Members Weekend 2017

David R. Ayón

Senior Strategist and Advisor

Latino Decisions

David R. Ayón is Senior Strategist and Advisor at Latino Decisions. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. Previously he was Senior Advisor to the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Ayón's is also a political analyst, writer and lecturer specializing in Latino Politics, U.S.-Mexico relations and politics in the United States and Mexico. His work has appeared in ten edited books and reference works; Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, which he also serves on its editorial board; The American Prospect; the op-ed and Sunday Opinion pages of the Los Angeles Times, and many additional outlets. He brings deep expertise in mass media and campaign environments, where he has worked as analyst, consultant, and special producer for Spanish language television news over fifteen electoral cycles in the U.S. and in Mexico.

Educated at Princeton, Stanford and El Colegio de Mexico, Ayón has taught courses on politics, U.S.-Latin American relations and Latino Studies at six colleges and universities, including two campuses of the University of California, Stanford and USC, was Associate Director of the California-Mexico Project of the USC School of International Relations and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies of UC San Diego. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a director of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation.

@DavidAYON

14 October

Forecasting Mexico’s 2018 Presidential Election: A Coming Upset for the Ruling Party?

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau IX, 2nd Floor

Karen Bass

Representative (D-CA 37)

U.S. House of Representatives

Congressmember Karen Bass was re-elected to her fourth term representing the 37th Congressional District in November 2016. Congressmember Bass serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs where she is Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Africa. She was selected by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to serve on the prestigious Steering and Policy Committee, which sets the policy direction of the Democratic Caucus, as Organization, Study and Review Chair. Congressmember Bass is also playing a leadership role in the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), where she serves as Second Vice Chair for the 115th Congress.

Throughout her career, Representative Bass has maintained a focus on our nation’s foster care system. In her first term, she created the bipartisan Congressional Foster Youth Caucus along with co-chair U.S. Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), which aims to transform the foster care system in America.

Prior to serving in Congress, Representative Bass made history as the first African American woman to serve as Speaker of the California Assembly. In this powerful state legislative role, she helped California to recover from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Representative Bass will be our Saturday lunch keynote speaker.

@RepKarenBass

14 October

President's Welcome & Lunch Keynote: A Conversation with Representative Karen Bass on U.S.-Africa Policy

12:15 PM 02:00 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Colleen Bell

Ambassador to Hungary (2015-2017)

U.S. State Department

Ambassador Colleen Bell was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the United States’ Ambassador to Hungary and was confirmed by the United States Senate in December 2014.

Ambassador Bell presented her credentials to President of Hungary János Áder on January 21, 2015.

Prior to her diplomatic service abroad, Ambassador Bell was a leading business executive at an award-winning production company responsible for some of the most-watched television programming in the world, reaching more than 40 million people in more than 100 countries across five continents. While a producer at Bell-Phillip Television Productions in Los Angeles, Ambassador Bell’s work frequently earned the field’s most prestigious recognition for creative content, social awareness, and public-health education. Ambassador Bell’s artistic vision has been recognized for its pioneering impact on the lives of a wide array of marginalized populations in the United States and abroad.

In addition to her long career in international business and the arts, Ambassador Bell is a dedicated philanthropist and an industry-leading advocate committed to tackling some of the United States’ most vexing domestic and global public policy challenges. Ambassador Bell’s public service work and her successful record of strategic and organization planning have led to the implementation of critical initiatives in natural-resource protection, child-abuse prevention, crime victim counseling and care, public-health awareness, and art accessibility. Prior to assuming her role leading Embassy Budapest, Ambassador Bell served on the boards of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, UCLA Medical Center’s Rape Treatment Center Foundation, the Children’s Institute, Inc., and the Natural Resource Defense Council’s Los Angeles and Global Leadership Councils.

Ambassador Bell is a graduate of Sweet Briar College. She is married to writer/producer Bradley Bell, with whom she has four children.

Ambassador Bell concluded her service as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary on January 20, 2017.

14 October

The Resurgence of Nationalist Populism

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Chateau VIII, 2nd Floor

Andrea Belz

Vice Dean

USC Viterbi School of Engineering

Andrea Belz, the Director of the National Science Foundation Innovation Node – Los Angeles, serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence (Technology) with faculty appointments in the Marshall School of Business, the Viterbi School of Engineering, and the Roski School of Design. Dr. Belz is Managing Director of Kinetic Intelligence, an intellectual property strategy consultancy and has previously guided strategic planning for world-class innovators including Avery Dennison, BP, California Institute of Technology, CVI Melles Griot, Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Occidental Petroleum, and UCLA. The author of The McGraw-Hill 36 Hour Course: Product Development, Dr. Belz has also consulted to many venture capital firms and university technology startups. She currently serves on the boards of ITUS and Caltech spinoff laser manufacturer Ondax. She holds a B.S. in physics from the University of Maryland at College Park, a Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. in finance from the Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business.

@USCViterbi

14 October

The Future of Automation: The Next Industrial Revolution

03:45 PM 05:00 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Mabel Berezin

Professor

Cornell University

Dr. Mabel Berezin’s research asks how shared cultural meanings and practices shape 1) political institutions such as the state; 2) social processes around political movements and ideologies; and 3) agents through the construction of political identities. Her methodology is primarily comparative and historical.

Her current work focuses on contemporary sites of social, political and cultural change–places where political arrangements have collapsed and new institutions and identities are in the process of formation.

@mabelberezin

14 October

The Resurgence of Nationalist Populism

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Chateau VIII, 2nd Floor

Art Bilger

Founder & CEO

Working Nation

Art Bilger, Founder & CEO, is currently an active venture capital investor. He has been an investor in and director of various private companies including Akamai Technologies, Inc., where he also served as Vice Chairman. He was also President, Chief Operating Officer and a director of New World Communications Group, Inc.; a founding partner of Apollo Advisors, LP and Executive Vice President, Co-Head of Corporate Finance and a Director of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.

Art serves on the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School Board of Overseers and sits on the Board’s Executive Committee. He is also Vice Chairman of the Skirball Cultural Center; a Board member of Bet Tzedek; an Advisory Board Member for the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, and a member of the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs.

He was an Executive Producer for the film 20 Feet From Stardom, which won the 2013 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and the 2013 award for Best Documentary at the Independent Spirit Awards. Art’s career began with the completion of his B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequent MBA from The University of Chicago.

@workingnation

14 October

The Future of Automation: The Next Industrial Revolution

03:45 PM 05:00 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Robert B. Brown

Commanding General

U.S. Army Pacific

General Robert B. Brown assumed command of the United States Army's largest Service Component command, U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), April 30, 2016. The command is headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii with portions of the command-forward deployed and based throughout the Indo-Asia Pacific. USARPAC's 106,000 Active, Reserve Soldiers and Department of the Army Civilians support the nation's strategic objectives and commitment to the region.

Prior to this assumption of command, General Brown most recently served as the Commanding General, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he led the synchronization of education; leader development; training support & development; and the development and integration of the doctrine the U.S. Army uses to fight and win our Nation's wars.

During various times during his service, General Brown has served twelve years with units focused on the Indo-Asia Pacific region, including Commanding General, I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord; Deputy Commanding General of the 25th Infantry Division including a second deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom; Training & Exercises Director J7, United States Pacific Command (USPACOM); Executive Assistant to the Pacific Command Commander; Plans Officer, United States Army Pacific (USARPAC); and Commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team (Stryker), 25th Infantry Division including a deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

General Brown was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry from the United States Military Academy in May 1981, and has served in many leadership positions from platoon to Corps, including as Platoon Leader and Company Commander in mechanized infantry units at Fort Carson, Colorado; Battalion Commander of 2-5 Cavalry, a mechanized infantry battalion at Fort Hood, Texas including a deployment to Bosnia-Herzegovina in support of OPERATION JOINT FORGE; and Commanding General of the Maneuver Center of Excellence (Infantry and Armor Forces) and Fort Benning, Georgia.

General Brown has also served in numerous staff positions including: Assistant Professor of Military Science and Deputy Director, Center of Enhanced Performance, United States Military Academy; Plans Officer at USARPAC; Operations Officer, Executive Officer and Chief, G-3 Training in the 25th Infantry Division including a deployment in support of OPERATION UPHOLD DEMOCRACY in Haiti; Personnel Assignment Officer in Human Resources Command; Aide-de-Camp/Assistant Executive Officer to the Vice Chief of Staff, Army; Plans Officer in the Department of the Army G-3/5/7; a Program Analyst in the Dominant Maneuver Assessment Division, Joint Staff (J8); Executive Assistant to the U.S. Pacific Command Commander and Director, J-7 (Training and Exercises) at USPACOM; and Chief of Staff United States Army Europe (USAREUR) / Deputy Commanding General U.S. Army NATO.

His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal (two Oak Leaf Clusters), the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal (three Oak Leaf Clusters) and the Army Achievement Medal. He has earned the Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge, and the Army Staff Identification Badge.

