Leadership
EIG’s leadership is drawn from a wide array of backgrounds: policy experts, start-up founders, investors, and academics. What they share is a commitment to creating a more dynamic and innovative economy across America.
Founders Circle
EIG’s Founders Circle is an honorary advisory board comprised of leading entrepreneurs and investors united by a deep commitment to building more broadly shared economic prosperity across American communities.
Sean Parker is a philanthropist and entrepreneur with a record of launching genre-defining companies. The co-founder of Napster at age 19 and Plaxo at 21, in 2004 he joined with Mark Zuckerberg to develop the online social network Facebook and served as Facebook’s founding president. In 2007, Mr. Parker co-founded Causes on Facebook, which registered 180 million people to donate money and take action via Facebook; and, in 2014 announced his backing of a new initiative called Brigade an online platform for civic engagement. Mr. Parker is also a board member at Spotify. Mr. Parker has been recognized for his leadership in funding and promoting research into the relationship between the immune system and cancer, and helping to establish the Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C) Immunotherapy Dream Team. In 2013, he was honored by the Cancer Research Institute with the Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research. Mr. Parker has continued to advance critical research in life sciences with a recent pledge of $24 million to the Stanford University School of Medicine to launch the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford University.
Ron Conway is a founder of SV Angel. Ron has been an active angel investor since the mid 90’s. He was the Founder and Managing Partner of the Angel Investors LP funds (1998-2005). He was included in 2010’s Vanity Fair 100 most influential people in the Information Age. He was awarded Best Angel at The 2009 TechCrunch Crunchies Awards. He was named #13 in Forbes Magazine Midas list of top “deal-makers” in 2011. Ron was with National Semiconductor Corporation in marketing positions (1973-1979), Altos Computer Systems as a co-founder, President and CEO (1979-1990) and took Altos public on Nasdaq in 1982 and served as CEO of Personal Training Systems (PTS) (1991-1995). PTS was acquired by SmartForce/SkillSoft (Nasdaq SKIL).
Philanthropically, Ron is a Board Member of the Salesforce.com Foundation, and a member of the UCSF Medical Center Chancellor’s Advisory Board in SF, and is active in fundraising for the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, College Track, Sandy Hook Promise-Newtown CT, Americans for Responsible Solutions-Gabby Giffords, and the THORN Foundation. Ron is an advocate for technology companies and civic engagement in San Francisco and founder of sf.citi (San Francisco’s tech-backed civic organization). Ron is also an advocate for immigration reform and a co-founder of FWD.US.
Dan Gilbert is Founder and Chairman of Quicken Loans Inc., the nation’s second largest mortgage lender. He is also Founder and Chairman of Rock Ventures LLC, the umbrella entity for his portfolio of business and real estate investments, and majority owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers. Rock Ventures and its more than 110 affiliated companies across the country employ more than 24,000 team members.
In 2013–2014, Detroit-based Quicken Loans closed $140 billion in home loan volume across all 50 states, and in 2014, for the fifth consecutive year, earned J.D. Power’s highest rating for customer satisfaction among all U.S. home loan lenders. Quicken Loans is No. 1 on Computerworld magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work in IT” and has been named one of FORTUNE Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for 12 consecutive years.
Dan is also a shareholder in several sports-related consumer and technology businesses, including a leading wall graphics company (Fathead), electronic ticketing company (Flash Seats) and innovative sports equipment helmet maker (Xenith). In 2008, Dan acquired One Reverse Mortgage. The company specializes in products that allow homeowners, 62 years and older, the opportunity to convert some of the equity in their homes into tax-free money. One Reverse Mortgage is now the largest retail reverse mortgage lender in the country.
Dan began moving his Family of Companies to Detroit’s central business district in 2010 in an effort to help lead the transformation of a great American city. In January 2010, Dan co-founded Bedrock Real Estate Services, a full-service real estate firm specializing in purchasing, leasing, financing, developing and managing commercial space based in downtown Detroit. Since then, he has invested more than $1.8 billion to purchase and renovate more than 80 commercial properties accounting for more than 13 million square feet in the city’s urban core. Thousands of jobs have been created, and today more than 13,000 Rock Ventures team members work in downtown Detroit.
