Participants

The Miller Center's Conference on the American Presidency, October 19–20, 2023

Bill Antholis Headshot

William J. Antholis

Antholis is director and CEO of the Miller Center. He served as President Clinton’s director of international economic affairs on the staff of the National Security Council.

Don Baer headshot

Don Baer

Baer served as a senior advisor and White House Director of Strategic Planning and Communications under President Bill Clinton. He is currently a Senior Partner with Brunswick Group and founder and CEO of Palisades Strategic Advisors.

Peter Baker Headshot

Peter Baker

Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times and a regular panelist on Washington Week on PBS. He is the author of seven books, most recently The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021.

Laura Barrón-López headshot

Laura Barrón-López

Barrón-López is the White House correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, where she covers the Biden administration for the nightly news broadcast. She is also a CNN political analyst.

Bob Bauer Headshot

Bob Bauer

Bauer, a professor of practice and distinguished scholar in residence at the New York University School of Law, served as White House Counsel to President Obama and general counsel to Obama for America. 

Joshua Bolten Headshot

Joshua Bolten

Bolten is the CEO of Business Roundtable. His twenty years of government service include eight years in the White House under George W. Bush as chief of staff, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and deputy chief of staff for policy.

Meena Bose Headshot

Meena Bose 

Bose is Executive Dean for Public Policy and Public Service Programs at the Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy, and International Affairs and Director of the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University. 

Valerie Boyd Headshot

Valerie Boyd

Boyd, director of the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition, was previously Assistant Secretary for International Affairs for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She has also served as acting Deputy Chief of Staff for DHS. 

John Bridgeland Headshot

John Bridgeland

Bridgeland, a Miller Center practitioner senior fellow, is the CEO of Civic. Under President George W. Bush, he served as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, assistant to the president, and the first director of the post-9/11 Freedom Corps.

Robert Bruner headshot

Robert Bruner

Bruner is University Emeritus Professor, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, and Dean Emeritus of the Darden School of Business. 

Stephen Burns Headshot

Stephen M. Burns

Burns, chair of the Miller Center Governing Council, is a managing partner at Quad-C Management, a middle-market private equity firm headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Barbara Comstock Headshot

Barbara Comstock 

Comstock, a Miller Center Governing Council member, represented Virginia's 10th Congressional District for two terms—the first woman elected to that seat. Now a senior advisor with Baker Donelson, she was a leader on technology and cybersecurity issues.

Mary Vee Connell Headshot

Mary Vee Connell 

Connell, a Miller Center Governing Council member and chair of the Miller Center Foundation Board of Directors, comes from a distinguished career in the intelligence community, most of which was at the Central Intelligence Agency.

David Crowe headshot

David Crowe

Crowe, a Miller Center Governing Council member, served as associate international tax counsel at the U.S. Treasury Department and was a partner at Caplin and Drysdale. He previously worked in the investment banking industry.

John Dickerson Headshot

John Dickerson

Dickerson, anchor of CBS News Prime Time, is a CBS News chief political analyst, senior national correspondent, and CBS Sunday Morning contributor. He reports for all CBS News platforms and programs.

Tom Donilon Headshot

Thomas E. Donilon

Donilon, chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute, served as the national security advisor to President Barack Obama, chief of staff to Secretary of State Warren Christopher, and assistant secretary of state during the Clinton administration. 

Eric Edelman Headshot

Eric Edelman

Edelman, a Miller Center practitioner senior fellow, retired as a career minister from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2009, after having served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense and the White House. 

Mike Emanuel Headshot

Mike Emanuel 

Emanuel is chief Washington correspondent for FOX News Channel and co-anchor of FOX News Live. He has provided live coverage of numerous critical national and international events.

Joseph Erdman headshot

Joseph Erdman

Erdman, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is the owner and president of Albemarle Asset Management Ltd. He was previously the partner and chair of the Personal Planning Department for Proskauer Rose LLP.

Barbara Fried headshot

Barbara Fried

Fried, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is a director of the UVA Foundation, as well as chair emerita and former general counsel and executive vice president of Fried Companies Inc.

John Georges headshot

John Georges

Georges, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is CEO of Georges Enterprises. In 2013, he and his wife, Dathel, purchased “The Advocate,” which he grew into Louisiana’s largest daily newspaper.

Pete Geren Headshot

Pete Geren

Geren, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is president and CEO of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation and chair of the board of the Institute for Defense Analyses. He served four terms as a U.S. congressman for the 12th District of Texas.