General Brown holds a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy, a Master of Education from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Science in National Security and Strategic Studies (Distinguished Graduate) from National Defense University.

General Brown will be our opening keynote speaker on Saturday morning.

@USARPAC

14 October

Breakfast Keynote: A Conversation with General Robert B. Brown on U.S.-North Korea Relations

09:30 AM 10:30 AM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Michael C. Camuñez

President and CEO

Monarch Global Strategies LLC

Mr. Michael Camuñez is the co-founder and President and CEO of Monarch Global Strategies and a director of the Pacific Council on International Policy. Monarch Global Strategies is a strategic consulting firm providing senior corporate executives with market and political intelligence, strategic advice and stakeholder engagement support to drive market entry and business expansion efforts in North America, with a particular emphasis on Mexico. From 2010 to 2013 he served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance, where he managed a global portfolio to help lead the U.S. government's efforts to open new markets for U.S. goods and services, identify and eliminate significant market access challenges and non-tariff barriers, and monitor and enforce U.S. trade agreements and commitments. As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Camuñez visited more than 30 countries to advance U.S. trade and economic policy and held key leadership positions in a wide range of bilateral trade dialogues with developed and emerging markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Eurasia, Asia and Latin America. He played a critical role in rebalancing U.S. economic policy toward Mexico, and was the chief architect of the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue. Concurrent with his service as Assistant Secretary, Mr. Camuñez was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission), to lead the Economic Dimension of the Commission's work through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna. He previously served in the Obama White House as Special Counsel to the President in the Office of the White House Counsel as well as Special Assistant to the President. He served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the first term of the Clinton Administration, where he was part of the team that created and launched the AmeriCorps program in 1993.

@MichaelCamunez

14 October

Forecasting Mexico’s 2018 Presidential Election: A Coming Upset for the Ruling Party?

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau IX, 2nd Floor

Rachel Cardone

Global Water Scarcity Project Fellow

Pacific Council on International Policy

Rachel Cardone has spent nearly 20 years working on water issues as an economist, writer, policy maker, philanthropist, and advisor to public, private, and non-profit organizations. Prior to returning to independent consulting in 2012, she spent five years establishing the Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Cardone has traveled or worked in over 50 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, and has spent several years facilitating workshops, training sessions, and meetings for a range of audiences. She has a Masters of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, with a focus on Energy Policy & Finance, and a BA in History (Anthropology minor) from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.

@RachelCardone

13 October

Campfire Session: Rachel Cardone on Global Water Scarcity (advance registration required)

07:30 PM 09:00 PM Garden

Samuel Chu

Contributing Fellow

USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture

Samuel Chu is a contributing fellow with the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at University of Southern California where he engages in research, writing and teaching around community organizing, public leadership and the role of religious institutions in social change.

Chu is a nationally recognized organizer for social change. He currently directs the national synagogue and advocacy strategy for MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, where he oversees over 900 synagogue partners and organizes a growing political constituency that has effected numerous changes, including $8 million in new state funding to provide free school lunch to 62,000 additional low-income students in Minnesota, universal breakfasts for over 1,000 public school campuses in Texas and improved access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly know as “food stamps”) for thousands of families, seniors, veterans and homeless minors in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts and California.

He is the founding chair and president of OneLA-Industrial Areas Foundation, one of the nation’s largest and most diverse community organizing networks, where he helped to create successful projects such as the largest community-based enrollment program for the Affordable Care Act in California and the nation’s first publicly funded mortgage principle reduction plan during the Great Recession.

A first generation immigrant from Hong Kong and the son of a Southern Baptist minister, Samuel came to America in 1990 when he was 12 years old. He completed an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of California, San Diego and a master’s degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

He pastored at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Koreatown in Los Angeles from 2002 to 2009, where he served a community of mainly undocumented immigrants and a diverse congregation with members from 70 different nationalities.

Samuel served as the executive director of California Faith for Equality and California Faith for Equality Action Fund from 2008 to 2011, and was the first straight person to head a statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender supportive organization. Under his leadership, CFE filed some of the largest amicus briefs to the courts in support of marriage equality at both the state and federal levels. In 2011, Chu was recognized by the City of Los Angeles with the LGBT Pride Award for his leadership in promoting and organizing religious support for LGBT civil rights and marriage equality.

From 2007 to 2014, he was board president of 1010 Development Corporation, a non-profit affordable housing developer in Los Angeles rooted in the United Methodist tradition.

Chu also directed special projects for Consumer Watchdog as well as the social justice program, Minyan Tzedek, at IKAR, a Jewish spiritual community that stands at the intersection of spirituality and social justice in Los Angeles, led by Rabbi Sharon Brous.

@usccrcc

14 October

Unease in China? Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Religious Unrest

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Glass Lounge, 1st Floor

Sharyl Cross

Global Policy Scholar

Kennan Institute, Wilson Center

Dr. Sharyl Cross is Director of the Kozmetsky Center at St. Edward's University in Austin and Global Policy Scholar at the Kennan Institute Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC.

Dr. Cross was Professor (2005-20013) at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany where she was Director of Academics for both the Program in Advanced Security Studies and Senior Executive Seminar, and served in key leadership capacities for the Marshall Center’s strategic outreach engagement initiatives in Russia, Eurasia and South East Europe. She also directed a project on countering violent extremism involving participation of some 60 nations. While residing in Germany, she routinely lectured on NATO-Russia security issues for courses at the NATO School in Oberammergau and presented policy relevant research briefings for the U.S. State Department, Department of Defense, Congress, and European Command. Prior to the Marshall Center, Dr. Cross had been appointed Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. She was a resident Senior Fulbright Scholar in Moscow serving on the faculty of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MGIMO) and Institute of USA and Canada Studies in the Russian Academy of Sciences.

She earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a resident fellowship scholar and consultant at the RAND Corporation completing programs in Russian area and policy studies. Dr. Cross has published widely on US/NATO-Russia security issues, Russian foreign policy, Sino-Russian relations, and security and defense sector reform in Eurasia and South East Europe. Her most recent book (co-authored with Paul J. Bolt) China, Russia, and Twenty First Century Global Geopolitics with Oxford University Press is scheduled for release in January 2018. She currently co-directs a project on religion and international security in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy involving collaboration with experts throughout Eurasia and South East Europe.

@kennaninstitute

14 October

Decoding Russia’s Geopolitical Ambitions

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau VIII, 2nd Floor

John B. Emerson

U.S. Ambassador to Germany (2013-2017)

U.S. State Department

John B. Emerson was confirmed by the US Senate on August 1, 2013 as Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. Serving in Berlin, he was the 2015 recipient of the State Department's Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service, which is given annually to one non-career Ambassador who has used their private sector leadership and management skills to make a substantive impact through proactive diplomacy. In 2017 he was awarded the Distinguished Public Service Award by the Secretary of the Navy, the highest civilian honor the Secretary can award, and the CIA Medal for his service during a time of great challenge for the intelligence community.

Mr. Emerson was President of Private Client Services of the Capital Group (1997-2013), served on President Clinton’s senior White House staff (1993-1997) as Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel and then Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs (as the President's liaison to the nations' governors). He led the Administration’s efforts to obtain congressional approval of the GATT Uruguay Round in 1994. In 2010, President Obama appointed him to serve on his Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

Before his White House service, Mr. Emerson was Los Angeles Chief Deputy City Attorney (1987-1993) and as a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. He has been active in civic affairs, serving as Chair of the L A Music Center (2003-11) and on several other LA Area civic and non-profit boards.

Mr. Emerson, originally from the suburbs of New York City, earned his B.A. in Government and Philosophy from Hamilton College and his J.D. from the University of Chicago. Moving to Los Angeles in 1978, he is married to PCIP Member Kimberly Marteau Emerson, who served in a senior role at USIA in the Clinton Administration and sits on the Human Rights Watch international board. The Emersons have three college age daughters.

@JohnBEmo

13 October

Campfire Session: John Emerson on U.S.-European Relations (advance registration required)

07:30 PM 09:00 PM Garden

14 October

Debate & Closing Dinner: Was Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy a Success?

05:30 PM 07:30 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Shihoko Goto

Senior Associate for Northeast Asia, Asia Program

Wilson Center

Shihoko Goto is the senior Northeast Asia associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center's Asia Program, where she is responsible for research, programming, and publications on Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. She is also a contributing editor to The Globalist, and a fellow of the Mansfield Foundation/Japan Foundation U.S.-Japan Network for the Future for 2014 to 2016. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, she spent over ten years as a journalist writing about the international political economy with an emphasis on Asian markets. As a correspondent for Dow Jones News Service and United Press International based in Tokyo and Washington, she has reported extensively on policies impacting the global financial system as well as international trade. She currently provides analysis for a number of media organizations. She was also formerly a donor country relations officer at the World Bank. She received the Freeman Foundation’s Jefferson journalism fellowship at the East-West Center and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s journalism fellowship for the Salzburg Global Seminar. She is fluent in Japanese and French.