Dan founded Rock Gaming, a developer and owner of unique urban casinos in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Baltimore. The company acquired Detroit’s Greektown Casino-Hotel in April 2013.
In March 2013, Rock Ventures, in collaboration with the Downtown Detroit Partnership and Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, unveiled and implemented a visionary placemaking and retail plan centered on creating activity and vibrant, distinct destinations to draw people to the region using a multifaceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces.
Dan is a Founder and Principal of Detroit Venture Partners (DVP), a venture capital firm that funds startup and early-stage technology companies in Detroit. He is also a Founding Partner of Detroit-based private equity group Rockbridge Growth Equity LLC, which invests in growing businesses in the financial services, Internet technology, consumer-direct marketing and the sports and entertainment industries across the United States.
In September 2013, Dan was named co-chair of the Blight Removal Task Force. The group, appointed by the Obama Administration, published a detailed plan in May 2014 to remove all blighted structures and lots in the city of Detroit. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the M-1 RAIL initiative, which began construction in July 2014. The 6.6-mile light rail system is designed to spur economic development and improve downtown and midtown Detroit’s transportation infrastructure. In 2007, Dan founded Bizdom, a nonprofit entrepreneurial accelerator that trains, mentors and finances business builders in their startup enterprises in Detroit and Cleveland.
Dan serves on the boards of the Cleveland Clinic, the Washington D.C.-based Children’s National Medical Center and the Children’s Tumor Foundation, which is focused on finding a cure for the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and his law degree from Wayne State University.
Ranked #23 out of 100 top tech investors on Forbes’s Midas List 2015, Rebecca Lynn is a co-founder and general partner at Canvas. She focuses on early-stage venture investments in financial services, digital health, SaaS, and mobile. Rebecca led Canvas’s investments in FutureAdvisor, CrowdFlower, HealthLoop, and Viewics, and currently sits on the boards of each.
In 2007, Rebecca joined Morgenthaler Ventures and continues to serve on the boards of that firm’s portfolio companies. She led an early-stage investment in Lending Club (NYSE: LC), which was the largest US technology IPO of 2014 and the fourth largest US Internet IPO since 2001 behind Facebook, Twitter, and Google. She also led investments in Check (acquired by Intuit), RelateIQ (acquired by Salesforce), Doximity, Practice Fusion, and Convo. Rebecca is a board member of Lending Club, Doximity, Convo, and a board observer of Adara Media and Socrata.
Rebecca is a native of the Midwest, born and raised in Missouri and worked in Ohio for her first job out of college. She began her career at Procter and Gamble’s corporate headquarters in Cincinnati where she launched new products internationally.
She then joined NextCard in the San Francisco Bay Area as employee number 30, and rose up the ranks to become VP of Marketing and head of customer acquisition. During her four years at NextCard, Rebecca led product development efforts and managed one of the top-five largest online marketing efforts of that time. NextCard was the first online credit card company, and it went public in 2000 with a $1.3B market cap. After NextCard, she ran her own consulting business focused on online marketing for financial services and affiliate marketing.
Rebecca is a member of the California Bar Association and a member of the US Patent Bar, with a focus on intellectual property litigation and corporate law. She was published in the Berkeley Law and Technology Journal. Rebecca is also an inventor on several issued patents. She has a chemical engineering degree from the University of Missouri and a JD/MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.
Dana Settle is a Founding Partner with Greycroft, and she heads the firm’s west coast office out of Los Angeles.
Prior to Greycroft, Dana spent several years as a venture capitalist and advisor to startup companies in the Bay Area, including six years at Mayfield, where she focused on early stage companies in the mobile communications and consumer Internet markets.
Dana currently serves or observes on the boards of Greycroft’s investments in AppAnnie, FanTV, GameSalad, Joyent, SaatchiArt, Steelhouse, TrunkClub, TheRealReal, TheRealRealJapan, uSamp, WhoWhatWear, and WideOrbit. She also managed the firm’s investments in Maker Studios (sold to Disney), Viddy (sold to FullScreen), AwesomenessTV (sold to Dreamworks), Digisynd (sold to Disney), ContentNext (sold to Guardian Media), MoVoxx (sold to Motricity), Pulse (sold to LinkedIn), Sometrics (sold to American Express), and Sportgenic (sold to Glam).
