Greg Lukianoff is the president of FIRE and has been with FIRE since 2001, when he was hired to be the organization's first director of legal and public advocacy. Greg is a graduate of American University and of Stanford Law School, where he focused on First Amendment and constitutional law. Greg has published articles in the LA Times, The Boston Globe, The Stanford Technology Law Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Fraternal Law, Inside Higher Ed, the New York Post, and numerous other publications. He is a blogger for the Huffington Post and served as a regular columnist for the Daily Journal of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Greg is a frequent guest on local and national syndicated radio programs, has represented FIRE on national television shows—including CBS Evening News,The O'Reilly Factor, Glenn Beck, The Abrams Report,Hannity and Colmes, and Buchanan and Press—and has testified before the U.S. Senate about free speech issues on America's campuses.
Before joining FIRE, Greg practiced law in Northern California, interned at the ACLU of Northern California and the Organization for Aid to Refugees in Prague, Czech Republic, and was the development manager of the EnvironMentors Project in Washington, D.C. Greg, along with Harvey A. Silverglate and David French, is a co-author of FIRE's Guide to Free Speech on Campus. Greg is also a proud member of the board of directors of Philadelphia's Theater Exile. He lives in New York City.
Robert L. Shibley, FIRE's Vice President, is a native of Toledo, Ohio, and a graduate of Duke University and Duke University School of Law. Robert's undergraduate experience serving as the managing editor of the Duke Review newspaper, which frequently decried (and faced) administrative censorship and bias, led him to a career defending the rights of college and university students and faculty members. Since starting at FIRE in 2003, Robert has aided students and faculty members at dozens of colleges and universities. As Vice President, along with traveling to various campuses to speak about First Amendment issues, Robert has represented FIRE publicly on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, in national and international radio interviews, and in published editorials in the New York Post, Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Daily Oklahoman, and other newspapers. A member of the board of Valley Christian School in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., he and his wife Araz are the proud parents of a new daughter, Grace.
William Creeley, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., graduated from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2003, where he earned a B.A. magna cum laude in political science and critical theory. He is also a 2006 graduate of the New York University School of Law. As an undergraduate, William was a student senator and the graduation speaker for both the Gallatin School graduation ceremony and the All-University Commencement. During law school, he served as an executive editor for the New York University Law Review. A former FIRE legal intern (2004), William also worked as a summer clerk for Federal Communications Commissioner Michael J. Copps in 2005.
Samantha K. Harris, a Philadelphia native, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and from Princeton University, where she earned an A.B. magna cum laude in politics. As an undergraduate, Samantha completed a senior thesis that analyzed the constitutional implications of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s quality-of-life initiative in New York City. During law school, she served on the editorial board of the Journal of Constitutional Law. Before joining FIRE, Samantha clerked for the late Honorable Jay C. Waldman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and most recently was an associate at the law firm of Pepper Hamilton in Philadelphia.
Adam Kissel Director, Individual Rights Defense Program
Adam Kissel graduated from Harvard University and from the University of Chicago, where he served as Student Liaison to the Board of Trustees and earned a master's degree from the Committee on Social Thought. His academic interests include the history and theory of liberal education, the history and theory of rhetoric, and rhetoric's relationship with philosophy. He also has served as a professional editor for Nobel laureate James Heckman and for faculty in a variety of disciplines. Before joining FIRE, Adam was a director of the Lehrman American Studies Center and the Jack Miller Center for the Teaching of America's Founding Principles. With Sharon Browne he wrote a Faculty Rights Handbook in 2007. Since joining FIRE, he has spoken about individual rights on college campuses in Colorado, Indiana, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, and New York. In 2009, he won a First Prize in education reporting from the National Education Writers Association.
Sean Clark graduated from Penn State University in 2003 where he earned a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in History. As an undergraduate, he presided over Undergraduate Student Government Senate as its president, co-hosted a student run radio talk show called Radio Free Penn State, chaired the Student Organization Appeals Board, and served as vice-chairman and later as chairman of Penn State Young Americans for Freedom. In 2001, Sean became involved with FIRE when the foundation intervened on the behalf of YAF in a religious liberty dispute with the university. Sean first started with FIRE in 2005 as a Program Associate, later serving as a Program Officer and Assistant to the President and now manages the day-to-day operations of the FIRE office.
Luke C. Sheahan of Lebanon, Oregon, graduated cum laude from the Honors College at Oregon State University, where he studied political science. For three years he served as executive editor and publisher of The Liberty, an independent commentary paper at Oregon State. During his time at Oregon State, Luke held executive positions and chairmanships in a number of student organizations as well as memberships in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Golden Key Honor Society, and Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society. He was a 2005-2006 recipient of the Ronald Reagan Future Leaders Scholarship and he was a student panelist at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2006. Luke was a FIRE summer intern in 2005.
