Keynote Speakers

The presentations from these speakers will be livestreamed from our in-person event in NYC.

Ryan Anderson

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., is the President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the Founding Editor of Public Discourse, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey.

He is the author of When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment and Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom. He is the co-author of  What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense and Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination, and the co-editor of A Liberalism Safe for Catholicism? Perspectives from “The Review of Politics.”

Anderson’s research has been cited by two U.S. Supreme Court justices, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, in two Supreme Court cases.

He received his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, and he received his doctoral degree in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. His dissertation was titled: “Neither Liberal Nor Libertarian: A Natural Law Approach to Social Justice and Economic Rights.”

Janice Breidenbach

Dr. Janice Chik Breidenbach is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ave Maria University, and Member (research affiliate) of the Aquinas Institute at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford. She holds degrees in philosophy, public policy, and music performance from Princeton University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of St Andrews in the UK. In addition to teaching a wide range of courses at Ave Maria University, including the Philosophy of Motherhood, Philosophy of Art and Beauty, Ethics, and Logic, Dr. Breidenbach has given countless public talks in the US and UK relating to womanhood and feminism, beauty and the home, the philosophy of fashion, marriage and friendship, and bioethics. Her research specialty is in the philosophy of action and law, and she is completing a book on the philosophy of the First Amendment. Previously, she was a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Oxford (2017 and 2019), and the 2019-20 John and Daria Barry Foundation Fellow and Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Brad Wilcox

Director, National Marriage Project/ Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia

Jason Trennert

Mr. Trennert is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Strategas and its related companies. In addition, as Chief Investment Strategist, Mr. Trennert is known as one of Wall Street’s top thought leaders on the subject of markets and economic policy. His research pieces are read by leading institutional investors and corporate executives across the globe.

In 2006, Mr. Trennert co-founded Strategas, which originally began with just five employees. Today, the firm employs over fifty research analysts, institutional salesmen, and sales traders at its offices in New York and Washington D.C. Prior to founding Strategas, Mr. Trennert was the Chief Investment Strategist and a Senior Managing Director at International Strategy & Investment (ISI) Group where he built and oversaw two of that Firm’s most popular research efforts, its Company Surveys, and Investment Strategy groups.  Widely quoted in the domestic and foreign press, Jason is a regular guest on business news programs broadcast by CNBC, CNBC Italia, Fox Business News, and Bloomberg TV, among others. He is the author of three books about investing and the investment business. My Side of the Street was published by St. Martin’s Press in May 2015.  He has authored several op-eds for The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Investor’s Business Daily. 

Mr. Trennert’s two most notable calls involved coining the phrase “TINA” as it relates to equities in a world of perpetually low interest rates and his early recognition of the potential allure of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate.  His op-ed “The Stock Market and “The ‘TINA’ Factor” was published in The Wall Street Journal in April 2013.  “What the Donald Got Right” was published in Investor’s Business Daily in May 2011.  His piece “Donald Trump is Underowned” appeared on the website Real Clear Markets in August 2015.  Mr. Trennert credits his often out-of-consensus calls to his frequent travels to visit clients in 45 states and 25 foreign countries. 

He is committed to a number of Italian, Italian-American, and Catholic causes in New York and abroad. For his efforts he was honored at the 66th Annual Columbus Day parade in New York and was awarded the honorific of Cavaliere by the Republic of Italy on June 2, 2017.  Mr. Trennert is a member of the investment committees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the National WWII Museum. 

He has an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and BS in International Economics from Georgetown University. 

Anthony P. Cannizzaro

Dr. Cannizzaro is Associate Professor of International Business and Strategic Management at the Busch School of Business at Catholic University in Washington, DC, where he also serves as Director of the school's Strategy Management & Operations academic area. His research is interdisciplinary, drawing insights from institutional economics, political economy, and economic sociology to examine corporate strategy, investment, and accountability. He is the founder and academic director of the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship's new Family Business Consortium. He is also the founder of the center's new Good Economy Lab - a collaborative research project which draws insights from Catholic Social Teaching to explore how market economies contribute to human flourishing.