Dana’s additional experience includes business development at Truveo (AOL), investment banking at Lehman Brothers and international business development at McCaw Cellular Communications (AT&T).
Dana holds a BA in Finance and International Studies from the University of Washington and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Ted Ullyot was General Counsel of Facebook from 2008 until 2013. At earlier points in his career, Ted served as General Counsel of ESL Investments, Inc.; General Counsel of AOL Time Warner Europe; and a litigation partner in the Washington, DC office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Ted also worked in the administration of President George W. Bush, first at the White House and later at the Justice Department as Chief of Staff to Attorney General Gonzales. He was a law clerk for Justice Scalia and for Judge Luttig on the Fourth Circuit.
Ted received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and his undergraduate degree from Harvard.
Economic Advisory Board
EIG’s Economic Advisory Board is comprised of internationally recognized experts from an array of prominent think tanks, academic institutions, and private sector organizations. They have advised top policymakers, presidential candidates, advocacy groups, labor unions, and business associations. In their role with EIG, these experts contribute ideas, author research, and provide research-driven advice to inform the organization’s research agenda. Their affiliation should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any specific idea, and they may, of course, individually dissent on any issue.
Steven J. Davis is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and William H. Abbott Distinguished Service Professor of International Business and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, economic adviser to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, elected fellow of the Society of Labor Economists, senior adviser to the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and senior academic fellow of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER). He also serves on the ABFER executive committee.
Davis is co-founder of the Economic Policy Uncertainty project, the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, the Survey of Business Uncertainty, and the Stock Market Jumps project. He co-organizes the Asian Monetary Policy Forum, held annually in Singapore.
John C. Haltiwanger is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland. He is also the first recipient of the Dudley and Louisa Dillard Professorship in 2013. He received his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1981. After serving on the faculty of UCLA and Johns Hopkins, he joined the faculty at Maryland in 1987. In the late 1990s, he served as Chief Economist of the U.S. Census Bureau. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau, and a Fellow of the Society of Labor Economics and the Econometric Society. He has played a major role in developing and studying U.S. longitudinal firm-level data. Using these data, he has developed new statistical measures and analyzed the determinants of firm-level job creation, job destruction and economic performance. He has explored the implications of these firm dynamics for aggregate U.S. productivity growth and for the U.S. labor market.
Professor Hubbard is a specialist in public economics, managerial information and incentive problems in corporate finance, and financial markets and institutions. He has written more than 100 articles and books on corporate finance, investment decisions, banking, energy economics and public policy, including two textbooks, and has authored The Wall and the Bridge and coauthored Balance, The Aid Trap, and Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. Hubbard has applied his research interests in business (as a corporate director consultant on taxation and corporate finance), in government (as a former Chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers and the OECD Economic Policy Committee, as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department and as a consultant to the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and many government agencies) and in academia (in faculty collaboration or visiting appointments at Columbia, University of Chicago and Harvard). He is co-chair the Committee on Capital Markets and Regulation and past chair of the Economic Club of New York and the Study Group on Corporate Boards.
William Kerr is the D’Arbeloff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Bill is the Unit Head of Entrepreneurial Management, co-director of Harvard’s Managing the Future of Work initiative, and the faculty chair of the Launching New Ventures program. Bill is a recipient of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship and Harvard’s Distinction in Teaching award. Bill’s recent book is The Gift of Global Talent: How Migration Shapes Business, Economy & Society.
As an economist and attorney, Litan has had nearly four decades of experience in the worlds of the law, economic research and policy, and as an executive in both the private, public and government sectors. Through his extensive publications and many speeches and testimony, he has become a widely recognized national expert in regulation, telecommunications and financial policy, antitrust, entrepreneurship, innovation, and international trade, among other policy subjects. Litan currently is a Shareholder with Berger Montague, based in Philadelphia and several other locations throughout the U.S., where he specializes in large case antitrust litigation. Litan has directed economic research at three leading national organizations: the Brookings Institution, the Kauffman Foundation and Bloomberg Government. He has also been a member of the international advisory board of the Principal Financial Group. Litan is a well-known speaker who has given hundreds of talks during his career before a wide range of audiences in the U.S. and around the world. His TedEx Kansas City talk, “An Economist Who Walks Into a Bar” has been viewed on Youtube over 460,000 times.
