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Chairman
Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Soviet Union in 1963, Garry Kasparov became the under-18 chess champion…
President
Heidi Heitkamp is the founder and Chair of the One Country Project, an organization focused on addressing the needs…
Board Member
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander S. Vindman (Retired) was most recently the director for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus…
Board Member
Annie Duke is an author, corporate speaker, and consultant in the decision-making space…
Board Member
Bob Kerrey is Executive Chairman of the Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship, where he advocates for broad reform in…
Board Member
Igor Kirman is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he focuses primarily on mergers and…
Board Member
Linda Chavez is a Senior Fellow at the National Immigration Forum. Chavez authored…
Board Member
Michael Steele is a political analyst for MSNBC and a Senior Fellow at Brown University’s Institute…
Board Member
Mickey Edwards is a former eight-term member of Congress, having been a member of his party’s leadership, a senior member of…
Advisor
Anne Applebaum is a columnist for the Washington Post and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian…
Advisor
William “Bill” Kristol is a political analyst and media commentator regular panelist on…
Advisor
Bret Stephens currently works at the New York Times and is a journalist, editor…
Advisor
Daniel B. Hurwitz is Founder & CEO of Raider Hill Advisors LLC. He is a graduate of Colgate…
Advisor
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is Chairman of Spitzberg Partners LLC. He served as German Minister…
Advisor
Lisa is a senior level advisor, strategist and leader with extensive experience supporting…
Advisor
In a career that has spanned the private & public sectors, Lucy has worked in political advocacy and tech….
Advisor
Max Boot is a historian, best-selling author, and foreign policy analyst who has been called one of the “world’s…
Advisor
Mark Lasswell is an op-ed editor at the Washington Post. He is the former editorial features editor…
Advisor
Whitney Haring-Smith is a former Rhodes Scholar, entrepreneur, and investor focused primarily…
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander S. Vindman (Retired) was most recently the director for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Russia on the White House’s National Security Council. Prior to retiring from the U.S. Army, he served as a Foreign Area Officer with assignments in Moscow, Russia and for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a Political-Military Affairs Officer. While on the Joint Staff, he co-authored the National Military Strategy Russia Annex and was the principal author for the Global Campaign for Russia. He is currently a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. His book “Here, Right Matters” (HarperCollins) was published in 2021.
Chavez has held a number of appointed positions, among them Chairman, National Commission on Migrant Education (1988-1992); White House Director of Public Liaison (1985); Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983-1985); and she was a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1984-1986). Chavez was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1986. In 1992, she was elected by the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
Chavez was also editor of the prize-winning quarterly journal American Educator (1977-1983), published by the American Federation of Teachers, where she also served as assistant to AFT president Al Shanker (1982-1983) and assistant director of legislation (1975-1977).
Chavez serves on the Board of Directors of ABM Industries, Inc. a Fortune 500 company, as well as on boards of several non-profit organizations.
Chavez was born in Albuquerque, NM, on June 17, 1947, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Colorado in 1970 and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from George Mason University in 2012. She currently resides in Silver Spring, MD.
Lisa Berg is a senior level advisor, strategist and leader with extensive experience supporting C-suite executives transform business vision into actionable solutions for financial services and non-profit organizations. Lisa is a graduate of Cornell University and has served in a number of non-profit leadership and board roles for organizations including: Cornell University, the GO Project, the Dalton School, her Co-op Board and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
In a career that has spanned the private & public sectors, Lucy has worked in political advocacy and tech. She served as Joe Walsh’s campaign manager during his insurgent run against Trump and formed Mockingbird Lab to get issue-advocacy orgs to shift towards data-driven tactics. Until 2019, Caldwell served as the Chief Strategy Officer & EVP at Crowdskout, ultimately helping to shepherd the company through a successful acquisition. Under her tenure, Crowdskout was named the Best Advocacy Technology Platform by Campaigns & Elections Magazine. Caldwell has appeared on & written in numerous outlets including CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, and NPR’s Diane Rehm Show. She frequently speaks and writes on the collision of technology and issue-moving.
Prior to joining RDI as its Executive Director, Uriel worked in the private sector – first as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and then in strategy at start-ups in the mobility space including DoorDash and Uber. As a student at Yale University, he founded and to this day, continues to chair the Peace & Dialogue Leadership Initiative (PDLI), an organization dedicated to bridging the civil-military divide and creating a space on campuses for a nuanced discussion of the US role in the Middle East.
Evan Mawarire is a Reagan-Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, a former fellow at Stanford University’s Centre for Democracy Development and the Rule of Law, and a 2020 Yale University World Fellow. Named as the 2016 African of the year by the Daily Maverick Newspaper of South Africa and one of 100 top global thinkers of 2016 by Foreign Policy magazine, Evan continues to advocate, speak, and train others on nonviolent citizen-driven change, democracy development and human rights. Evan is the founder of the #ThisFlag Citizen Movement in Zimbabwe, which sought to confront corruption, injustice, and poverty, and was instrumental in unseating Robert Mugabe.
James Lewis joined RDI from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies where he worked as a Research Assistant for Senior Fellow Anne Applebaum. There he helped create an interdisciplinary course entitled “Democracy,” taught for the first time in the Spring of 2021. His academic background is in American political history and international relations. James is a graduate of Yale University.
Julie Millsap joined RDI in 2022. She has a background in Political Science and Education. Before joining RDI, Julie worked in advocacy to stop the Uyghur Genocide, and to highlight China’s growing authoritarian influence. She returned to the United States in 2020 after spending a decade studying and living in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous region of China and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. She has traveled extensively, and has an avid interest in history and archeology. In her free time enjoys reading and Pilates. She resides in the D.C. area.
