About the Speaker
Judge Thomas B. Griffith brings unparalleled expertise to this discussion. His career spans service as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, chief legal officer of the U.S. Senate, and general counsel at Brigham Young University. Judge Griffith’s current roles include Lecturer on Law at Harvard and Stanford, Fellow at BYU’s Wheatley Institute, and Special Counsel at Hunton Andrews Kurth. A respected voice on constitutional law and rule of law initiatives, he has contributed significantly to domestic and international legal discourse. Judge Griffith is also a member of former President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court and has supported bipartisan judicial confirmations.
Lord Dr. Michael Hastings
Lord Dr. Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE is an Independent Peer in the UK House of Lords and a Professor of Leadership at the Stephen R. Covey Center at Utah State University’s Huntsman School of Business.
He is Chairman of SOAS University, London, former Chancellor of Regent’s University London, and a Non-Executive Director at Saxton Bampfylde and Cornerstone VC. Previously, he served as Global Head of Citizenship for KPMG International and Head of Public Affairs at the BBC.
A longtime advocate for education, social justice, and community development, he has received numerous honors, including a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for services to crime reduction and a UNICEF Global Award for his work supporting Africa’s children, and the inaugural Stephen R. Covey Principle-Centered Leadership Award in 2019.
Jeannie L. Johnson
Jeannie L. Johnson is a professor of political science at Utah State University and director of USU’s Center for Anticipatory Intelligence.
Her work focuses on strategic culture and its impact on security policy, intelligence, and military operations. Before academia, she served in the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence and with the U.S. State Department. Dr. Johnson pioneered the Cultural Topography analytic method and has authored multiple works on national security, including The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture, with a foreword by former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. She holds a doctorate in strategic studies from the University of Reading.
Joseph P. Ward
Joseph P. Ward is dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah State University. A historian specializing in 16th- and 17th-century England, he has authored or edited eight books, including Culture, Faith, and Philanthropy and London: A Social and Cultural History 1550-1750.
Before joining USU in 2016, he was a professor and chair of History at the University of Mississippi.