Our Team

Charles Curtis served as the Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy from 1994-1997. He is formerly the vice chair of the United States Department of State’s International Security Advisory Board, 2012 to 2017, and president emeritus of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Currently, he is a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS.)

Richard A. Gephardt served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives, representing Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, home to his birthplace St. Louis. He served as House Democratic Leader for more than 14 years, as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995 and Minority Leader from 1995 to 2003. Gephardt is President and CEO of the Gephardt Group, providing strategic counsel on federal government relations and domestic and international labor relations issues.

Ari is a native Pennsylvanian. He spent eight years on the senior staff of a United States Senator. Before and after that, he has worked on peace and reconciliation in the Former Yugoslavia.

Chloe Squires advises political campaigns and nonprofits on fundraising and public relations strategies. She is a member of the board of Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, Haiti and Piedmont Environmental Council.

Nicole Watson works with nonprofits and startups on growth and fundraising strategies. She previously worked with a membership of Fortune 500 finance officers, researching, and disseminating corporate best practices. Prior roles included investor relations and corporate communications in the hospitality and airline industries.

Timothy E. Wirth served for 18 years in the United States Congress, representing Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District from 1975 to 1987, and as Senator from Colorado from 1987 to 1993. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education in the Nixon Administration, Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs under President Clinton, was the founding President of the United Nations Foundation and currently sits on the UNF Board. He is a co-founder of Keep Our Republic.

Gary Hart represented the State of Colorado in the United States Senate from 1975 to 1987. In 1984 and 1988, he was a candidate for his party’s nomination for President. Before retiring from public service, he was co-chair, U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century; Chair, U.S. Department of State, International Security Advisory Board; Chair, U.S. Department of Defense, Commission on Threat Reduction; U.S. Envoy to Northern Ireland. He holds graduate degrees from Yale University and Oxford University.

Mary Landrieu represented the State of Louisiana in the United States Senate for three terms, from 1997 to 2015. Prior to serving in the Senate, she was elected twice to the Louisiana State Legislature from 1979 to 1987. In 1987, she was elected State Treasurer and served with distinction for two terms. Since leaving the Senate, Landrieu served on the CenturyLink (Lumen) Board of Directors (November 2015 – May 2020); and currently serves on the Boards of Directors for Tyler Technologies and Evergy.

Judge Beverly Martin is a native of Macon, Georgia. She stepped down from the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and serves as the Executive Director of NYU Law's Center on Civil Justice. Prior to her time on the Circuit Court, she was a judge on the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and US Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.

Ambassador (ret) Deborah A. McCarthy served as the U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania (2013-2016), Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Greece and at the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua. In Washington, she was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Narcotics and Law Enforcement, Senior Advisor for Counter Terrorism and Special Coordinator for Venezuela. She was recently a Senior Fellow at Harvard University. Currently, she is the Senior Advisor for Cybercrime Negotiations in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of State. She is also a non-resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Mary McCord served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2016 to 2017 and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division from 2014 to 2017. Currently, she serves as Legal Director at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) and Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center.

Kathleen Rice is a lawyer from New York. She served as District Attorney of Nassau County from 2006 to 2015 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023. She was an active member of the Homeland Security Committee. Earlier in her career, she was an Assistant United States Attorney in Philadelphia.

Tom Ridge served as the nation’s first Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from October 2001 through December 2002 and first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from January 2003 through January 2005. Previously, he was governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1995 through October 2001 and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 through 1995. Ridge is president and CEO of Ridge Global, an international security and risk management firm headquartered in Washington, DC.

José de Jesús Rivera is a former United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. He has been the managing partner in the Phoenix office of Miller, Pitt, Feldman & McAnally, P.C. Jose’s areas of practice include among other topics election law. He has represented the State of Arizona and multiple local governments in redistricting and election related cases.

Tom Rogers is a Media and Technology Executive, the first President of NBC Cable, founder CNBC and MSNBC, and the longest serving and former President and CEO of TiVo. He is the former Chairman and CEO of PRIMEDIA Inc. and former senior counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Telecommunications, Consumer Protection and Finance Subcommittee. Currently, he is the Executive Chairman of Engine Media, and Editor-at-Large of Newsweek.