@GotoEastAsia

14 October

Unease in China? Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Religious Unrest

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Glass Lounge, 1st Floor

Jerrold D. Green

President and CEO

Pacific Council on International Policy

Dr. Jerrold D. Green has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Council on International Policy since 2008.

His career began at the University of Michigan as a professor in the Department of Political Science and the Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies. He then joined the University of Arizona, where he became a Professor of Political Science and Sociology as well as Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

An expert on Middle East policy, Dr. Green was Senior Advisor for Middle East/South Asia and Director of the Middle East Development Council at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, and before that, Director of International Programs and Development, and Director of RAND’s Center for Middle East Public Policy. From 2004-2006, Dr. Green served as a Partner and Executive Vice President for International Operations at Best Associates in Dallas, Texas, a privately held merchant banking firm with global operations.

He holds a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in the politics of the Middle East. He uses Arabic, French, Hebrew, and Persian in his work and has lived and worked in Iran, Israel, and Egypt, where he was a Fulbright Fellow. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including World Politics, Comparative Politics, Ethics and International Affairs, The Harvard Journal of World Affairs, The Iranian Journal of International Relations, and The Huffington Post, among others.

Dr. Green currently serves as a Research Professor of Communications at USC, a member of the United States Secretary of the Navy Advisory Panel where he was awarded the Department of the Navy, Distinguished Civilian Service Award for his service, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, and more.

14 October

President's Welcome & Lunch Keynote: A Conversation with Representative Karen Bass on U.S.-Africa Policy

12:15 PM 02:00 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

14 October

Under Threat? U.S.-Iranian Relations & the Future of the Iran Deal

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Grand Chateau, 2nd Floor

Nina Hachigian

Deputy Mayor for International Affairs

City of Los Angeles

Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the appointment of Ambassador Nina Hachigian as Deputy Mayor for International Affairs on August 4, 2017.

Ambassador Nina Hachigian was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on September 19, 2014. In her capacity as Chief of the U.S. Mission to ASEAN, Ambassador Hachigian is responsible for working with ASEAN member states and other stakeholders to advance U.S. interests in a peaceful, prosperous, and integrated Southeast Asia that supports human dignity and a rules-based regional order. The Mission's five priorities in the U.S. relationship with ASEAN are: supporting economic integration; expanding maritime cooperation; cultivating emerging leaders; promoting opportunity for women; and addressing transnational challenges.

Previously, she was a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Ambassador Hachigian was the editor of Debating China: The U.S. – China Relationship in Ten Conversations (Oxford University Press, 2014) and co-author of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise (Simon & Schuster, 2008), as well as many reports on Asia policy.

Prior to American Progress, Ambassador Hachigian was a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation and served as the director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy for four years. From 1998 to 1999, she was on the staff of the National Security Council in the White House.

Ambassador Hachigian has published numerous reports, book chapters, and articles, including in Foreign Affairs, The Washington Quarterly, Democracy, and Survival, as well as op-ed pieces appearing in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the South China Morning Post. She also co-authored The Information Revolution in Asia (RAND, 2003). Ambassador Hachigian has been a guest on a variety of news programs.

Ambassador Hachigian was on the board of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Affairs at Stanford University. She was a member of the State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Ambassador Hachigian received her B.S. from Yale University and her J.D. from Stanford Law School.

@NinaHachigian

14 October

Breakfast Keynote: A Conversation with General Robert B. Brown on U.S.-North Korea Relations

09:30 AM 10:30 AM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Grant Harris

Chief Executive Officer

Harris Africa Partners LLC

Grant T. Harris is CEO of Harris Africa Partners LLC and advises companies and organizations on strategy, policy, and mitigating risk with respect to doing business in Africa.

For four years, Harris served as the principal advisor to President Barack Obama on issues related to Africa, serving as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the White House from August 2011 to August 2015.

In this role, Harris initiated and coordinated U.S. policies toward the 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including political, economic, and security matters. Harris conceived of and was a primary lead in implementing the historic U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, in which President Obama hosted 51 African Leaders in Washington, DC in August 2014. The Summit generated $37 billion in new commitments to support trade, investment, and development across Africa.

Harris also initiated and coordinated the Doing Business in Africa Campaign, to encourage greater U.S. trade and investment; launched the President’s Young African Leaders Initiative, to support emerging leaders; and conceived and was the primary architect of the U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, signed by President Obama in 2012. During his time at the White House, Harris also oversaw U.S. efforts to create and implement the National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking, and led the U.S. response to various peace and security crises across Africa.

Prior to this position, Harris was Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a member of President Obama’s Cabinet. Previously, Harris was an associate at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he focused on international business transactions. Prior to that, Harris served in the African Affairs Directorate at the National Security Council at the White House under President Bill Clinton and at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations under Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.

Harris holds a law degree from Yale Law School, a Master’s in Public Affairs, with Distinction, from Princeton University, and a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley. His writings have appeared in such publications as Forbes; HuffPost SA; The Hill; Yale Journal of Law & Policy; Berkeley Journal of International Law; Horizons; Israel Law Review (peer-reviewed); and The San Francisco Chronicle. He is a frequent conference speaker and has been widely quoted on Africa issues in U.S., international, and African media. In January 2017, Harris was appointed by President Obama to serve on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Harris also serves as a non-executive independent director on the board of the Africa Finance Corporation, an international financial institution that has invested more than $4 billion in infrastructure projects across Africa.

@Grant_T_Harris

14 October

President's Welcome & Lunch Keynote: A Conversation with Representative Karen Bass on U.S.-Africa Policy

12:15 PM 02:00 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Peter R. Hartley

George and Cynthia Mitchell Chair in Sustainable Development

Rice University

Peter R. Hartley, Ph.D., is the George and Cynthia Mitchell Professor of Economics at Rice University. He is also a Rice Scholar of Energy Economics at the Baker Institute. He has worked on energy economics issues for 35 years, focusing originally on electricity, but also including work on natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear and renewable energy. He has also published in other areas including theoretical and applied issues in money and banking, business cycles, and international finance. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago and was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Princeton University before coming to Rice. Originally from Australia, he has also held visiting appointments at Monash University, Melbourne University, the Australian National University and the University of Western Australia.

@RiceUniversity

14 October

The Energy Sector Post-Paris

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Chateau X, 2nd Floor

Karla Heidelberg

Professor of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies

USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences

Karla Heidelberg is a professor of biological sciences and environmental studies in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. She received a Ph.D in Marine-Estuarine Environmental Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and served as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Biology. She was the Global Program Coordinator at the J. Craig Venter Institute from 2003-2006, and a Marine Science Policy Advisor and AAAS Science and Diplomacy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State in the Office of Oceans Affairs from 2001-2003.

@KHeidelberg

14 October

A New Kind of Refugee: Climate Change and Global Population Movements

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Glass Lounge, 1st Floor

David Helfenbein

Senior Vice President

Main & Rose

David Helfenbein is a strategic communication and public affairs expert focused on branding, crisis communication and government relations. Under President Obama, David was appointed Social Media Coordinator for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Special Assistant to the Secretary in the Office of White House Liaison, both at the U.S. Department of State. Before the State Department, he worked on Clinton’s Senate staff, focusing on appropriations and grants. David also worked for The Brookings Institution for congressional scholar Thomas E. Mann and MSNBC’s Morning Joe television show. He hosts The Gaggle Podcast and writes for HuffPost.

@DavidHelfenbein

14 October

A State Department Benched?

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau X, 2nd Floor

Alex Julca

Economic Affairs Officer

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Alex Julca has a Ph.D. in Economics from the New School for Social Research and is currently Economic Affairs Officer in the Development Policy Analysis Division (DPAD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA). Having previously worked in the private and public sector in Lima, Peru, Alex taught at the City University of New York and worked as an economic researcher at Columbia University. He has made substantive contributions to the World Economic and Social Survey on issues associated with international migration, ageing, innovative finance, economic insecurity, adaptation to climate change, international aid and sustainable cities. He has published extensively in peer review journals in the areas of economics, international migration, remittances, natural disasters and climate change.

@UNDESA

14 October

A New Kind of Refugee: Climate Change and Global Population Movements

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Glass Lounge, 1st Floor

Suedeen G. Kelly

Partner

Jenner & Block

Suedeen G. Kelly is a highly recognized energy practitioner and former commissioner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). She represents a variety of clients in the electric and natural gas industries on business, regulatory, litigation, enforcement and policy matters such as electricity and gas markets, renewable energy, electricity transmission, natural gas and oil infrastructure, LNG, electricity reliability standards, hydro licensing, carbon emissions, smart grid, energy efficiency and distributed generation.

Ms. Kelly’s knowledge of the national electric and natural gas industries includes significant experience in infrastructure development and operation, market structures and financial products, emerging technologies, federal and state laws and regulations, impending policy changes and domestic/international market interrelations. She is an experienced litigator on energy and environmental matters in federal and state courts.

