JOHN FRAZER
(2014-02-20) John Frazer's law practice specializes in rights restoration and firearms law. Before opening his own office, he served for six years as Director of the Research and Information Division at the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action. He has extensive experience as a federal lobbyist and law information specialist. He holds a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, an M.A. in Government and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and an A.B. from Bowdoin College.
NICKYRA WASHINGTON
(2014-02-25) Nickyra Washington is a Senior Information Security Engineer/Scientist at the MITRE Corporation, and she oversees the MITRE InfoSec's Vendor Risk Assessment program. Nickyra has supported a number of internal research (through MITRE's Research and Development arm, MITRE Innovation Program) and sponsor projects, requiring subject matter expertise and interest in the privacy and security engineering disciplines. Her work encompasses concept and requirements development, policy and compliance, auditing, training development and delivery, program development, continuous monitoring, and risk management. Prior to joining the MITRE Corporation, Nickyra was employed with SRA International, Inc., in the Information Assurance Division, providing significant thought leadership on and contributions to the federal government in the areas of privacy and information security pertaining to airline security. She has her Certified Information Privacy Professional Government (CIPP/G) certification. She earned her BA in Criminology, Pre-law from University of Maryland, College Park and dual master's degrees in Business Administration and Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland, University College.
JULIE McEWEN
(2014-02-27) Julie S. McEwen, CISSP, PMP, CIPP/G/IT/US, CIPM, is a Principal Cybersecurity and Privacy Engineer and leads the privacy capability at the Cybersecurity Technical Center at the MITRE Corporation. MITRE is a not-for-profit company that operates multiple federally-funded research and development centers (FFRDCs). Prior to joining MITRE, Ms. McEwen managed cybersecurity and privacy programs and advised organizations in both the public and private sectors on cybersecurity and privacy strategy, policy, and technology issues while at the U.S. Department of Defense, Deloitte, IIT Research Institute, the Logistics Management Institute, and T. Rowe Price.
U.S. federal organizations that she has supported include the Departments of Defense, Justice, Treasury, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development as well as the Census Bureau, Federal Judiciary, and U.S. House of Representatives.
Ms. McEwen is a contributing author for two books: U.S. Government Privacy: Essential Policies and Practices for Privacy Professionals [International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), 2013], and Information Privacy in the Evolving Healthcare Environment [Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), 2013]. She has served as one of the lead faculty members for the IAPP's U.S. Government Privacy Training Program since 2005. She has a BA in psychology from Michigan State University and a master's degree in management from the University of Maryland.
PHIL BECNEL
(2014-03-06) Philip Becnel is the Managing Partner of Dinolt Becnel & Wells Investigative Group. He is the President of the Private Investigators Association of Virginia and the author of two influential investigative books: Principles of Investigative Documentation and Private Investigator Entry Level (02E). The latter is the only textbook for the entry-level course required for all private investigators in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Philip has also published in several investigative and legal journals, including The Legal Investigator, Law360, Westlaw Journal Employment and The Corporate Counselor. He has performed thousands of hours of interviews in civil, criminal and internal investigations since 1999 and has taught undergraduate courses in criminal procedure, white collar crime and criminal investigation. He has also lectured on a wide variety of investigative topics to the legal community and has been interviewed as an expert for several media stories on matters ranging from missing persons to bribery and fraud investigations. Philip earned a B.A. in Anthropology from George Mason University (which recently featured him in one of their publications) and a Master's in Criminal Justice from Boston University. He is a licensed private investigator in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Washington, DC.
JOSH KURTZ
(2014-03-11) Josh Kurtz is the editor of Environment & Energy Daily, a web publication covering Capitol Hill and national politics, focusing on the debate over energy and the environment. He also does editing for Greenwire, a sister publication, and writes a weekly column for the political website CenterMaryland.org.
Before arriving at E&E, Kurtz spent eight years as an editor at Roll Call, a daily publication covering Capitol Hill and politics. He spent seven years as a reporter, columnist and statehouse bureau chief at The Gazette newspapers, based in Montgomery County but covering Montgomery, Prince George's, Frederick, Southern Maryland and the rest of the state.
Kurtz has been a reporter for the Santa Fe Reporter, a newsweekly in New Mexico, where he wrote about federal, state and local politics and wrote investigative pieces on the oil and gas industry. He apprenticed at the New York Times and worked for papers in the suburbs of New York. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Newsweek and the Village Voice.
Kurtz grew up in New York City and attended public schools there. He has a BA in history from the University of Wisconsin and a Masters degree in journalism from Columbia University. He is married with two daughters and lives in Takoma Park, Md.
