PANELIST BIO’S

Judith Barnett Judith Barnett began The Barnett Group, L.L.C. in 2003 to provide international trade and government affairs consulting services for global companies and governments, specializing in the Middle East. Ms. Barnett provides strategic advice and implementation for companies interested in opening or expanding overseas markets. Before consulting, Ms. Barnett served as a senior trade official in the Clinton Administration, practiced as a corporate lawyer and litigator, an adjunct law professor for eight years at Georgetown Law Center, a public affairs specialist and speechwriter in the Carter Administration (U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission), and a writer. In addition to her consulting practice, Ms. Barnett has served on the State Department’s Advisory Committee for International Economic Policy; and the Boards of Amideast and JStreet. Ms. Barnett began her trade practice after serving in the Clinton Administration from October 1993 to December 1998. Her first position in the Administration was in the U.S. Department of Commerce as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade Development, International Trade Administration. In ITA/ TD, Ms. Barnett worked with the Assistant Secretary to manage an Office of 400 persons and a budget of $ 49 million. Ms. Barnett then served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for the Middle East and Africa, U.S. Department of Commerce. As the DAS, she was responsible for activities and programs in 68 countries, including bilateral and multilateral trade matters, creating and implementing regional projects and programs, and advocating for the selection of US companies. She was the senior Commerce official working with the State Department responsible for trade/ commercial activities associated with the Middle East Peace Process. Before re-entering government in the Clinton Administration (1986 to 1993), Ms. Barnett practiced in various aspects of corporate law and litigation. During that time, Ms. Barnett served for eight years as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Before entering the law profession, Ms. Barnett served in the Carter and Reagan Administrations in public affairs and speechwriting at the Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Education. She has written articles for Vogue magazine, , the Chicago ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Tribune, the Washington Times, has been a media commentator on CNN, BBC, and numerous ​ ​ ​ international television programs, and has had a blog on The Huffington Post. Ms. Barnett lives ​ ​ in Washington and has one daughter, an attorney formerly at the U.S. Department of Justice, and two adorable granddaughters.

Allan Lichtman Allan J. Lichtman is Distinguished Professor of History at in Washington, D.C. His has authored or co-authored eleven books, including most recently, (Harper Collins, 2017, revised 2018), The ​ ​ ​ Embattled Vote in America: From the Founding to the Present (Harvard, 2018), and ​ Repeal the Second Amendment: The Case for a Safer America (St. Martin’s, 2020). ​ His book FDR and the Jews (Harvard, 2013, with Richard Breitman), won the National ​ ​ Jewish Book Award in American Jewish History. It was a 2013 Times editor’s ​ ​ choice work, and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History. Other recent books include Predicting the Next President: The Keys to the White House, 2020 ​ ​ ​ Edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020) and White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the ​ ​ ​ ​ American Conservative Movement (Grove/Atlantic 2008), which was a finalist for the ​ National Book Critics Circle Award in general non-fiction. The Keys system predicted the outcome of every presidential election from 1984 to 2016 and has been discussed in hundreds of media stories worldwide Dr. Lichtman was American University Scholar/Teacher for 1992-3, the University’s highest academic honor. He is an elected member of PEN America and the recipient of the Marquis Who’s Who Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. Richtopia has ranked him as number 85 among the world’s 100 most influential geopolitical experts. Dr. Lichtman has lectured extensively in the U.S. and abroad. He has provided commentary thousands of times for NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, NPR, BBC, NHK, CTV, CBS, VOA, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Business Week, USA Today, Time, Newsweek, Le Monde, Die Welt, Yomiuri Shimbun, El Mundo, Globe & Mail, and many others. He has published more than 200 scholarly and popular articles and served as an expert witness in some 100 federal voting rights cases, including landmark cases on redistricting, voter ID, and at-large elections. His study for the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights discovered that the outcome of the 2000 presidential election turned on the vast disparity in rates at which officials rejected ballots cast by blacks and whites in .

Ambassador (Ret.) Gina Abercrombie Winstanley Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, a 30-year diplomat, was the longest-serving U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta. Through a series of senior positions that included advising the Commander of U.S. cyber forces on our foreign policy priorities, expanding our counterterrorism partners and programs as Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, and coordinating the the largest evacuation of American citizens from a war zone since WW ll, her professional life has played out almost daily in international media.

She began her formal work in teaching and leadership development as Chairwoman for Middle East Area Studies at the prestigious Foreign Service Institute where U.S. diplomats are trained. Earlier in her career, she served in Baghdad, Jakarta and Cairo before taking on the position of Special Assistant for the Middle East and Africa to the Secretary of State. Her Middle East assignments include election monitoring in the Gaza Strip and an extraordinary assignment where she actively supported gender equality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the first woman to lead a diplomatic mission there. In addition to the State Department, she has held senior positions at the Defense Department and at the National Security Council of the White House. Prior to that, she was a fellow on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the then Ranking Member, Senator Joseph Biden. Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley is the recipient of the Maltese Order of Merit, Department of State Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, including "For acts of courage during an attack on the U.S. Consulate General, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 6, 2004, by al-Qa'ida terrorists."

Over the years, Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley has been a keynote speaker for a variety of organizations including IESAbroad, The Cleveland City Club, TrueBlue Inclusion; , Georgetown University, George Washington University, The University of Denver, The University of Malta and Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center. She is an in-demand panelist and moderator at some of the most respected international think tanks including The German Marshall Fund, CSIS, The World Affairs Council and The Council on Foreign Relations on issues ranging from U.S. Middle East Policy, how diversity and inclusion improve U.S. foreign policymaking, cyber security challenges and counterterrorism. She is a strong proponent of excellence through diversity across organizations and strives to break down barriers to the full participation of women and minorities.

Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley, a Cleveland native, has degrees from The George Washington University and The Johns Hopkins University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has been an active Board member for several organizations committed to excellence in educating and leadership development including the Middle East Policy Council, The Forum on Education Abroad, College Now of Greater Cleveland, and the International Career Advancement Association. Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley sings with the Washington Performing Arts Society and has written for the Foreign Service Journal and The New York Times. She is also the co-author of two papers published in The New York Review of Science Fiction on "Diplomacy in Star Trek" and 'The Representation of Disability in Star Trek."

Mac Fadlallah Mac focuses his practice on the application of U.S. law to non-U.S. entities and operations, particularly with respect to global investigations and compliance with international sanctions, export controls and anticorruption laws. Among other areas, he counsels companies on the sanctions and export control considerations associated with business in Russia, Iran, and other sanctioned countries, secondary sanctions exposure, and associated risks such as disclosure obligations, contractual safeguards in financing and other agreements, and U.S. state divestment policies.

Josh Lederman Josh Lederman is a National Political Reporter for NBC News, on the politics and national security investigative teams. He appears regularly on MSNBC and other NBC platforms.

Previously, Lederman covered foreign affairs, national security and U.S. diplomacy for The Associated Press (AP), based in Washington. From 2013 to 2017, he was a White House reporter for AP and traveled with President Barack Obama and Vice President to more than 20 countries.

A multimedia journalist from Tucson, Ariz., Lederman started his journalism career in the AP’s Jerusalem bureau, and later covered Gov. Chris Christie for the AP in New Jersey. In 2011-2012, Lederman covered presidential, House and Senate campaigns for newspaper in Washington.

Lederman has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from The George Washington University.