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Economic Crimes Unit and on the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force. He was the lead prosecutor in a number of complex fraud, immigration and international drug trafficking investigations including, most recently, the successful prosecution of one of the largest pyramid schemes ever charged by the Department of Justice, which involved over a million victims worldwide and losses of $3 billion. In addition, Mr. Lelling has prosecuted major drug trafficking organizations, domestic branches of Mexican drug cartels, and global drug traffickers based in Eastern Europe. In his role as the Senior Litigation Counsel, Mr. Lelling developed enforcement policy for criminal prosecutions and trained prosecutors and law enforcement officers on criminal practice.
Before serving as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Lelling was Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, focusing on criminal civil rights enforcement, voting rights enforcement actions, and civil investigations of major city police departments. In this role, Mr. Lelling led the Department’s investigation of the 2000 Presidential election in Florida and negotiated human rights issues with the Chinese government. In addition, Mr. Lelling advised on the drafting of the USA PATRIOT Act in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and led the Department’s task force for responding to backlash crimes.
Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Lelling was a senior litigation associate at Goodwin Procter in Boston and a litigation associate at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae in New York. He also clerked for the U.S. District Court Chief Judge B. Avant Edenfield in the Southern District of Georgia.
Mr. Lelling graduated cum laude from University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1994 and received a Bachelor of Arts in Literature & Rhetoric from Binghamton University in 1991. He is a member of the Federalist Society and a former member of the Boston Bar Journal’s Board of Editors.
Suffolk County District Attorney, Massachusetts
Rachael Rollins is the Suffolk County District Attorney in Massachusetts. Rollins was elected to the office on November 6, 2018.
CEO, Borrell Associates, Inc
Gordon Borrell is a sought-after speaker for conferences and company meetings and one of the media industry’s leading analysts. He is ranked in the top 2% among Gerson Lehrman Group’s 150,000 consultants worldwide and is quoted frequently in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Ad Age, Forbes and other publications. He has appeared on CNN and other TV and radio programs discussing trends and forecasts for local media. Prior to starting Borrell Associates, Gordon was vice president for new media for Landmark Communications, where he worked for 22 years. He started his career as a reporter and editor for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1989 he began pioneering interactive ventures and helped establish the first TV, newspaper, cable and network TV websites. Mr. Borrell conceptualized and helped create InfiNet, an Internet access and hosting company later split up and sold to Earthlink and to Gannett Co. He is a member of the executive board of the Local Media Association and is past president of the Newspaper Association of America’s New Media Federation. He is married, has five children, and lives in Portsmouth, Virginia, where he has been active on boards and organizations supporting public education and community sports.
Professor of the Practice of Economics, Duke University
Michelle P. Connolly is Professor of the Practice in the Economics Department at Duke University. She was the Economics Director of Duke in New York: Financial Markets and Institutions Program for 2007-2009 and the Director of EcoTeach for several years. She currently serves as the Director of the Honors Program in Economics and a member of the Duke Alumni Association Board.
In 2011, Professor Connolly won the Howard D. Johnson Trinity College Teaching Prize and was named among the top five percent of Duke University Undergraduate Instructors in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Professor Connolly previously served as Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009, and as an Economist for the International Research Function for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1996 to 1997. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Yale University in 1990, and went on to earn her M.A. and M.Phil in economics. Professor Connolly received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1996.
Professor Connolly’s research and teaching focus specifically on international trade, telecommunications policy, media policy, education, growth, and development. She has received funding for her research from the National Science Foundation, the Duke Arts and Sciences Research Council Grants, the Spencer Grant, and the Teagle Grant.
Professor Connolly has published in numerous journals, including the American Economic Review, the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Economic History, the Journal of Economic Growth, the Review of Industrial Organization, and Current Issues in Economics and Finance.