Nominated by Presidents George H. Bush and Barack Obama to three terms as a FERC Commissioner, Ms. Kelly resolved 7,000 disputes with published Commission decisions and personally authored 100 separate statements during her tenure. She is credited with spearheading change in numerous regulatory policies, including transmission interconnection and planning reform, integration and deployment of renewables and smart technology into the grid, the inclusion of smart grid demonstration grants in the stimulus effort, and natural gas quality standards.

Ms. Kelly has served as chair of energy industry practices at two international law firms. She served as regulatory counsel for the California Independent System Operator, and in 1999, she worked as a legislative aide to Senator Jeff Bingaman, then the ranking member of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee. For more than 15 years, she was a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law where she taught energy law, utility regulation, administrative law and legislative process. She also served as chairwoman and commissioner for the New Mexico Public Service Commission and was a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council and US Environmental Protection Agency.

@JennerBlockLLP

14 October

The Energy Sector Post-Paris

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Chateau X, 2nd Floor

Robert J. Lempert

Director, Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition

RAND Corporation

Robert Lempert is a principal researcher at the RAND Corporation and director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition. His research focuses on decisionmaking under conditions of deep uncertainty, with an emphasis on climate change, energy, and the environment. Lempert and his research team assist a number of natural resource agencies in their efforts to include climate change in their long-range plans. He has also led studies on national security strategies and science and technology investment strategies for clients such as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Lempert is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Panel on Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Political and Social Stresses, and a lead author for Working Group II of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report and for the IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. Lempert was the Inaugural EADS Distinguished Visitor in Energy and Environment at the American Academy in Berlin.

A professor of policy analysis in the Pardee RAND Graduate School, Lempert is an author of the book Shaping the Next One Hundred Years: New Methods for Quantitative, Longer-Term Policy Analysis. Lempert received his Ph.D. in applied physics and S.M. in applied physics and science policy from Harvard University.

@RobertLempert

14 October

A New Kind of Refugee: Climate Change and Global Population Movements

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Glass Lounge, 1st Floor

Mel Levine

Partner

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

A member of the Pacific Council on International Policy’s Board of Directors, Mel Levine is Counsel at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, where he specializes in international transactions and governmental strategic counseling. Mr. Levine is a former member of the U.S. Congress, where he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its subcommittees on International Economic Policy and Trade, Europe and the Middle East, and Asia; the Committee on the Interior and Insular Affairs; and the Committee on the Judiciary and its subcommittee on Intellectual Property. He was also Chair of the House Task Force on Exports and the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Latin America. Before his tenure in Congress, Mr. Levine served in the California State Assembly. Mr. Levine served as U.S. Chair of the Anti-Incitement Committee, member of the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission, and Presidential appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Levine founded and co-chaired Rebuild America, an educational foundation to improve U.S. competitiveness. He also served, at the request of Vice President Al Gore, as Co-President of Builders for Peace, the private sector effort to assist the Middle East peace process. Mr. Levine is a former President of the American Friends of the Rabin Center in Israel. He is President of the Board of Commissioners of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a member of the Advisory Board of the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California (Berkeley), Chair of the Advisory Board of the Center on Public Diplomacy of the Annenberg School at USC, and is Co-Chair of the California Coalition for Public Education. He was named one of the "100 Most Influential" lawyers in California and is listed in America’s Best Lawyers.

@gibsondunn

13 October

Dinner and Keynote Interview: Challenges & Opportunities for the United States in the Middle East with Ambassador David M. Satterfield

05:30 PM 07:30 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Ernie Liu

Director

Security Consulting Services, FireEye

Ernie Liu is the Director of Mandiant’s Professional Services with over a decade of experience in professional services and information security. He has led Mandiant’s teams to help his clients respond to some of the most complex and high-profile information security breaches. Mr. Liu has expertise conducting enterprise-wide incident responses, high-tech crime investigations, complex litigation support efforts, and providing strategic security consulting to business and technology executives. He has supported clients in a number of industries including financial services, high technology, energy, mining, legal, and defense industrial base.

Mr. Liu oversees Mandiant's Los Angeles office and all Southern California professional services personnel. As Director, he is also responsible for recruiting, developing, and retaining top talent and ensuring Mandiant provides unsurpassed services to clients around the world.

Prior to joining Mandiant, Mr. Liu was a Manager with Deloitte Financial Advisory Service's Analytic and Forensic Technology group. There, he managed and coordinated international teams who collected, analyzed, and reported on evidence related to internal and external corporate investigations, including extensive Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requests, often working hand-in-hand with corporate counsel and special committees to develop investigative strategies.

@FireEye

14 October

Cybersecurity Today: Understanding U.S. Adversaries and What Can Be Done

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Grand Chateau, 2nd Floor

Vandana Mangal

Founding Executive Director

Easton Technology Management Center

Dr. Mangal is the Founding Executive Director for the Easton Technology Management Center and Co-Director for the Business and Information Technologies (BIT) project at UCLA Anderson School of Management. She has taught Big Data as an Emerging Technologies and Markets course at UCLA Anderson and to executives in global universities. Dr Mangal spoke about Big Data and participated in a Q&A with a Silicon Beach Startup on 'Concept to Code' on the youtube channel for the City of Santa Monica.

As the Founding Executive Director, she has played a key role in launching and growing the Easton Center from 60 to over 600 students by building a cutting-edge curriculum that has made UCLA Anderson a school of choice for MBAs interested in tech careers and about 30% MBA students are now being placed in tech companies each year, for the past 5 years. She has worked closely with the Faculty Director, as the Center COO, to determine the strategy and direction of the Center, since its launch in 2009, and has helped raise nearly $15 million in Center funds. Working with the Faculty Director, she has built the Advisory Board for the Easton Center and for nearly a decade, she has brought in and organized executive programs in tech, entrepreneurship, leadership and operations.

As Co-Director of BIT, Dr Mangal has played a key role in launching and growing BIT from 3 to 21 partners in 17 countries. She has given talks at domestic and global conferences, published several papers and articles in journals and magazines, many in collaboration with global researchers. She has published four books (2007, 2009, 2012, 2016).

This past year, she has brought Artificial Intelligence into the tech curriculum at UCLA Anderson. Dr Mangal discusses one application of AI, Drones, in her blog here. In past years, she has brought in emerging tech topics such as virtual reality, smart home, disruption in automotive space, IoT and mobile, into the UCLA Anderson tech curriculum.

Vandana has participated in panels and given talks, including at the UCLA Anderson Alumni Conference , UCLA Photonics Conference , Investor Festival in Silicon Beach, Digital Entertainment World Conference, California Clean Conference, the India Conference and the Women's Business Conference. She will be speaking at the SoTec Conference in October 2017. She has served as judge for case and venture competitions such as those hosted by TechWeek LA, Plug and Play, Google, Southern California Edison and Applied Management Research. She has been involved in conducting case studies. She has served as the guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of Engineering Management and Economics titled 'Technology, Operations and Strategy in Innovation and Entrepreneurship'. She is the recipient of several awards for research and programs including from the University of California's Industry-University Cooperative Research Program. She is a 5-time recipient of the UCLA Anderson School Local Award given for exemplary performance.

She is on the board of the UCLA IS Associates. She is on the Advisory Board of the UCLA Extension Technical Management Program, on the Executive Committee for the LA Media Lab , and is a cofounder and board member of the Women's Initiative Network (WIN). Through talks and mentoring, she guides students interested in tech careers, whether they are from technical or non-technical majors and whether they are interested in working in startups or large global corporations.

Before joining UCLA, Dr Mangal has worked in big tech (Intel Corp) and consulting (AE Business Solutions). She has taught technology related classes as Adjunct/Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin - Madison's School of Business and at the University of Wisconsin - Platteville's Computer Science department. She received her PhD from Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University; her undergraduate degree is in Electrical Engineering from PEC University of Technology.

@vandanaucla

14 October

The Future of Automation: The Next Industrial Revolution

03:45 PM 05:00 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Karlo Barrios Marcelo

Program and Development Manager

Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles

Karlo is a public-private partnership professional for the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles. His main role is to connect philanthropy and the private sector with programs and projects at the Mayor’s office, in order to drive innovation and transformation. His main duties include program management and strategy, fundraising, and contracts and negotiations. Outside of his MFLA role, he is a Contributor with the Economist Intelligence Unit, the consultancy side of The Economist magazine. He conducts business insight analysis through interviews and surveys with executives at Fortune 500 companies and large foundations. He also serves on the board of the L.A. River Public Art Project whose mission is to foster an arts and culture infrastructure for the city’s largest development project this century.

As a trained economist and statistician, Karlo got his start as an analyst at CIRCLE, and later became the national expert on young voters during the 2006 and 2008 elections. His research and analysis was featured on CBS News, Al-Jazeera, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Huffington Post, The Economist, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and many others. After CIRCLE, he leveraged his experience in media and communications to work as a consultant for The Aspen Institute, InterAction, See3 Communications, and others before being recruited by the Truman National Security Project to launch a nationwide media surrogate initiative. At the Truman Project he opened up new surrogate chapters that helped to create a media narrative and echo chamber throughout the country.