Litan has held several appointed positions in the U.S. federal government. In 1993, he was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, where he oversaw civil non-merger litigation, including the Department’s first antitrust case against Microsoft, and the Department’s positions on regulatory matters, primarily in telecommunications. He also was the Department’s representative to the Administration’s Telecommunications Policy Working Group chaired by Vice President Gore. In 1995, he was appointed Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget, where oversaw the budgets of five cabinet level agencies. He later was a consultant to the Department of Treasury on financial modernization and the effectiveness of the Community Reinvestment Act and co-authored several reports on these subjects. In the early 1990s he served as a Member of the Presidential-Congressional Commission on the Causes of the Savings and Loan Crisis. He has chaired two panels of studies for the National Academy of Sciences and has served on one other NAS Committee. He began his career as a Staff Economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
During his research career, Litan has authored or co-authored 30 books and edited another 14, and authored or co-authored more than 250 articles in professional and popular publications. His latest book is Resolved: Debate can Revolutionize Education and Help Save our Democracy (Brookings Press, 2020). His book Trillion Dollar Economists (Wiley, 2014), in part, was the basis of his TedEx talk later that year. And his book Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, co- authored with William Baumol and Carl Schramm (Yale University Press, 2007) has been widely used in university classes and has been translated into ten languages. He has written multiple research articles on entrepreneurship, solely and with various co-authors. Litan earned his B.S. in Economics (summa cum laude) at the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania; his J.D. at Yale Law School; and his M. Phil. And Ph.D. at Yale University.
Kenneth Rogoff is Thomas D. Cabot Professor at Harvard University and former Chief Economist at the IMF. His 2009 book with Carmen Reinhart, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly documents the remarkable quantitative similarities across time and countries in the run-up and the aftermath of severe financial crises. Rogoff is also known for his seminal work on exchange rates and on central bank independence. His treatise Foundations of International Macroeconomics (joint with Maurice Obstfeld) is the standard graduate text in the field worldwide. His 2016 book The Curse of Cash explores the past, present, and future of currency, including the regulation of private digital currencies and the possibility of state-sponsored digital currencies. His monthly syndicated column on global economic issues is published in over 50 countries.
Rogoff is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Group of Thirty. He is also an international grandmaster of chess.
Matthew J. Slaughter is the Paul Danos Dean of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where in addition he is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the academic advisory board of the International Tax Policy Forum, and an academic advisor to the McKinsey Global Institute.
Marianne Wanamaker is a professor of economics at the University of Tennessee and the executive director of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. She serves as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and as a research fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) in Bonn, Germany and at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. She is the former chief domestic economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Dr. Wanamaker’s expertise is in labor economics, education, and workforce development. She holds an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and her masters degree and PhD from Northwestern University.
Abigail Wozniak is vice president and director of the Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute. Her research has examined migration between states and cities as well as employer compensation and screening policies. Dr. Wozniak is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) and an affiliate of the Upjohn Institute. She serves as associate editor of the journal Economic Inquiry and on the board of EconJobMarket.org.
Dr. Wozniak was a Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research until 2020 (resigned due to Federal Reserve employment). From 2014-2015, she served as Senior Economist to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, working on labor economics issues. She was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in 2008-09. Prior to coming to Minneapolis, she was Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. She is a graduate of Harvard University (PhD) and the University of Chicago (AB). She is a former Associate Economist at the Chicago Federal Reserve. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets.
Policy Council
EIG’s Policy Council is comprised of leading experts and practitioners dedicated to advancing bipartisan solutions on behalf of American workers, entrepreneurs, and communities. They are passionate believers in the need forge a more dynamic economy—one that provides broader access to opportunity and prosperity, regardless of one’s ZIP code. Members of the Policy Council help inform the organization’s policy agenda and are public ambassadors for EIG’s mission and its range of programs and activities.
