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FAQCamp Speakers
Speakers for the 2013 Government Camp are currently being scheduled. Once confirmed, speakers will be listed in this section of the website. As you can see, our 2012 Government Camp speakers represented a variety of experts:
The following individuals presented at the 2012 camp events. We also invite you to check out the past camp speakers for an overview of other presenters.
Admiral Vern Clark
United States Navy (Retired)
Admiral Clark completed a distinguished 37-year Navy career in 2005. His Navy experience spans his early days in destroyers, early command in a Patrol Gunboat as a Lieutenant and concluded in the halls of the Pentagon as the Chief of Naval Operations and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In between, he commanded over 50 percent of his career including three ships, two destroyer squadrons, the Atlantic Fleet's Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center, a Carrier Battle Group, the Second Fleet, NATO's Striking Fleet, and the Atlantic Fleet. His career is also marked by an unusual amount of joint service. In the decade of the 1990's, he served seven of the 10 years in the joint and combined area culminating in his assignment as the Director of the Joint Staff in Washington D.C.
Admiral Clark's tenure as CNO was a period of significant change and renewed vision. He was the first CNO to be extended in office under the Goldwater-Nichols framework as he became the second longest serving CNO in history. In 2002 he charted a course for the future by publishing Sea Power 21, a vision for the first part of the 21st century to exploit the advantages of operating from the world's oceans. His number one priority was to "win the battle for people," which led to the development of a 21st century human capital strategy and revolution of the training, development and assignment processes within the Navy. The result was the best recruiting and retention in history. Finally, he forged an effort to build the Navy as an enterprise which would be able to compete in the 21st century market place leading to billions of dollars in savings for the taxpayers of the nation and the highest operational readiness the Navy had witnessed in decades.
Admiral Clark has received numerous military decorations for his service including four awards of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, three Navy Distinguished Medals, and three awards of the Legion of Merit. Along with his Navy and Joint awards, he was honored by Distinguished Service Medals received from the United States Army, United States Air Force, the United States Coast Guard, and international awards received from Germany, Italy, France, South Korea, Japan, Portugal, Singapore, and the Netherlands. Since his retirement he has been honored with the Eisenhower Award from the Business Executives of North America, the Distinguished Sea Service Award from the Naval Order of the United States, and the Distinguished Service Medal of the Military Order of the World Wars.
Admiral Clark earned his undergraduate degree from Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri, and an MBA from the University of Arkansas. He has since received Honorary Doctorate degrees from the University of Toledo, Old Dominion University, Northwest University and Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Admiral Clark serves on the Board of Directors of Raytheon Company, Rolls Royce North America, and SRI International where he is Chairman of the Board. In the world of education he was named a Distinguished Professor in the schools of Government and Leadership at Regent University and elected to the Board of Trustees/Visitors at Regent University, Vanguard University and Air University. He serves as a senior advisor with Booz Allen Hamilton, the Defense Business Board, the advisory boards of Fleishman-Hillard, Robertson Fuel Systems LLC, Cubic Defense Applications, Inc. and the Executive Committee of Military Ministry.
Admiral Clark and his wife, Connie, reside in Arizona and Virginia.
Captain James V. Ritchie
Medical Corps, United States Navy
Captain Ritchie is a native of Canton Mississippi. Upon graduation from Millsaps College in 1984, he attended the University of Mississippi School of Medicine on a Navy Health Professions Scholarship. A member of AOA, he graduated in 1988 and entered active duty as a Transitional Intern at the Naval Medical Center San Diego.
Subsequently, Captain Ritchie served as a Flight Surgeon with Logistics Support Squadron VR-24 in Sigonella, Italy and Adversary Fighter Squadron VF-45 in Key West, FL from 1990-1995. In 1995 he was named AIRLANT Flight Surgeon of the Year.
In 1995, Captain Ritchie returned to the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth for a residency in Emergency Medicine, serving as Chief Resident in his final year. He has been a staff emergency physician at Portsmouth since graduating in 1998.
While at the Naval Medical Center, Captain Ritchie served as the Assistant Emergency Medicine Program Director from 2000-2002, assuming the role of Program Director from 2002-2009. Currently, he serves as the Simulation Center Medical Director.
Captain Ritchie was honored to deploy to Kandahar, Afghanistan with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in 2001-2002 and to the Bastion Role 3 Hospital, Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2009-2010.
An enthusiast in the fields of Emergency Medicine, resident education, medical simulation, and combat medicine, Captain Ritchie served as the President of the Government Services Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
His honors and awards include: Excellence in Military Emergency Medicine Award from Government Services chapter of ACEP, the ACEP National Faculty Teaching Award, Best Innovation in Emergency Medicine Education from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Faculty Teaching Award from the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors, and Assistant Professorship of Military and Emergency Medicine at USUHS. He was awarded either the Mentor or Teaching Award from the graduating residents of the Emergency Medicine residency program at Portsmouth for six consecutive years, and in 2009, the Teaching Award was renamed the Ritchie Award.
