Experts Guide: By Name

Before joining the New America Foundation, Ghaith al-Omari served in various senior positions within the Palestinian Authority, including Foreign Policy Advisor to the Palestinian President, Director of the International Relations Department in the Office of the Palestinian President, and Senior Advisor to former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. In these capacities,… more

Peter Bergen is a print and television journalist, and the author of Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden (Free Press, 2001), which has been translated into 18 languages. He is also the author of The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al… more

Ray Boshara is Vice President for Domestic Policy Programs, Director of the Next Social Contract Initiative, and Director of the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation, a post-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Boshara is an expert on savings and asset ownership strategies for low-income persons, and… more

Shannon Brownlee is a writer whose stories, essays, and opinion pieces about medicine and health care have appeared in such publications as The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Slate, Time, Discover, BusinessWeek, Washington Monthly, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wilson Quarterly.… more

Stephen Burd is Senior Research Fellow in the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation. In this capacity, he will help shape the foundation’s work on higher-education policy, particularly the nexus between postsecondary education and high school policy issues, and on student financial aid issues, including student loans. more

As Vice President of the New America Foundation, Michael Calabrese directs the Spectrum Policy Program, co-directs the Retirement Security Program, and helps guide the Foundation’s work to reform and expand our nation’s health care coverage. Previously, Mr. Calabrese served as Director of Domestic Policy Programs at the Center for National… more

Steven Clemons directs the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, which aims to promote a new American internationalism that combines a tough-minded realism about America's interests in the world with a pragmatic idealism about the kind of world order best suited to America's democratic way of… more

As Senior Health Policy Advisor for the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, Guy Clifton focuses on health care reform to cover the uninsured and on reform of the delivery system to reduce cost and improve quality. In addition, Dr. Clifton acts as the Health Policy Program’s primary… more

Michael A. Cohen brings a wealth of experience in foreign policy to the New America Foundation. He is the author of Live From the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Campaign Speeches of the Twentieth Century and How They Shaped Modern America (Bloomsbury, June 2008) and a member of the board… more

Steve Coll is President & CEO of New America Foundation, and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. Previously he spent 20 years as a foreign correspondent and senior editor at The Washington Post, serving as the paper’s managing editor from 1998 to 2004. He is author six books,… more

Reid Cramer is Research Director of the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation, where he leads the program's policy research activities. The Asset Building Program aims to promote policies and ideas that expand savings and asset ownership, especially among lower-income families. His work has provided analytical support for… more

Heidi Crebo-Rediker is co-director of New America's Global Strategic Finance Initiative. This project, sponsored jointly by the American Strategy and Economic Growth programs, explores the challenges and opportunities presented in a rapidly evolving multi-polar financial world. She returned to the United States this year following 16 years in… more

Michael Dannenberg directs the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation. The program aims to advance education excellence and equity through extended learning time, improvements in teacher quality, and education finance reform. Mr. Dannenberg is recognized as a national expert on the No Child Left Behind Act, federal education… more

Patrick C. Doherty is Deputy Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. The American Strategy Program aims to promote a new American internationalism that combines a tough-minded realism about America's interests in the world with a pragmatic idealism about the kind of world order best suited… more

Camille Esch writes about current education topics -- particularly K-12 education and California education issues -- drawing on current research as well as her own experience as an education policy researcher and analyst. Before joining New America, Ms. Esch worked for several years as a researcher at the Center for… more

Maria Figueroa Küpçü specializes in the development of international advocacy campaigns, with particular expertise in stakeholder engagement in the global policymaking process. As a senior director at the market research and consulting firm Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, she guided presidential and parliamentary campaigns in South Korea, Ukraine, Serbia, Bermuda,… more

As a California-based Fellow at the New America Foundation, T.A. Frank writes about law, criminal justice, and labor. With a robust technology sector, busy ports, and a changing economy, California is faced with new sorts of crime, such as terrorism, cybercrime, and financial fraud. Mr. Frank will explore issues such… more

Tim Golden is an investigative journalist who writes about legal policy in the fight against terrorism and other issues related to the treatment of terror suspects. He is on leave from The New York Times, where he is a senior writer and a contributor to The New York Times Magazine.… more

David E. Gray directs the New America Foundation’s Workforce and Family Program, which researches and develops solutions to social and family issues and builds common ground between people across ideological, political and theological boundaries. He manages the program’s various projects, directs its Healthy Families and Religious Center Initiatives, and… more

Leif Wellington Haase is Director of New America’s California Program, which aims to improve the state’s public debate by sponsoring a wide range of research, writing, and events on issues of critical importance to the future of California. His primary responsibilities include promoting the work of New America’s programs and… more

Jacob S. Hacker is Professor of Political Science at Yale University. An expert on the politics and character of U.S. social policy in historical and cross-national perspective, he is currently heading a Social Science Research Council project on the “privatization of risk.” In recent years, he has been a participant… more

William D. Hartung is Director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. The project serves as a resource for journalists, policymakers, and citizen’s organizations on the issues of weapons proliferation, the economics of military spending, and alternative approaches to national security strategy.

