HOW WE ARE GOVERNED

Kristina Arriaga is a seasoned advocate with a career spanning over three decades that has been dedicated to championing the principles of free speech and freedom of religion or belief. Her service includes key roles within the United States delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and an appointment by the Speaker of the House to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, where she was elected Vice Chairman for the duration of her term. Furthermore, she has served as the Executive Director of a public interest law firm in Washington, D.C. Arriaga has authored numerous editorials, op-eds and book chapters, covering a diverse spectrum of subjects related to expressive rights. She is a recipient of the Newseum Free Expression Award. She is also a sought-after speaker on the intricate interplay between freedom of speech and various other liberties. She’s appeared on the BBC, MSNBC, C-Span, CNN and NPR, among others. In addition to her advocacy and academic pursuits, she serves as the CEO of Intrinsic, a consultancy.

Cherine Chalaby has extensive board experience, having served on nine different boards, including four as Chairman. His international career encompasses leadership roles in consulting, venture capital, banking, internet governance and social-media platforms. Between 2010 and 2019, he held key management positions at ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers), including Chairman of the Board, Chairman of the Executive, Finance and Compensation committees, served on the committee that oversaw the expansion of new domain names, and the Governance committee. As Chairman, he led the development of the corporation’s five-year strategic plan (2021 – 2025). Between 2005 and 2011, he was Rasmala Bank’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Chairman of the Main Board and Chairman of its subsidiary in Egypt. During his tenure as Chairman, Rasmala expanded from its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates and became a regional bank for the Middle East, operating in asset management, corporate finance and institutional brokerage. Before that, he was with Accenture for 28 years, where he held key management positions, including Managing Partner of Accenture’s capital markets industry sector and Managing Partner of Accenture’s venture capital business in the EMEA, India and Latin America regions. As a senior partner, he was also a member of Accenture’s global executive committee.

Stephen C. Neal is Chairman Emeritus and Senior Counsel at the law firm Cooley. His practice includes a variety of litigation, negotiation and counseling services. He has tried dozens of civil and criminal cases, jury and non-jury, in federal, state and administrative courts throughout the United States. He has represented numerous corporations and individuals in a wide range of civil and criminal investigations, and he has represented and advised audit committees and special committees of boards in numerous internal investigations. In addition to his extensive experience as a trial lawyer on a broad range of corporate issues, Steve has represented and advised numerous boards of directors, special committees of boards and individual directors on corporate governance and other legal matters. He currently serves on the boards of Nvidia and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In addition, he previously served as Chairman of Levi Strauss & Co and Chairman of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Kate O’Regan is the Director and Professor of Human Rights Law at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford. She is a former Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (1994 - 2009) and a former ad hoc judge of the Namibian Supreme Court (2010 - 2016). She has served as a member of a range of international tribunals, including the World Bank Sanctions Board and the IMF Administrative Tribunal. She is also a member of several international sporting disciplinary panels including the World Athletics Disciplinary and Appeals Tribunal and the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct Commission. Her board service includes current or former roles as a Trustee or Director of the Rhodes Trust, the Mandela Rhodes Trust, Corruption Watch (South Africa) and the Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII).

Robert Post is a professor of constitutional law and former Dean of Yale Law School. He is a leading scholar of the First Amendment and freedom of speech. Robert is a Fellow of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a co-Reporter for the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Defamation and Privacy. He has served on the boards of the American Constitution Society and of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. He has also served as a Trustee of the National Humanities Center, as a member of the Executive Council of the American Association of Law Schools and as General Counsel of the American Association of University Professors. His books include Citizens Divided: A Constitutional Theory of Campaign Finance Reform (2014), which was originally delivered as the Tanner Lectures at Harvard; Democracy, Expertise, Academic Freedom: A First Amendment Jurisprudence for the Modern State (2012), which was originally delivered as the Rosenthal Lectures at Northwestern University; For the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom (with Matthew M. Finkin, 2009), which has become the standard reference for the meaning of academic freedom in the United States; and Prejudicial Appearances: The Logic of American Antidiscrimination Law (2001), which was originally delivered as the Brennan Lectures at Berkeley.

Marie Wieck is a senior technology executive with a strong track record of capitalizing on emerging technologies to create new markets. She is passionate about the power of diversity to accelerate innovation, and is an advocate for women in technology. In more than 30 years with IBM, Marie led global teams of up to 10,000 across hardware, software, cloud and services businesses with up to $9 billion in revenue. In her most recent role, Marie led IBM’s entry into Blockchain. Marie holds an M.B.A. from New York University, an M.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University and a B.S. in Engineering from The Cooper Union. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Marie is on the boards of Daimler Truck, Intapp, Uptake Technologies, Lutron Technical Advisory Council, Charity Navigator and Columbia University Engineering Board of Visitors. Recognition of her impact includes being named to the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame, honored as a Women of Vision STEM Champion by NAFE, recipient of the SWE Work/Life Balance Award and The Cooper Union President’s Citation.