Captain Ritchie's military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and Combat Action Ribbon.
He is married to the phenomenal Martha Ritchie and has six fabulous children, Sarah, Josh, Perry, Helen, Meredith, and James, aged 21 to 6. He is a member and elder at Avalon Hills Bible Church in Virginia Beach.
Dr. David Meyer
Associate Professor of Government, Department of Government, History and Criminal Justice
Dr. David J. Meyer serves as Associate Professor of Government in the Department of Government, History and Criminal Justice in the College of Arts & Sciences at Regent University. He received his BA in Russian Area Studies from Drew University (Madison, NJ), his M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in the City of New York. He earned the graduate certificate of the W. Averell Harriman Institute for Advanced Studies of the Former Soviet Union, equivalent to a Masters of Russian Area Studies. He has taught as Full-Time Adjunct at Touro College (New York, NY), Visiting Docent at Saratov State University (Saratov, Russia), Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Cedarville University (Cedarville, Ohio), and Associate Professor of Political Science at George Fox University (Newberg, Oregon). In 2009, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies selected Dr. Meyer as an Academic Fellow to participate in an all-expense paid seminar, "Defending Democracy, Defeating Terrorism," in Israel from May 30 - June 10. The program features an intensive, 10-day course on terrorism and the threat it poses to democratic societies. In 2010, Dr. Meyer was a Fellow of the Lehrman American Studies Institute at Princeton University. In 2011, Dr. Meyer was a Fellow of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University's Summer Institute of Israel Studies, studying at Brandeis, in Israel, and in the West Bank. Approved july 9, 2012
Dr. Meyer is considered an expert on Russia and the former Soviet Republics. He is also fluent in the Russian language. His specialties include foreign policy, international relations, comparative politics, ethnic conflict resolution, revolutions, federalism, and the history and politics of Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia. His most recent article is, "Collective Bail's War Against Learning: How an Instructor Can Combat Krugovaya Poruka." The Journal of Ethnographic and Quantitative Research in Education. 2 (October, 2007).
Shannon Kendrick
District Director for Congressman Scott Rigell for Virginia's 2nd Congressional District
Shannon Kendrick serves as District Director for Congressman Scott Rigell for Virginia's 2nd Congressional District. Shannon previously served as the Assistant Director of Enrollment at Regent University's Robertson School of Government. While at Regent, she received the 2010 President's Award for Excellence and served as Coalitions Coordinator for the "Scott Rigell for Congress" campaign.
Shannon is a graduate of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma, where she served as President of the Gamma Beta Phi National Honor Society, was recipient of the 2008 Government School of Arts and Cultural Studies Outstanding Academic Achievement Award and earned her Bachelor's degree with Magna Cum Laude Honors in Government and Law.
She has served with the Leadership Institute, the National College Republican Committee, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and various political campaigns. She is currently completing her Masters of Business Administration at Regent University and she is Founder and President of The National Black Conservative Alliance.
Jorge Esteban Maciel, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, BioChemistry Branch
Research and Technology Directorate
Dr. Jorge E. Maciel is a senior research scientist at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) in BioSciences and serves as the principal investigator for research efforts in both biological agent detection and the computational evaluation of next-generation sequencing technologies.
Dr. Maciel is an experienced molecular microbiologist with 10+ years of research experience, specializing and serving as a subject matter expert in the areas of Infectious Diseases and Immunology. Dr. Maciel actively supports the ECBC BioChemistry Branch at developing new antibodies against various biological and chemical agents of interest, facilitating knowledge in biological threat agents and the scientific principles which limit the effectiveness of current biological detectors, samples, assays and countermeasures.
Dr. Maciel joined Excet, Inc. in supporting ECBC upon completion of a National Research Council (NRC) Post-doctoral Research Fellowship with the BioDefense Branch and was the recipient of a 2008 U.S. Army Seedling Initiative Program.
In addition to his laboratory experience working with various toxins, Dr. Maciel successfully developed a novel portable ricin activity detection substrate and assay, leading to a provisional patent. Dr. Maciel received his B.S. from the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN) and awarded his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from Johns Hopkins University - School of Public Health (Baltimore, MD).
Hank Crawford
Special Agent, Virginia State Police
Special Agent Hank Crawford has been a member of the Virginia State Police for 17 years. After graduating from the State Police Academy in 1994, he was assigned to Gloucester County where he served as a Trooper for ten years.
In 2004, Crawford was promoted to Special Agent and assigned to the Drug Enforcement Section within the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations. After eighteen months in the Drug Enforcement Section he transferred to the General Investigation Section which investigates various misdemeanor and felony crimes committed within the Commonwealth.