James M. Black II is a partner at Silverman Acampora. As Chairman of the firm’s Government Contracts & Compliance Group, he specializes in corporate and government compliance, government contracts, trade regulation, and information technology. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the Maurice Deane School of Law and as a visiting professor at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Noor’s career has been informed by her experience growing up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, living in a war zone under threat from militias, and then living as a refugee in the United States. Before joining RDI as Director of Strategy & Operations, she was a producer at Reason Magazine, where her work focused on human rights, including interviews with NBA player turned advocate Enes Kanter Freedom, Iraqi dissident Ahmed Albasheer, and Tursunay Ziyawudun, a Uyghur survivor of Chinese concentration camps.
Noor has worked for the Moral Compass Foundation, an organization that unites and coordinates efforts to aid and evacuate America’s partners in Afghanistan, Ukraine, and around the world. Previously, she produced documentaries and videos for Channel 4, More4 News, and the Associated Press Television News in Iraq and Jordan.
At CrossFit, Inc., Noor worked on internal and external media to launch a strategic marketing campaign for a new competitive event structure that required coordination with a variety of external entities, such as CNN Sports and WME-IMG. The coverage included press releases, videos and films that are available on Netflix. She also has worked for the US Department of Defense as an Iraqi language instructor at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.
Sohan is a recent Graduate from Connecticut College, where I studied International Relations and worked in journalism in tandem. My focus was on examining political violence, conflict, extremism, and the problems and crises facing democracy, both old and emerging.
Before RDI, he produced work with several organizations, including The College Voice, Connecticut College’s entirely student-run news publication and Rio Bravo Investments in São Paulo, Brazil, as well as The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in Boston working on Applied History and Intelligence Projects. Most recently, he worked with the Gramsci Foundation in Italy, where he conducted archival research as part of a three-year, Integrative Project surrounding extremism and the value historical cases provide in informing current challenges.
He enjoys reading, watching movies, collecting records, staying active, and learning languages.
Savannah Herms joined RDI in 2022 for database and administration support. She is a graduate of Millikin University with a background in Musical Theatre. While at MU Savannah participated in organizations promoting conversations on Race and Inclusion in conjunction with the Illinois community. Before RDI, Savannah worked with the Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts partnering with the Jurkowitz Family Foundation to connect youth and senior citizens to international symphonies and Opera performances. Savannah writes and produces content for Hidden Hollywood, a YouTube project highlighting film and Hollywood history through a modern, and often political, lens. Outside of RDI Savannah can be found exploring National Parks and Monuments across the USA.
Gabriel Strobel is a Graphic & Web Designer at RDI and a recent graduate from Catalyst Berlin, where he studied electronic music production. He is a multimedia artist in Berlin exploring his creativity under the alias ‘OIIA’, and often works as media producer, audio technician, and photographer on a freelance basis. During his free time he can be spotted enjoying long walks at the riverside.
Cameron Greene is a junior at Yale University studying political theory, economics, and Russian language. He is interested in economic inequality and effective democratic governance and has contributed to relevant research in Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, and Department of Economics. On campus, he is a board member of Yale’s competitive Ethics Bowl team, Division I fencer, and club soccer player. He is also a self-taught chess player, rated 1900 on chess.com. Cam enjoys reading and staying up-to-date on international affairs and is excited to contribute to RDI.
Devin Zahner is a senior at the University of Missouri-Columbia studying political science and economics. Devin has had a deep interest in international affairs and democracy since high school and have continued my studies throughout college. Devin is in the midst of writing my honors thesis on how climate change affects conflict. On campus, Devin is on the executive board of the Political Science Club/Pi Sigma Alpha.Devin is planning to attend law school after he graduates, focusing on international environmental and human rights law, in his spare time he enjoy reading (both fiction and nonfiction) along with watching/playing sports, and hiking.
Ellen Ohler is a sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles studying political science and economics. She is particularly interested in democratic backsliding in the West and authoritarianism. Outside of academics, Ellen is the Director of Research and Advocacy for the UCLA chapter of the United Nations Association and a former member of the Roosevelt Institute. She enjoys playing piano, listening to podcasts, and exploring LA’s many museums in her free time.
Joseph Widacki, Joe for short, was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and attended the University of Houston as an undergraduate where he earned a double-major in Political Science and Economics. After graduating, Joseph worked as an analyst before joining AmeriCorps for a year to rebuild homes damaged by natural disasters. He then entered the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University last fall to study for a Master of International Affairs. His concentrations are in American Diplomacy & Foreign Policy, Grand Strategy, and China studies. Most recently, he interned at the Cato Institute as a Defense & Foreign Policy Intern before coming to RDI. He has long been interested in the state of global democracy but became more heavily invested after taking the Politics and Practice of Democracy Promotion with Dr. Erin Snyder. Outside of school and work, Joe has a year-old Gold Retriever named Prairie, who he describes as spoiled rotten but the best decision he’s ever made. Joe also likes to swim, hike, read, and watch movies in his free time. He’s existed to dig deeper into the field of democratic resilience and contribute to RDI’s mission.
Sydney is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a political science major with a concentration in international relations, and intends on double minoring in Middle Eastern Studies and Public Affairs. As a campus politics news writer for the Daily Bruin Newspaper, Sydney looks forward to gaining further op-ed research and writing experience through the Renew Democracy Intiative’s Frontlines of Freedom project.
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