Nan Whaley is proud to choose Dayton as her home. Originally from Indiana, Nan attended the University of Dayton where she graduated in 1998 and soon settled in the Five Oaks neighborhood where she and her husband Sam reside today.
Nan is a national leader among her peers serving as Vice President for the US Conference of Mayors as well as the Chair of the International Committee for the conference. Nan is also a founding board member for the Ohio’s Mayor Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of Ohio’s 30 largest cities.
Since being elected mayor in a record turnout election in April 2010, Mayor Steve Benjamin has made it his mission to create in Columbia the most talented, educated and entrepreneurial city in America. In addition to serving as Mayor of Columbia, Mayor Benjamin also served as the 2018-2019 President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and as Chairman for Municipal Bonds for America, Member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, Member of the Accelerator for America Advisory Council and Co-Chair of the Mayors for 100% Clean Energy campaign. Mayor Benjamin is married to the Honorable DeAndrea Gist Benjamin, Chief Administrative Judge (General Sessions) for South Carolina’s Fifth Judicial Circuit. The two are the proud parents of daughters Bethany and Jordan Grace.
Mayor David Holt took office April 10, 2018, as Oklahoma City’s 36th Mayor. He was elected Feb. 13, 2018, with 78.5 percent of the vote. It was the largest vote percentage achieved by a non-incumbent candidate for Mayor since 1947, and it made Holt the youngest Mayor of Oklahoma City since 1923, the first Native American mayor of Oklahoma City, and at the time of his election, the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with more than 500,000 residents. Mayor Holt’s “One OKC” message reflects his belief that Oklahoma City can continue to thrive only if its people set aside the things that divide us and find common purpose. In his second year in office, Mayor Holt recorded his signature achievement, shepherding the development and successful passage of MAPS 4, an ambitious, nearly $1 billion package that will address 16 critical challenges and opportunities. Mayor Holt has quickly emerged as a national leader among mayors. In 2020, he was elected by his peers as a Trustee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the highest level of leadership in the organization. He also serves as Vice Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors International Affairs Committee. He is a member of the National League of Cities 2020 Presidential Election Task Force, an advisory council member for Accelerator for America, and a member of the 2019-2020 Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. Mayor Holt received his B.A. from George Washington University and his law degree from Oklahoma City University. Mayor Holt had already served a U.S. House Speaker, a U.S. President, a Lt. Governor and Members of the U.S. House and Senate when he became chief of staff to his predecessor, Mayor Mick Cornett, at age 26. He served five years in that position before being elected to the Oklahoma Senate, where he served almost eight years. Mayor Holt is a licensed attorney and works for a family-owned investment company in Oklahoma City. He and his wife Rachel, Interim Executive Director of the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, have two children, George and Margaret. The Holts are members of St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church. Mayor Holt is also a member of the Osage Nation.
A proven leader with over 10 years in executive management roles, Chris Camacho serves as the President & CEO at one of the longest standing public private partnerships for economic development across the country. He most recently served as the organization’s Executive Vice President. During his tenure, GPEC has led the attraction of more than 175 companies creating 26,688 jobs and $2.2 billion in capital investment. Some of the more notable projects include Apple, Silicon Valley Bank, Zenefits, GoDaddy, Yelp, Amazon, Garmin, General Motors and many others. He oversees the domestic and international business development and market strategies while serving as GPEC’s executive leader in community interactions. He has particular expertise in emerging technology, tax policy and international economic development. Since 2008, he has taken an active role in addressing the region’s competitiveness position on cost and taxation. In 2015, Chris was named to Consult Connect’s Top 50 U.S. Economic Developers. In 2013, he was named among an international group of “40 Under 40” by Development Counsellors International, a New York-based firm recognizing rising talent in economic development. And in 2012, he also received a “40 Under 40” award from the Phoenix Business Journal, which each year identifies talent throughout Arizona. Camacho is the past president of the Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED), the statewide association of economic development practitioners. In 2011, AAED named him Economic Developer of the Year. Prior to GPEC, Camacho served as President & CEO of the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation (GYEDC) from 2006-2008, after serving as the Business Development Manager for two years. During his tenure, GYEDC helped 35 companies and 3,500 jobs locate in Greater Yuma, resulting in more than $350M of capital investment in the region. Some of the larger manufacturing projects included Alside Window and Door, Northwestern Industries Inc., Johnson Controls, and Shaw Industries. Viewed as a dynamic community figure, Camacho was recognized as the Chamber of Commerce Leader of the Year in 2007. In 2006, he served on the Arizona Global Network Board, which was developed to create a foreign-direct investment platform for the State of Arizona. He also developed Yuma’s first Business Retention and Expansion Program to support the local manufacturing and food technology sector. Prior to moving to Arizona, Camacho worked as a research analyst at The Alliance, a regional economic development firm in Greater St. Louis. He is involved in community non-profits including Chicanos Por La Casa, and sits on the boards for the Arizona Business Education Coalition, the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Valley of the Sun United Way, the Metro Phoenix Export Alliance (MPEXA) and the International Economic Development Council. Camacho graduated from Southern Illinois University with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a graduate degree in Public Administration and Policy Analysis. He also attended the University of Oklahoma for the Economic Development Institute. He resides in Scottsdale with his wife and three children.
