Linda Aguirre, Senator (D-Minority Leader), Arizona Senate
Senator Aguirre is now in her fourth term in the Arizona State Senate, having been first elected in 1998. She serves as the Democratic Leader and as a member of the Education K-12 Committee and the Judiciary Committee. Mrs. Aguirre also served in the House of Representatives for three terms, from 1993 through 1998. She holds a Teaching Certificate, Principal's Certificate, and a Supervisory Certification in Education, with 10 years of teaching experience and 3 years administrative experience. Her community involvement includes 8 years on the Roosevelt School District Board of Directors; YMCA Board; South Mountain Little League Board; and National Hispanic School Board Association President. Aguirre has a B.A. in Elementary Education and a Masters in Educational Administration and Supervision from Arizona State University.
Ken Bennett, Senator (R-Senate President), Arizona Senate
Bennett was elected to the Senate in 1998 and serves on the Rules Committee along with numerous special committees including chairing the Legislative Council and the Board of Arizona State Library, co-chairing the Joint Legislative Committee on Federal Mandates, and serving on Archives and Public Records. Mr. Bennett is also CEO of Bennett's Oil Company, a role he's held since 1984. His public service career began on the Prescott City Council, where he served from 1985-1989. He was on the Arizona State Board of Education from 1992 - 1999 where he served as President in 1998 and 1996, has served on the Washington, D.C. Education Leaders Council since 1995, was on the Arizona State Charter Schools Board from 1994-1996 and part of the Governor’s Task Force on Education Reform from 1991-1992. Bennett earned a B.S. in Accounting from Arizona State University.
William Beach, Director, Center for Data Analysis, Heritage Foundation
In addition to his responsibilities at the Heritage Foundation, Mr. Beach is also a Visiting Fellow at the University of Buckingham in Great Britain. His areas of expertise include economic analysis, social security and tax reform and immigration. Prior to joining Heritage in 1995, Mr. Beach held a variety of posts in the public, private and academic sectors. He has served as a litigation economist for two law firms as well as an economist for Missouri's Office of Budget and Planning, and served as President of the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. Beach is a graduate of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and holds a master's degree in history and economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
John E. Cox, Jr., President and Founder of The Communications Institute, Pasadena, Calif

The Communications Institute is a consortium of academic and research institutions and scholars dedicated to improving public policy through the application of objective, non-partisan analysis. Cox has more than 35 years of experience in public policy, journalism, and government. He is a former California broadcast journalist and served as Chief of Staff to United States Congressman Barry Goldwater, Jr. in Washington, D.C., and California State Senator Clark Bradley in Sacramento. For 25 years, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of an international nonprofit institution that educated more than 75,000 journalists, business executives plus community and nonprofit leaders in economics, science, law, and communications. He holds a B.S. degree in journalism from San Jose State University.
Judith Gans, Program Manager for Immigration Policy, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona
Gans' areas of expertise include U.S. immigration policy, economics, and Latin American development policy, having studied and written about various public policy topics including citizenship and globalization, U.S.-Mexico immigration reform, immigration in a post-Sept. 11 environment, and historical perspectives on U.S. immigration policy.
Gans received her B.A. in economics from Stanford University, an M.B.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles and a Masters in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government with a concentration in immigration and economic development. She was raised in Mexico and Brazil and is fluent in Portuguese.
Gordon Hanson, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and Department of Economics, University of California, San Diego
In addition to his commitments at the University of California, San Diego, Professor Hanson is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and Co-Editor of the Journal of Development Economics. Prior to joining UCSD in 2001, he was on the economics faculty at the University of Michigan (1998-2001) and at the University of Texas (1992-1998). His current research examines the international migration of high-skilled labor, the causes of Mexican migration to the United States, the consequences of immigration on labor-market outcomes for African-Americans, the relationship between business cycles and foreign outsourcing, and international trade in motion pictures. In recent work, he has studied the impact of globalization on wages, the origins of political opposition to immigration, and the implications of China's growth for the export performance of Mexico and other developing countries. His most recent book is Why Does Immigration Divide America? Public Finance and Political Opposition to Open Borders. He obtained his B.A. in economics from Occidental College in 1986 and his Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1992.