Special Agent Crawford's primary role with the State Police today is that of a Forensic Psychophysiologist, more commonly referred to as a polygrapher. He graduated from the Baxter School of Lie Detection in San Diego, California in 2006, and has performed over 250 polygraph examinations. Crawford is also a graduate of the Virginia Forensic Science Academy and serves as a crime scene investigator.
In addition to his service to the Commonwealth of Virginia, Special Agent Crawford has over twenty-five years of military experience as a flight medic and military policeman. He is a veteran of both Desert Shield/Storm and Iraqi Freedom.
Crawford is a 1990 graduate of Chapman University in Orange, California where he earned a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Social Sciences.
SA Crawford will be presenting an overview regarding the use of polygraph in detecting deception in criminal investigations and in national security matters.
Dee Sterling
Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal Division
Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk/Newport News, Virginia
Ms. Sterling Graduated from Union College, Schenectady, NY, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in philosophy and history. She Received JD from William and Mary Law School and immediately following law school, clerked for the Hon. J. Calvitt Clarke, Jr., United States District Court Judge, Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division.
Ms. Sterling has prosecuted on the state level for the City of Portsmouth and City of Newport News before joining the United States Attorney's Office in Norfolk as an Assistant United States Attorney, where she has worked for the past 17 years, currently in the Newport News Office.
Nick Proffitt
Deputy United States Marshal
Deputy United States Marshal Nick Proffitt has been a Deputy Marshal for 18 years where he currently serves in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Deputy United States Marshal Nick Proffitt has been a Deputy Marshal for 19 years where he currently serves in the Eastern District of Virginia. Deputy Marshal Proffitt will be presenting an overview of the duties and responsibilities of the U.S. Marshals Service. The presentation will cover a brief history of the Service, and will introduce attendees to the current and future responsibilities of "America's Oldest Law Enforcement Agency".
Colonel Joseph A. Sexton
Chief, Force Analysis Branch, Joint Staff
Colonel Sexton serves as the Chief, Force Analysis Branch, Joint Staff J31. The Force Analysis Branch is responsible for monitoring world-wide Joint Force readiness and providing analysis to Joint Staff senior leadership enabling timely and effective Global Force Management. Force Analysis specifically provides analyses on unit readiness, force availability, capabilities, organizational structure, and training assessments of over 1.1 million forces within the Department of Defense.
Colonel Sexton received his Air Force commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Michigan State University in 1988. He is a veteran of Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Provide Promise, Joint Endeavor, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. He is a command pilot with 19 years of military aviation experience and over 4,700 flying hours, primarily in the C-130 Hercules. He has served at the Squadron command level and Deputy Group command level. In addition to the Joint Staff, his previous staff experience includes J3 Operations, U.S. Joint Forces Command and Acquisitions Requirements Manager, Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
Colonel Sexton's education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in System Science Engineering from Michigan State University and a Master of Education Administration from the University of Oklahoma. He also holds a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington D.C. He is currently enrolled in the Career Switcher Provisional Teacher Licensure program at Regent University.
Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riano Camp Director
Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riano serves as the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Regent University and an Associate Professor of Government.
Dr. Moreno-Riano has a distinguished scholarly career including serving as a Fellow in the Lehrman American Studies Center, an Academic Fellow in the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Fellow in the Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship at the University of Cincinnati, and a Visiting Professor in the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University (Budapest). In 2008, Dr. Moreno-Riano was invited to inaugurate the Iwata Distinguished Lectures in Politics, Economics, and Christian Ethics at Biola University with five endowed lectures.
Dr. Moreno-Riano's areas of expertise include the history of political philosophy with a special emphasis in early modern political ideas, democratic theory, and political theology and ethics. Dr. Moreno-Riano's publications include five authored/edited books as well as numerous chapters and journal articles in peer-reviewed books and academic journals.
His latest publications include the edited The World of Marsilius of Padua opens in a new window (Brepols, 2007) and the co-authored The Prospect of Internet Democracy opens in a new window (Ashgate, 2009). In 2007, Dr. Moreno-Riano was the runner-up in ISI's Templeton Culture of Enterprise contest for his article "Natural Law and Modern Economic Theory." Dr. Moreno-Riano has given invited and accepted scholarly lectures in various prestigious national and international scholarly conferences. Dr. Moreno-Riano is a member of the American Political Science Association, the Renaissance Society of America, and the Association for Political Theory.
Dr. Moreno-Riano has been featured in numerous television, radio, and print interviews or publications through such outlets as CBN News, WAVY-TV (NBC local affiliate), AOL News, Voice of America Radio, Voice of America China Bureau, American Family Radio, WCDR Front Page, Washington Post, Washington Times, Cincinnati Enquirer, Richmond Dispatch, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and Portfolio Weekly. He holds a B.A. (cum laude) from Cedarville University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Cincinnati.