Before coming to New… more

Steven Hill is Director of the Political Reform Program at the New America Foundation, which seeks to identify and develop the best opportunities for political and electoral reform, educate opinion leaders and the public about electoral alternatives, and encourage the formation of a broad-based coalition for reform. Mr. Hill… more

Kelleen Kaye is an analyst and policy expert on family structure and family relationships as they relate to child, youth, and parental well-being. She has been a senior policy analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked on efforts targeting single parenthood, teen pregnancy, healthy-marriage promotion,… more

Parag Khanna is an expert on geopolitics, global governance, and Asian and European affairs, and was most recently the Global Governance Fellow at The Brookings Institution. He has worked at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, where he specialized in scenario and risk planning, and at the Council on… more

Joel Kotkin is an internationally recognized authority on global economic, political, and social trends. He is the author of six books, including, The City: A Global History (Modern Library, 2005), as well as the bestseller, The New Geography: How the Digital Revolution Is Reshaping the American Landscape (Random House, 2002).… more

Flynt Leverett is a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, and global energy issues. From 1992 to 2003, he had a distinguished career in the U.S. government, serving as Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, Middle East Expert… more

Daniel Levy is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Policy Initiative of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. He was the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative and directed policy planning and international efforts at the Geneva Campaign Headquarters in Tel Aviv. Previously,… more

Jeffrey G. Lewis is Director of the Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative at the New America Foundation. The Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative seeks to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in international security and renew the fundamental bargain contained in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The author of Minimum Means… more

Anatol Lieven, a former senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, previously covered Central Europe for The Financial Times; Pakistan, Afghanistan, the former Soviet Union, and Russia for The Times (London), and India as a freelance journalist. He was also an editor at the International Institute for Strategic… more

Michael B. Likosky is co-director of New America’s Law and Globalization Initiative. He holds a doctorate from the Law Faculty of Oxford University and a JD from Yeshiva University. He is Principal at Social Risks LLC and also Reader in International Economic Law in the Law School at the School… more

Michael Lind is the Whitehead Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation. He is the author, with Ted Halstead, of The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics (Doubleday, 2001). He is also the author of Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics (New… more

Eric Liu is an author and educator who has served in leadership roles in national politics and media. His most recent book, The True Patriot, co-authored with Nick Hanauer, is a pamphlet in the style of Thomas Paine that argues for a new progressive patriotism. He is also the author… more

Phillip Longman, a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, is the author of numerous articles and books on demographics, economics, and social change. His work has appeared in such publications as The Atlantic Monthly, Der Spiegel, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Harvard Business Review, The New… more

Barry C. Lynn is a business and political journalist, and an expert on global industrial systems, corporate organization, trade, energy, emerging technology, and the development of middle-income nations. He is the author of the groundbreaking work End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation (Doubleday,… more

As President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which is housed at the New America Foundation, and the Director of the Fiscal Policy Program, Maya MacGuineas oversees the Foundation's efforts to bring accountability to the budget process, address the challenges presented by the nation's underfunded entitlements programs, and… more

Lisa Margonelli writes about the global culture and economy of energy. Her book about the oil supply chain, Oil On the Brain: Adventures from Pump To Pipeline, was published by Nan Talese/Doubleday in 2007. She has also been published in the New York Times online, Washington Post, Los Angeles… more

Andrés Martinez directs New America's Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program, which seeks to identify and support the next generation of American public policy scholars and writers.

Mr. Martinez was the Editorial Page Editor of the Los Angeles Times for nearly three years, beginning in September 2004, and also presided over the… more

Joe Mathews, a fourth-generation Californian, writes about his home state and its politics, media, labor, and real estate. He is the author of The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy (PublicAffairs, 2006), an account of Governor Schwarzenegger’s first term and his use of ballot measures as… more

Douglas McGray writes about social and international issues, technology, and culture for The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Public Radio International's This American Life, the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, Wired, The Washington Post, Mother Jones and The Economist. His work has been profiled… more

Sara Mead conducts research and writes about early childhood, elementary, and secondary education. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post and USA Today, and on CBS and ABC News. Before joining New America, Ms. Mead was a senior policy analyst with Education Sector, where she focused on issues… more

Rajan Menon is the Monroe J. Rathbone Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University. He was an Academic Fellow and Senior Advisor at the Carnegie Corporation of New York for two years, where he played a key role in developing the Corporation’s Russia Initiative. Dr. Menon was also a Senior… more

Afshin Molavi is the author of Persian Pilgrimages: Journeys Across Iran (Norton, 2002), which was nominated for the Thomas Cook literary travel book of the year and described by Foreign Affairs as “a brilliant tableau of today’s Iran.” A former Dubai-based correspondent for the Reuters news agency and a regular… more

Karen L. Murrell is the founder and president of Higher Heights Consulting and Training, a privately held firm located in Silver Spring, Maryland, that works with the financial services industry to develop programs and products to improve the financial well-being of lower-income consumers. Ms. Murrell has developed innovative alliances between… more

