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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
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
Mark Lasswell is an op-ed editor at the Washington Post. He is the former editorial features editor…
Board Member
Max Boot is a historian, best-selling author, and foreign policy analyst who has been called one of the “world’s…
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
Whitney Haring-Smith is a former Rhodes Scholar, entrepreneur, and investor focused primarily…
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.
He 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 of the USA, Mawarire continues to work as an advocate, speaker and trainer on nonviolent citizen-driven change, democracy development and human rights.
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.
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.
Shay Khatiri is a policy associate at RDI. He studied politics at Arizona State University, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, and strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, with a focus on trans-Atlantic security. He also writes on foreign policy for The Bulwark. He also publishes a Substack newsletter, The Russia-Iran File.
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.
Haven Lerner is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in political science and a minor in history. At Penn, he was editor of the Interview Staff for the Penn Political Review (PPR), doing interviews with policy experts including former president of Mexico Felipe Calderón and Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work and Co-founder of a new podcast for the PPR , ‘Let’s Talk Politics’, which explores current issues in greater depth with campus faculty. He likes audiobooks, basketball, and baseball (when the Yankees are winning).
Mark Bryk joined RDI after years of working as a CTO and project manager for various internet startups. He is a fiction writer who focuses on political entrenchment, and volunteers as a coordinator for the Brooklyn Board of Elections. He is a graduate of electrical engineering at The Cooper Union.
Giacomo D’Urbano is a graduate from Queens College in New York City where he majored in Political Science with a double minor in Latin American Studies and Honors in the Social Sciences. Before joining RDI, he worked on the policy research team for NYS Senator John Brooks authoring a report on veterans’ educational benefits. Born and raised in Italy, it goes without saying that he loves calcio (soccer) and hiking. When not at work, he tries to keep up with a never-ending list of news articles and books, watches the NBA, and never misses a Juventus game!
Kevin is a junior at Yale University from Vancouver BC, Canada. He intends to pursue a career in law, and majors in History on the Politics, Law and Government track. Outside of his course work, Kevin studies classical voice, and currently serves as the Club Secretary of Yale Rotaract and the stage manager of the Yale Glee Club. Before joining RDI, he interned for BC Pro Bono Services and worked as a research assistant. In his free time, he also teaches history and political philosophy.
Wendy Avilés is a fourth-year at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, majoring in International Relations and Linguistics, and graduating in May 2022. She is also the author of the poetry collection El Bilingual Catarsis, to be published in May 2022. Wendy has experience in politics, human rights, and electoral observation during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as research and bilingual translation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic (MIREX), Center for Civil and Community Participation (CCE) of Emory, the Carter Center and the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT/OEA). She has also served as a Research Assistant in the Department of Political Science at Emory and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). Most recently, she published an article in the Diplomatic Context Bulletin of MIREX on maximizing observation missions and an article in the Dominican newspaper, Acento, on gender-fair language in Spanish.
Caroline is a student at the University of Scranton studying Public Policy and Service with plans to study abroad in Spain for a language immersion experience. During Caroline’s hiatus from her studies, she was a state delegate for Bernie Sander’s 2020 presidential campaign and a volunteer coordinator for a progressive congressional campaign in Pennsylvania’s largest rural congressional district. During this time, she owned and managed the largest online community for teenagers. She is also a Hard of Hearing (HoH) advocate who proudly wears hearing aids as a young person. A cat mom of three, she spends most of her free time with her spouse and kitties when not traveling. She is interested in public health policy and emergency management, and she hopes to serve a year in the Americorps NCCC FEMA Corps after graduation.
Sisi Hammoudi-Patout is a senior at the CUNY College of Staten Island. She is completing a major in International Studies and a minor in History and Criminal&Social Justice. She is pursuing a career in law. Prior to RDI, Sisi was an intern at Courier Newsroom, a progressive political media company working on voter outreach and the societal impact of voter legislation. Sisi is a dual citizen in France and the United-States, speaking both languages fluently. Sisi loves to read fantasy and historical fiction and literary fiction. Sisi is working on her own book in the genre.