David E. Skaggs is an American lawyer, politician and educator from Colorado. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999 and the Colorado House from 1981-1987. He was founding board Chair of the U.S. House’s Office of Congressional Ethics, on which he served from 2008 to 2021. Skaggs is a Vice Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) board. He spent three years on active duty in the Marine Corps, including service in Vietnam with the 1st Marine Division.

Jonathan Winer served as U.S. Special Envoy for Libya, deputy assistant secretary of state for International Law Enforcement, and counsel to U.S. Senator John Kerry. Expert on US Middle East policy, counterterrorism, international money laundering, illicit networks, corruption, and U.S.-Russia issues. In 2016, Winer received the highest departmental award granted by the Secretary of State, for “extraordinary service to the U.S. government.”

Isabelle Frances Wright is an expert on the intersection of technology and election integrity, she has advised social tech platforms, political campaigns, governments, and non-profits for over ten years.

Isabelle is the founder and Executive Director of Vote For Freedom, an organization that seeks to protect election integrity globally by conducting novel research and analysis on the impact of technology on election integrity, capacity building for campaigns in emerging democracies, and support for global pro-democratic voices.

Previously, Isabelle was Global Head of Election Integrity Policy at Tiktok, where she developed policies to combat Election Misinformation, Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior and Synthetic Media. She built and led the team dedicated to safeguarding elections from harmful, deceptive content on the platform and partnered with electoral commissions globally to promote voter registration and education. Prior to her work at Tiktok, Isabelle was Digital and Technology Director at The Messina Group, working on Electoral, Legislative and Advocacy campaigns both domestically and internationally. Isabelle also currently serves as a Director at global strategic advisory firm, PA Group.

Jim Brown served for nine years as Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania and, before that, was a partner at SCP Partners, a family of venture capital funds. Prior to his work at SCP, he was Chief of Staff to Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey, Pennsylvania Secretary of General Services and a partner in the Philadelphia law firm, Dilworth, Paxson.

He recently served on the education group of President Biden’s Transition Team and was a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania’s Election Security at the University of Pittsburgh.

Bob Cindrich was appointed by President Bill Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve as District Judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Previously, he served in the Army Reserve, worked as both a Public Defender and Assistant District Attorney in Allegheny County. From 1978 to 1991, he was US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

He retired from the bench to serve as Chief Legal Counsel to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Tom Corbett is executive in residence at Duquesne University School of Law. The former governor most recently served as an adjunct professor at the law school.

As the commonwealth's 46th governor, Corbett held Pennsylvania's highest office from January 18, 2011 through January 20, 2015. Corbett has a long and distinguished career serving citizens as assistant U.S. attorney, U.S. attorney, chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Pennsylvania attorney general, and governor. Corbett has also served as a key advisor to U.S. presidents and governors.

Corbett served as a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard 28th Infantry Division from 1971 until 1984, rising from private to captain.

Ken Davis got his government and political start with Pennsylvania Senator Hugh Scott as his Chief of Staff. Following Scott’s retirement, Ken was named Chief Lobbyist for Philadelphia’s Rohm and Haas Company, a Fortune 200 multinational chemical company. After seventeen years in Washington, Ken founded his own government relations firm, which subsequently merged with the Duane Morris law firm in Philadelphia. Ken was a Republican until January 6, 2021 at which time he re-registered No Party. Prior to that he had been President of the Lower Merion Township Board of Commissioners and Chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party.

Charlie Dent is Executive Director and Vice President of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program, where he leads bipartisan, bicameral policy education programs for sitting members of Congress. Congressman Dent also serves as a Senior Policy Advisor to DLA Piper where he provides strategic advice and counsel to clients on a variety of public policy issues.

Prior to those positions, Congressman Dent served seven terms in Congress. He distinguished himself as a strong, independent leader who is well respected on both sides of the aisle. He was
co-chair of the Tuesday Group, a caucus of more than 50 center-right Republicans, where he
played an important role in many of the most challenging policy and political issues confronted
by Congress. He was also a founding member of the Problem Solvers Caucus.

Before his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Dent served for six years in
the Pennsylvania State Senate and eight years in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Amanda Green-Hawkins is a wife and a mother, who somehow manages to work full-time for the Steelworkers Union as the Director of its Civil and Human Rights Department and Assistant General Counsel. She has even crawled around inside a gold mine to learn about working conditions for South African goldminers.

