MEET OUR SPEAKERS

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Sam Brownback was sworn in as Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom on February 1, 2018. He served as Governor of Kansas from 2011 to 2018. Previously he served as a U.S. Senator (1996 to 2011) and a U.S. Representative in the House of Representatives (1995 to 1996) from Kansas. 

While a member of the Senate, he worked actively on the issue of religious freedom in multiple countries and was a key sponsor of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. He also served as Kansas Secretary of Agriculture (1986 to 1993) and was a White House Fellow in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (1990 to 1991). 

Prior to his public service, Ambassador Brownback was a private attorney in Kansas and taught agricultural law at Kansas State University, co-authoring two books on the subject. He earned a B.S. from Kansas State University and a J.D. from the University of Kansas.

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson is a best-selling author, clinical psychologist, prominent public intellectual and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. His podcast frequently tops the charts in Education. 

He has written three books, including Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules for Life and Beyond Order, which have collectively sold over 14 million copies. His fourth book, We Who Wrestle with God, was released last November.

Peterson has sold out over 400 venues on his international lecture tour. He previously taught at Harvard and the University of Toronto for 20 years, publishing over 100 scientific papers. He also co-founded Peterson Academy, a global online education platform with over 30 thousand students enrolled since the beta launched publicly in September 2024.

Michael Farris is a constitutional appellate litigator and long-standing leader of Christian organizations. Farris currently serves as a Senior Advisor for the Convention of States Project. He was the founding president of the Home School Legal Defense Association in 1983 and is chairman of its board of directors. During his service with HSLDA, homeschooling went from universally perceived as being illegal, to legal recognition in all 50 states.

Farris also was the Founding President of Patrick Henry College. In 2017, he became the President, CEO, and General Counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, which doubled in size during his six years of leadership. During this period, ADF served as counsel in nine cases in the United States Supreme Court, winning eight victories. This includes NIFLA v. Becerra in 2018, which Farris personally argued before the Court gaining a free speech victory for California’s prolife pregnancy centers.

Farris' team served as co-counsel to the Attorney General and Solicitor General for the State of Mississippi in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—the case that reversed Roe v. Wade. He currently serves as the General Counsel of the National Religious Broadcasters. Farris has written 15 books, numerous law review articles, and countless articles in the popular press.

Tony Perkins is Family Research Council's longest-serving president, joining the organization in August of 2003. During his tenure as FRC's president, Perkins has substantially deepened the organization's influence on Capitol Hill. He has also expanded the organization's reach across the nation by building a major network of pastors and churches, encouraging them to impact the culture by thinking nationally, but acting locally. 

In May 2018, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Perkins to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and in May 2020, Leader McConnell reappointed him to a second term. During his time on the independent, bipartisan commission, he has served as both Chair and Vice Chair. 

An effective communicator, Perkins is the host of an award-winning, nationally syndicated TV and radio show, Washington Watch with Tony Perkins. He is also the host of This Week on Capitol Hill, a weekend program with House Speaker Mike Johnson. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former police officer, Perkins brings a unique perspective to the public policy process. He and his wife Lawana have been married since 1986 and have five children and a growing number of grandchildren. 

Phil Sechler serves as senior counsel and director of the Center for Free Speech at Alliance Defending
Freedom, where he leads the team’s efforts to defend free speech and combat global censorship and coercion. 

Before joining ADF, Sechler had a long career in private practice, with substantial first-chair trial experience in courts around the country on a variety of complex litigation matters. Sechler spent most of his career as a partner in the powerhouse law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. He also was a partner in the litigation boutique of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Untereiner LLP. In August 2013, Sechler took a break from law practice to become a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Penn State Law School, where he spent four years teaching courses in Evidence, Professional Responsibility, and Advocacy. He also taught at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University and at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he continues to teach a course on Professional Responsibility. 

Sechler received his bachelor’s degree with high distinction from Pennsylvania State University, and he earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated summa cum laude and was Editor-in-Chief of The Georgetown Law Journal. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Sechler is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia and Virginia bars, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate and trial courts.

Jeff Mateer is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer of First Liberty Institute, where he serves as a member of the executive leadership team and oversees First Liberty’s operations, including its legal, media/communications, external affairs, marketing, and administrative teams, and First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy. 