JIM HARPER
(2014-03-13) As taken from his bio at the Cato Institute: Cato senior fellow Jim Harper works to adapt law and policy to the unique problems of the information age, in areas such as privacy, telecommunications, intellectual property, transparency, and security. From 2004 to 2014, Harper was director of information policy studies at Cato. In 2014 he became a Cato senior fellow and global policy counsel at the Bitcoin Foundation. Harper was an original member of the Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee and he co-edited the book Terrorizing Ourselves: How U.S. Counterterrorism Policy Is Failing and How to Fix It. He has been cited and quoted by numerous print, Internet, and television media outlets, and his scholarly articles have appeared in the Cato Supreme Court Review, the American University Law Review, the Administrative Law Review, the Minnesota Law Review, and the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. Harper wrote the book Identity Crisis: How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood. Harper edited Privacilla.org, a Web-based think tank devoted exclusively to privacy, until 2006, and he currently maintains online federal spending resource WashingtonWatch.com. He holds a J.D. from UC Hastings College of Law.
DAVID ROCAH
(2014-04-17) David Rocah is a Staff Attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, where he has worked on significant cases involving free speech, police misconduct, lesbian and gay rights, privacy, reproductive freedom, and election law. In 2009 the Maryland Daily Record selected him as one of the ten most influential lawyers in the state. Prior to coming to work for the ACLU of Maryland, David was a Senior Trial Attorney in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at the United States Department of Justice. At the DOJ, David handled investigations of, and civil suits regarding, police misconduct and conditions in prisons, jails, and state facilities for persons with developmental disabilities. Prior to working for the Civil Rights Division, David worked for four years as a staff attorney with the ACLU in New Jersey, where he argued cases involving reproductive freedom, lesbian and gay rights, random drug testing, religious freedom, freedom of speech, ballot access, and juvenile curfews, among others. David is a 1994 honors graduate of New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar. After law school, David served as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge Barefoot Sanders in Dallas, Texas. He is a native of Chicago, IL, and has a B.A. with special honors in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He is a resident of Baltimore City.
LARRY SCHUETTE
(2014-04-22) Dr. Larry Schuette is Director of Research and Innovation at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, VA. As the senior civilian responsible for Research at ONR, he oversees the basic and applied research investments which increase fundamental knowledge, foster opportunities for breakthroughs and provide technology options for future naval capabilities and systems.
Dr. Schuette entered the Senior Executive Service in July 2007. He started his career as a research scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) working in the Acoustics, Information Technology and Tactical Electric Warfare Divisions. Prior to joining ONR, Dr. Schuette also served as head of the Innovative Systems Subgroup of the OSD Technical Joint Cross Service Group during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). He also served as Deputy Chief of the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) Laboratory Board and as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition.
Dr. Schuette received his Bachelor, Masters and Doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from The Catholic University of America. He is a 2008-2009 MIT Center for International Studies Seminar XXI Fellow and a Level III Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) S&T Manager. Dr. Schuette's awards include the Secretary of Defense's award for Exceptional Civilian Service, the Department of the Navy Superior Senior Service Award, the Department of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Naval Unit Commendation, the Naval Meritorious Unit Commendation and the American Red Cross Certificate of Extraordinary Personal Action.
DENNIS PITTA
(2014-04-29) Professor Dennis Pitta is a Professor of Marketing and holds the J. William Middendorf Chair in Business in the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Baltimore. He publishes in several peer reviewed journals including the Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Product and Brand Management, and Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness. He received is PhD in Marketing from the University of Maryland, an M.B.A and M.S. from Canisius College and his B.S. from Boston College.
ALEXIS BELL
(2014-05-01) Ms. Bell is the former Board President of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' Charlotte Area Chapter and has served on numerous nonprofit boards in an executive capacity. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Private Investigator licensed by the Private Protective Services Board of the State of North Carolina. She is also an active member of North Carolina InfraGard task force of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation which is tasked with protecting critical infrastructure and is a member of the Electronic Crimes Task Force of the U.S. Secret Service in Charlotte, NC. She most recently become an ASCENT Fellow of the Mastering Management Program with Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth. She has degrees from Cornell University (Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics and Management) and Southwestern Community College (two Associate of Applied Science degrees in Accounting and Business Administration). Ms. Bell has investigated a multitude of domestic and international fraud cases for a variety of organizations over the course of her career. She has been featured on Financial Executives International Television (FEI TV) and is frequently featured as a speaker at financial and forensic conferences and events. She is the author of two books on fraud; Data Analysis for Corporate Fraud Risk: Ratio Red Flags for Fraud, and Mortgage Fraud & the Illegal Property Flipping Scheme: A Case Study of United States v. Quintero-Lopez.
