People
Scholars
Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D
Business and Economics
Steven Greenhut
Free Cities Center
Bartlett Cleland
Tech and Innovation
Sal Rodriguez
Free Cities Center
Kenneth P. Green, D.Env.
Environmental Studies
Steven Smith
Urban Studies
Kerry Jackson
Center for California Reform
Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D
Erik S. Jaffe
Legal Studies
Pam Lewison
Board of Directors
Clark S. Judge
White House Writers Group
Sally C. Pipes
Sean M. McAvoy
Hillair Capital Management
Steven Dennis, M.D.
Peter C. Farrell, Ph.D., AM
ResMed
Russell A. Johnson
KPLJ Ventures
The Hon. Daniel M. Kolkey
Gibson Dunn
The Hon. Daniel Oliver
White House Writers Group
Richard Samuelson, Ph.D.
California State University, San Bernardino
The Hon. Lawrence J. Siskind
Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP
Paul Tosetti
Latham & Watkins
Richard A. Wallace
Christopher Wright
Liberty Resources, LLC
S. Christine Zanello
GCC Enterprises Inc.
Staff
Sally C. Pipes
Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy
Rowena Itchon
Tim Anaya
Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
Ben Smithwick
McKenzie Richards
Devon Mirsky
Emily Humpal
Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D
Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D., is a Sr. Fellow in Business & Economics, Pacific Research Institute, as well as the Director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation.
Dr. Winegarden’s policy research explores the connection between macroeconomic policies and economic outcomes, with a focus on fiscal policy, the health care industry, and the energy sector. As Director of the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation, Dr. Winegarden spearheads research and advances policies that support the continued viability and vitality of the U.S. biomedical and pharmaceutical industries to the benefit of patients and overall economic growth.
Dr. Winegarden’s columns have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Investor’s Business Daily, Forbes.com, and USA Today. He was previously economics faculty at Marymount University, has testified before the U.S. Congress, has been interviewed and quoted in such media as CNN and Bloomberg Radio, and is asked to present his research findings at policy conferences and meetings.
Dr. Winegarden is also the Principal of an economic advisory firm that advises clients on the economic, business, and investment implications from changes in broader macroeconomic trends and government policies. Clients have included Fortune 500 companies, financial organizations, small businesses, and trade associations. Previously, Dr. Winegarden worked as a business economist in Hong Kong and New York City; and a policy economist for policy and trade associations in Washington D.C. Dr. Winegarden received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University.
Sal Rodriguez
Sal Rodriguez is a PRI senior fellow and the opinion editor for the Southern California News Group, a group of 11 newspapers in Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County. He first joined the newspaper business in 2014 as an editorial writer and columnist for the Orange County Register and the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
Prior to joining the newspaper business, he worked with Solitary Watch, investigating the use and abuse of solitary confinement, and wrote about issues ranging from criminal justice reform to pension reform for the Reason Foundation.
Kerry Jackson
Kerry Jackson is an independent journalist and opinion writer with extensive experience covering politics and public policy.
Currently a fellow with the Center for California Reform at the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), Kerry writes weekly op-eds and blog posts on statewide issues, and occasional books and policy papers.
He is the author of Living in Fear in California, a book that explores well-meaning changes to California’s public safety laws enacted in recent years that have undermined safe communities, and offers reforms that strike a balance between the state’s obligation to crime victims and the rights of the accused and convicted.
In 2017, he wrote Unaffordable: How Government Made California’s Housing Shortage a Crisis and How Free Market Ideas Can Restore Affordability and Supply, an issue brief on California’s housing crisis which won bipartisan praise.
His 2018 brief on poverty in California, Good Intentions: How California’s Anti-Poverty Programs Aren’t Delivering and How the Private Sector Can Lift More People Out of Poverty, garnered national attention for his Los Angeles Times op-ed asking, “Why is liberal California the poverty capital of America?”
Jackson is a leading commentator on California’s growing homeless crisis. In 2019, he co-authored (with Dr. Wayne Winegarden) a brief on San Francisco’s homeless crisis, which was presented to Mayor London Breed’s administration.
His commentaries have been published in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, CALmatters, City Journal, the Daily Caller, the New York Observer, Orange County Register, Bakersfield Californian, San Francisco Examiner, Fresno Bee, Ventura County Star, Forbes, and Fox and Hounds Daily, among others.
He regularly appears on radio and television programs commenting on the problems affecting California. Jackson has been a past guest on National Public Radio, One America News Network, Newsmax TV, and “The Dr. Drew Show,” among others.