Patrick Kilner

Pat Kilner is an 18-year veteran of the real estate industry and is the founder and CEO of Kilner Kirk Real Estate. Kilner Kirk is one of very few teams nationally to have total lifetime sales over $1 Billion. Pat holds a degree in Business from the Catholic University of America where he also played for four years on the men’s soccer team. He also holds a masters in economics from La Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona and is the co-founder of the DC Accelerator - a professional development program for young professionals. Pat currently serves as the Chairman of the board for his alma mater, the Heights School. On October 2nd, 2021, Pat  will release his first book: Find Your Six - Stop Lead Generating and Start Building Influence. Most importantly Pat is the husband of his beautiful bride of 17 years, Elena, and the father of eight children. He also makes a killer paella.

Robert Flanigan

Bob Flanigan is a Co Founder of Educate LLC, which provides coaching and professional development to schools combining technology with strong instructional practice to drive better outcomes. Prior to Educate, Bob worked in structured finance at Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan, calling on the financial sector. Bob holds a Masters of Management in Finance and Marketing from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and a BA in History from Dartmouth College.
Bob became involved in education by founding advisory boards at several South Bronx Parochial schools. He founded The Curran Principal Academy, a partnership with The Archdiocese of New York, to train a new generation of Catholic school leaders. Bob seeks out, supports, and consults with Catholic apostolates that propose missionary discipleship as a way to live the faith and renew our church.

Bob lives in New York City with his wife, Polly, and their four children, and loves camping, hiking, hunting, and fishing.

Blake Masters

Blake Masters grew up in Tucson, Arizona. He attended Stanford University and Stanford Law School. Blake runs Thiel Capital, a multi-billion dollar firm that invests in new technology companies, and the Thiel Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that promotes science and innovation. The Foundation’s Thiel Fellowship Program has paid 225 young people to drop out of college and instead create new companies, which are together now worth more than $45 billion. In 2014, Blake co-authored the #1 New York Times bestseller Zero to One, which sold more than three million copies. Blake lives in Tucson—a short drive from where he and his wife Catherine grew up. They homeschool their three sons, Miles, Graham, and Rex, and they enjoy hiking in the desert.

Stephanie Slade

Stephanie Slade is managing editor at Reason magazine, where she covers the intersection of religion and politics. In 2016, she was selected to the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. In 2013, she was named a finalist for the Bastiat Prize for Journalism. Previously, she worked as a pollster, a speechwriter, and a contributor to America magazine and U.S. News and World Report.

Patrick T. Brown

Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where his work focuses on developing a robust pro-family economic agenda and supporting families as the cornerstone of a healthy and flourishing society. Prior to joining EPPC, Brown served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee (JEC). While at JEC, he published reports on childcare affordability and education policy and helped lead research about how to make it more affordable to raise a family and more effectively invest in youth and young adults. He holds a master’s degree from Princeton University and has been published in The New York Times, National Review, The Washington Post, National Affairs, and other publications.

David DeWolf 

David DeWolf lives at the intersection of business, technology, and leadership. After starting a software product development company, 3Pillar Global, almost by accident at the age of 26, David has grown the organization to more than 1000 employees around the globe. 3Pillar Global is an innovative product development partner whose solutions drive rapid revenue, market share, and customer growth for industry leaders like CARFAX, Fortune, and PBS. 3Pillar has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the U.S. eight times, was a 2019 CODiE award winner for Outsourcing Firm of the Year, and was recognized by research advisory firm Forrester three years running as a leading digital experience provider and custom software development firm. After a little more than a decade in business, both 3Pillar and David have racked up dozens of awards, including Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Mid-Atlantic region, SmartCEO Magazine’s Future 50, Washington DC’s 40 Under 40, and Virginia’s Fantastic 50. A board member and angel investor, David is a columnist for Fortune and Inc. Magazine. His insights on the digital economy, innovation, culture, and company growth have been featured in Fast Company, Inc., Entrepreneur, and ZDNet, among others. David is also the author of "The Product Mindset: Succeed in the Digital Economy by Changing the Way Your Organization Thinks," which was a Gary's Book Club bestseller at CES 2020.

David Bahnsen

David L. Bahnsen is the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a bi-coastal private wealth management firm with offices in Newport Beach, CA and New York City, managing over $3 billion in client assets. 

David is consistently named as one of the top financial advisors in America by Barron’s, Forbes, and the Financial Times. 

He brought The Bahnsen Group independent in April 2015 after eight years as a Chairman's Club Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and seven years as a First Vice President at UBS Financial Services. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business and is a regular contributor to National Review. 