John Humenik, Publisher and Editor, Arizona Daily Star
Prior to assuming his current responsibilities at the Arizona Daily Star, Mr. Humenik served as editor of the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa for seven years and was publisher of On the River and editor of Quad-City Business Journal. Before that, Humenik spent four years as the lead presentation editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer. As graphics editor, he was responsible for the graphics, photo and newsroom systems departments. He also spent eight years at The Times in Munster, Indiana, including four years as an assistant managing editor, and also served as a sportswriter and sports copy editor. Earlier in his career, he was a sports correspondent for the suburban Star Publications newspapers in Chicago Heights, Ill. Mr. Humenik has won several awards, including a dozen Society of News Design awards. During Mr. Humenik’s tenure at The Quad-City Times, the paper was named “Newspaper of the Year” by the Suburban Newspapers of America and one of 10 newspapers that “do it right” by Editor & Publisher magazine. Mr. Humenik serves on API’s News/Editorial Advisory Board and is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University with a B.A. in journalism.
Paul Lewis, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Arizona State University
Lewis joined ASU's faculty in August 2005 as a specialist in urban politics, local government, and public policy in the United States. He is the author of Shaping Suburbia: How Political Institutions Organize Urban Development, which was named an Outstanding Academic Book by Choice. Lewis has published articles in Economic Development Quarterly, Housing Policy Debate (forthcoming), Journal of Policy History, Journal of Urban Affairs, Political Research Quarterly, Polity, State and Local Government Review, and Urban Affairs Review. He also is the author or co-author of seven reports for the Public Policy Institute of California, where he served as Research Fellow and Director of the Government and Public Finance program before coming to ASU. His research has examined such topics as the motivations for local government growth decisions, effects of governmental structure and revenue-raising mechanisms on urban sprawl, attempts by state and federal authorities to influence local planning for housing and transportation, the responsiveness of local officials to immigrant residents, voter turnout in city elections, and public opinion regarding land use. He holds a B.A. from Indiana University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University.
Romano Mazzoli, (D-KY, Ret.), former chairman, House Immigration Committee, author of the Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration Act
Mr. Mazzoli was first elected to public office in 1968 when he joined the Kentucky State Senate and was elected as a Democrat to twelve successive U.S. Congresses from 1971-1995. Mazzoli was Chairman of the House of Representatives' Immigration, International Law and Refugees Subcommittee for twelve years. He also served on the Small Business, Intelligence and District of Columbia Committees. Mazzoli authored the Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration Reform and Control Act, later known as the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, and co-sponsored it with Republican Senator Alan Simpson. He was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1986 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against Harry E. Claiborne, judge of the United States District Court for Nevada. Mazzoli was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1960 following his service in the United States Army and earned his B.S. from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from the University of Louisville Law School, where he graduated first in his class.
Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow, Migration Policy Institute
In 1988, Ms. Meissner created the Endowment's Immigration Policy Project, which evolved into the Migration Policy Institute in 2001. She contributes to MPI's work on U.S. immigration policy, immigration policymaking in an era of globalization, immigration and national security, the politics of immigration, administering immigration systems and government agencies, and migration management cooperation with other countries. She is also the director of MPI’s Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future - a bipartisan group of leaders, elected officials, and policy experts. Meissner first joined the Department of Justice in 1973 as a White House Fellow, served as a special assistant to the Attorney General, then assistant director of the Office of Policy and Planning, executive director of the Cabinet Committee on Illegal Aliens, and deputy associate attorney general. She served as acting commissioner of INS in 1981 and executive associate commissioner until 1986 when she left government to join the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as a senior associate. In 1993, President Clinton tapped her to serve as Commissioner of the INS, then a bureau in the U.S. Department of Justice, a post she held through 2000. Ms. Meissner earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dowell Myers, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Population Dynamics Research Group; USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development
Myers is a specialist in urban growth and development with expertise as a planner and urban demographer. An advisor to the Bureau of the Census, he has authored the most widely referenced work on census analysis, Analysis with Local Census Data: Portraits of Change. His program of research has pursued two contributions to the planning field: bringing people back in as the focus of planning success, and understanding planning as a temporal process of developing the future. Recent research projects have focused on the upward mobility of immigrants to Southern California and the many changes they create in the city, as well as on projections of the future impacts of the growing California population. A fellow of the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy and a member of several advisory boards, Dr. Myers has published recent articles in the Journal of the American Planning Association, Demography, American Sociological Review, and Journal of Housing Research. Myers received a B.A. in anthropology from Columbia, an M.C.P. in City and Regional Planning from U.C. Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from M.I.T.
Paul Portney, Ph.D., Dean, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona
In addition to his responsibilities as Dean of the Eller College of Management, Mr. Portney also holds the College’s Halle Chair in Leadership and is a Professor of Economics.