Before coming to PRI, Jackson spent 18 years writing editorials on domestic and foreign policy for Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) and three years as the assistant director of public affairs for the American Legislative Exchange Council. He has written for the American Media Institute and Real Clear Investigations and edited “The Growth Manifesto” for the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
A graduate of Georgia State University, Kerry has also served as a public affairs consultant for the George Mason University School of Law and worked as a reporter and editor for local newspapers in the metro Atlanta and northern Virginia regions.
Erik S. Jaffe
A 1990 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Jaffe was a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Following that clerkship he spent five years in litigation practice with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly. In the summer of 1996 he left Williams & Connolly to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the end of that clerkship he started his own practice, and has been a sole practitioner since 1997.
Since starting his own practice, Mr. Jaffe has been involved in appeals on a broad range of legal issues, including First Amendment challenges to campaign finance reform, Commerce Clause challenges to Health Care Reform and other federal legislation, Equal Protection Clause challenges to affirmative action in education, First Amendment challenges to school vouchers, Fifth Amendment challenges to takings of property, Second Amendment challenges to restrictions on gun ownership, and a wide variety of cases involving patents, copyrights, ERISA, securities fraud, federal preemption, environmental regulation, and other state and federal constitutional and statutory matters. He has represented businesses and non-profit groups, Judges, former government officials, Nobel Prize winners, and a broad cross-section of private individuals. Mr. Jaffe has been involved in over 80 Supreme Court matters, including filing over 25 cert. petitions, representing half-a-dozen parties on the merits, and filing over 40 amicus briefs at both the cert. and merits stages.
Steven Greenhut
Steven Greenhut is a longtime journalist who has covered California politics since 1998. He wrote this book for the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute, where he founded that think tank’s Sacramento-based journalism center in 2009. He currently is western region director for the R Street Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based free-market think tank, and is on the editorial board of the Southern California News Group. Greenhut has worked fulltime as a columnist for the Orange County Register and the San Diego Union-Tribune. He writes weekly for American Spectator and Reason magazines. He is the editor of Saving California, and the author of Winning the Water Wars, Abuse of Power and Plunder. He lives with his wife, Donna, on an acreage outside Sacramento and has three adult daughters.
Kenneth P. Green, D.Env.
Dr. Green has studied energy and environmental science and policy for 25 years at think tanks in the United States and Canada. He holds a Doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering (D.Env.) from the University of California, Los Angeles. Ken’s publications include numerous policy analyses, newspaper and magazine articles, book chapters, and two supplementary textbooks on climate change and energy policy. Dr. Green has appeared in most major media across the US and Canada and has testified before committees or subcommittees of the US House of Representatives, and the US Senate, the Canadian House of Commons, the Senate of Canada, and several state legislatures.
STEVEN F. HAYWARD, PH.D
Dr. Steven Hayward is the author of PRI’s annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, a major study on the state of the environment. He is also nationally recognized for his books, The Real Jimmy Carter (Regnery Publishing, 2004), The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order 1964-1980 (Prima Publishing, 2001), and Churchill on Leadership: Executive Success in the Face of Adversity (Prima Publishing, 1997).
Dr. Hayward writes frequently on a wide range of issues, including environmentalism, law, economics, and public policy, and has published dozens of articles in scholarly and popular journals. His work has appeared in National Review, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reason, The Weekly Standard, Policy Review, and Chicago Tribune. He is a Weyerhaeuser Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, an adjunct fellow of the John Ashbrook Center and a former Bradley Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Weaver Fellow of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Earhart Fellow, and Olive Garvey Fellow of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Dr. Hayward holds a Ph.D. in American Studies and a M.A. in Government from Claremont Graduate School.
Pam Lewison
Pam Lewison is the co-owner of JP Ranch and the Research Director for the Washington Policy Center’s Initiative on Agriculture. She is a fourth-generation farmer raising hay and other row crops with her husband and her parents. Her writing has been featured in op-eds in Capital Press, The Seattle Times, and other publications. She has been invited to testify in her state capital several times and has had the good fortune to work with many legislators and lobbyists. Pam holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University and a master’s degree in Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications from Texas A&M University—College Station. Before working for WPC, she was the coordination clerk for the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program and the communications coordinator for the Washington Cattlemen’s Association.
Bartlett Cleland
A known thought leader, writer, and speaker on all issues of innovation, communications and technology, Bartlett Cleland has spent his entire public policy career in the technology and innovation space.