Activist, entrepreneur, public speaker, Washington D.C. powerbroker, and passionate advocate of women’s political engagement — Sarah Chamberlain plays many roles. As President of the Republican Main Street Partnership, Sarah runs an organization that supports the governing wing of the Republican Party in Congress. In the judgment of most political observers, she is the only woman in the country who currently leads a major Republican organization. And as the creator and facilitator of the Women2Women National Conversation Tour, Sarah has become one of the most important national voices calling for women to become involved in the political process.
Sarah’s career has been marked by both accomplishment and tragedy. Born in upstate New York, she first gained political experience as an assistant to Rep. Amory Houghton Jr., a former CEO of the Corning Glass Company and a six-term member of Congress. She became the first executive director of the John Quincy Adams Society and helped to establish the Republican Main Street Partnership. She has written for the Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, and other national publications. She has been featured on numerous media programs including “Morning Joe” and “Fox and Friends.” She recently undertook a course of study in the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
In 1999, Sarah married Michael Resnick, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation assigned to the National Security Council. In 2011, he died of pancreatic cancer at age fifty. The FBI’s Michael D. Resnick Terrorist Screening Center is named in his honor. Sarah and Michael had one child, a daughter, who’s now eleven years old.
Sarah built the Main Street Partnership from the fledgling organization founded in 1997 into a thriving network of over seventy members of Congress and leaders from business, education, and the professions. All of its members share Sarah’s commitment to conservative, pragmatic government as well as compassion in our communities and character in our national leaders. Main Street is dedicated to electing and defending legislators who will govern effectively in the Republican tradition. Main Street and its members are solutions-oriented fiscal realists, advancing positive policies that can command bipartisan support.
Sarah’s experiences — as a single mother, as a woman involved in politics, and as an ordinary citizen frustrated with Capitol Hill gridlock — led her to start the Women2Women National Conversation Tour in 2014. Her training at Harvard provided a further opportunity to refine her vision of what the tour should be. The tour brings Main Street’s Congresswomen together with bipartisan gatherings of women across the country. Its aim is to spark dialogue between legislators and everyday citizens about how women are personally affected by what happens in government, take those ideas back to Washington, and implement them as the Women2Women Policy Agenda. Sarah urges women to educate themselves about politics and get involved by voting, taking part in local and national campaigns, and even running for office themselves. She firmly believes that more women participating in politics at all levels will lead to better and less adversarial government.
Sarah Chamberlain is a unique and powerful woman’s voice in the American political debate. Follow her posts on Facebook, Twitter, and her Main Street Advocacy blog, or see her on the Women2Women Conversation Tour.
Debbie Cox Bultan has twenty-five years of experience in center-left politics, public policy and non-profit leadership. She currently serves as founding Executive Director of the NewDEAL (Developing Exceptional American Leaders), a national network of 140 pro-growth progressive elected leaders at the state and local levels who are championing ideas to grow the economy, expand opportunity and make government work better.