David serves on the Board of Directors for the National Review Institute and is a founding Trustee for Pacifica Christian High School of Orange County. He is the author several best-selling books including Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It (2018), and The Case for Dividend Growth: Investing in a     Post-Crisis World (2019).  His latest, There’s No Free Lunch: 250 Economic Truths, comes out in November of 2021. 

David's true passions include anything related to USC football, the financial markets, politics, and reading. His ultimate passions are his wife of 20+ years, Joleen, their children, Mitchell, Sadie, and Graham, and the life they’ve created together on both coasts.

Rob Lachenauer

Rob Lachenauer is the co-author of the Harvard Business Review Family Business Handbook and co-founder and Managing Partner of BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors. That was not the career path he initially imagined for himself. Rob was groomed to be a hardball businessperson. After graduating from Harvard Business School, he joined the Boston Consulting Group, the top business strategy firm. While at BCG, he co-authored Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win?, which described seven strategies to trounce your competition. Hardball sold over 45,000 copies and been translated into ten languages.

 After his third daughter’s birth, however, Rob needed to make a choice to be either an all-in BCG partner or a great dad. He chose the dad track. Committed to both family and business, he eventually co-founded BanyanGlobal.

Banyan advises owners of top family businesses, helping them navigate the decisions they face as owners while also strengthening family relationships. Banyan has twice been awarded the prestigious STEP award for the top family business advisory firm in the world. Rob is an expert in leadership, strategy, and governance for family businesses.

 Rob is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, including “Making Better Decisions in Your Family Business,” “What Happens When You Lose Your Mentor,” and “Why I Hired an Executive with a Mental Illness.”

Timothy R. Busch

Tim Busch is a businessman, lawyer, and Catholic philanthropist based in Orange County, California Tim has been Married to Steph for 35 years and they have two children, Garrett and Mackenzie and eight grandchildren. Tim is the Chairman of the Busch Group, a family of companies that include a law firm, hotel management and development company, winery, and faith based non-profit organizations.

Tim and his wife, Steph Busch have been active member of Legatus. With Fr Robert Spitzer, S.J., Tim and Steph co-founded the Magis Institute and the Napa Institute. Tim and John Peiffer co-founded Napa Legal Institute.

As long time advocates of private Catholic schooling, Tim and Steph co-founded St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Laguna Niguel, CA and Jserra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, CA. The Catholic University of America, a Pontifical University in Washington, D.C. named its business school the Tim and Steph Busch School of Business and Economics, in recognition of Tim and Steph’s generous support of the school.

Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.

Fr. Robert Spitzer is a Jesuit, and is currently the President of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith (www.magiscenter.com) and the Spitzer Center for Ethical Leadership (www.spitzercenter.org). He is the host of a weekly international EWTN television program – Father Spitzer’s Universe.

Fr. Spitzer was President of Gonzaga University from 1998 to 2009, where he made significant contributions in faith and ethics programs, facilities, and enrollment. He is the author of twelve books, dozens of scholarly articles, and has appeared on many television series including the Larry King Show confronting Stephen Hawking – as well as PBS, the History Channel, and the Today Show.

Oren Cass

Oren Cass is the executive director of American Compass and author of The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America (2018). He is a contributing opinion writer for the Financial Times and his work also appears regularly in publications including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

From 2005 to 2015, Oren worked as a management consultant in Bain & Company’s Boston and Delhi offices. During this period, he also earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was elected vice president and treasurer of the Harvard Law Review and oversaw the journal’s budget and operations. While still in law school, Oren also became Domestic Policy Director for Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, editing and producing the campaign’s “jobs book” and developing its domestic policy strategy, proposals, and research. He joined the Manhattan Institute as a senior fellow in 2015 and became a prolific scholar, publishing more than 15 reports for MI and editing its popular “Issues 2016” and “Issues 2020” series, testifying before seven congressional committees and speaking on dozens of college campuses. He founded American Compass at the start of 2020.

Breakout Speakers

The presentations by these speakers will be featured in our on-demand video library. 

John Mauldin

John Mauldin is the founder of Mauldin Economics and the publisher of the weekly economic commentary, Thoughts from the Frontline, one of the most widely read investment newsletters in the world.

Louis Gave

Louis Gave is senior economist and partner at Gavekal Research, a leading macroeconomic research firm based in Hong Kong, London, and Beijing.

Dr. Lacy Hunt

Dr. Lacy Hunt is an internationally known economist and Executive Vice President of Hoisington Investment Management, a $5 billion fixed-income manager.

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