In addition to his work as senior fellow in tech and innovation at the Pacific Research Institute, Bartlett is executive director of the new Innovation Economy Alliance and Institute and is a research fellow with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Texas. Bartlett also serves as a member of the US Stakeholder Council and is a U.S. Delegate to ISO for development of 279/56000 on innovation management.
Growing up simply and living most of his life outside of the Washington bubble, he understands the effect of government on people and the advantages of freedom and liberty. Bartlett’s decades of work in public policy have been informed by his broad array of work and education outside of traditional public policy channels. Whether relying on his business background of MBA, work at a human resources consulting firm or as a CEO, he seeks to make every policy debate relevant to what happens to real people and to real business.
He has spent many years in the world of public policy think tanks, technology trade associations, social welfare organizations and on Capitol Hill. On Capitol Hill he was intimately involved in numerous critical debates including encryption and “supercomputer” export controls, the Internet Tax Fairness Act, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Communications Decency Act, the 1996 Telecommunications Act and others, including efforts to increase information for citizens about Congressional activities and efforts.
He previously served on the Internet Education Foundation Board of Directors, which involved working closely with the Internet Caucus on Capitol Hill. He served two terms as the Chair of the Technology and Communications Taskforce of the American Legislative Exchange Council. He also sat on the Internet Safety Technical Taskforce, a group comprised of leading Internet businesses and organizations and formed by 49 state attorneys general to focus on identifying effective online safety tools and technologies.
He worked for Americans for Tax Reform as technology and policy counsel and advised Commissioner Grover G. Norquist on the Advisory Committee on Electronic Commerce. Later he represented the software industry handling a variety of copyright issues including open source and proprietary challenges, and a variety of tax and finance issues particular to the software industry, serving as tax and associate general counsel at ITAA, and later as Regional VP of Texas for TechAmerica.
Bartlett graduated from Millikin University with a B.S. in philosophy and business administration. He received his Masters of Business Administration, as well as his law degree with a specialization in international and comparative law, from St. Louis University. He is admitted to the Missouri bar.
When not found on the soccer sidelines or in the softball stands cheering his girls to victory, Bartlett can be found in the kitchen attempting to perfect his grandma’s German, pastry and American country cooking recipes; admiring comic book pop art of the late 50’s and early 60’s; or planning the next beach vacation with his wife.
Steven Smith
Steven Smith is a fellow in urban studies at the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Urban Renewal, focusing on criminal justice policy in California.
He is a recognized leader in education, training, law enforcement, and peacekeeping operations, with over 20 years of experience in domestic and international policing and investigations. His work has been published in numerous outlets, including the New York Times.
He began his career as a police officer with the Scotts Valley Police Department, conducting criminal investigations, serving as a department juvenile officer, managing juvenile diversion programs, and conducting community crime prevention programs.
Later, he served as an inspector with the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s office, conducting criminal case investigations and trial preparation, serving as the office public information officer for many different cases, and serving as the office representative on the county sexual assault and domestic violence task forces.
For 14 years, Smith served as a lead instructor in the Administration of Justice program at Gavilan College in Gilroy, instructing students for future criminal justice employment in topics including community policing, investigations, corrections, evidence, juvenile justice, criminal procedures, criminal law, probation and parole, and narcotics.
Later, he served as Assistant Commandant/Dean of Students at California State University, Maritime Academy in Vallejo, overseeing the personal and professional development of cadets, and managing administration, training, and discipline.
His international law enforcement and security work has included serving as station commander for the United Nations mission to Bosnia at the close of the Bosnian war, supervising 25 officers from 11 countries and conducting human rights and war crimes investigations. He has also served with the United States Security Coordinator for Palestine training law enforcement in the Palestinian Authority, designed curriculum for the Serbian National Police Training Center, and has been an elections observer with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Bosnia, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Albania, and Ukraine.
In addition to his work at PRI, Smith is also an independent security consultant with multiple private sector clients. He is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento.
Sally C. Pipes
Sally C. Pipes is President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute, a California-based think tank founded in 1979. She celebrates her 30th anniversary at the helm of PRI in 2021. Prior to becoming president of PRI in 1991, she was assistant director of the Fraser Institute, based in Vancouver, Canada.
Under her leadership, PRI’s Center for Health Care has established itself as one of the leading voices in health care policy, articulating market-based solutions that provide better quality and access to health care while lowering costs. From the debate over “Hillarycare” in the 1990s to Obamacare to “Medicare for All” today, Pipes has worked tirelessly to demolish the myth that a government-run health care system is more effective than the free market.
