The Honorable Will Hurd, a San Antonio native with a computer science degree from Texas A&M, has been a CIA officer, cybersecurity executive, congressman, artificial intelligence policy pioneer, author, investment banker, and presidential candidate. In his 20s serving overseas with the CIA, he thwarted terror threats. In his 30s, he helped build FusionX to combat cyber adversaries, and in Congress, he addressed critical national issues from AI to the New Cold War with China. In his 40s, as a managing director at Allen & Company, a board member of OpenAI, and a trustee of the German Marshall Fund, he was at the center of technology, national security, and public policy. As a presidential candidate, he introduced innovative AI and border policies. A San Antonio native and Texas A&M University graduate, Hurd is known for his love of movies, Tex-Mex cuisine, national parks, the San Antonio Spurs, and, most important, his awesome wife, Lynlie. 

Jennifer L. Lawless is the Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and the Chair of the Politics Department. She also has affiliations with UVA’s Miller Center and the Batten School. Jen’s research focuses on political ambition, campaigns and elections, and media and politics. She is the author or co-author of eight books, including News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement (with Danny Hayes) and It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office (with Richard L. Fox). Her research, which has been supported by the National Science Foundation, has appeared in numerous academic journals, and is regularly cited in the popular press. She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Political Science and the recipient of the 2023 Shorenstein Center’s Goldsmith Book Prize (for the academic book that examines the intersection among media, politics, and public policy). Jen graduated from Union College with a B.A. in political science, and Stanford University with an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science. A long time ago (2006), she sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in Rhode Island’s second congressional district. Although she lost the race, she remains an obsessive political junkie.