Ms. Bultan previously served as Executive Director for the Civic Leadership Foundation, a Chicago-based non-profit that prepares underserved youth for college, career and civic life. Prior to helping launch NewDEAL, Ms. Bultan spent fifteen years at the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) where she served in a number of capacities, including National Political Director and Chief of Staff. Among her accomplishments at the DLC was the development of a network of, and policy tools for, state and local elected officials across the country.
Ms. Bultan is also a veteran of numerous political campaigns in California. She currently resides in Santa Barbara, California with her husband and their two children.
John Dearie is the founder and President of the Center for American Entrepreneurship. He is the former Acting CEO of the Financial Services Forum, a financial and economic policy organization comprised of the chief executive officers of the largest financial institutions with operations in the United States. From 2001 to 2015, he was the Forum’s Executive Vice President for Policy, coordinating the group’s policy agenda, which included: financial supervision reform, the competitiveness of U.S. capital markets, free and fair trade, comprehensive tax reform, debt and deficit reduction, and accelerating economic growth and job creation. Prior to joining the Forum, John spent nine years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he held positions in the Banking Studies, Foreign Exchange, and Policy & Analysis areas. He was appointed an Officer of the Bank in 1996. In addition to his regular duties, he served as the principal speechwriter for New York Fed Presidents E. Gerald Corrigan and William J. McDonough. He is the co-author of Where the Jobs Are: Entrepreneurship and the Soul of the American Economy (Wiley, 2013), which was called “one of the great economics books of the past few years” by the American Enterprise Institute. His writing has also appeared in the The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Hill, Politico, American Banker, USA Today, and China’s Caijing Magazine.
A respected senior executive leader, John has extensive experience leading private and public organizations. As Dentons’ Global Chief Innovation Officer, John works closely with the Firm’s lawyers and professionals to identify and deploy client service solutions that fully capitalize on the Firm’s diverse legal expertise, industry thought leadership, global footprint and entrepreneurial spirit. John is also a Managing Director of Nextlaw Ventures, the industry’s first global legal tech venture launched by Dentons in 2015.
Prior to joining Dentons, John served as President Barack Obama’s Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. During his tenure, he launched groundbreaking federal initiatives to accelerate innovation-based growth strategies. John served as Bloomington, Indiana’s mayor from 1996 to 2003. With his leadership, Bloomington’s economy thrived despite facing significant changes arising from the global economy. He worked with business and Indiana University leaders to launch Bloomington’s Life Sciences Partnership, securing more than $243 million in private investments and creating more than 3,700 jobs.
Donna Harris is cofounder and CEO of 1776, a global incubator and seed fund. Under her leadership 1776 has grown from idea to a globally recognized brand at the center of worldwide startup activity. Launched only two years ago, 1776 now has campuses in Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and San Francisco, and operates a venture fund making investments worldwide. Through 1776, nearly 300 young companies have been founded and are growing and creating jobs in the Washington, DC region with thousands of others being supported by 1776 around the globe. With visitors ranging from President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron to CEO’s of America’s top technology companies, 1776 has become the singular go-to-stop in DC for political and corporate leaders as they seek to engage in the innovation economy. Prior to launching 1776, Donna served as the Managing Director at the Startup America Partnership where, working in partnership with the White House, the Kauffman Foundation and the Case Foundation, she led the formation of entrepreneurial communities across the United States and integrated them into a national startup ecosystem. Her work was the precursor to the Startup Nations initiative, enabling informal knowledge sharing among economies to help accelerate new and young firm formation in their countries in order to create jobs, build economies and expand human welfare. Donna remains on the board of directors of Global Entrepreneurship Network, which oversees the Startup Nations initiative. Prior to joining Startup America, Donna was Vice Chair of Interpoint Group, a government markets, government relations, and public affairs strategy and management firm, which generated nearly $8 billion in revenue while passing or defeating legislation, and executed public affairs campaigns for corporations, non-profits, foundations, and governments globally. Under her leadership, the company grew 10x and was acquired by Pegasus Capital Partners. She was also previously Founder and CEO of Kinderstreet, which sold software in the education, sports, and recreation markets. Donna grew the company from concept to a national leader with 900+ user schools in 41 states, and it was acquired by Arc Capital Development in 2005. She was also Vice President at Centromine, a provider of web-based clinical and fiscal systems in the Health and Human Services industry. There, she led all product and market strategy and assisted in raising $11M in venture capital financing. Centromine was acquired by the Echo Group in 2000. Donna serves as a Trustee of the Federal City Council, is on the Board of Directors of the Global Entrepreneurship Network and is also an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Georgetown University. She is also an active angel investor as a cofounder of K Street Capital. Donna is also a frequent speaker and contributor to publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Huffington Post. Recognized as one of Washington, DC’s Power 100 by Washington Business Journal and Washington Life, and as a Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine, Donna has become one of the most influential leaders in Washington’s new economy. