Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Youtube Linkedin-in
Search
Close this search box.
Main Menu
Main Menu
Facebook-f Instagram Youtube Linkedin-in
Search
Close this search box.
Main Menu
Sign Up

People

Scholars

Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D

Senior Fellow
Business and Economics

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.

Steven Greenhut

Senior Fellow
Free Cities Center

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.

Bartlett Cleland

Senior Fellow
Tech and Innovation

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.

Sal Rodriguez

Fellow
Free Cities Center

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.

Kenneth P. Green, D.Env.

Senior Fellow
Environmental Studies

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 Smith

Senior Fellow
Urban Studies

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.

Kerry Jackson

William Clement Fellow in California Reform

Kerry Jackson

Kerry Jackson is the William Clement Fellow in California Reform at the Pacific Research Institute.

An independent journalist and opinion writer with extensive experience covering politics and public policy, he is a leading analyst and commentator on California’s housing, poverty, and homeless problems. 

Jackson is a co-author of the 2021 book No Way Home (Encounter Books), which was an Amazon.com number one new release for mental health law books and top 10 bestseller for urban planning and development books.  The book examines the root causes of homelessness in California and whether current programs related to housing, social services and employment are actually making the problem worse.

His 2023 study, “Project Homekey is Providing No Way Home for the State’s Homeless” (co-authored with Dr. Wayne Winegarden), provided the first evidence that, despite spending billions of dollars on Gov. Newsom’s Project Homekey initiative, California’s homeless problem was growing worse than ever, and received national media coverage from the Associated Press.  

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?”  In addition, his 2017 brief on California’s housing crisis, “Unaffordale,” drew bipartisan praise from then Gov. Jerry Brown’s housing policy director.

Jackson is also the author of Living in Fear in California, a book that explores sweeping changes to California’s public safety laws that have undermined safe communities; “Sapping California’s Energy Future” (with Winegarden), which documents how state government green mandates are increase the energy burdens of Californians; and “Enriching Lawyers” (also with Winegarden), which documents how lawsuit abuse hurts taxpayers and consumers.

His commentaries have been published in the Los Angeles Times, New York Post, FoxNews.com, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, CALmatters, City Journal, the Daily Caller, the New York Observer, Orange County Register, Bakersfield Californian, San Francisco Examiner, Fresno Bee, Ventura County Star, and Forbes, 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.

Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D

Senior Fellow

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.

Erik S. Jaffe

Adjunct Fellow
Legal Studies

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.

Pam Lewison

Fellow in Agriculture

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.

Board of Directors

Clark S. Judge

Chairman
Managing Director
White House Writers Group

Sally C. Pipes

President & CEO
Pacific Research Institute

Sean M. McAvoy

Secretary & Treasurer
Cofounder
Hillair Capital Management

Steven Dennis, M.D.

Orthopedic Medicine

Peter C. Farrell, Ph.D., AM

Founder & Chairman of the Board
ResMed

Russell A. Johnson

Partner
KPLJ Ventures

The Hon. Daniel M. Kolkey

Retired Partner
Gibson Dunn

The Hon. Daniel Oliver

Chairman Emeritus
Senior Advisor
White House Writers Group

Richard Samuelson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of History
California State University, San Bernardino

The Hon. Lawrence J. Siskind

Of Counsel
Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP

Paul Tosetti

Partner
Latham & Watkins

Richard A. Wallace

Christopher Wright

President & CEO
Liberty Resources, LLC

Staff

Sally C. Pipes

President & CEO
Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy

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.

Rowena Itchon

Chief Operating Officer

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.

Tim Anaya

Vice President of Marketing and Communications

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.

Lance T. Izumi, J.D.

Senior Director, Education Studies

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.

Ben Smithwick

Vice President of Development

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.

Nikhil Agarwal

Research Associate

Nikhil Agarwal

Nikhil Agarwal is a Research Associate at the Pacific Research Institute.

A recent graduate of Claremont McKenna College, he majored in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE), worked as a research assistant at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government, and was the President of his college’s chapter of The Alexander Hamilton Society. Originally from Singapore, he served in the Singapore Armed Forces as an Infantry and Combat Service Support Specialist from 2018-20.

PRI 45 years logo white
Facebook-f Logo2 Instagram Youtube Linkedin-in
Mailing Address

PO Box 60485
Pasadena, CA 91116

(415) 989-0833

Our Work
Main Menu
Scroll to Top