In 2011, Professor Connolly testified before Congress and participated in a White House panel on Spectrum Issues. She has been presenting her work at university seminars and international conferences since 1996. Some of her appearances were at the ACLP Advanced Communications 2009 Summit, where she was a panelist and moderator, at the conference on “Wireless Technologies: Enabling Innovation and Economic Growth”, where she served as a keynote panelist, and at the Martin H. Crego Lecture in Economics, an all college Lecture at Vassar College. In 2013 Professor Connolly was awarded a National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Grant, “Dollars for Hertz: Making Trustworthy Spectrum Sharing Technically and Economically Viable.”
Vice President, Policy & General Counsel, The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)
Francella Ochillo leads the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s policy and government affairs office in Washington, D.C. and is responsible for developing policy and legal strategies that encourage open and affordable communications, innovation, competition, and diversity. Francella represents NHMC in meetings with decision makers in Congress and at federal regulatory agencies. Her expertise and advocacy have been featured in outlets including USA Today, Law 360, and ColorLines Magazine.
Francella coordinates organizational responses to regulatory proposals that threaten to widen the digital divide and has co-authored several notable filings documenting opposition to the FCC’s Net Neutrality repeal, proposals to gut Lifeline, and further media consolidation. Francella has expertise elevating the public dialogue and developing Congressional outreach strategies. For example, she has organized and moderated briefings to educate House and Senate staffers on a range of issues related to Lifeline, media diversity, the extreme vetting immigration initiatives. Francella also supervises NHMC’s legal fellowship program, which provides an opportunity for select students throughout the country to experience media, technology, and telecommunications law and advocacy.
In her prior role at NHMC as policy counsel, Francella analyzed and helped implement communication policy initiatives for the National Hispanic Media Coalition, while coordinating government outreach and public engagement efforts that bring Latinos online and on the airwaves. She developed strategic relationships with organizational allies to amplify the voices of Latinos in Washington and was a critical part of the team analyzing the more than 50,000 consumer complaints received from the FCC in response to NHMC’s Freedom of Information Act requests that drew renewed attention to the importance of preserving the 2015 Open Internet Order.
Francella earned a B.S. in Marketing from Morgan State University and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. During her studies, she excelled as a moot court competitor and went on to represent the city of Chicago in administrative hearings. Before joining the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Francella worked on securities fraud investigation teams at the Department of Justice where she helped prosecute banks for corporate misconduct under the False Claims Act and Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act.
Founder and CEO, Connoisseur Media
Founder and CEO, Jeff Warshaw is a lifelong broadcaster. He built his first station while still a student at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1993 Jeff founded Connoisseur Communications Partners LP, a 39 station group which he later sold to Cumulus Broadcasting in 2000 for $258MM. In 2004 Jeff formed Connoisseur Media which now operates 31 radio station brands and digital assets in 8 markets. Highly respected and celebrated industry wide for his outspoken candor, Jeff’s spirit of innovation and long held principles of integrity, accountability and improvement remain core values of the company and guide its team members. Jeff serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters, the Radio Advertising Bureau, and is a member of the Nielsen Advisory Board.
CEO, Borrell Associates, Inc
Gordon Borrell is a sought-after speaker for conferences and company meetings and one of the media industry’s leading analysts. He is ranked in the top 2% among Gerson Lehrman Group’s 150,000 consultants worldwide and is quoted frequently in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Ad Age, Forbes and other publications. He has appeared on CNN and other TV and radio programs discussing trends and forecasts for local media. Prior to starting Borrell Associates, Gordon was vice president for new media for Landmark Communications, where he worked for 22 years. He started his career as a reporter and editor for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1989 he began pioneering interactive ventures and helped establish the first TV, newspaper, cable and network TV websites. Mr. Borrell conceptualized and helped create InfiNet, an Internet access and hosting company later split up and sold to Earthlink and to Gannett Co. He is a member of the executive board of the Local Media Association and is past president of the Newspaper Association of America’s New Media Federation. He is married, has five children, and lives in Portsmouth, Virginia, where he has been active on boards and organizations supporting public education and community sports.
