6TH ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN THINK TANK SUMMIT PARTICIPANT BIOS Dan AUM Director of Washington, D.C. Office The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) United States of America Mr. Aum leads NBR’s engagement with the U.S. Congress and the media. He works closely with NBR’s research group leaders and NBR’s executive team to develop and implement nonpartisan outreach strategies that integrate congressional needs and perspectives. Mr. Aum comes to NBR from Capitol Hill, where he managed a portfolio of thematic and regional issues related to foreign policy, international law, and human rights. He has previously worked on a strategic litigation team that brought cases before international and regional bodies, and led policy initiatives that involved regular engagement with government bodies and the media. He holds a JD from the George Washington University Law School and a BA in Philosophy from Baylor University. Joe BARNES Bonner Means Baker Fellow Baker Institute for Public Policy United States of America Joe Barnes is the Bonner Means Baker Fellow at the Baker Institute. Since coming to Rice University in 1995, he has written extensively on international economics, with a focus on the geopolitics of energy. In addition to numerous institute studies, Barnes’ work has also appeared in The New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, Survival, Oil and Gas Journal, Energy Markets, the Newsletter of the Royal United Services Institute, the SAIS Policy Forum Series and the National Interest. He is a contributor to three volumes: “Energy in the Caspian Region” (Palgrave Press), “United States Tax Reform in the 21st Century” (Cambridge University Press) and “Natural Gas and Geopolitics from 1970 to 2040” (Cambridge University Press). Barnes is also faculty advisor to the Baker Institute Student Forum. From 1979 to 1993, he was a career diplomat with the U.S. State Department, serving in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. His last assignment in the State Department was with the Policy Planning Staff. Barnes is a graduate of Princeton University. Agustín BARRIOS GÓMEZ ​ Co-founder COMEXI Mexico Agustín Barrios Gómez is an opinion leader, television personality, and businessman who is General Partner at International Capital Partners (ICP), an international investment firm, anchors ADN40 Television News (Saturdays), and is President of the Mexico Image Foundation (FIM). He was a federal Congressman during the LXII Legislature of the Mexican Congress (2012-2015). He grew up as the son of an Ambassador, raised in Canada, Switzerland, the US, as well as his native Mexico. Barrios Gómez is a frequent speaker on Mexico, lecturing at most of the key institutions that have to do with international affairs in Mexico, the US, and Canada, including the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Canada 2020, among many others. He is President of the Fundación Imagen de México (Mexico Image Foundation), dedicated to creating and promoting a narrative for Mexico and the US-Mexico relationship. Among other works, the Foundation created the most-shared video on the bilateral relationship as part of TheTruthAboutUs.org initiative. Jennifer BERLIN Vice President and Chief of Staff Brookings Institution United States of America Ms. Berlin previously served as associate director for Security and Strategy within the Brookings Foreign Policy Program. Prior to joining Brookings, she served the U.S. Government as a senior advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, acting director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Commerce, press secretary for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and deputy press secretary in the Office of U.S. Senator Jack Reed. Berlin also worked in the Public Sector Practice of McKinsey & Company, in the Meetings Program of the Council on Foreign Relations, and with Condé Nast Media Group. Originally from the DC Metro Area, she received her Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University and her Master of Arts in Strategic Studies from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. David BOAZ Executive Vice President Cato Institute United States of America David has played a key role in developing the Cato Institute and the libertarian movement. He is a leading authority on domestic issues such as education choice, drug legalization, the growth of government, and the rise of libertarianism. He is the author of The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for ​ Freedom and the editor of The Libertarian Reader. His articles ​ ​ ​ have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the New York ​ ​ ​ Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, National ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Review, and Slate, and he wrote the entry on libertarianism for ​ ​ ​ Encyclopedia Britannica. He is a frequent guest on national ​ television and radio shows, and has appeared on ABC’s Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, CNN’s Crossfire, NPR’s ​ ​ ​ Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered, The McLaughlin ​ ​ ​ ​ Group, Stossel, The