Pipes is highly sought after by those on both sides of the political spectrum for her views and expertise on health care policy. She has been a prominent national voice making the case that a single-payer health care system would make future health care crises even worse, and that the “public option” promoted by President Biden would be a steppingstone to Medicare for All.
Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
Lance Izumi is Senior Director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute. He has written and produced books, studies and films on a wide variety of education topics. Most recently, he is the author of the 2017 book The Corrupt Classroom and the 2019 book Choosing Diversity: How Charter Schools Promote Diverse Learning Models and Meet the Diverse Needs of Parents and Children.
In 2016-17, Lance served on President Trump’s transition Agency Action Team for education policy. As a member of the transition team, he drafted policy papers and recommendations for consideration by the Trump administration.
From 2004 to 2015, he served as a member of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the largest system of higher education in the nation, and served two terms as president of the Board.
From 2015 to 2018, Lance chaired the board of directors of the Foundation for California Community Colleges, the official non-profit that supports the community college system, and remains a member of the board. Lance served as a commissioner on the California Postsecondary Education Commission and as a member of the United States Civil Rights Commission’s California Advisory Committee.
In 2019, Lance was appointed as Civilian Aide to the Secretary of Army. In this role he promotes good relations between the Army and the public in Northern California and advises the Secretary on regional issues.
Lance served as a captain in the California State Military Reserve from 1991-96 and was awarded the CSMR Commendation Medal.
He is the president of the Community Relations Board for the U.S. Army’s Northern California Recruiting Battalion and was awarded the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Medal in 2016.
In 2017, the Association of the United States Army bestowed upon Lance the Colonel David A. Appling Award for Outstanding Recruiting Support.
Lance served as chief speechwriter and director of writing and research for California Governor George Deukmejian and as speechwriter to United States Attorney General Edwin Meese III in President Ronald Reagan’s administration.
Lance received his juris doctorate from the University of Southern California School of Law, his master of art in political science from the University of California at Davis, and his bachelor of arts in economics and history from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Devon Mirsky
Devon Mirsky is the Development and Events Manager at Pacific Research Institute. Prior to joining PRI she worked at PragerU as the Director of their student program, PragerFORCE. She also worked for Turning Point USA serving as the Pacific West Regional Director and was their first representative in California, and before that was a Field Rep for the Leadership Institute. She has also worked on several political campaigns.
Devon received her M.A. in Political Science from California State University, Northridge and is a lifelong Californian.
Rowena Itchon
Rowena M. Itchon is Chief Operating Officer at the Pacific Research Institute.
Rowena oversees research, marketing, and operations at PRI. She has edited and published more than 100 studies and books for the Institute, and produced videos and films including An Inconvenient Truth or Convenient Fiction and Not as Good as You Think: The Myth of the Middle-Class School, which aired on public television. She is also the founder and co-host of PRI’s podcast “Next Round,” founder and contributor of PRI’s blog “Right by the Bay,” and established PRI’s latest initiative, the Free Cities Center.
Prior to joining PRI, she was a senior editor at Regnery Publishing in Washington, D.C., where she edited five New York Times bestsellers.
Rowena also has experience in the financial services industry. She was a vice president at asset management firm RS Investments and a media relations manager at T. Rowe Price Associates. As a spokeswoman, she’s been widely quoted in the national media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and appeared on numerous radio and TV shows including Fox Nation.
Her experience in public policy and government includes speechwriter to former California Governor Pete Wilson and former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Richard Breeden. She was also a researcher at the White House Office of Presidential Speechwriting under President Ronald Reagan. She is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Rowena holds an MBA from George Washington University and a BA from the University of Southern California.
BEN SMITHWICK
Ben Smithwick is Vice President of Development at Pacific Research Institute. Prior to joining PRI, he was a news editor at Fox News Channel’s Los Angeles bureau, where he helped manage the homepage of FoxNews.com, one of the nation’s largest news websites, covering major national and international news stories, including the Boston Marathon bombing, Hurricane Sandy, the crisis in Ukraine, and several elections.
Mr. Smithwick previously served as a reporter with the Santa Barbara News-Press in California, covering government, education, and local events in cities on the Central Coast. His work has appeared or been cited in various media publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Post, The Mercury News (San Jose), Daily Mail, MarketWatch, Business Insider, Reason Magazine, Daily Caller, Newsmax, and heavy.com.
Mr. Smithwick holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Connecticut, where he graduated from the UConn’s Honors Scholar program and completed graduate coursework in resource development for nonprofits at UConn’s Department of Public Policy.