Maya Ghaemmaghami headshot

Maya Ghaemmaghami

Ghaemmaghami, a Miller Center Governing Council member, served as a hematologist and oncologist for more than 20 years. She was an associate professor of medicine at the University of Virginia from 2011 to 2016.

Susan Glasser Headshot

Susan Glasser

Glasser is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she writes a weekly column on life in DC. She has served as the top editor of several Washington publications, including Politico, where she founded Politico Magazine.

John Harris headshot

John F. Harris

Harris, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is the co-founder and global editor in chief of POLITICO. He began his career at The Washington Post, covering politics on the local, state, and national levels.

Tricia A. Hoefling Headshot

Tricia A. Hoefling

Hoefling, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is a teaching professor on gender, law, and the Constitution at Georgetown University. She previously taught at Washington & Lee School of Law and practiced law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLC.

William Howell Headshot

William Howell 

Howell is the Sydney Stein Professor in American Politics at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and director of the Center for Effective Government. He has written extensively on separation-of-powers issues and U.S. political institutions.

John Jeffries Headshot

John C. Jeffries Jr.

Jeffries, a member of the Miller Center Governing Council and the Miller Center Foundation Board of Directors, is the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law and counselor to the UVA president.

Doug jones headshot

Doug Jones

Jones represented Alabama in the Senate from 2018-2021 and served as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 1997-2001. He is currently a distinguished senior fellow with American Progress and a counsel for ArentFox Schiff.

Elaine Karmack Headshot

Elaine Kamarck

Kamarck is the director of the Center for Effective Public Management, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a public policy lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School. She co-founded the New Democrat movement that helped elect President Bill Clinton.

Kyle Kondik Headshot

Kyle Kondik

Kondik is the communications director for the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He is also the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the Center’s authoritative, nonpartisan newsletter on American campaigns and elections.

Jennifer Lawless Headshot

Jennifer Lawless

Lawless is a Miller Center faculty senior fellow and the Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. She specializes in political ambition, campaigns and elections, and media and politics.

Frances Lee Headshot

Frances Lee

Lee is a professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. She is the editor of the Cambridge Elements Series in American Politics and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Chris Liddell Headshot

Chris Liddell

Liddell was assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for policy coordination during the Trump administration. Before that, he served as assistant to the president and director of strategic initiatives.

J. Michael Luttig Headshot

J. Michael Luttig

Luttig served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006. He is currently counselor and special advisor to the Coca-Cola Company and its board of directors.

George K. Martin headshot

George K. Martin

Martin, vice chair of the Miller Center Governing Council, is the former managing partner of the McGuire Woods’ Richmond office. He practices construction, real estate, and local government law. He was UVA's first African American rector.

Fred McClure Headshot

Fred McClure

McClure, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is associate vice president—leadership and engagement at Texas A&M University. He was previously executive director of Texas A&M’s Leadership Initiative and CEO of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

Guian McKee Headshot

Guian McKee

McKee is a professor in presidential studies at the Miller Center, where he co-directs the Health Care Policy Project and serves as co-chair of the Presidential Recordings Program. He has written extensively about urban policy and health care.

Dan Meyer headshot

Dan Meyer

Meyer was chief of staff to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former Speaker Newt Gingrich. He previously served as a legislative affairs assistant to President George W. Bush.

Sidney Milkis Headshot

Sidney Milkis

Milkis is the Miller Center’s White Burkett Miller Professor of Governance and Foreign Affairs, Cavaliers' Distinguished Teaching Professor, and a UVA professor of politics. His expertise includes the US presidency and social movements.

Terry Moe Headshot

Terry Moe

Moe is the William Bennett Munro Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has written extensively on the presidency, public bureaucracy, and the politics of American education.

Michael Nelson Headshot

Michael Nelson

Nelson is the Fulmer Professor of Political Science at Rhodes College and a nonresident senior fellow at the Miller Center. He has written numerous books, most recently, 43: Inside the George W. Bush Presidency.

LF Payne Headshot

L.F. Payne

Payne represented Virginia’s fifth district in the House of Representatives from 1988 to 1997. An Army veteran, Payne previously served as president and CEO of McGuireWoods Consulting.

Sarada Peri headshot

Sarada Peri

Peri is a writer and the founder of Peri Communications. She was special assistant to the president and senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama.