Karlo completed his B.A. from the University of Maryland in Economics and Government, where he was also a CIVICUS Associate, Senior Marshal, and Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow. He was a Rackham Graduate Fellow at The Ford School of Public Policy at The University of Michigan, where he received his M.P.P. with a focus on quantitative analysis. He is a lifetime alumni member of both Universities. He is also a New Leaders Council Fellow and Truman National Security Project Political Fellow.

@_kbm

14 October

Cybersecurity Today: Understanding U.S. Adversaries and What Can Be Done

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Grand Chateau, 2nd Floor

Elisa Massimino

President and CEO

Human Rights First

Elisa Massimino is President and Chief Executive Officer of Human Rights First, one of the nation’s leading human rights advocacy organizations. Established in 1978, Human Rights First’s mission is to ensure that the United States is a global leader on human rights. The organization works in the United States and abroad to promote respect for human rights and the rule of law. Massimino leads a staff of 100 with offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Houston.

Massimino joined Human Rights First as a staff attorney in 1991 to help establish the Washington office. From 1997 to 2008 she served as the organization’s Washington Director. Previously, Massimino was a litigator in private practice at the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson, where she was pro bono counsel in many human rights cases. Before joining the legal profession, she taught philosophy at several colleges and universities in Michigan.

Massimino has a distinguished record of human rights advocacy in Washington. As a national authority on human rights law and policy, she has testified before Congress dozens of times and writes frequently for mainstream publications and specialized journals. Since 2008, the influential Washington newspaper The Hill has consistently named her one of the most effective public advocates in the country.

Massimino appears regularly in major media outlets and speaks to audiences around the country. She has written for and been quoted in numerous print and online news sources, including: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and other global publications. She has been featured on ABC News, NBC Dateline, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, MSNBC, CNN, National Public Radio, BBC, and many other news outlets.

The daughter of a nuclear submarine commander, Massimino was instrumental in the organization’s efforts to assemble a group of retired generals and admirals to speak publicly against policies authorizing the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody. This coalition of military leaders has played a pivotal role in the effort to restore compliance with the Geneva Convention’s standard for treatment of prisoners.

Massimino holds a law degree from the University of Michigan where she was an editor of the Journal of Law Reform. She holds a Master of Arts in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Massimino serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches human rights advocacy, and has taught international human rights law at the University of Virginia and refugee law at the George Washington University School of Law. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the bar of the United States Supreme Court.

@ecmassimino

14 October

A State Department Benched?

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau X, 2nd Floor

Edward Muller

Health, Safety, and Environment Committee Member

Transocean Ltd.

Edward Muller is the retired vice chairman of NRG Energy, Inc., a competitive energy company that produces and sells electricity in the United States. Prior to the merger in 2012 of GenOn Energy Inc. and NRG, he was chairman and chief executive of GenOn which produced and sold electricity in the United States. Before the formation of GenOn through the merger in 2010 of Mirant Corporation and RRI Energy, he was chairman and chief executive of Mirant Corporation. During his tenure, Mirant also produced and sold electricity in Curacao, the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Philippines and Trinidad. Previously, he was president and chief executive officer of Edison Mission Energy, the wholly owned global power subsidiary of Edison International, which during his tenure had major activities in Australia, Indonesia, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Prior to joining Edison Mission, Muller was vice president, chief financial officer, general counsel and secretary of Whittaker Corp., a Los Angeles-based conglomerate with activities in aerospace, chemicals, healthcare and metals. From 1991 to 1993, in addition to his duties at Whittaker, he was also vice president, general counsel and secretary of BioWhittaker, Inc., a Maryland-based biotechnology firm spun off by Whittaker.

Muller is a director of AeroVironment, Inc., a producer of unmanned aircraft systems and efficient energy systems, and of Transocean Ltd., an offshore oil and gas driller. He previously has been a director of Contact Energy, Ltd., a New Zealand electric company; Edison Mission Energy; Interval, Inc., a provider of Internet-based tools for automotive retailers; GenOn Energy Inc.; Mirant Corporation; NRG Energy, Inc., Oasis Residential, Inc., an apartment REIT; Ormat Technologies, Inc., a developer, builder, owner and operator of geothermal power plants; RealEnergy, Inc., a developer, owner and operator of on-site generation for commercial office buildings; RigNet Inc., a provider of information and communication services for drilling rigs; Strategic Data Corp., an Internet personalization and datamining firm; The Keith Companies, Inc, an engineering firm; and Whittaker Corp.

He is chair of the Board of Trustees of the Riverview School and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy, and previously was Chairman of the U.S.-Philippines Business Committee and Co-Chairman of the International Energy Development Council.

Muller received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and law degree from the Yale Law School.

14 October

The Energy Sector Post-Paris

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Chateau X, 2nd Floor

Dawn Nakagawa

Executive Vice President

Berggruen Institute

Dawn is the Executive Vice President of the Berggruen Institute. In this position, Dawn is responsible for building the institution to become an organization of global reach and influence. Prior to joining the Berggruen Institute, Dawn was the Executive Vice President of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a global leadership network dedicated to enhancing awareness of and developing solutions to global challenges. In her position she oversaw all aspects of the organization and drove several special initiatives including the Energy, Environment and Security Committee and the Equitable Globalization Committee. She also co-directed the project on California’s Adaptation to Climate Change, recruiting the members of the taskforce which ultimately was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to be the California Adaptation Advisory Council to the State. Prior to joining the Pacific Council, Dawn worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company where she developed growth strategy for Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries, including high tech, medical device, biotech, consumer products and retail industries. She holds an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the McGill University in Canada. Dawn sits on the board of the Values Schools charter school organization, and an active member of the California Peace Action Network and California League of Conservation Voters.

@berggruenInst

14 October

Under Threat? U.S.-Iranian Relations & the Future of the Iran Deal

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Grand Chateau, 2nd Floor

Robert C. O'Brien

Managing Partner

Larson O'Brien LLP

Robert C. O’Brien’s practice focuses on complex litigation and domestic and international arbitration. He has expertise in entertainment, intellectual property, oil and gas, and contract and business tort matters.

Mr. O’Brien has tried numerous cases to verdict in state and federal courts in both jury and bench trials as well as in domestic and international arbitral proceedings.

In addition, he has been appointed chair and wing arbitrator in more than a dozen domestic and international arbitrations. Mr. O’Brien has been a federal court-appointed discovery master in several of the largest recent cases in the Central District of California, including MGA v. Mattel (“Barbie v. Bratz”), United States v. Standard & Poors and In re Allergan Securities Litigation. He was named one of the top 100 lawyers in California by the Daily Journal. In 2016, The Los Angeles Business Journal named him as one of the 500 most influential people in Los Angeles.

Prior to establishing Larson O’Brien LLP with Stephen G. Larson, Mr. O’Brien was the California managing partner of a national AMLAW firm. He grew the California offices from 10 lawyers to more than 110 in seven years.

Mr. O’Brien served as the U.S. Alternate Representative to the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which met in New York from 2005 through 2006. In July 2008, Mr. O’Brien was appointed by the President to serve a three-year term on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, which advises the U.S. Government on the Convention on the Cultural Property Implementation Act. He was the founding Co-Chairman of the Department of State Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2011, serving under Secretary of State Rice and Secretary of State Clinton.

Mr. O’Brien was a Major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve. He served as a senior legal officer at the UN Security Council (UNCC) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1996 to 1998, where he handled government claims against Iraq arising out of the first Gulf War.

Mr. O’Brien’s articles on international law, the right of publicity and civil procedure have been published in leading law reviews and journals. His essays and editorials on foreign policy and national security regularly appear in national publications. He is a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN and The Hugh Hewitt Radio Show. His book, While America Slept: Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis was published by Encounter in 2016.

Mr. O’Brien served on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University. He was a member of the International Republican Institute (IRI) delegations that observed the presidential election in the Republic of Georgia in October 2013 and the parliamentary election in Ukraine in October 2014. Mr. O’Brien served as a Pacific Council on International Policy observer of the 9/11 Military Commission proceedings in Guantanamo Bay.

He has been a senior advisor to Governor Mitt Romney and Governor Scott Walker in their presidential campaigns.

Mr. O’Brien graduated, cum laude, from UCLA, and received his JD degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall).

@robertcobrien

14 October

Debate & Closing Dinner: Was Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy a Success?

05:30 PM 07:30 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Caolionn O'Connell

Physical Scientist & Associate Director

RAND Arroyo Center’s Forces and Logistics Program

Caolionn (pronounced KEY-lin) O'Connell is a senior physical scientist at the RAND Corporation and an Associate Director of RAND Arroyo Center's Forces and Logistics Program. She primarily works in the national security sector, with a focus on cyber systems, manpower issues, and resource management. Her recent work includes looking at the cybersecurity of USAF base infrastructure and the training and retention of the Army's cyber workforce. Prior to joining RAND, she worked as a research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and as a government civilian in the Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. O'Connell holds a B.A. from Harvard and Ph.D. from Stanford, both in physics.