Mateer rejoined First Liberty Institute in October 2020 after serving as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas. Prior to joining the Texas Attorney General’s office, he served as General Counsel of First Liberty Institute from February 2010 to March 2016. Mateer was in private litigation practice from 1990 to 2010 at a large Dallas law firm and litigation boutique firms. He received his undergraduate education at Dickinson College, where he graduated with honors in 1987, and his legal education at Southern Methodist University, where he graduated with honors in 1990.

Sant Gupta has been living in Northern Virginia for the past 25 years. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1969 to
undertake graduate studies in Electrical Engineering. He has engaged in inter-faith dialogs for a number of years, representing Durga Temple, Fairfax Station, VA. He has been the President and the Vice President of the Executive Board of the temple.

Gupta is a member of the Governing Council and Executive Board for World Hindu Council (VHPA,
Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America). His focus has been to present the Hindu perspective and lead
efforts to dispel distortion and ignorance about Sanatana Dharma.  

Dr. OJ Oleka is the 2nd Chief Executive Officer of the State Financial Officers Foundation where he has dedicated his life to public service, preserving America as a beacon of hope. Prior to becoming CEO at SFOF, Dr. Oleka was a senior business development executive at a global business processes company. Dr. Oleka is also a former candidate for State Treasurer in Kentucky and former President of the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities (AIKCU), a nonprofit focused on educational opportunity. Dr. Oleka has served as Deputy Treasurer for Kentucky State Treasurer, earning his MBA and PhD in Leadership in Higher Education from Bellarmine University. 

Jim Gash (JD '93) began his term as the eighth president and chief executive officer of Pepperdine University on August 1, 2019. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was the associate dean for strategic planning and external relations at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, and his primary areas of focus included evidence, torts, and international human rights.

Recognized globally for his transformative work in international justice reform, Gash has devoted himself to advancing the rule of law in developing countries and, since 2010, has visited Uganda nearly 30 times with Pepperdine students and alumni to support the country's judiciary system, having served as a specialist advisor to the High Court of Uganda since 2012.

Upon graduating from Caruso Law in 1993, Gash worked for the litigation firm DeSimone & Tropio and clerked for the Honorable Edith H. Jones, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas. He also practiced law for four years at Kirkland & Ellis. As a member of the State Bar of California, Gash is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the US District Court for the Central District of California. He is also a member of the Christian Legal Society. Gash holds a bachelor's degree in finance, summa cum laude, from Abilene Christian University and a juris doctor degree, from the Pepperdine School of Law, where he finished first in his class and served as the editor in chief of the Pepperdine Law Review. 

Victoria Cobb is President of The Family Foundation of Virginia, the largest and oldest pro-family
advocacy organization in Virginia, where she maintains the vision, mission and strategies of the
organization. In her 20th year as President, she now also oversees the work of their legal arm, the
Founding Freedoms Law Center.

Cobb is also President of The Family Foundation Action, a 501c(4) that protects families and promotes
responsible citizenship by giving Virginians the tools they need to hold their elected officials accountable,
including educating and mobilizing voters in key elections. In her role as spokesperson for the organization, she is oft quoted in the media. Her weekly commentary on the issues of the day can be heard on Speak Up! radio. She currently serves on the John Jay Institute Board of Governors and the Family Policy Alliance Board of Directors. 

Cobb earned her B.A., Political Science and Leadership Studies at University of Richmond. She and her husband Matt and their four children reside in Richmond, Virginia. 

Wilson Fauber is the Owner/Broker of Regal Real Estate in Staunton, Va. This year marks 45 years of real estate service to his community and region. He is the owner and operator of an independent real estate brokerage since 1994. 

Fauber is an ordained Christian minister and he and his wife will celebrate 48 years of marriage in 2025. They have two married daughters and seven amazing grandchildren. 

 Greg serves as the General Counsel for the National Christian Foundation (NCF) based in Atlanta, Georgia. In his role, Greg leads a team of legal professionals who create and implement policies and practices that allow NCF to fulfill its Christian vision and mission and align with all applicable federal and state laws.

Before joining NCF in 2012, Greg practiced law with the Atlanta-based firm Alston & Bird and served as a judicial clerk to Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Jacksonville, Florida. Greg holds a joint JD/MBA from the University of Georgia and a BA from Vanderbilt University, where he played on the Varsity tennis team for four years.

He and his wife, Katie, have three sons with whom they enjoy traveling and playing a variety of sports. Greg is thrilled to help NCF pursue its mission of enabling thousands of extraordinarily generous givers to mobilize their resources to create impact for God’s glory and the welfare of others. 