She served two terms (2008-2015) as an elected Councilmember on Allegheny County Council where she represented 100,000 Pittsburgh residents. As primary sponsor, she led passage of legislation to prohibit discrimination against people based on gender identity or expression. In 2019, she was the PA Democratic nominee for Superior Court judge and garnered over 1.2 million votes.

She currently serves on the Boards of the Pittsburgh Zoo, Pittsburgh United, Women’s Law Project, Jubilee Kitchen, Keystone Progress, and on the Advisory Board for New Voices.

She has appeared as a guest on WQED’s IQ Smartparent, PCNC’s Night Talk, and as a weekly panelist on KDKA’s Around the Table. She has received numerous awards for her leadership in local politics and in the community, and served on Pittsburgh’s Community Task Force on Police Reform.

She is an alumna of Duke University and Northeastern University School of Law.

David Hickton is the founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security. Previously, he served United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania after being confirmed by the US Senate in August 2010. Earlier in his career, President Bill Clinton requested that he serve on the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at the request of then-President Bill Clinton.

John Jones serves as the 30th President of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He retired as chief judge of the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania. He was appointed by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Before becoming a federal judge, Jones was a lawyer in private practice in his hometown of Pottsville, Pa.

In November 1994, then Governor-elect Tom Ridge named Jones as a co-chair of his transition team. In May 1995, Ridge nominated Jones to serve as chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

Timothy Lewis co-chair’s the Schnader law firm’s ADR Practice Group. He serves as a mediator, arbitrator and settlement counselor.Before entering private practice, Judge Lewis served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was serving on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania when President George H. W. Bush elevated him to the Court of Appeals in 1992. At the time of both appointments, he was the youngest federal judge in the United States. Before being appointed to the federal bench, Judge Lewis served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and as an Assistant District Attorney in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Joseph Sabino Mistick is an associate professor at Duquesne University Kline School of Law, where he currently teaches Criminal Law, Election Law, Land Use Law and Law, Public Policy and the Executive Branch, and directs the Urban Development Law Clinic. He has served as Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Pittsburgh, He was an elected member of East McKeesport borough council and municipal secretary of Braddock Borough.

Sandra Schultz Newman served for ten years as the first female justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Prior to her term, Justice Newman was a judge for the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania and a practicing attorney in private practice, and also served as the first female assistant district attorney in the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office.

Fred Thieman was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Appointed by then-President Clinton, he served in the post from 1993 to 1997, where he headed an office of 42 attorneys who both prosecuted criminal violations throughout Western Pennsylvania and handled civil litigation ranging from health care issues and tort liability to employment rights and environmental impact. While serving in the position, Thieman was instrumental in establishing a youth crime prevention effort in Allegheny County that garnered national attention.

He has served on numerous nonprofit and foundation boards, including The Heinz Endowments and The Buhl Foundation and is the recipient of numerous civic leadership awards from organizations such as the University of Pittsburgh, the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Velma Redmond is the retired Division General Counsel of American Water. She was formerly Chief Counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of State, Chief Counsel to the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission and Assistant Attorney General in the Pennsylvania Department of Justice.

David Thornburgh is Senior Advisor to the Committee of Seventy and Chair of Ballot PA, an initiative of the organization that aims to repeal closed primaries in Pennsylvania and allow the state’s 1.1 million independent voters to vote in every election.

He is also a Professor of Practice in Temple University’s Master of Public Policy program and an Adjunct Instructor at Franklin and Marshall College.

He is a nationally recognized “civic entrepreneur” who throughout his career has created and led high impact initiatives to promote economic development and good government in Pennsylvania.

Tom Vanaskie served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He is a member of Stevens & Lee’s Litigation Department and chairs the firm’s Appellate and Mediation, Neutral Services and Alternative Dispute Resolution practice groups.

In May of 2021, he was appointed by the President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association to serve as chair of a statewide task force to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery of legal services and to make recommendations to mitigate the disruption of services resulting from future catastrophes. The task force generated a comprehensive report that will serve as the foundation for enhancing the use of technology to assure that legal services will be delivered despite widespread disasters

Ann Womble lives in Lancaster PA. She served as Chair of the Republican Committee of Lancaster County and was a delegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention. She worked on Capitol Hill for a Republican member of Congress during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.