@RANDCorporation

14 October

Cybersecurity Today: Understanding U.S. Adversaries and What Can Be Done

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Grand Chateau, 2nd Floor

Parveen Parmer

Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine

Keck School of Medicine of USC

Dr. Parmar’s research has focused on the study of health and human rights violations in refugees and internally displaced populations. She conducted a study on sexual violence among refugees and host populations in Eastern Cameroon in collaboration with International Medical Corps. Working with Physicians for Human Rights, Dr. Parmar conducted a population-based study of residents of Chin State, Burma, which quantified the prevalence of human rights violations inside Burma and was presented to members of the UN Human Rights Council, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Labor organization, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. In collaboration with Community Partners International and community-based ethnic health organizations in eastern Burma, Dr. Parmar has studied health and human rights violations before and after the political transition in Burma. She designed and taught an innovative course on field research methods in humanitarian crisis, which allowed HSPH students and Burmese refugees to learn research methods collaboratively in a Thai refugee camp. Dr. Parmar has also studied access to health care of Burmese refugees in New Delhi, and is currently working to understand health access among refugees living in Boston. Currently, Dr. Parmar is serving as a research consultant to the International Rescue Committee, studying non-communicable disease among refugees in the middle east. She is currently developing initiatives to support the health of communities impacted by climate change in rural Madagascar.

@KeckMedUSC

13 October

Campfire Session: Dr. Parveen Parmer on Burmese Refugees (advance registration required)

07:30 PM 09:00 PM Garden

Ivan Penn

Writer

Los Angeles Times

Ivan Penn joined the Los Angeles Times in July 2015 from the other Sunshine State, Florida, after 23 years reporting on the East Coast. Penn covers all things energy on The Times’ Business staff – when not on trumpet behind his singer-songwriter wife. He's a father of three (four if you include the bunny, Snickett). Born in Washington, D.C., Penn grew up in Maryland and graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park.

@ivanlpenn

14 October

The Energy Sector Post-Paris

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Chateau X, 2nd Floor

Karen Richardson

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary

Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State

Karen Richardson is the former Public Engagement Advisor responsible for conducting outreach to the international community, which includes domestically-based advocacy and non-governmental organizations, amongst others, working on a variety of foreign policy issues. Her portfolio also included conducting outreach to the health care and seniors community, a role she assumed in January 2009 as health care outreach coordinator for the White House Office of Health Reform and the White House Office of Public Engagement. Richardson has also been Senior Advisor to Ambassador Melanne Verveer at the U.S. State Department. Richardson began working for President Obama at his Senate Office in August 2005, serving as Deputy to the Policy Director. Shortly after Obama announced his presidential run, Richardson joined the Obama for America campaign as the State Policy Director for Iowa, a role she assumed in several states throughout the presidential primary. In July 2008 Richardson became the Policy Director at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and also joined the DNC as part of then-Senator Obama’s Congressional Liaison team. After the presidential general election, she joined the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Los Angeles, California, Richardson has a BA from Howard University, a JD from Howard University School of Law, and a Masters in International Affairs from the London School of Economics.

@KERICH22

14 October

A State Department Benched?

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau X, 2nd Floor

Nancy H. Rubin

Board Member

National Democratic Institute

Nancy H. Rubin served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and is a Presidential Appointee to the White House Council for Community Solutions. Rubin serves on the boards of the National Democratic Institute and Women for Women International. Rubin also serves on the United Nations Association Strategy Committee and Human Rights Task Force and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has served in the administrations of Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Rubin served as a board member of OEF International and chaired the Committee on Women and Law and Development, which began legal literacy projects in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Rubin is known for her advocacy of her social innovation to support communities and democratic institutions around the world, and for her work with government, the United Nations and NGOs.

13 October

Dinner and Keynote Interview: Challenges & Opportunities for the United States in the Middle East with Ambassador David M. Satterfield

05:30 PM 07:30 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Gilbert Sanborn

Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army

State of California

Gilbert Sanborn is a resident of Novato, California, having moved there in 2016 from the East Coast.
He has had a 40+year career on Wall Street in investment banking, including roles at Citibank, First Boston, Lehman Brothers and Barclays. During the last 30 years, he focused on restructuring troubled companies and, in recent years, sovereign-related credits out of the Euro-crisis.

Since witnessing the attacks on the World Trade Center from the next building, he has devoted a significant part of his life supporting those who put themselves in harm’s way on his behalf, which led to his appointment as a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army (CASA), first in Connecticut, and now in California. The principal theme of his work has been to bridge the civilian military divide. In addition to promoting the support of Soldiers, he focuses on national security issues and the role of the Army, including public speaking engagements. He has also spoken on the need for a national economic security policy at West Point, the Army War College, the NDU and the Marine War College.

Since moving to Novato, he has been giving talks to civic groups on national security issues and am now on round 2 with several groups who asked him to expand on topics he addressed in the first round. He is also working to develop a coalition of groups in San Francisco to sponsor an expert speaker series on national security and Veteran topics.

Pertinent to the Council, he has had a lifelong interest in Asia, beginning with China in high school, which led him to major in Chinese studies and Economics at the University of Michigan. Given his timing in the early 70s, he saw more opportunity in business than with China and subsequently earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

13 October

Campfire Session: Gilbert Sanborn on the Civilian-Military Divide (advance registration required)

07:30 PM 09:00 PM Garden

David M. Satterfield

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

U.S. State Department

Ambassador Satterfield entered the Foreign Service in 1980 and holds the rank of Career Minister. He most recently served from July 2009 until August 2017 as the Director General of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai Peninsula. At the Department of State, Satterfield served as Coordinator for Iraq and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State, U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq, Assistant Secretary of State (Acting) for Near Eastern Affairs, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Chief of Mission in Cairo, and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon.

His Middle East experience spans almost forty years and also includes assignments in Syria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and two tours in Lebanon. Ambassador Satterfield served as Director of Arab and Arab-Israeli Affairs in the Department of State and as Director for Near Eastern Affairs on the National Security Council Staff from 1993 to 1998, where he worked primarily on the Arab-Israeli peace process. He is the recipient of the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Distinguished Honor Award, the Presidential Distinguished Executive Award and the Department of the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Award. His languages include Arabic and French.

Ambassador Satterfield attended the University of Maryland and Georgetown University.

Ambassador Satterfield will be our Friday evening keynote speaker, and will discuss the Challenges & Opportunities for the United States in the Middle East.

@StateDept

13 October

Dinner and Keynote Interview: Challenges & Opportunities for the United States in the Middle East with Ambassador David M. Satterfield

05:30 PM 07:30 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Kori Schake

Research Fellow

Hoover Institution

Dr. Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She is the editor, with Jim Mattis, of the book Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military. She teaches Thinking About War at Stanford, is a contributing editor at the Atlantic, and also writes for War on the Rocks and Foreign Policy. Her history of the Anglo-American hegemonic transition is forthcoming (2017) from Harvard University Press.

She has served in various policy roles including at the White House for the National Security Council; at the Department of Defense for the Office of the Secretary and Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department for the Policy Planning Staff. During the 2008 presidential election, she was Senior Policy Advisor on the McCain-Palin campaign.

She has been profiled in publications ranging from national news to popular culture including the Los Angeles Times, Politico, and Vogue Magazine.

Her recent publications include: Republican Foreign Policy After Trump (Survival, Fall 2016), National Security Challenges for the Next President (Orbis, Winter 2017), Will Washington Abandon the Order?, (Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 2017).

@KoriSchake

14 October

Debate & Closing Dinner: Was Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy a Success?

05:30 PM 07:30 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Dan Schnur

Director of Los Angeles Region

American Jewish Committee

Dan Schnur is the Director of the American Jewish Committee’s Los Angeles Region.

Dan comes to AJC after a career in communications and advocacy in California and national politics, and, more recently, teaching at the University of Southern California and the University of California – Berkeley.

Since 2004, Dan has taught at the University of Southern California, where he taught popular classes in politics, communications and leadership. He has been Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, founder of the USC/LA Times statewide political poll, and faculty advisor to the Trojans for Israel and SC Students for Israel organizations. In addition to his position at USC, Dan is an Adjunct Instructor at the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies. Dan also has held the post of Visiting Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics at Harvard University and taught an advanced course in political campaign communications at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.

Earlier in his career, Dan spent almost twenty years in state and national politics, working on four presidential campaigns and three campaigns for governor of California. He served as chairman of the California Fair Political Practice Commission, communications director for Governor Pete Wilson, and, later, for Senator John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign. In 2011, Dan changed his party registration to No Party Preference. He was a founder and co-chairman of the Voices of Reform project, the bi-partisan statewide effort whose work laid the foundation for California’s landmark redistricting reform.