Professor of the Practice of Economics, Duke University
Michelle P. Connolly is Professor of the Practice in the Economics Department at Duke University. She was the Economics Director of Duke in New York: Financial Markets and Institutions Program for 2007-2009 and the Director of EcoTeach for several years. She currently serves as the Director of the Honors Program in Economics and a member of the Duke Alumni Association Board.
In 2011, Professor Connolly won the Howard D. Johnson Trinity College Teaching Prize and was named among the top five percent of Duke University Undergraduate Instructors in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Professor Connolly previously served as Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009, and as an Economist for the International Research Function for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1996 to 1997. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Yale University in 1990, and went on to earn her M.A. and M.Phil in economics. Professor Connolly received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1996.
Professor Connolly’s research and teaching focus specifically on international trade, telecommunications policy, media policy, education, growth, and development. She has received funding for her research from the National Science Foundation, the Duke Arts and Sciences Research Council Grants, the Spencer Grant, and the Teagle Grant.
Professor Connolly has published in numerous journals, including the American Economic Review, the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Economic History, the Journal of Economic Growth, the Review of Industrial Organization, and Current Issues in Economics and Finance.
In 2011, Professor Connolly testified before Congress and participated in a White House panel on Spectrum Issues. She has been presenting her work at university seminars and international conferences since 1996. Some of her appearances were at the ACLP Advanced Communications 2009 Summit, where she was a panelist and moderator, at the conference on “Wireless Technologies: Enabling Innovation and Economic Growth”, where she served as a keynote panelist, and at the Martin H. Crego Lecture in Economics, an all college Lecture at Vassar College. In 2013 Professor Connolly was awarded a National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Grant, “Dollars for Hertz: Making Trustworthy Spectrum Sharing Technically and Economically Viable.”
Vice President, Policy & General Counsel, The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)
Francella Ochillo leads the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s policy and government affairs office in Washington, D.C. and is responsible for developing policy and legal strategies that encourage open and affordable communications, innovation, competition, and diversity. Francella represents NHMC in meetings with decision makers in Congress and at federal regulatory agencies. Her expertise and advocacy have been featured in outlets including USA Today, Law 360, and ColorLines Magazine.
Francella coordinates organizational responses to regulatory proposals that threaten to widen the digital divide and has co-authored several notable filings documenting opposition to the FCC’s Net Neutrality repeal, proposals to gut Lifeline, and further media consolidation. Francella has expertise elevating the public dialogue and developing Congressional outreach strategies. For example, she has organized and moderated briefings to educate House and Senate staffers on a range of issues related to Lifeline, media diversity, the extreme vetting immigration initiatives. Francella also supervises NHMC’s legal fellowship program, which provides an opportunity for select students throughout the country to experience media, technology, and telecommunications law and advocacy.
In her prior role at NHMC as policy counsel, Francella analyzed and helped implement communication policy initiatives for the National Hispanic Media Coalition, while coordinating government outreach and public engagement efforts that bring Latinos online and on the airwaves. She developed strategic relationships with organizational allies to amplify the voices of Latinos in Washington and was a critical part of the team analyzing the more than 50,000 consumer complaints received from the FCC in response to NHMC’s Freedom of Information Act requests that drew renewed attention to the importance of preserving the 2015 Open Internet Order.
Francella earned a B.S. in Marketing from Morgan State University and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. During her studies, she excelled as a moot court competitor and went on to represent the city of Chicago in administrative hearings. Before joining the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Francella worked on securities fraud investigation teams at the Department of Justice where she helped prosecute banks for corporate misconduct under the False Claims Act and Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act.
Founder and CEO, Connoisseur Media
Founder and CEO, Jeff Warshaw is a lifelong broadcaster. He built his first station while still a student at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1993 Jeff founded Connoisseur Communications Partners LP, a 39 station group which he later sold to Cumulus Broadcasting in 2000 for $258MM. In 2004 Jeff formed Connoisseur Media which now operates 31 radio station brands and digital assets in 8 markets. Highly respected and celebrated industry wide for his outspoken candor, Jeff’s spirit of innovation and long held principles of integrity, accountability and improvement remain core values of the company and guide its team members. Jeff serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters, the Radio Advertising Bureau, and is a member of the Nielsen Advisory Board.
