Experts in the News | Miller Center

A more sympathetic perspective on Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists

The schadenfreude can be quite delightful. Take Goldman Sachs, which essentially told partner Syaru Shirley Lin to get lost when she served up an investment in the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba on a silver platter. Senior people at Goldman insisted that she offload the $1.7 million stake she’d taken. Upon Alibaba’s IPO, that stake would have been worth an astounding $4.5 billion.

Syaru Shirley Lin

Venture capital’s new race for Europe

The case of Alibaba is instructive. Its first outside investors were two Taiwanese-born products of the Ivy League: Joe Tsai, a Wall Street lawyer turned investor, and Syaru Shirley Lin, a Goldman Sachs banker. Along with US capital, the two brought US lawyers, who created an ingenious corporate structure featuring a Cayman Islands parent company. This proved to be a game-changer, because it endowed Alibaba with the power to issue employee stock options.

Syaru Shirley Lin

UVA Democracy Event Analyzes the Past, Present and Future of Conservatism

The second session, titled “The Right and the Politics of Democracy” and moderated by UVA adjunct politics professor Mary Kate Cary, ran the gamut on more current issues surrounding conservatism, as Cary had her panelists – New York Times columnist Ross Douthat and Emory University history professor Patrick N. Allitt – focused on changes in the 21st century. Douthat in 2008 published “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.” Allitt in 2009 published “The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History.”

Mary Kate Cary

Who is Winning the Money Game in the Race for RI Governor

“A clear indication of strength is a robust fundraising quarter. And here, it’s not the total cash-on-hand that matters most, but rather, the breadth of support,” said Jennifer Lawless at the University of Virginia. “Even if Foulkes can self-fund, voters want to see that they’re backing a winner. And lots of donations from a broad base of Rhode Islanders is one important cue. Being able to write yourself a large check? Not so much.”

Jennifer Lawless

Secret origin story

Eliot returns from travels to discuss the secret origin story of the Shield of the Republic podcast, a review of the Biden administration's national security policy in its first year, the difficulties that the President has faced in articulating a foreign policy, the deficiencies of his national security apparatus, the impact of the catastrophic departure from Afghanistan, the AUKUS decision, and the effort to deter Russian President Putin.

Eric Edelman

Russia-Ukraine Crisis: What’s Going On – and Why Americans Must Pay Attention

As more than 100,000 Russian troops line the Ukraine border, tensions in Eastern Europe are growing by the day. The building crisis, rooted in a fight for identity, could be nearing its tipping point. UVA Today turned to former U.S. diplomat Stephen Mull, University of Virginia’s vice provost for global affairs, for clarity on the situation, his thoughts on what could be coming next – and why Americans should pay attention. Mull, who has held a variety of national security positions, was the U.S. ambassador to Poland from 2012 to 2015 under President Barack Obama and the U.S. ambassador to Lithuania from 2003 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He’s currently a senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs.

Stephen D. Mull