Dan has been an advisor to the William & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Broad Education Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the James Irvine Foundation, the Public Policy Institute of California and the Stuart Foundation on a variety of K-12 education and college and workforce preparedness efforts.

@danschnur

14 October

Debate & Closing Dinner: Was Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy a Success?

05:30 PM 07:30 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Ann M. Simmons

Global Development Writer/Editor

Los Angeles Times

Ann M. Simmons is a global development writer/editor on the foreign desk of the Los Angeles Times, where she covers global sustainability issues. In her most recent role she served as a video and multimedia journalist. She has worked as a metro reporter and national and foreign correspondent. She has been based in Russia, Kenya and South Africa and has reported from Iraq and several other countries across the globe. A Brit, Simmons holds a double honors bachelor’s degree in Russian and Norwegian from the University of Anglia in Norwich, England, and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School Journalism. She was a Nieman fellow at Harvard in 2003.

@AMSimmons1

14 October

Decoding Russia’s Geopolitical Ambitions

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau VIII, 2nd Floor

Matthew Spence

William J. Perry Fellow

Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation

Dr. Matthew Spence is the William J. Perry Fellow at Stanford University, where he teaches the CISAC Fellows Policy Seminar. He is also partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Prior to entering the private sector, Dr. Spence spent six years in senior national security positions in the U.S. government. From 2012 to 2015, Dr. Spence served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy, where he was the principal advisor to three Secretaries of Defense for U.S. policy towards the Middle East. He was responsible for fourteen countries, including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Israel, Egypt, and the Gulf states. During his time at the Pentagon, Dr. Spence traveled to the region over 30 times, and played a central role in U.S.-Israel military planning, the cyber attack on Saudi Aramco, arms sales, and policy dialogues about Iran, Syria, Egypt, and the Middle East Peace Process.

Dr. Spence also served in a senior role on Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s confirmation and transition team. He received the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Public Service.

From 2009 to 20012, Dr. Spence worked at the White House on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Economic Affairs and as Senior Advisor to two National Security Advisors. In that capacity, he traveled with and briefed President Obama in trips to over 30 countries, participated over 300 national security meetings with the President’s cabinet, and prepared the National Security Advisor for over 500 of the President’s Daily Intelligence Briefings He worked on issues ranging from cyber security, trade, Asia policy, and the operation against Osama bin Ladin. He also served on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team.

Dr. Spence is a Senior Fellow at the Yale Law School Center for Global Legal Challenges and the NYU Center on Law and Security. Dr. Spence is the co-founder of the Truman National Security Project, was a Lecturer in International Relations at Oxford University, and has been widely published in national security and foreign policy, including in the Yale Law Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. Trained as a lawyer, Dr. Spence also practiced criminal and international law in California, and served as a law clerk for Judge Richard Posner of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. A Marshall Scholar and Truman Scholar, Dr. Spence received his doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University; J.D. from Yale Law School; and B.A. and M.A. in International Policy Studies from Stanford University. He was born and raised in southern California.

@StanfordCISAC

14 October

Debate & Closing Dinner: Was Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy a Success?

05:30 PM 07:30 PM Grand Salon Ballroom, 1st Floor

Pamela Starr

Associate Professor of International Relations

University of Southern California

Dr. Pamela K. Starr is the director of the U.S.-Mexico Network, a university fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and an associate professor of teaching in the School of International Relations and in Public Diplomacy. She came to USC from the Eurasia Group, one of the world's leading global political risk advisory and consulting firms, where she was senior analyst responsible for Mexico. Prior to that, she spent eight years in Mexico as a professor of Latin American political economy at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), a private university in Mexico City. Dr. Starr is an active speaker, commentator, and author on Mexican politics, economics and foreign policy, and on economic reform and policy making in Latin America. She is the author of a 2009 Pacific Council on International Policy report, “Mexico and the United States: A Window of Opportunity?”, the Council on Foreign Relation’s special report on the 2006 Mexican election, “Challenges for a Postelection Mexico: Issues for US Policy”, and is currently writing a book on Mexico entitled " A Quarter Century of Policy Reform in Mexico: Unexpected Drivers and Unintended Consequences. Starr has also worked as a consultant to investment banks and securities firms, has briefed officials on both American and Mexican officials on the bilateral relationship, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Ambassador Carlos Pascual, Mexican Senator Carlos Navarrete, and gatherings of staffers from the Foreign Relations Committees of the US and Mexican Senates. Dr. Starr’s research and writing focuses on three main topics: U.S.-Mexico relations, the politics, economy and foreign policy of contemporary Mexico, and the politics of economic policy-making across Latin America. In a series of books and book chapters, peer-review journal articles and policy-oriented publications, Dr. Starr has also illuminated the interplay between political and economic developments in shaping economic policy in Mexico and Latin America. On the basis of this research, Dr. Starr has given talks throughout the hemisphere to a wide range of audiences, including the World Economic Forum, the IMF, the Inter-American Development Bank, the US Department of State, the US Embassy in Mexico City, the US State Legislative Leaders Foundation, the Mexican legislature and the Ecuadorian Central Bank. Dr. Starr has held research positions in Argentina and Brazil and at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. She has received grants and fellowships from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Earhart Foundation, the Organization of American States and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Dr. Starr is an associate of the Inter-American Dialogue and an active member of the Latin American Studies Association and the American Political Science Association. After receiving her PhD from the University of Southern California in 1993, Dr. Starr worked as a visiting assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles before moving to ITAM in 1997.

14 October

Forecasting Mexico’s 2018 Presidential Election: A Coming Upset for the Ruling Party?

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau IX, 2nd Floor

Seth Stodder

Former Assistant Secretary

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Seth Stodder was appointed by President Obama to serve as Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Border, Immigration & Trade Policy in March 2016. Assistant Secretary Stodder leads a team advising Secretary Johnson and DHS leadership on border security and the facilitation of legitimate travelers and commerce across U.S. and international borders. Leading the offices of Immigration Policy and Immigration Statistics, he also advises the Secretary and DHS leadership on all immigration matters, including immigration reform, visa policy, global asylum/refugee policy, immigration services, and immigration enforcement. He also oversees DHS policy regarding trade, cargo and supply chain security, transportation security, as well as DHS national security reviews of foreign investments and FCC license applications through the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) and the “Team Telecom” review process. In addition, Assistant Secretary Stodder oversees all DHS engagement with and policy issues regarding the countries of the Western Hemisphere, including bilateral and multilateral engagements with Canada, Mexico, and the countries of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Previously, Assistant Secretary Stodder served as Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Threat Prevention and Security Policy. Appointed by President Obama in June 2015, Assistant Secretary Stodder led a team advising Secretary Johnson and senior DHS leadership on a wide variety of issues relating to security threats to the U.S. homeland. Among other things, Assistant Secretary Stodder oversaw DHS policy on the screening of people, including the Visa Waiver Program and the security vetting process for refugee applicants, as well as law enforcement policy, and the negotiation of international information sharing agreements bolstering counterterrorism and law enforcement cooperation, with a particular focus on transatlantic cooperation in addressing the Syrian migration crisis. Assistant Secretary Stodder also served as Co-Chair of the DHS Social Media Task Force.

A longtime expert in national and homeland security law and policy, Assistant Secretary Stodder also teaches Counterterrorism, Civil Liberties, and Privacy Law at the University of Southern California Law School. Prior to his appointments at DHS, Assistant Secretary Stodder was a lawyer in private practice, focused on appellate and constitutional law. He also served as a Senior Associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and is a member of the Pacific Council for International Policy.

This is Assistant Secretary Stodder’s second tour of duty at DHS. Earlier in his career, Assistant Secretary Stodder served in the Bush Administration as Director of Policy and Planning for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In that role, he helped lead the development of U.S. border policy in the immediate wake of the 9/11 attacks, and the creation of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), the Container Security Initiative (CSI), and the National Targeting Center (NTC), among a variety of other initiatives focused not only on securing the borders of the United States, but also on facilitating the secure flow of lawful travel and trade.

Assistant Secretary Stodder is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and California bars, has a J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School, and a B.A. from Haverford College.

@sethstodder

14 October

A New Kind of Refugee: Climate Change and Global Population Movements

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Glass Lounge, 1st Floor

James Tong

Professor of Political Science

UCLA

James Tong works in Comparative Politics, specializing in Chinese Politics and political violence. He was the Director for Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Political Science from 1994-97, and is the current Director of the Center for East Asian Studies. His publications on China include studies of peasant revolts from the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Century, the 1989 Democracy Movement, and Intergovernmental fiscal relations. His current research interests are civil society, gender and political participation, agency problems and control in China, and the Asian financial crisis. These projects received support from the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the University of California Pacific Rim Research Program, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation. His Stanford University book on Disorder Under Heaven was nominated for the Association of Asian Studies^aEURTM Joseph Levenson Best Book Award in Pre-Twentieth Chinese Studies. It contains research that won the American Political Science Association's Gabriel Almond Award for Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics. Professor Tong has engaged in collaborative research projects with investigators from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing University, People's University, Academia Sinica (Taipei), National Taiwan University, National Chengchi University, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

@UCLA ‏

14 October

Unease in China? Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Religious Unrest

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Glass Lounge, 1st Floor

Jeffrey Wasserstrom

Chancellor's Professor, History School of Humanities

University of California, Irvine

Jeffrey Wasserstrom is the Chancellor's Professor in the History School of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine. He is also a professor (by courtesy) in the School of Law. He serves as a Historical Writing Mentor of Literary Journalism in the School of Humanities. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989, his M.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University in 1984, and his B.A. in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1982.