Professor of the Practice of Economics, Duke University
Michelle P. Connolly is Professor of the Practice in the Economics Department at Duke University. She was the Economics Director of Duke in New York: Financial Markets and Institutions Program for 2007-2009 and the Director of EcoTeach for several years. She currently serves as the Director of the Honors Program in Economics and a member of the Duke Alumni Association Board.
In 2011, Professor Connolly won the Howard D. Johnson Trinity College Teaching Prize and was named among the top five percent of Duke University Undergraduate Instructors in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Professor Connolly previously served as Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009, and as an Economist for the International Research Function for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1996 to 1997. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Yale University in 1990, and went on to earn her M.A. and M.Phil in economics. Professor Connolly received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1996.
Professor Connolly’s research and teaching focus specifically on international trade, telecommunications policy, media policy, education, growth, and development. She has received funding for her research from the National Science Foundation, the Duke Arts and Sciences Research Council Grants, the Spencer Grant, and the Teagle Grant.
Professor Connolly has published in numerous journals, including the American Economic Review, the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Economic History, the Journal of Economic Growth, the Review of Industrial Organization, and Current Issues in Economics and Finance.
In 2011, Professor Connolly testified before Congress and participated in a White House panel on Spectrum Issues. She has been presenting her work at university seminars and international conferences since 1996. Some of her appearances were at the ACLP Advanced Communications 2009 Summit, where she was a panelist and moderator, at the conference on “Wireless Technologies: Enabling Innovation and Economic Growth”, where she served as a keynote panelist, and at the Martin H. Crego Lecture in Economics, an all college Lecture at Vassar College. In 2013 Professor Connolly was awarded a National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Grant, “Dollars for Hertz: Making Trustworthy Spectrum Sharing Technically and Economically Viable.”
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Brendan Carr is the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He previously served as the senior Republican Commissioner and as the FCC’s General Counsel. Nominated by both President Trump and President Biden, Carr has been confirmed unanimously by the Senate three times.
Described by Axios as “the FCC’s 5G crusader,” Carr has led the FCC’s work to modernize its infrastructure rules and accelerate the buildout of high-speed networks. His reforms cut billions of dollars in red tape, enabled the private sector to construct high-speed networks in communities across the country, and extended America’s global leadership in 5G.
Chairman Carr is also focused on expanding America’s skilled workforce—the tower climbers and construction crews needed to build next-gen networks. His jobs initiative promotes community colleges and apprenticeships as a pipeline for good-paying 5G jobs. He is recognizing America’s talented tower crews through a series of “5G Ready” Hard Hat presentations.
Chairman Carr leads a groundbreaking telehealth initiative at the FCC. The Connected Care Pilot Program supports the delivery of high-quality care to low-income Americans and veterans.
Chairman Carr’s time outside of Washington helps inform his approach to the job. He regularly hits the road to hear directly from community members and learn how changes in federal policies could help improve their lives.
Chairman Carr brings nearly 20 years of private and public sector experience in communications and tech policy to his position. Before joining the FCC as a staffer back in 2012, he worked as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP in the firm’s appellate, litigation, and telecom practices. Previously, Chairman Carr clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge Dennis Shedd. After attending Georgetown University for his undergrad, Chairman Carr earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as an editor of the Catholic University Law Review.
Professor of the Practice of Economics, Duke University
Michelle P. Connolly is Professor of the Practice in the Economics Department at Duke University. She was the Economics Director of Duke in New York: Financial Markets and Institutions Program for 2007-2009 and the Director of EcoTeach for several years. She currently serves as the Director of the Honors Program in Economics and a member of the Duke Alumni Association Board.
In 2011, Professor Connolly won the Howard D. Johnson Trinity College Teaching Prize and was named among the top five percent of Duke University Undergraduate Instructors in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Professor Connolly previously served as Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009, and as an Economist for the International Research Function for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1996 to 1997. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Yale University in 1990, and went on to earn her M.A. and M.Phil in economics. Professor Connolly received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1996.