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University and MBA with distinction from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
Ian Hathaway is an economist, quantitative analyst, and writer, with expertise in entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation, and at generating data-driven insights and communicating complex material to general audiences. He is also an experienced entrepreneur, having launched new ventures, helped young organizations get off the ground, and worked with established businesses to expand into new areas. Ian has recently worked with organizations in the Internet, software, medical technology, media, consulting, banking, venture capital, startup, non-profit, and education sectors, on a range of research, public policy, regulatory, and strategy issues. He has published for a number of research institutions, universities, non-profits, and businesses, and writes for noted periodicals, such as the Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal. He is regularly cited in leading press outlets for his views and research on entrepreneurship, including the New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, and countless others, and has been an invited speaker at the OECD, Kauffman Foundation, MIT, Urban Institute, National Association for Business Economics, and the United States Congress. Ian is a consultant at Frontier Economics, where he leads and develops work on technology, innovation, and public policy. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he researches the links between innovation, cities, and economic growth, and is an adjunct professor at New York University, where lectures on startups and urban economic development. Previously, Ian was an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank, World Trade Organization, and Bloomberg, and founded Ennsyte Economics, a consultancy. He has also been an advisor to Silicon Valley Bank, Engine Advocacy, and venture-backed technology startups. Ian is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where he studied economics and political economy.
Jimmy Kemp is President of the Jack Kemp Foundation. He created the Foundation and its programs which are based on the American Idea, which is that the condition of your birth doesn’t determine the outcome of your life.
Mr. Kemp also co-founded and is the Managing Partner of Kemp Partners, a strategic consulting firm based in Washington DC. Mr. Kemp has assisted Fortune 500 companies as well as burgeoning firms before Congress, the White House and several federal agencies. He has been representing clients providing government relations and corporate affairs services since 2002.
Mr. Kemp is also an Executive Vice President at Group 47, a digital data storage company which is bringing to market an archival, media called DOTS (Digital Optical Technology System).
Prior to Kemp Partners, Mr. Kemp spent eight seasons as a quarterback in the Canadian Football League, finishing his career in 2001 with the Toronto Argonauts.
Mr. Kemp also serves as Chairman of the Board for the Hope Community Charter School located in NE Washington DC. The school serves 735 pre-k through grade 8 students and has been operating since September 2005. Mr. Kemp is a graduate of Wake Forest University. He and his wife, Susan, have four boys and reside in NW Washington DC.
Michael Lythcott is Cofounder and Partner at Obsidian Investment Partners in New York City. Mr. Lythcott is widely renowned as a recognized innovator, investor, entrepreneur and leader in media, technology and real estate development industries. As a Founding Partner, Mr. Lythcott directs Obsidian Investment Partners’ investment strategy and key decisions. Following investment banking and asset management positions at both JP Morgan (JPM) and Bear Stearns (JPM), Mr. Lythcott founded the Private Equity firm Uplift Equity Partners, retiring in 2011. Mr. Lythcott’s business achievements and philanthropic works have been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times, GQ Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Chicago Sun Times. His philanthropy includes major gifts to enhance and diversify the permanent collections of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture. In addition, Mr. Lythcott continues to serve as the Chairman of the Board for the National Black Theatre and as Vice Chairman of East Harlem’s placemaking, advocacy and merchant association, Uptown Grand Central. Mr. Lythcott graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Business School with distinction in corporate finance. A lifelong learner, practitioner of personal development, transcendental meditation and traveler, Mr. Lythcott lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with his wife, Jennifer, son Xavier and goldendoodle Jax.