Jonathan Alexandre is an attorney and Vice President of Governmental Affairs for Liberty
Counsel, a litigation firm dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family. In
this capacity, Alexandre consults with and advises law and policy makers at the federal, state, and local
levels across the nation. Alexandre serves as Legislative Counsel for the Maryland Family Institute.
He was a Presidential Appointee serving on the Board of Directors for The United States Agency
for Global Media for the Trump Administration.

Alexandre serves as General Counsel for the Frederick Douglass Foundation. He was formerly the
Assistant General Counsel and Public Policy Coordinator for the Massachusetts Family Institute in
Boston. Alexandre developed the Massachusetts Attorney Resource Council, a network of pro-family
Massachusetts attorneys. He previously worked for The Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs in
Jerusalem, Israel, as a Scholar in Residence, and the United States Army's Judge Advocate General’s
Legal Center and School. He is married to his wife Renee Alexandre. They are blessed with a baby girl. 

Chaplain (Maj. Gen.) Randall E. Kitchens is the Chief of Chaplains at the Department of the Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, and serves as the second Chief of Chaplains of the United States Space Force. He provides advice on all matters pertaining to the religious and moral welfare of Air and Space Force personnel and he is the senior pastor for more than 770,000 active duty. He also leads approximately 2,200 chaplains and religious affairs airmen from the active duty and Air Reserve components.

Chaplain Kitchens graduated from Mercer University and was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in 1983. He entered the Air Force Reserve in 1987.Kitchens has been awarded with sixteen major decorations and awards, including the Distinguished Service Medal (Air Force) and the NATO Medal. 

Derek Kreifels is the CEO of Prospr Aligned, an investment services consulting company. Prospr's mission is to help ensure U.S. institutional investor's assets and proxy votes are aligned with their conservative or Christian values. Those goals are accomplished by providing proxy consulting to help clients take direct ownership of their assets. Prior to Prospr, Kreifels was the co-founder and CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), the only nonprofit in the U.S. that combines ground-breaking free-market research with a strong network of states' treasurers, auditors, and other financial officers, to actively sustain the health of each state's economic outlook.

Before co-founding SFOF in 2012, Kreifels spent five years as Assistant State Treasurer of Kansas. Kreifels received his undergraduate degree from Wichita State University, and his master's degree from Friends University in Wichita. He lends his leadership to several boards and nonprofits. He and his wife Melanie are die-hard Kansas City Chiefs fans. 

After serving as a principal and Of Counsel at the leading D.C. firm of Van Scoyoc Associates for many years, David Trimble now leads the Religious Freedom Institute’s nationwide and international initiatives in secondary and higher education. With a degree in law, expert knowledge from working with the executive and legislative branches of the federal government at the highest levels, plus years of teaching religion at the graduate level, Trimble understands the vitally important role of education to stable societies and the myriad threats that challenge both academic and religious freedom.

Throughout his career, Trimble has focused on the intersection between religion and policy. He is recognized in the U.S. and abroad for his international religious freedom advocacy on behalf of ethnic and religious minorities and his knowledge of legislative process. Under his leadership, the RFI’s Center for Religious Freedom Education is committed to supporting the free exercise of religious freedom for all through education with a voice that informs tomorrow’s young leaders and shapes sound policies for a more civil America.

Trimble holds a Juris Doctorate from Texas A&M University School of Law, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Arts from Campbellsville University. In addition, Trimble has completed post-graduate studies at both Southwestern and Baylor University. 

Nicole D. Hayes serves as the Director of State Public Policy with the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) and as Executive Vice President for the American Academy of Medical Ethics (AAME), the advocacy arm of CMDA. She joined CMDA in August 2018 to serve as the Washington, DC Area Director to raise up and grow the four DC-area medical school campus ministries until July 2021. Hayes also serves with CMDA’s Racism, Reconciliation, Equality and Diversity (R2ED) Committee to help advance biblical justice and reconciliation, particularly in healthcare. 

Hayes is the founder of Voices Against the Grain, a bold counter-culture media and teaching ministry established in May 2013 to help audiences successfully navigate societal issues. She has more than 15 years’ experience as a public relations professional who has provided strategic communications and media relations to elevate awareness of educational, health, racial disparity issues for small business, government and non-profit clients. Hayes is a Voices contributor for The Christian Post and a contributing author to the book The Right to Believe: The New Struggle for Religious Liberty in America. She also writes for CMDA’s The Point Blog on bioethical issues happening in the states. 

Hayes received her Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and her Master of Public Administration from Regent University in Virginia Beach.