From 1972 through June of 2005, Portney was with Resources for the Future (RFF), an independent, non-partisan research and educational organization in Washington, D.C., that specializes in energy and the environment. From 1986-1989 he headed two of its research divisions, in 1989 became its vice president, and was named president and CEO in 1995. From 1979-1980, Portney served as chief economist for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He has held visiting teaching positions at both the University of California at Berkeley (1977-1979) and Princeton University (1992-1994), and since 1981 has been a core faculty member for The Washington Campus—a consortium of nearly 20 graduate schools of business that offer classes in Washington for both full-time and executive MBA students—and continuing education programs for major corporations. He is the author or co-author of ten books, including Public Policies for Environmental Protection, and was recently named one of the 100 most-cited researchers in economics and business. Portney received his B.A. in economics from Alma College in Michigan and his Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University.
Pete Rios, Representative, (D-Minority Whip), Arizona House of Representatives
Rios has been a legislator for 21 years and is currently serving his first term in the Arizona House of Representatives. He was first elected to the Arizona State Senate in 1982 and has held the positions of Democratic Whip and Democratic Assistant Leader. In 1991, he was elected presiding officer as President of the Arizona State Senate for the 40th Legislature, making him the first Latino Senate President in the history of the state. Rios is also presently employed as a juvenile and family counselor. His oldest daughter is currently serving as an Arizona State Senator, also representing District 23 and the pair is the only father/daughter legislative team in the history of the State of Arizona. Rios earned his B.A. in Sociology and his Masters degree in Social Service Administration from Arizona State University
Michael Sandler, Immigration Reporter, Congressional Quarterly
Michael Sandler, an investigative reporter and feature writer for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, DC, is a leading expert writing about immigration in the United States. For the past year, he has followed the immigration debate exclusively for CQ, whose clients include 95 percent of the members of Congress, top academic and media outlets, and leaders in business, nonprofit organizations and the executive branch. Prior to joining CQ, Sandler worked for the St. Petersburg Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Washington Post. He lived in South America, where he spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia. He has a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Economics from Cornell University. He has appeared on NPR, CNN, C-SPAN, along with many other regional and national programs, as an expert guest on immigration and border security.
Daniel J. Tichenor, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University
Tichenor is Associate Professor of Political Science and a Research Professor at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. His research interests include executive and legislative politics, social movements, interest groups, immigration and citizenship, public policy, and history and politics. He has been a Visiting Faculty Scholar at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University, a Research Fellow in Governmental Studies at the Brookings Institution, and the Abba P. Schwartz Fellow of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Politics and Polity, and he is an affiliated faculty member of the Center for Migration and Development, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He is author of Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America which won the American Political Science Association's 2003 Gladys M. Kammerer Award for the best book in American national policy and is finishing the forthcoming An Uneasy Nation of Immigrants. He also received the Jack Walker Prize and the Mary Parker Follett Award for work on interest groups and social movements in American political development and is a recipient of the Emerging Scholar Award of APSA's Political Organizations and Parties Section. Tichenor received his B.A. from Earlham College and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University.
Steve Tulley, Representative, (R-Majority Leader), Arizona House of Representatives
Representative Tully was first elected to the Legislature in 2001 and is a member of the Rules Committee and the Universities, Community Colleges and Technology Committee. In addition to his legislative duties, he is a lawyer with the Law firm of Baird, Williams and Greer, and a former member of Arizona Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Fund - Vice-Chairman.
Georges Vernez, Ph.D., Director, Center for Research on Immigration Policy, RAND Corporation
Dr. Vernez' research focuses on education, immigration, and social policy issues. He co-authored Closing the Educational Gap, an examination of the costs and benefits associated with narrowing the gap in educational attainment between racial/ethnic groups. He also recently completed an assessment of the impact immigration has had on the state of California's demography, economy, people, and educational institutions. Dr. Vernez has conducted research on family support policies, alternative welfare policies, and the federal role in urban economic development. He has directed the RAND Education and Human Resources Program and is the founding Director of the RAND Institute on Education and Training, established in 1991, to examine all forms of education and training that people may get throughout their lives. Vernez received his Ph.D. in Urban and Regional planning from the University of California at Berkeley
Dean Yang, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
Dr. Yang's research deals with economic issues in developing countries with specific areas of interest in international migration, human capital, disasters, international trade, and crime and corruption. At the Ford School, Professor Yang teaches development economics and microeconomics. He has worked as a consultant on development issues for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. During 2006-07, Yang is also a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. He received his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Harvard University.

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