Leadership and Staff
Melody Barnes
Executive Director, Karsh Institute of Democracy W.L. Lyons Brown Family Director for Policy and Public Engagement J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance, Miller Center
Stefanie Georgakis Abbott
Director of Programming
Roberto Armengol
Multimedia Producer
Mary Beth Aungier
Event Planner
Frances Capaccio
Executive Assistant
Laurent Dubois
John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor of the History & Principles of Democracy and Professor of History, University of Virginia Academic Director of the Karsh Institute of Democracy Director, John L. Nau III History & Principles of Democracy Lab
Vivian Feggans
Event Planner
Jessica Kimpell Johnson
Director of Research Manager, John L. Nau III History & Principles of Democracy Lab
Jane Kulow
Lab Coordinator
Samyuktha Mahadevan
Program Manager
Claire Payton
Manager, Memory Project
Randy Richards
Senior Finance Generalist
Natalie Ermann Russell
Associate Director of Content and Marketing
Danni Schreffler
Assistant Director of Finance & Operations
Will Thompson
Program Manager
Erin Tör
Director of Communications
Nicole Woods
Managing Director
Advisory Board
Christa D. Acampora
Dean, College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, UVA Buckner W. Clay Professor of Philosophy, UVA
Ben Allen
Executive Director, UVA’s Equity Center
Robert Allen
*Special Invitee Associate Vice President of Development, UVA
William J. Antholis
Director and CEO, UVA Miller Center (CLAS ‘86)
Deborah Archer
President, ACLU Professor of Clinical Law, NYU Law School Co-faculty director, Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law
Melody Barnes
Executive Director, Karsh Institute of Democracy W.L. Lyons Brown Family Director for Policy and Public Engagement J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance, Miller Center
Megan Barnett
Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives, UVA
Matthew Barzun
Former U.S. Ambassador to the UK and Sweden; Chair & Publisher, Tortoise Media
Ian Baucom
Executive Vice President and Provost, UVA
Megan Beyer
Director, Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State
John Bridgeland
Founder and CEO, More Perfect Executive Chairman, Office of American Possibilities (Law ‘87)
Mary Schmidt Campbell
President Emerita, Spelman College
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar
President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Jim Donovan
Vice Chairman, Global Client Coverage, Goldman Sachs Adjunct Professor, UVA School of Law
Laurent Dubois
John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor of the History & Principles of Democracy and Professor of History, University of Virginia Academic Director of the Karsh Institute of Democracy Director, John L. Nau III History & Principles of Democracy Lab
Heather K. Evans
John Morton Beaty Endowed Chair in Political Science, UVA College at Wise
Benjamin L. Ginsberg
Volker Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution Co-Chair, Pillars of the Community Co-Chair, Election Official Legal Defense Network
Risa Goluboff (Chair)
Dean, UVA School of Law Arnold H. Leon Professor of Law, UVA School of Law Professor of History, UVA
Judge Thomas B. Griffith (Retired)
Fellow, Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law and Stanford Law Special Counsel, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLC
Desiree Ho
Student Representative, UVA (Batten ’25)
Lawrence D. Howell
Global Chairman & Co-Founder, UCAP Group of Financial Services Companies and Banks (CLAS ’75, Law ’79)
John C. Jeffries, Jr.
David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law, UVA School of Law Counselor to President James Ryan, UVA (Law ’73)
Bruce A. Karsh
*Special Invitee Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Oaktree Capital Management (Law ‘80) Co-Founder, Karsh Family Foundation
Martha L. Karsh
Co-Founder, Karsh Family Foundation (CLAS ’78, Law ‘81)
The Honorable Anthony Kennedy
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court (retired)
Yuval Levin
Senior Fellow, Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy, American Enterprise Institute Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies, American Enterprise Institute Editor-in-Chief, National Affairs
Sandra Wicks Lewis
Former Relationship Manager, Professional and Executive Banking Division, Bank of America Co-Founder, Lewis Family Fund (CLAS ’72)
Mark M. Luellen
*Special Invitee Vice President for Advancement, UVA
Manu Meel
CEO, BridgeUSA
James B. Murray, Jr.
Managing General Partner, Court Square Ventures Founder, Presidential Precinct Member, UVA Board of Visitors (CLAS ‘68)
John L. Nau III
Chairman and CEO, Silver Eagle Beverages Founder and President, John L. Nau III Foundation (CLAS ’68)
Alondra Nelson
Harold F. Linder Professor of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study Distinguished Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Alexis K. Ohanian
Founder, Seven Seven Six Co-founder and Former Executive Chair, Reddit (Com ‘05)
John M. Owen IV (Vice Chair)
Ambassador Henry J. and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Professor of Politics, UVA Department of Politics Faculty Senior Fellow, UVA Miller Center Faculty Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, UVA
Pete N. Peterson
Dean, School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University
William L. Polk Jr.
Partner, Egis Capital Partners
Bertrall Ross
*Special Invitee Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law Director, Karsh Center for Law and Democracy
James E. Ryan
*Special Invitee President, UVA
Larry J. Sabato
Founder and Director, UVA Center for Politics University Professor of Politics, UVA (CLAS ’74)
Reverend Gabriel A. Salguero
Pastor, The Gathering Place President and Founder, National Latino Evangelical Coalition
Micah J. Schwartzman
*Special Invitee Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law and Roy L. and Rosamond Woodruff Morgan Professor of Law, UVA School of Law Director, Karsh Center for Law and Democracy
Eric Scorsone
Executive Director, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service
Evan Smith
Co-founder, The Texas Tribune Senior Advisor, Emerson Collective Professor of Practice, The LBJ School of Public Affairs
Ian H. Solomon
Dean, UVA Frank Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy
Suzanne Spaulding
Director, Defending Democratic Institutions Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CLAS ‘78, Law ‘81)
Margaret Spellings
President and CEO, Bipartisan Policy Center U.S. Secretary of Education, Bush Administration (2005-2009)
Jayme Swain
President and CEO, VPM and the Virginia Foundation for Public Media (CLAS ‘97)
Craig Volden
Professor of Public Policy and Politics, UVA Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy Co-director, UVA Center for Effective Lawmaking
Affiliated Faculty
Jacqueline Arthur-Montagne
John L. Nau III Assistant Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy, University of Virginia Assistant Professor of Classics
Emily Burrill
Associate Professor of History, University of Virginia
Christopher Carter
John L. Nau III Assistant Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy, University of Virginia Assistant Professor, Department of Politics
Indrani Chatterjee
John L. Nau III Distinguished Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy, University of Virginia Professor of History and Distinguished Chair on Democracy and the History of South Asia
Deborah Kang
John L. Nau III Associate Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy, University of Virginia Associate Professor of History
Alexander Motchoulski
John L. Nau III Assistant Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Virginia
Kristina Richardson
John L. Nau III Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy, University of Virginia Professor of History and Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures
Albert Rivero
John L. Nau III Assistant Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy, University of Virginia Assistant Professor of Politics, University of Virginia
Amir Syed
Assistant Professor of History, University of Virginia