List of Past Invitation Programs

Jamie Metzl:
Dr. Jamie Metzl is a Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, novelist, blogger, syndicated columnist, media commentator, and expert in Asian affairs and biotechnology policy. He previously served as Executive Vice President of the Asia Society, Deputy Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senior Coordinator for International Public Information at the U.S. State Department, Director for Multilateral Affairs on the National Security Council, and as a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations in Cambodia. He has served as an election monitor in Afghanistan and the Philippines, advised the government of North Korea on the establishment of Special Economic Zones, and is the Honorary Ambassador to North America of the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy.

Janet Murguía:
Janet Murguía is President and CEO of UnidosUS, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. Since 2005, Murguía has sought to strengthen UnidosUS’s work and enhance its record of impact as a vital American institution. Murguía has also work to amplify the Latino voice on issues affecting the Hispanic community such as education, health care, immigration, civil rights, and the economy. Murguía has been recognized on numerous occasions for her work. She has been selected twice as one of Washingtonian magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women in Washington” and as one of the NonProfit Times’ “Power and Influence Top 50” leaders. Prior to UnidosUS, she worked at the White House, ultimately serving as deputy assistant to President Clinton, and as executive vice chancellor for university relations at the University of Kansas (KU). Janet Murguía grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. She received three degrees from KU: a B.S. degree in journalism, a B.A. degree in Spanish, and a J.D. degree from the School of Law. She also received an honorary degree—Doctor of Humane Letters—from California State University, Dominguez Hills and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Wake Forest University.

William Kristol:
Dr. William Kristol is founder and editor at large of The Weekly Standard, he appears frequently on all the leading political commentary shows. Before starting the Weekly Standard in 1995, Dr. Kristol led the Project for the Republican Future, where he helped shape the strategy that produced the 1994 Republican congressional victory. Before that, Dr. Kristol served in senior positions in the Reagan and Bush Administrations and taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.

Walter Russell Mead:
Walter Russell Mead is the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College and a Distinguished Fellow at Hudson Institute. He was previously the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. The author of God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World (2008), Professor Mead is a regular columnist at the Wall Street Journal and the United States book reviewer for Foreign Affairs. His next book, The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People will be published by Alfred A. Knopf later this year.

Julius Krein:
Julius Krein is the chief editor of American Affairs, a new quarterly journal of political thought and policy founded in response to the 2016 election campaign. Before founding American Affairs, he was an investment analyst at several leading institutional asset managers, with a focus on natural resources and frontier and emerging markets. He is a graduate of Harvard University

Juliet V. García:
Dr. Juliet V. García has devoted her life’s work to public education and has become a national thought leader in higher education innovation. Named the first female Mexican American president of a U.S. university in 1986 at Texas Southmost College, Dr. García then spearheaded the creation of the University of Texas at Brownsville in 1991 forming a unique partnership with the community college that consolidated the fiscal, physical, and human resources of both institutions, increased efficiency, and eliminated all transfer barriers for students in the South Texas border region. After serving as a university president for 28 years, she is now Senior Advisor to the Chancellor of the University of Texas System, where she leads the Office of Community, National, and Global Engagement.

Dr. García has served on the transition teams of two Presidential administrations, was a member of The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and chaired the Advisory Committee to Congress on Student Financial Assistance and the American Council on Education (ACE), the nation’s largest higher education association. Among the many honors she has received for her work is recognition by the 2014 edition of Fortune magazine as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders and the American Council on Education Lifetime Achievement Award.

Elliott Abrams:
Mr. Elliot Abrams served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor in the administration of President George W. Bush, where he supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East. After serving as staff for Senators Henry M. Jackson and Daniel P. Moynihan, he was Assistant Secretary of State in the Reagan Administration and received recognition from Secretary of State George P. Shultz for his outstanding work. In addition to currently teaching in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Mr. Abrams is Director of the National Endowment for Democracy. Mr. Abrams was educated at Harvard University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Harvard Law School and has published four books.

Beatriz Otero:
Ms. Otero served from 2011 to 2015 as Deputy Mayor of Washington, D.C. and led the administration’s budget priorities and strategy for health, human services, and housing support. In 1986, she established Centronia, an NPO that provides education and welfare services to children, youth, and families in the Washington, D.C. area. The organization runs a head start program that focuses on charter schools and children from low-income backgrounds and provides job training in association with local clinics and universities. Ms. Otero has grown the organization to a size of 250 staff with a budget of approximately 1.9 billion yen. She has worked as a leader of the Hispanic community and is the recipient of numerous awards for her leadership, advocacy, and public service. In 2000, she was named Washingtonian of the Year by the Washingtonian magazine.

Ms. Otero was born in Bolivia. She received a Bachelor of Education from the University of Maryland and a postgraduate degree from George Washington University.

David Harris
Since 1990, Mr. Harris has been the Chief Executive Officer of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which globally leads advocacy for the Jewish people. He has proactively given speeches in countries around the world, such as at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and the U.S. Congress. His international contribution to human rights and the Jewish people has been recognized by countries around the world and he has received awards a total of 14 times by 10 governments (Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Spain, and Ukraine). Mr. Harris has spoken on CBS News Radio and has many contributions in The Huffington Post and a variety of media outlets. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Senior Associate at St. Antony’s College of Oxford University. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Hebrew Union College. Mr. Harris’s published books include The Jewish World, Entering a New Culture.