Emily Humpal
Emily Humpal is the Deputy Communications Director with Pacific Research Institute, based in PRI’s Sacramento office.
As Deputy Communications Director, she promotes Pacific Research Institute’s work to reporters and media bookers across the state and oversees all e-mail communications and social media. She is a consistent contributor to Pacific Research Institute’s blog, “Right by the Bay”, and appears on the weekly “Next Round” podcast.
Prior to joining PRI, Humpal began gaining communications experience when she was hired on to write for Gilliard, Blanning and Associates during the 2018 cycle for over 20 political candidates. She gained experience in the political field working as the Campaign Manager for Kevin Kiley for State Senate in 2019 and Janet Nguyen for State Assembly 2020.
A majority of Humpal’s career was spent working at the State Capitol. She began writing as the communications consultant in the Assembly Republican Caucus for 19 members in 2019, producing eblasts, press releases, op-eds and social media along with writing and editing hundreds of mail pieces. After leaving the caucus to campaign for Assemblymember Nguyen in Orange County in the 2020 election, Humpal came back to Sacramento as Assemblymember Nguyen’s Communications Director and Legislative Director. In her various roles there, she wrote hundreds of eblasts, press releases, talking points, and letters to the Governor, and ran two social media accounts, all while staffing the member for the Assembly Floor, two Assembly Committees, and managing a bill package of over 40 bills.
She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya is Pacific Research Institute’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications.
As communications director, he leads all of PRI’s traditional and social media activities, serves as PRI’s media spokesperson, and coordinates outreach to the State Capitol community. He also oversees PRI’s “California Ideas in Action” policy conference in Sacramento, which annually brings together policy leaders to explore free-market solutions to the major problems facing the Golden State.
He is a co-host of PRI’s weekly “Next Round” podcast, which celebrated its 100th episode in June 2019. The podcast features interviews about free-market ideas with elected officials, policymakers, academics, political insiders, and journalists. He also is editor of PRI’s daily “Right by the Bay” blog and writes a weekly column on California issues.
Anaya is frequently called upon to give media interviews on the key issues facing California. His comments have been featured on One America News Network; KTTV (Fox) and KNBC (NBC) in Los Angeles, KTVU (Fox), KGO (ABC), and KNTV (NBC) in San Francisco; KCRA (NBC), KXTV (ABC) and KTXL (Fox) in Sacramento; KPBS (PBS) in San Diego and numerous other stations in media markets across the state. He also has been a guest panelist on the Commonwealth Club’s “Week to Week” live political podcast and panel discussion event in San Francisco, which aired statewide on the California Channel.
Prior to joining PRI, Anaya held a variety of positions during an 18-year career at the State Capitol.
He served as communications director for the Assembly Republican Caucus during the tenure of then-Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway, managing the staff and operations of the Assembly Republican communications department, including the production of all written and visual communications for the Republican Leader and all GOP Assembly Members.
He was a senior communications advisor to 9 Assembly Republican Leaders from 2003-16, including former Leader and current U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. In his various roles, Anaya advised Assembly Members on media strategy, devised and implemented multifaceted communications plans, organized successful media events, and developed effective social media and web content.
From 2004-05, Anaya was a speechwriter for former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also served as Capitol Director for an Assembly Member, and as a field representative in an Assembly district office. He began his career at the State Capitol as a participant in the prestigious Jesse Marvin Unruh Assembly Fellowship Program.
He received a Bachelor’s degree in political science from Santa Clara University, and a Master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California.
McKenzie Richards
McKenzie Richards is a Policy Associate at Pacific Research Institute where she researches and writes on issues pertaining to health care policy and education reform. Prior to joining PRI, she assisted in building the California branch for Freedom Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, through outreach and legal work.
Currently, McKenzie is pursuing her master’s degree at Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Brigham Young University. While at BYU, she served as President of the Tocqueville Society and wrote for the BYU Political Review. She also regularly edited professors’ original work, researched court cases on religious liberty, and taught large political philosophy classes.
During college, McKenzie left home for a year and a half to serve the people of northern Argentina. While in Argentina, she learned to speak Spanish and gained teaching skills for diverse audiences. In her time there, she saw first-hand exactly how a lack of free-market principles can harm individual lives.
Additionally, McKenzie is a 2021-2022 Stand Together Fellow in Health Care Policy and an Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Scholar. She is a recipient of the Richard and Helen DeVos Leadership Award for her work in education.