Barbara Perry Headshot

Barbara Perry

Perry is the Gerald L. Baliles Professor in Presidential Studies at the Miller Center, where she co-directs the Presidential Oral History Program. She has authored many books on presidents, First Ladies, the Kennedy family, and the Supreme Court.

Rachel Potter Headshot

Rachel Potter

Potter, a Miller Center faculty senior fellow, is an associate politics professor at the University of Virginia. She studies the hidden politics of procedure and process in American political institutions, with a focus on bureaucracy and regulation.

Saikrishna Prakash Headshot

Saikrishna Prakash

Prakash, a Miller Center faculty senior fellow, is the James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law and Paul G. Mahoney Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School. His scholarship focuses on separation of powers.

Leah Wright Rigueur Headshot

Leah Wright Rigueur

Wright Rigueur, the SNF Agora Institute Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University, is the author of The Loneliness of the Black Republican.

Russell Riley Headshot

Russell Riley

Riley, co-chair of the Miller Center’s Presidential Oral History Program, is the White Burkett Miller Center Professor of Ethics and Institutions. He is one of the foremost authorities on elite oral history interviewing and the modern presidency.

Andrew Rudalevige Headshot

Andrew Rudalevige

Rudalevige is the Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government at Bowdoin College. An author of several award-winning books, Rudalevige specializes in American political institutions.

Mara Rudman Headshot

Mara Rudman 

Rudman, senior advisor to the president at American Progress, served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations. She was most recently senior vice president for policy/projects at Business Executives for National Security and led Quorum Strategies.

Larry Sabato Headshot

Larry Sabato

A renowned political scientist, Sabato is the founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, where he is the editor-in-chief of Sabato’s Crystal Ball. He is also UVA’s Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics.

Kim Malone Scott headshot

Kim Malone Scott

Scott, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is the co-founder and CEO of Candor, Inc. She previously held leadership roles at Apple and Google and was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Twitter, and other tech companies.

Marc Selverstone

Marc Selverstone

Selverstone is the Miller Center's director of presidential studies, co-chair of the Center’s Presidential Recordings Program, and a professor of presidential studies. He is an expert on presidents and presidential decision-making, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s.

Kristen Silverberg Headshot

Kristen Silverberg

Silverberg is president and COO of Business Roundtable. She served in the George W. Bush Administration as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union and as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.

Allan Stam Headshot

Allan C. Stam

Stam is a Miller Center faculty senior fellow and University Professor of Public Policy and Politics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He was previously dean of the Batten School.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Headshot

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Tenpas, a Miller Center practitioner senior fellow, is a nonresident senior fellow with governance studies at the Brookings Institution and senior research director for the White House Transition Project.

Louisa Terrell Headshot

Louisa Terrell

Terrell previously served as President Biden’s director of legislative affairs. She has held numerous government and private sector positions, including serving as executive director of the Biden Foundation.

Frances Townsend Headshot

Frances Townsend

Townsend, senior counsel at Activision Blizzard, was President George W. Bush’s homeland security advisor from 2004 to 2008. She served as deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism from May 2003 to May 2004.

Hatsy Vallar headshot

Hatsy Vallar

Vallar, a Miller Center Governing Council member, has spent most of her career in banking and as a hospital executive. She currently serves as chair of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Board and sits on the Martha Jefferson Medical Affairs Board.

Walter F. Walker headshot

Walter F. Walker

Walker, a Miller Center Governing Council member, is the owner and CIO of Hana Road Capital. He was previously president and CEO of the Seattle Sonics and Seattle Storm basketball teams. He played in the NBA from 1976-1984.

Peter Wehner Headshot

Peter Wehner 

Wehner, a former senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, served in the Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations.

Sarah Wilson Headshot

Sarah Wilson

Wilson is a litigation and investigations partner who chairs the Product Safety Practice Group at Covington & Burling LLP. She previously served in several high-ranking federal government positions.

Judy Woodruff Headshot

Judy Woodruff

A renowned broadcast journalist, Woodruff is a senior correspondent and the former anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour. She covered politics and other news for more than four decades at NBC, CNN, and PBS.

Sally Yates Headshot

Sally Yates

Yates served as deputy attorney general under President Obama and acting attorney general under President Trump. She is currently a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations practice.

Philip Zelikow headshot

Philip Zelikow

Zelikow is the White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia, where he previously served as dean of the Graduate School and director of the Miller Center.