Professor Connolly’s research and teaching focus specifically on international trade, telecommunications policy, media policy, education, growth, and development. She has received funding for her research from the National Science Foundation, the Duke Arts and Sciences Research Council Grants, the Spencer Grant, and the Teagle Grant.
Professor Connolly has published in numerous journals, including the American Economic Review, the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Economic History, the Journal of Economic Growth, the Review of Industrial Organization, and Current Issues in Economics and Finance.
In 2011, Professor Connolly testified before Congress and participated in a White House panel on Spectrum Issues. She has been presenting her work at university seminars and international conferences since 1996. Some of her appearances were at the ACLP Advanced Communications 2009 Summit, where she was a panelist and moderator, at the conference on “Wireless Technologies: Enabling Innovation and Economic Growth”, where she served as a keynote panelist, and at the Martin H. Crego Lecture in Economics, an all college Lecture at Vassar College. In 2013 Professor Connolly was awarded a National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Grant, “Dollars for Hertz: Making Trustworthy Spectrum Sharing Technically and Economically Viable.”
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Brendan Carr is the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He previously served as the senior Republican Commissioner and as the FCC’s General Counsel. Nominated by both President Trump and President Biden, Carr has been confirmed unanimously by the Senate three times.
Described by Axios as “the FCC’s 5G crusader,” Carr has led the FCC’s work to modernize its infrastructure rules and accelerate the buildout of high-speed networks. His reforms cut billions of dollars in red tape, enabled the private sector to construct high-speed networks in communities across the country, and extended America’s global leadership in 5G.
Chairman Carr is also focused on expanding America’s skilled workforce—the tower climbers and construction crews needed to build next-gen networks. His jobs initiative promotes community colleges and apprenticeships as a pipeline for good-paying 5G jobs. He is recognizing America’s talented tower crews through a series of “5G Ready” Hard Hat presentations.
Chairman Carr leads a groundbreaking telehealth initiative at the FCC. The Connected Care Pilot Program supports the delivery of high-quality care to low-income Americans and veterans.
Chairman Carr’s time outside of Washington helps inform his approach to the job. He regularly hits the road to hear directly from community members and learn how changes in federal policies could help improve their lives.
Chairman Carr brings nearly 20 years of private and public sector experience in communications and tech policy to his position. Before joining the FCC as a staffer back in 2012, he worked as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP in the firm’s appellate, litigation, and telecom practices. Previously, Chairman Carr clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge Dennis Shedd. After attending Georgetown University for his undergrad, Chairman Carr earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as an editor of the Catholic University Law Review.
Professor Emeritus, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
In memoriam
Dr. John Baker is Professor Emeritus of Law, and previously the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law, at Louisiana State University Law School. He is currently Visiting Professor at Peking University School of Transnational Law (via Zoom) and has been Visiting Professor at The Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law School (2013-2020). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Oriel College, the University of Oxford (2012-2014) and taught at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford in 2014. Dr. Baker has also been an adjunct Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (Spring, 2008) and a Distinguished Scholar at the Catholic University of America Law School (2011-12). He has taught at Tulane Law School, George Mason Law School, Pepperdine Law School, New York Law School, Hong Kong University, and the University of Dallas, School of Management and also taught and/or lectured in 17 foreign countries. Notable among his foreign visits are the
following: Visiting Professor at the University of Lyon III (France) (1999-2011); Visiting Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile (2012), as a Fulbright Specialist (2006); and a Fulbright Scholar at various universities in the Philippines. Dr. Baker received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dallas. He also earned a Ph.D. in Political Thought from the University of London. Baker has taught over a dozen different subjects, mostly courses in public law. His main areas of interest are Constitutional Law (particularly federalism and separation of powers), Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, International Law, Health Care Law, Mediation, and Comparative Law.
