Past Programs

February 15-17, 2019
Washington, DC

This biennial program is designed exclusively for new or recently elected Speaker of the House. This professional development program took place February 15-17, 2019 at the historic Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington DC.

Highlights:

• A once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and network with your fellow newly elected speakers
• All-star faculty comprised of seasoned speakers of the house, experts in the fields of ethics and leadership
• Chiefs of Staff are welcome, concurrent sessions are available for them
• The majestic Hay-Adams Hotel plus special events including a reception and dinner at The Army and Navy Club

For additional information please contact Evelene Lakis.

Featured Presenters:

Douglas Bradburn
President and CEO
George Washington’s Mount Vernon

President and CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the former Founding Director of the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon, is an award winning author and well-known scholar of early American history. He is the author and editor of three books and numerous articles and book chapters with a specialty in the history of the American Founding, leadership, and the history of American Citizenship. Since opening the Washington Library, Bradburn has been instrumental in transforming the Education mission at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate: expanding programming to reach thousands of people across the country, building an innovative research fellowship program, leading the creation of award-winning digital educational products that have reached millions of students and teachers, and establishing a unique leadership program that has been recognized as one of the best in the country by HR.com.

Before coming to Mount Vernon, Bradburn served as a professor of history and director of graduate studies at SUNY Binghamton University. He left as Chair of the History faculty. He received the SUNY Chancellor’s award for excellence in teaching in 2010. Bradburn earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago and his B.A. in history and economics from the University of Virginia.

Kirk Hanson
Senior Fellow
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
Santa Clara University

Kirk O. Hanson is a senior fellow of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and former executive director of the Center. Hanson was the executive director of the Ethics Center for 17 years, from 2001-2018. He was also the John Courtney Murray S.J. University Professor of Social Ethics. In 2001, he took early retirement from the faculty of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he taught for 23 years and is now an emeritus faculty member.

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics is one of the most active ethics centers in the United States, working in the fields of business, government, journalism, engineering, internet ethics, health care ethics, social sector ethics, leadership ethics, and K-12 character education. During his term as executive director, the Center grew from a staff of six to 26, and emerged as the largest university-based ethics center in the world.

As senior fellow, Hanson writes on managing the ethical and public behavior of corporations and their leaders. He co-edited a four-volume series released in 2006 entitled “The Accountable Corporation.” His current research interests include the design of corporate ethics programs and the responsibilities of boards for the ethical culture of organizations. Since 1973 Hanson has advised over 100 businesses on the design of corporate ethics programs.

Jeff Smith
Former Missouri Senator  
Author

Jeff Smith is executive director of the Missouri Workforce Housing Association, which comprises 190 organizations dedicated to preserving and developing safe, quality affordable housing throughout the state. He also consults for Concordance Academy, a non-profit focused on helping former prisoners successfully transition back to the community.

Previously, Jeff was a professor of urban policy at The New School’s Milano Graduate School, where he researched and taught urban political economy, policy analysis, campaign management, legislative strategy, and incarceration. From 2006-2009, Jeff represented St. Louis City in the Missouri Senate; he narrowly lost a 2004 race for U.S. Congress; his youth-powered grassroots campaign was chronicled in the documentary Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?, which was short-listed for an Academy Award.

Jeff has written three books: “Trading Places”, on U.S. party realignment; “Mr. Smith Goes to Prison”, a prison memoir and argument for reform; and “Ferguson in Black and White”, a historical analysis of the town’s unrest. He has published articles in various academic journals, chapters in five edited volumes, and op-eds for the New York Times, Politico Magazine, CNN.com, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Inc., Salon, The New Republic, and the Chicago Tribune. Jeff, whose TED talk on prison entrepreneurship has garnered over a million views, serves on the national boards of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program and American Prison Data Systems. He earned a B.A. in Black Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and an M.A. & Ph.D. in Political Science at Washington University.