Emme Marchese is a student at Temple University in Philadelphia where she studies journalism and political science. Throughout her time at Temple, she has worked as the long-form editor and assistant news editor at The Temple News, a Campus Representative for the Feminist Majority Foundation in Washington D.C., and has interned for ABC News In Philadelphia. Emme enjoys writing, watching movies, reading, and traveling.
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.
Michael Kern is a fourth-year student at the University of Texas at Austin studying Film Production and Conflict Resolution. Being born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Michael always took a special interest in both politics and film. With this in mind, he has had a myriad of experiences in both fiction and non-fiction filmmaking, including shooting a documentary in rural Kenya. He is interested in understanding how storytelling can be used as a tool to decrease domestic polarization. In his free time, Michael loves reading good sci-fi novels, watching movies, and cooking.
Braden Thommarson is a fourth-year Film and Digital Media student at Baylor University. He has been fascinated by politics at both the state and federal level, as well as internationally, since high school, and is seeking to sharpen his media skills while gaining a broader perspective on the current affairs in the world. When not working or studying, he can usually be found watching Top Gear and The Grand Tour or going on a night drive with his friends.
Alexander Sarrain is a Dominican-American graduated from the Miami International University of Art & Design in Computer Animation. He specializes as a 2D animator, storyboard artist, concept artist, illustrator & character designer with multiple years of freelance experience working with YouTube influencers with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, music bands, podcasts, and independent sports teams.
Lawrence is a classically-trained composer and audio engineer from Virginia with respective bachelors degrees from Shenandoah Conservatory and Old Dominion University. Before interning with RDI, Lawrence worked closely with the Old Dominion University Symphony Orchestra to successfully engineer their Spring 2021 virtual concert. He has also performed instrumental/audio work for artists by the names of Ivana Lee, Noah Chapman, Ghost Town Remedy, and Alexa Rose. Lawrence is also responsible for the 2019 independent release of the niche electronic music album Admirer. Away from audio, Lawrence likes UFOs, dancing in the mirror, and eating good food.
Prior to joining RDI, Timothy Han worked in the campaign and political consulting worlds. He is a fan of the Bears, Bobby Kennedy, and democracy.
Audrey Firrone is a senior undergrad and first year graduate student at the University of Memphis. Her undergraduate studies are in creative mass media, French and political science, and her graduate studies are in journalism. At RDI, Audrey works as a Social Media and Marketing Intern. She also works with student-led groups advocating for Uyghur human rights through social media content creation, research and writing blogs. Research is also one of her passions as she works with two international organizations collecting data about policy decisions regarding COVID-19 that is used widely by social scientists and governments. When she is not working, she can be found reading fantasy or historical fiction novels.
Austin is a recent graduate from New York University, where he studied media, culture, and communication while working in the entertainment world. His love of democracy and interest in electoral reform are what brought him to RDI, where he is a Social Media and Marketing Intern. Austin lives in Chicago with his dog.
Piper D’Emanuele is a fourth year at the University of Virginia studying American Politics and English. She has previously worked for local and national politicians from her home state of Minnesota. Most recently she worked as a Legislative Intern for a D.C. law firm. At the University of Virginia, Piper is a member of One for the World, an organization which encourages students to pledge 1% of their future yearly earnings to charities approved by the effective giving standards. She also works for a local business. In her free time Piper loves to explore all Charlottesville has to offer, taste test bubble tea, and spend time with her friends.
Ruchit Negotia is a 2020 graduate of the School of Visual Arts with a BFA in Film. He has produced, written, directed several short films during his 4 years of school. Alongside, producing his own content, he has worked on countless other films in various production roles. Having a passion for great storytelling has brought him to RDI. Where he is the video editor responsible for crafting a strong narrative. Besides editing videos, Ruchit also has a passion for painting, playing the guitar, and taking photos.
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