In addition to law review articles and book chapters, Dr. Baker’s academic publications include Hall's Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (with Benson, Force and George; 5th ed. Michie, 1993); An Introduction to the Law of the United States (ed. with Levasseur; University Press of America, 1992). He has also published on Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, in The Washington Times, and a number of times in The Wall Street Journal. He argues in federal court, including two oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he co-taught courses for the Federalist Society on separation of powers with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In September 2016, he co-taught a Supreme Court seminar in China with Justice Samuel Alito. Following law school, he served as a law clerk in federal district court and as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans before joining LSU in 1975. While a professor, he has been as a consultant to USAID, USIA (since rolled into the State Department), the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House. He served on an ABA Task Force which issued the report, The Federalization of Crime (1998) and later as a consultant to the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Over- federalization of Crime” (2012-2014) created by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Dr. Baker was a co-founder of the first iteration (1995) of Stratfor Inc., a global intelligence agency. He co-authored its first book: The Intelligence Edge (with Friedman, Friedman and Chapman; Crown Books/Random House 1997). In 2022, he began a short, weekly video podcast available on YouTube and Rumble, The Baker Brief.
President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute
Robert Alt is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Buckeye Institute where he has catalyzed exponential growth since he took the organization’s helm in 2012. He has since founded Buckeye’s renowned Economic Research Center and established its impactful Legal Center.
Alt is a distinguished scholar and attorney with particular expertise in legal policy, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional law. He previously worked for former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, regularly provides commentary on television and radio programs, and his writings have appeared in countless outlets.
In 2004, Alt spent five months in Iraq as an embedded war correspondent.
Alt has testified before Congress multiple times—including at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan—the Federal Election Commission regarding matters of constitutional and administrative law, and numerous state legislatures.
Alt serves as an officer on the boards of The Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyers Chapter. He taught national security law, criminal law, and legislation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as constitutional law and political parties and interest groups at Ashland University.
Alt earned his Doctor of Law degree from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Symposium Editor and the winner of the Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy as well as research assistant to Professor Richard Epstein. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alt graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science magna cum laude from Azusa Pacific University where he also won the Outstanding Senior Award in Political Science.
Alt is an accomplished high-altitude alpinist and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed 6.75 of the famed Seven Summits of the World including Mount Everest. He is the creator of PROFOUND CLIMBING™ and a frequent speaker across the country and around the world on legal and public policy topics as well as effective leadership, management, decision-making, and teamwork in contexts ranging from extraordinary life/death situations to ordinary professional/business settings.
Deep Dive Episode 64 – The Federal Reserve and Real-Time Payment Systems
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
Retrospective on A Career in Public Service
Colorado Lawyers Chapter
Denver, COTopics
Cert Seeking: Can Courts Allow Disgruntled Ministers to Punish Churches for Being Fired?
Pending before the U.S. Supreme Court is a little-noticed petition from Kentucky that raises a...
Boston Lawyers Chapter: Reception with the US Attorney and the District Attorney
Boston, MAOwnership Limits in an Increasingly Competitive Audio Marketplace: Is Now the Time For a New Tune?
Gordon Borrell, Michelle P. Connolly, Francella Ochillo, Jeffrey D. Warshaw
On June 25, 2019, the Federalist Society's Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group presented an...
Ownership Limits in an Increasingly Competitive Audio Marketplace: Is Now the Time For a New Tune?
Gordon Borrell, Michelle P. Connolly, Francella Ochillo, Jeffrey D. Warshaw
On June 25, 2019, the Federalist Society's Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group presented an...
Q&A Session with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr
Michelle P. Connolly, Brendan Carr
On June 25, 2019, the Federalist Society's Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group presented an...
Q&A Session with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr
Michelle P. Connolly, Brendan Carr
On June 25, 2019, the Federalist Society's Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group presented an...
Courthouse Steps Decision: The Census Citizenship Question, Department of Commerce v. New York
John S. Baker
On June 27, the Supreme Court decided Department of Commerce v. New York, the legal challenge...
Criminal Justice Reform: A Survey of 2018 State Laws
Robert Alt
State legislatures across the country made significant strides in reforming their criminal justice regimes throughout...