Shannon Valentine served as Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation during Governor Ralph Northam’s administration (2018 to 2022), overseeing a $6 billion transportation system that includes the Department of Rail & Public Transportation, Port of Virginia, Virginia Space Authority, Department of Aviation, Virginia Department of Transportation, and Department of Motor Vehicles. As Secretary, she also chaired the Commonwealth Transportation Board. During her term, Virginia led an historic multi-state investment in Metro, launched Transforming Rail in Virginia, finalized a 40% expansion of the Port of Virginia, created the Commonwealth Transportation Fund to support multimodal investments, and completed seven resupply missions to the International Space Station.

Claire Oto is a policy researcher and writer at the NSPC. She also coordinates the Center’s internship program. Prior to joining Batten, she was a communications specialist at the U.S. Department of Energy.  Claire earned an M.P.P in Space and National Security from George Washington University and holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California San Diego.

George Foresman has over three decades of leadership experience in government and business. While serving as Virginia’s homeland security secretary, Foresman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

Melissa Thomas-Hunt is a professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the John Forbes Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Thomas-Hunt focuses on leadership, team dynamics, and negotiations and her research studies the factors that unleash, leverage, and amplify the contributions made by individuals, particularly women, underrepresented individuals, and numerical minorities. 

Lyangela Gutierrez is a postdoctoral research associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Gutierrez researches diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizations by identifying and addressing factors that impact racial and gender equity in organizations.

As of Fall 2023, Gerald Higginbotham is an assistant professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Utilizing social and cultural psychological insights, Higginbotham researches the imprint of history on people’s modern social perceptions and policy attitudes, and the psychological underpinnings of how people perceive history and its consequences. 

Philip N. Jefferson took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on May 23, 2022, to fill an unexpired term ending January 31, 2036. Most recently, Dr. Jefferson was Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of Faculty, and the Paul B. Freeland Professor of Economics at Davidson College. Before then, he served as chair of the Department of Economics at Swarthmore College, where he was the Centennial Professor of Economics. Prior to this position, Dr. Jefferson was an economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. His other past roles include being President of the National Economic Association. He also served on the Vassar College Board of Trustees and the Board of Advisors of the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Malcolm Stewart is a 2018 graduate of the Batten BA program, a current MBA student UVA’s Darden School of Business, and a former Product Manager for Makena Capital Management in Menlo Park, California.

Michele Claibourn is an assistant professor of public policy at the Batten School and Director of Equitable Analysis for The Equity Center at UVA.  Claibourn leads the Center’s community-engaged data science work in support of a more equitable and just region. She has directed or supervised multiple community-based research projects in the Charlottesville community, including racial equity studies for the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless.

Emily Barksdale is a 2021 MPP graduate, justice advocate, and former educator who currently resides in Richmond, Virginia. A native West Virginian, Barksdale spent 7 years teaching middle school in Dallas, TX after graduating with high honors from Furman University in 2012. She began working as a Budget and Policy Analyst for the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget in fall 2021. In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, karaoke, and spending time outside.