Fridays with Frank

Peter Fenn is the founder of Fenn Communications Group. Previously he served as Chief of Staff for Senator Frank Church; Executive Director of Democrats for the 1980s; and co-founder and first Executive Director for the Center for Responsive Politics. He has been a surrogate spokesman for several Presidential campaigns including President Obama. He serves on the boards of both the Frank Church and the Robert Dole Institutes.

William B. “Bill” Lacy is the Director of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas where he has established a highly respected venue for bipartisan programming. Previously he served for twenty years as a political campaign strategist in Washington, D.C. including President Ronald Reagan’s political director and major roles with seven Republican Presidential campaigns.

Recommended Reading: How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.

Chuck Rosenberg, Former Chief of Staff to the Director of the FBI.
Chuck Rosenberg has held numerous senior positions in the U.S. Department of Justice including U.S. Attorney in Virginia and Texas; Senior Counselor for National Security and Chief of Staff to two FBI Directors; Counselor to the Attorney General of the U.S.; and as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration until 2017. Currently he serves as a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC; Senior Counsel to a Washington, D.C. law firm; and as Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He is also the host of a podcast The Oath.

Recommended Reading: In Deep: The FBI, The CIA, and the Truth about America’s Deep State by David Rohde.

Eric Barnhart retired as Special Agent in Charge of the Salt Lake City Field Office after a 22 year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He also served as Special Assistant to FBI Directors Robert S. Mueller III and James B. Comey. Prior to the FBI, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the Middle East and Somalia. He is a member of the Frank Church Institute board of directors.

Liz Schrayer is the President & CEO of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition of over 500 businesses and non-governmental organizations that advocates for strong U.S. global leadership through development and diplomacy. The USGLC, with advocates in all 50 States, has a bipartisan Advisory Council chaired by General Colin Powell that includes all living former Secretaries of State; and a National Security Advisory Council with some 200 retired generals and admirals. She serves on USAID’s Advisory Committee on Foreign Aid, and on the board of the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. Previously she served as the national Political Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and on Capitol Hill where she founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

Tom Dine served as President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague, Czech Republic, and Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Previously he was the Executive Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and a foreign policy assistant for Senator Frank Church, among many other positions on Capitol Hill. Currently, he is President of the American Friends of the Czech Republish and a member of the board of directors of the Frank Church Institute.

Recommended Reading: Isolationism: A History of America’s Efforts to Shield Itself from the World by Charles A. Kupchan

Sponsored by Hollis Brookover and Milt Gillespie

Former Democratic and Republican Representatives

Former Democratic Congresswoman Donna Edwards served five terms as Maryland’s first African American woman in Congress. She served on the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure; Standards and Official Conduct; and Science, Space and Technology. She also was a member of the Democratic leadership team as co-chair of the House Democrat’s Steering and Policy Committee; and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Previously, she served as the executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence and of the Center for a New Democracy. Currently she is a contributor to MSNBC.

Former Republican Congressman Dennis Ross served four terms from Florida’s 15th Congressional District following eight years in the Florida State House of Representatives. He served on the House Committee on Financial Services. After leaving Congress, he joined Southeastern University as a Distinguished Professor and the Director of the American Center for Political Leadership; and became of counsel to the Ross Law Firm. Currently he serves as a Board Member of the Association of Former Members of Congress.

Larry LaRocco served two terms as U.S. Representative from Idaho’s First District, where he was on the House Banking and the Interior Committees. Previously he was North Idaho Field Director for Senator Church. Subsequent to Congress, he was a managing director of the American Bankers Association and founder of LaRocco and Associates. He serves on the boards of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress where he was president; and the Frank Church Institute.

Recommended Reading: Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century.

Sponsored by: Walt and A.K. Minnick and LaRocco Associates, Inc.

Sylvain Leduc is Executive Vice President and Director of Economic Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Leduc also serves on the Bank’s Executive Committee in charge of strategic direction and policy for the 12th District. Previously he served as Vice President of Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Research; Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada; and as a senior economist in the Division of International Finance at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. His research focus includes monetary policy, business cycles, and international finance.

Arthur F. (Skip) Oppenheimer is Chairman and CEO of Oppenheimer Companies and President of Oppenheimer Development Corp. He also serves as Director of the Federal Reserve Bank San Francisco; member of the boards of the Boy Scouts of America and St. Luke’s Hospital System; former member of the board of the University of Washington School of Medicine; and founding chair of Idaho Business for Education. He is also President of the Frank Church Institute Board of Directors.