Annette Nellen is a professor in the department of accounting and finance at San José State University, where she teaches graduate-level tax courses. She speaks and writes frequently on tax policy matters, tax reform, tax accounting, and high-technology tax issues. In 2000, she served on the academic panel that advised… more

Len Nichols, a highly respected healthcare economist, directs the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, which aims to expand health insurance coverage to all Americans while reining in costs and improving the efficiency of the overall health care system. Before joining New America, Dr. Nichols was the Vice… more

Mark Paul is an award-winning writer, editor, and policy expert with wide experience in journalism and California state government and politics. He covered California for 24 years, first as Editorial Page Editor and National Editor of the Oakland Tribune, then as Deputy Editorial Page Editor and columnist for… more

James P. Pinkerton worked in the White House under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Since leaving government in 1993, he has been a columnist for Newsday, a contributor to the Fox News Channel, and a regular on Fox’s Newswatch show. He has also been a member of… more

Jedediah Purdy is Assistant Professor of Law at Duke Law School, where he teaches ethics, and property, constitutional, and environmental law. He was a Fellow at the New America Foundation in 2001 and 2002, and rejoined the Foundation in 2004 after completing a clerkship with Judge Pierre N. Leval of… more

Douglas Rediker is co-director of New America's Global Strategic Finance Initiative. This project, sponsored jointly by the American Strategy and Economic Growth programs, explores the challenges and opportunities presented in a rapidly evolving multi-polar financial world. He returned to the United States this year following 16 years… more

Reihan Salam is an associate editor at The Atlantic, and was previously a producer for NBC News, a junior editor and editorial researcher at The New York Times, a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a reporter-researcher at The New Republic. He is the co-author of Grand… more

Nicholas Schmidle writes about the intersection of culture, religion and politics abroad. He has reported from South and Central Asia, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Slate, The New Republic, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Washington Post and many other publications. He appears on NPR,… more

Mark Schmitt is a noted voice on reform of the political process and an expert on campaign finance, congressional procedure, and state-level politics. He has written extensively on budget and tax policy, and on the history and role of ideas in politics. In 2005, Mr. Schmitt began a monthly column,… more

As New Media Editor, Troy K. Schneider is responsible for the organization’s online presence -- ensuring that New America is both an innovator with its own sites and an active player in the larger online community.Prior to joining the New America Foundation, Mr. Schneider was Managing Director for… more

Sherle Schwenninger directs the New America Foundation's Economic Growth and Global Middle Class Programs. He is also the former editor of the Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program. Mr. Schwenninger was Founding Editor of World Policy Journal from 1983 to 1992, and served as Director of the World Policy Institute… more

Ellen Seidman is Director of the Financial Services and Education Project in the Asset Building Program of the New America Foundation. The project aims to provide national leadership on public policy issues related to expanding access to wealth-building financial services, especially for low- and moderate-income families; improving financial education; forging… more

Michael Shtender-Auerbach is co-director of New America’s Law and Globalization Initiative. He is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Social Risks LLC. He holds a Masters Degree in International Relations from Columbia University and has studied at Cyprus College, Hebrew University, and the New School for Social Research. more

Fred M. Ssewamala is Assistant Professor of Social Work in the Columbia University School of Social Work, and a Faculty Associate with the Center for Social Development at Washington University (St. Louis). Dr. Ssewamala designed programs for poverty alleviation and community development, with an emphasis on asset-development initiatives, for the… more

Margaret Talbot is currently a staff writer at The New Yorker. She has also written for The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, where she published numerous cover stories as a contributing writer from 1999 to 2003, and The Atlantic Monthly, among other publications. Her essays have been anthologized… more

Terry Tamminen is the Cullman Senior Fellow for Climate Change and Director of the Climate Policy Program at the New America Foundation. The goal of this program is to build a national response to climate change through the establishment of state and local action plans.Before joining New America,… more

Nicholas Thompson was most recently a senior editor at Legal Affairs Magazine and, before that, an editor at Washington Monthly. He is now a contributing editor at both publications and an editor at Wired. Mr. Thompson has written about politics, technology, and the law for The New York Times, The… more

Rick Wartzman is the director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University. Before taking this post, he worked for two decades as a newspaper reporter, editor and business columnist. He began his career in 1987 at The Wall Street Journal, where he served in a variety of positions, including… more

Jennifer Washburn is the author of University, Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education (Basic Books, 2005), which has received critical acclaim both inside and outside academia. Her book explores the commercial transformation of American higher education over the last 25 years, and the effect this is having on disinterested… more

Ted Widmer is Director of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, one of America's premier centers for research into early American history. From 2001 to 2006, he was the inaugural director of the C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College, where… more

Robert Wright is the author of The Moral Animal: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology (Peter Smith, 1997) and Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny (Pantheon, 2000). He is a contributing editor for The New Republic and a contributor to Time and Slate. He has also written for The Atlantic… more