His research interests include China, protest, globalization, gender, and urban. He is a specialist in modern Chinese history with a strong interest in connecting China's past to its present and placing both into global perspective. He has contributed to many academic periodicals, including the China Quarterly, the Journal of World History, the Journal of Global History, and History Workshop Journal, and has also written commentaries and reviews for general interest magazines (e.g., Time, The Nation, and the TLS), newspapers (Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times), and many online publications, including the Huffington Post. He is the Editor of the Journal of Asian Studies, the flagship publication of the Association for Asian Studies, and is an advising editor for of the Los Angeles Review of Books.

@jwassers

14 October

Unease in China? Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Religious Unrest

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Glass Lounge, 1st Floor

Yuval Weber

Global Fellow

Kennan Institute, Wilson Center

Yuval Weber is an Assistant Professor at the National Research University - Higher School of Economics in the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs. He joined the Faculty from the University of Texas, where he defended his dissertation “Petropolitics and Foreign Policy: Fiscal and Institutional Origins of Soviet and Russian Foreign Policy, 1964-2012” in August 2014. Dr. Weber has served as a researcher at the Carnegie Moscow Center and New Economic School, and previously earned a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of Chicago. Dr. Weber has forthcoming publications in Survival, Cold War Studies, and Orbis, and is working on a project on the sources of liberal and anti-liberal dissatisfaction for powers in the international system and the strategies they employ to stake their claims for revising the international order.

@yuvalweber

14 October

Decoding Russia’s Geopolitical Ambitions

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau VIII, 2nd Floor

Christopher Wilson

Deputy Director, Mexico Institute

Wilson Center

Christopher Wilson is Deputy Director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he leads the Institute’s research and programming on regional economic integration and U.S.-Mexico border affairs. He is the author and editor of numerous reports, including Growing Together: Economic Ties between the United States and Mexico (Wilson Center, 2017) and the State of the Border Report. Chris has testified before the United States Congress and is regularly consulted by national and international media outlets regarding U.S.-Mexico relations. He has written opinion columns for the Wall Street Journal, Politico, CNN, and Reuters, among others. Chris previously worked as a contractor doing Mexico analysis for the U.S. military and as a researcher at American University’s Center for North American Studies. In Mexico, he worked at an international trade consultancy and with American students studying regional political and social issues. He is a member of the Transportation Research Board Committee on International Trade and Transportation, one of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine technical committees designed to provide independent, objective analysis to inform public policy decisions. Chris completed his M.A. in International Affairs at American University, focusing on U.S. foreign policy and hemispheric relations.

@Chris_E_Wilson

14 October

Forecasting Mexico’s 2018 Presidential Election: A Coming Upset for the Ruling Party?

10:45 AM 12:00 PM Chateau IX, 2nd Floor

Ehsan Zaffar

Senior Advisor

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Ehsan Zaffar serves as Senior Advisor on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington D.C. where he advises the Secretary of Homeland Security and DHS components on the civil rights and civil liberties implications of existing and proposed national security policies, programs, and procedures. Mr. Zaffar leads the Department’s efforts to implement UNHRC Resolution 16/18 to combat intolerance and violence against persons on the basis of religion or belief. He represents the Department on issues related to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and issues concerning the LGBTQ community. In addition to his policy work, Mr. Zaffar works to build resilience and diminish retaliation against diverse communities in the wake of domestic national security and natural disaster incidents. He has worked with victims on the ground after the tragic events at the 2013 Boston Marathon, the PULSE Nightclub in Florida and at the AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Mr. Zaffar is a member of the faculties of the Washington College of Law at American University, Georgetown University, George Mason University, and George Washington University. He teaches courses on homeland security policy and civil rights, as well as privacy and surveillance law. He has been invited to testify on these issues at the United States Congress and around the world, most recently in Spain, Indonesia, Italy and Macedonia.

Prior to government service, Mr. Zaffar worked in private practice and co-founded the Los Angeles Mobile Legal Aid Clinic (LAMLAC) which helped to pioneer the delivery of mobile legal care to vulnerable populations in California and abroad.

Most recently Mr. Zaffar joined the Advisory Board for Team Rubicon, an organization that helps returning veterans apply their skills to assist diverse communities facing natural disasters. He is also a board member at Developments in Literacy (DIL), a non-profit organization that develops teacher training tools for schools and houses of worship in South Asia as well as the Amani Institute, a social entrepreneurship curriculum training institute in Kenya. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Chatham House (the British Royal Institute of International Affairs), the Pacific Council on International Policy and has previously served as a liaison to the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Standing Committee on National Security Law.

Mr. Zaffar earned his JD in 2008 from Pepperdine University School of Law where he also completed his Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute. He is licensed to practice law in California and the District of Columbia and is a panel mediator on national security and civil rights matters with the Agency for Dispute Resolution.

Mr. Zaffar is a columnist at U.S. News & World Report and his writing has appeared on CNN.com, Slate, and The Huffington Post. His books Understanding Homeland Security: Foundations of Security Policy and Legal, Ethical & Moral Dilemmas in First Amendment Jurisprudence will be published in fall 2017 by Routledge Press.

@Ezaffar

14 October

The Resurgence of Nationalist Populism

02:15 PM 03:30 PM Chateau VIII, 2nd Floor

Members Weekend 2017

Speakers

Supporters

Sessions

Newsroom

Schedule

Optional: Local Field Foray to LAX (advance registration required)

Welcome Reception

Dinner and Keynote Interview: Challenges & Opportunities for the United States in the Middle East with Ambassador David M. Satterfield

Campfire Session: Dr. Parveen Parmer on Burmese Refugees (advance registration required)

Campfire Session: John Emerson on U.S.-European Relations (advance registration required)

Campfire Session: Gilbert Sanborn on the Civilian-Military Divide (advance registration required)

Campfire Session: Rachel Cardone on Global Water Scarcity (advance registration required)

Nightcap Reception

Breakfast

Breakfast Keynote: A Conversation with General Robert B. Brown on U.S.-North Korea Relations

Decoding Russia’s Geopolitical Ambitions

Cybersecurity Today: Understanding U.S. Adversaries and What Can Be Done

A State Department Benched?

A New Kind of Refugee: Climate Change and Global Population Movements

Forecasting Mexico’s 2018 Presidential Election: A Coming Upset for the Ruling Party?

President's Welcome & Lunch Keynote: A Conversation with Representative Karen Bass on U.S.-Africa Policy

Unease in China? Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Religious Unrest

The Energy Sector Post-Paris

The Resurgence of Nationalist Populism

Under Threat? U.S.-Iranian Relations & the Future of the Iran Deal

The Future of Automation: The Next Industrial Revolution

Coffee Break/Reception

Debate & Closing Dinner: Was Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy a Success?

David R. Ayón

14 October

Forecasting Mexico’s 2018 Presidential Election: A Coming Upset for the Ruling Party?

Karen Bass

14 October

President's Welcome & Lunch Keynote: A Conversation with Representative Karen Bass on U.S.-Africa Policy

Colleen Bell

14 October

The Resurgence of Nationalist Populism

Andrea Belz

14 October

The Future of Automation: The Next Industrial Revolution

Mabel Berezin

14 October

The Resurgence of Nationalist Populism

Art Bilger

14 October

The Future of Automation: The Next Industrial Revolution

Robert B. Brown

14 October

Breakfast Keynote: A Conversation with General Robert B. Brown on U.S.-North Korea Relations

Michael C. Camuñez

14 October

Forecasting Mexico’s 2018 Presidential Election: A Coming Upset for the Ruling Party?

Rachel Cardone

13 October

Campfire Session: Rachel Cardone on Global Water Scarcity (advance registration required)

Samuel Chu

14 October

Unease in China? Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Religious Unrest

Sharyl Cross

14 October

Decoding Russia’s Geopolitical Ambitions

John B. Emerson

13 October

Campfire Session: John Emerson on U.S.-European Relations (advance registration required)

14 October

Debate & Closing Dinner: Was Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy a Success?

Shihoko Goto

14 October

Unease in China? Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Religious Unrest

Jerrold D. Green

14 October

President's Welcome & Lunch Keynote: A Conversation with Representative Karen Bass on U.S.-Africa Policy

14 October

Under Threat? U.S.-Iranian Relations & the Future of the Iran Deal

Nina Hachigian

14 October

Breakfast Keynote: A Conversation with General Robert B. Brown on U.S.-North Korea Relations

Grant Harris

14 October