Alisha is a Philadelphia native who graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Business Marketing. While in school, she was a member of Chi Omega sorority and played an active role on the chapter's Philanthropy committee. Alisha leads FIRE's development activities including donor relations, foundation grants, and fundraising events. Before joining FIRE, Alisha held a public affairs internship at Planned Parenthood. Alisha is a member of the Junior League of Philadelphia and the Association of Fundraising Professionals Philadelphia Chapter. She currently resides in Old City and has two adorable Boston terriers, Murphy and Millie.
Kelly Sarabyn graduated from Yale Law School and the University of Virginia, where she earned a B.A. with highest distinction in Political Science. Her academic interests include constitutional law, and political philosophy, particularly theories of natural law and virtue ethics. During law school, she served on the staff of the Yale Journal of International Law and wrote a substantial paper on the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. At FIRE, she writes legal scholarship related to maintaining the marketplace of ideas on university campuses.
Azhar Majeed, a native of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, received a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in History from the University of Michigan in 2004. He is also a 2007 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. As an undergraduate, his academic interests included comparative constitutional law and political philosophy, particularly from the time period of the Enlightenment. During law school, Azhar represented the University of Michigan at the 2006 Tulane International Moot Court competition. At FIRE, he writes legal scholarship related to upholding student speech rights on university campuses. Azhar was a FIRE legal intern in 2005.
Erin Osovets Program Officer, Public Awareness Project
Erin Osovets received her M.A. in Community Development from Eastern University in 2008. She graduated cum laude in 2005 from Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., where she majored in Journalism and minored in Music Business Administration. She served as a staff writer for The Belmont Vision, the university's newspaper, as a member of the Press Corps, Belmont's student public relations group, and interned with the Nashville Film Festival. At FIRE, she produces multimedia materials such as the FIRE Update, the podcasting series and content for the website. A native of the Philadelphia area, Erin writes screenplays in her spare time and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).
Peter Bonilla Program Officer, Individual Rights Defense Program
Peter Bonilla was born in Washington, D.C. and is a cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 2005 with B.A. degrees in Theater Arts and Economics. Prior to joining FIRE in April 2008 he was the literary manager of Philadelphia's InterAct Theatre Company, working on the development and production of new politically and socially themed plays. Also a playwright, he received a fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in 2008, and has had his first play showcased at the PlayPenn New Play Development Conference. He is the proud rescuer of two greyhounds, and in 2009 was a contestant on the television game show Jeopardy!
Brandon Stewart is a 2008 graduate of Wabash College, where he majored in Religion and minored in Political Science. As an undergraduate, Brandon served as a class representative to the Student Senate and president of both the Pre-Law Society and the Inter-Fraternity Council. In addition, he served as founder and editor-in-chief of a campus news and opinion magazine, The Phoenix. In addition to publishing a monthly magazine, Brandon's organization also brought a number of speakers to campus, including Feminists for Life Vice President Sally Winn, National Review editor-at-large Jonah Goldberg and former US Attorney General John Ashcroft. Brandon first learned of FIRE in 2006 when he brought Greg Lukianoff to speak on his campus.
Claire Jenkins is from Cleveland, Ohio and recently graduated from St. Lawrence University where she earned a B.A. magna cum laude in Government and Psychology. She completed her undergraduate honors project on acquiescence in children and its implications for their testimony. In college she also was on the Academic Honor Council, served as a Vice President of Kappa Kappa Gamma, and was a teaching assistant. For the past four years she has also been a part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program of Northern New York. Before joining FIRE, she worked on a research project with Case Western Reserve University about the impact of bi-polar disorder on senior citizens.
Jennifer Feden graduated summa cum laude from Syracuse University in 2008 with a B.A. in Policy Studies, a B.A. in Television-Radio-Film, and a minor in Spanish. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars. While at Syracuse, Jennifer was selected as a First Amendment Scholar and co-created a short documentary exploring people's perceptions of and experiences with the First Amendment. She was also very active in non-profit work in college and is excited to be able to combine her passions both for serving society and for preserving the rights of individuals through her work at FIRE. Additionally, Jennifer is an avid fan of traveling and exploring new cultures, and she has spent time living and studying in both Costa Rica and London.
Kyle Smeallie graduated from Boston College in 2008 with degrees in political science and communication. Raised inside the D.C. beltway in Alexandria, Virginia, Kyle first developed his passion for protecting civil liberties when a Virginia police officer illegally deleted photographs he had taken for his high school newspaper. Kyle carried this spirit to Boston College's independent student newspaper, The Heights, where he contributed more than seventy news and features articles during his tenure. Throughout college, Kyle worked with a variety of organizations, including environmental non-profit groups and a campus culture magazine. He now works in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with FIRE's co-founder and chairman, Harvey A. Silverglate.
