Category: Speakers

Co-Founder, HPC Leadership Institute

Mark C. Hopson holds a Ph.D. in intercultural communication (Ohio University) and M.A. and B.A. degrees in organizational communication (Western Michigan University). His main areas of expertise include critical intercultural communication; the rhetoric of race, culture, and gender; and the communication of violence prevention education.

Dr. Hopson’s publications include Notes from the Talking Drum: Exploring Black Communication and Critical Memory in Intercultural Communication Contexts (2011, Hampton Press); and Masculinity in the Black Imagination: Politics of Communicating Race and Gender (2011, Peter Lang).

Dr. Hopson’s research extends his value for teaching and service.  He received the Spirit of King Award (2011, Office of Diversity Programs and Services, George Mason University). Also, he served as chair of the African American Communication and Culture Division of the National Communication Association (2007-2008).

In 2008, Dr. Hopson began facilitating Changing Lives Through Literature (Fairfax County, VA), an alternative sentencing program for men on parole, and juvenile groups. The award winning program has been nationally recognized. In 2007, he was appointed to the leadership committee for the George Mason University Campus Climate Taskforce― an interdisciplinary effort to create safer environments for discourse about cultural difference.

As co-founder of the HPC Leadership Institute, Dr. Hopson facilitates violence prevention education seminars targeting relationship abuse, sexual assault, and harassment prevention. Dr. Hopson believes that cultural and racial sensitivity can lead to social responsibility. He actively promotes communication research that contributes to the health and wellbeing of society.

Host & Executive Producer, The Maggie Linton Show

Maggie Linton has been in broadcasting for 42-years. Maggie began her career in 1972 as a Sports Anchor for the KU Sports Network at KANU-FM in Lawrence, KS.  In 1974 she became Community Affairs Director and weekend Sports Anchor for KAKE-TV in Wichita, KS.  As the first woman Sports Anchor on TV in Wichita, KS she repeated this honor in St. Louis, MO at KPLR-TV and again in Washington, DC at WTTG-TV.

Maggie was a Sports Anchor and feature reporter for XM Satellite Radio USA Today News Channel.  She was also a producer for the Major League Baseball Channel, Associate Producer for the 2006 Grammy Awards, and Host of Red Cross Radio which aided the government, Red Cross and victims of Hurricane Katrina.  From 2006 – 2013 Maggie was Program Director of Sirius XM Book Radio.  At present she is Host and Executive Producer of The Maggie Linton Show, a two hour weekday talk show on Sirius XM Urban View Channel 126. Guests include New York Times bestselling authors, plus stars of sports, entertainment and politics.

Managing Editor, The Weekly Standard

Eric Felten is Managing Editor of The Weekly Standard, a journalist with a deep understanding of American politics and culture. He has appeared on NBC, Fox News, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, and C-SPAN, and has written for the Wall Street Journal, People, Washingtonian, Forbes, Reader’s Digest, National Geographic Traveler, and many other publications. His celebrated cocktail column in the Wall Street Journal won a James Beard Foundation award for best newspaper writing about wine, beer and spirits. His book How’s Your Drink? was named by BuzzFeed as one of the 65 books everyone should read in their twenties. His most recent book is Loyalty: The Vexing Virtue.  From 2009 to 2012 he wrote the culture columns, “De Gustibus” and “Postmodern Times,” for the Wall Street Journal. Felten was also host of the long-running Voice of America-TV current affairs talk show “On the Line,” and anchored VOA’s international broadcast coverage of national news events, including elections and State of the Union addresses. Before that, Eric was a consulting producer, and occasional panelist, for “The McLaughlin Group.”

Executive Director, Student Press Law Center

Frank LoMonte joined SPLC in January 2008 after practicing law with Atlanta-based Sutherland LLP and clerking for federal judges on the Northern District of Georgia and the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Before law school, LoMonte was an award-winning investigative journalist and political columnist for daily newspapers in Florida and Georgia. LoMonte graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was a senior editor of the Georgia Law Review. His articles about the First Amendment and media-law topics have been widely published in Education Week, The Chronicle of Higher Education, the American University Law Review, the University of North Carolina First Amendment Law Review, and in many other outlets.

Commentary Writer, The Washington Examiner

Emily Jashinsky is Commentary Writer for the Washington Examiner, and served previously as the spokeswoman for Young America’s Foundation (YAF)– the nation’s largest conservative youth outreach group and the organization that maintains the Reagan Ranch in California. At YAF, Emily spearheaded media initiatives to push back against bias on college campuses. Her work has been featured everywhere from the Washington Post to “Good Morning America.” She is a regular guest on Fox News and Fox Business. In 2016, Red Alert Politics named Emily to its “30 Under 30 List” of leading young conservatives.

White House Reporter, Washington Examiner

Sarah Westwood is White House Reporter for the Washington Examiner. She previously covered local government for the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal.  She appears frequently on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, and many talk radio programs, including WMAL’s “Mornings on the Mall” and WTOP News in Washington.

Assistant Professor, George Mason University

Emily K. Vraga joined the faculty at George Mason University in 2012 as an assistant professor in the Department of Communication. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and spent one year as a Post-Doctoral Research Instructor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

Dr. Vraga’s research focuses on how individual predispositions and motivations influence the processing of media content, particularly in the evolving digital environment. Her work has investigated a wide range of new media formats, including political blogs, social media networks like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, and television programs that blur the lines between entertainment and information. Dr. Vraga is particularly interested in the ways in which partisans process messages to match their predispositions, as well as techniques that can limit biased information processing and the spread of misinformation.

Editor, Red Alert Politics

Ron Meyer is editor of Red Alert Politics (RAP), which focuses on younger and millennial readers, reaching more than one million monthly readers. RAP also produces an annual “30 under 30” list of influential conservatives under 30.

In 2015, Ron was elected to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and is Northern Virginia’s youngest elected official. He often appears on Fox News, Fox Business, and radio shows nationwide.

Previously, he was spokesman of Young America’s Foundation.

CNN Correspondent

Rene Marsh is CNN’s aviation and government regulation correspondent, based in the network’s Washington bureau. In this position, Marsh reports on all issues related to aviation and transportation – from safety and security to passenger issues, in addition to government regulation.

Marsh joined the network in 2012, and has since reported on several high profile assignments including the disappearance of commercial passenger plane, MH370. Marsh also covered the shoot down of MH17 over Ukraine. During her tenure at CNN Marsh also reported on the ill-fated Asiana flight 214, the U.S Supreme Court Affordable Care Act, and the death of 25 year old Baltimore man, Freddie Gray, who died in police custody.

Prior to CNN, Marsh was a general assignment correspondent for WSVN in Miami, Florida, covering breaking news, local politics, education and sports. She also worked as an investigative reporter and weekend anchor at CBS 6 in Albany, New York.  Marsh started her career as a reporter and anchor at KTAL in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Marsh graduated with honors from Binghamton University and earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.