Independents, Fox News Channel, BBC, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other media. Winfield BOERCKEL Vice President of External Affairs RAND Corporation United States of America Win Boerckel is vice president for external affairs at the RAND Corporation where he works to raise RAND's profile and extend RAND's public policy impact by overseeing and leveraging the talented teams in congressional relations, media relations, strategic communications, brand identity, digital and social media, video, publishing, and community relations. Boerckel, a winner of the President's Choice Award (RAND's highest honor) who previously served as RAND's director of congressional relations, came to RAND after nearly two decades of policy work on Capitol Hill as a staffer in both the House and the Senate, including Chief of Staff. In 2003, Boerckel was awarded a fellowship by the Stennis Center for Public Service for senior congressional staff members who have an interest in bipartisan and bicameral cooperation. He was named a Thomas B. Watson Fellow for research in South Africa in 1990-91. He is a graduate of Kenyon College, cum laude, with a B.A. in English. Khristine BROOKES Vice President, Communication Cato Institute United States of America Khristine Brookes is the Vice President for Communications at the Cato Institute. In that role, she oversees strategy development and operations in media relations, marketing, government relations, and outreach to other external audiences. Before joining Cato in 2008, she spent 10 years in the communications shop at the Heritage Foundation, focusing on promoting Heritage analysts to the broadcast media. From 1994 – 1999, Brookes served as a press secretary on Capitol Hill in several congressional offices. She worked for U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford from South Carolina during his final term before being elected Governor, and ran media relations for U.S. Rep. Helen th Chenoweth of Idaho during the historic 104 ​ Congress. ​ She also worked at the Legislative Studies Institute, a project started by U.S. Sen. Robert Kasten of Wisconsin to train incoming congressional staff. From 1991 to 1993, Brookes worked as a public affairs assistant at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under President George H.W. Bush. She moved to Washington in 1990 after earning a Bachelor of Science degree journalism from the University of Idaho, but still considers herself an Idahoan. Josh BUREK Direct of Global Communications Harvard Kennedy School United States of America Josh Burek is an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy and the Director of Global Communications and Strategy for Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the world’s No. 1-ranked university think tank. A member of the Center’s senior management team, Burek is responsible for setting and leading the Center’s publishing and editorial operations, digital platforms, multimedia, marketing, branding, and outreach to donors, government, and media. Before coming to the Belfer Center, Burek was the Executive Director for Marketing and Communications at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, where he engineered a major website merger and redesign, and a substantial increase in multimedia policy impact. Burek has a B.A. in political science and economics from Principia College and an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School. Celso CASTRO Dean Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) Brazil Celso Castro was born on 1/8/1963 in Rio de Janeiro. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Sciences from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1986), Master (1989) and Doctor (1995) in Social Anthropology from the National Museum / UFRJ. Since 1986, he has been a researcher at the Center for Research and Documentation of Contemporary History in Brazil (CPDOC), currently the School of Social Sciences of the Getulio Vargas Foundation. Since March 2005 he has been a full professor. He works in the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching at FGV and directs the collection New Library of Social Sciences of Zahar. Has experience in the areas of Anthropology and History of Brazil, working mainly in the study of the military in Brazil. Alejandro CHAFUEN Managing Director Acton Institute United States of America Alejandro A. Chafuen was president and CEO of Atlas Network from 1991-2018 and is president and founder of the Hispanic American Center of Economic Research. A graduate of Grove City College and the Argentine Catholic University, Buenos Aires, he also holds a Ph.D. in economics from International College, California. He is a frequent commentator on economics, security, and strategic threats in Latin America, as well as on the relationship between economics and ethics. As well as publishing articles in newspapers ranging from the Wall St Journal to La Nacion, he is also the author of Faith and Liberty, which has been published in several languages and in different editions in Spain, Poland and Italy. He is one of the world's leading commentators on the economic thought of Thomistic and Late-Scholastic thinkers.