Recommended Reading: Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daren Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

Recommended Reading: The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets by Thomas Philippon

Sponsored by: A.J. and Susie Balukoff

Frank Church Conference: How Do Democracies Survive and Thrive in the 21st Century?

8:00 a.m. MT Panel One: “Hungary: A Case Study in Democracy”

Watch Hungary: A Case Study in Democracy on Boise State TV

The Hon. Andras Simonyi is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States and at the George Washington University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, where he works on energy, climate and democracy issues. Previously he served as Hungary’s first Ambassador to NATO and later as Ambassador to the United States. He was also the Managing Director of the School for Advanced International Studies Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University. His recent book is “Rocking Toward a Free World.”

Melissa Hooper is the Director of Human Rights and Civil Society program at Human Rights First, where she is also Director of Foreign Policy Advocacy. Her research focuses on Russia’s foreign policy strategies influencing and undermining democratic institutions, and the intersection of these strategies in Central Europe including Hungary. She is the author of numerous publications on Russia’s use of non-governmental organizations to spread anti-democratic ideas and disinformation in Europe and the United States.

Chase Johnson is a political consultant and former Research Associate at the Frank Church Institute. Previously he held internships with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia and with the NATO Policy office at the Pentagon. He is a member of the board of directors of the Frank Church Institute.

10:00 a.m. MT Keynote Speaker

Watch Larry Diamond’s keynote address on Boise State TV

Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Previously, he directed the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. He is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy and senior consultant at the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy. His most recent book is Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency. He writes a monthly column for “The American Interest” and consults on policies and programs to promote democracy around the world.

Christopher C. Burke is a shareholder in the Boise office of the regional law firm, Parsons, Behle and Latimer, where he focuses on complex civil litigation. He serves as Treasurer of the Frank Church Institute. He served on the boards for the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce and Ballet Idaho, and he was a staff member for Senator Church.

Recommended reading: Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacence by Larry Diamond.

Recommended reading: A New Administration Won’t Heal American Democracy, by Larry Diamond.

Recommended reading: Controlling the Pandemic of Global Authoritarianism, by Larry Diamond.

1:00 p.m. MT: Panel on Cyber Security and Democracy

Watch the “Panel on Cyber Security and Democracy” on Boise State TV

Zachary Tudor is the Associate Laboratory Director of Idaho National Laboratory’s National and Homeland Security directorate that is responsible for INL’s Nuclear Nonproliferation, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Defense Systems and Homeland Security missions. His office supports major programs for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security and the intelligence community. Previously he was a program director at SRI International where he managed cybersecurity programs. He is also a retired U.S. Navy Submarine electronics officer.

Dr. Sin Ming Loo is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boise State University with interests in sensor and cyber-physical systems security research and education. He directs the Hartman Systems Integration Laboratory and the Cyber Laboratory for Industrial Control Systems;. He also holds a joint appointment with the Idaho National Laboratory.

Steven Feldstein is a Senior Fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Previously he held the Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs at Boise State University; and he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the U.S. Department of State. He is a member of the board of directors of the Frank Church Institute.

Thomas Beckwith is an international corporate consultant who has held executive positions with several transformative technology companies. Previously he served as World Wide Vice President of Services Sales for Amazon.com; and with Exodus Communications, Netscape Communications, Silicon Graphics, Digital Equipment and AT&T Information Systems. He is a member of the board of directors of the Frank Church Institute.

Recommended reading: How to Tackle Europe’s Digital Democracy Challenges, by Steven Feldstein.

Sponsored by: Gregory Kaslo and Kay Hardy
Sponsored by: Parsons Behle & Latimer

J. Brian Atwood is a Visiting Fellow for International Studies and Public Affairs at Brown University andthe former Dean of the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Previously he served in numerous high ranking positions including  Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and Under Secretary of State for Management in the Clinton Administration; Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations in the Carter Administration; President of the National Democratic Institute; and on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Panel on Peace Operations. Currently he serves as Chair of the Development Assistance Committee in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Peter Fenn is the founder of Fenn Communications Group. Previously he served as Chief of Staff for Senator Frank Church; Executive Director of Democrats for the 1980s; and co-founder and first Executive Director for the Center for Responsive Politics. He has been a surrogate spokesman for several Presidential campaigns including President Obama. He serves on the boards of both the Frank Church and the Robert Dole Institutes.

Sponsored by: Peter and Alison Fenn