Sunshine Fest 2025
March 19-20, 2025 • Washington, D.C.
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Speakers
Sheila Albers
Kansas records champion
Sheila is a mother, educator, mental health advocate and an open records warrior. Her work locally and nationally was born out of tragedy. In 2018, Sheila’s unarmed 17 year old son was shot and killed by a police officer on the driveway of their home. Feeling powerless in a system of lies and secrets, Sheila and her community fought for greater transparency and accountability. As a former public middle school principal, Sheila used her background in education and research to gain a greater understanding of local government and the criminal justice system. With that knowledge, she began acquiring the answers to the many unanswered questions surrounding her son’s death. Over a span of 7 years, Sheila, with the help from other open record warriors, uncovered several shocking pieces of evidence. The officer who killed her son was paid a $70,000 severance payment to resign from the police department. The multi-jurisdictional team that investigates officer-involved shootings in Johnson County Kansas failed to include key pieces of forensic evidence such as crime scene map and a reconstruction report. These crucial facts triggered the US Department of Justice to open a Civil Rights Investigation into her son’s death. Sheila’s advocacy has spurred change in the use of force policy in her city and surrounding cities. It has motivated local government to create better access to information by publishing policies, procedures and forms online. This includes a police transparency page in her hometown of Overland Park. Ultimately, Sheila serves her community by increasing civic engagement and improving everyone’s quality of life through fostering transparent government. Democracies thrive in the sunlight.
Katie Anthony
American Oversight
Katie Anthony is Deputy Chief Counsel at American Oversight, a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog that advances truth, accountability, and democracy by enforcing the public’s right to government records. Prying loose records on issues related to voting rights, redistricting, conflicts of interest, abuses of power, attacks on immigrants’ rights, and more, Katie has litigated dozens of public records cases in federal and state court, including arguments at the trial and appellate court level. She contributes to American Oversight’s overall public records drafting and litigation strategy, in particular playing an active role in shaping the organization’s state public records program. Katie has also given trainings on FOIA and presented on panels about public records and the importance of government transparency.
Jason R. Baron
University of Maryland
Jason R. Baron holds the position of Professor of the Practice in the College of Information at the University of Maryland in College Park. Previously, he served as trial attorney and senior counsel at the Department of Justice, and was the first appointed Director of Litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration. He is the recipient of the Justice Tom C. Clark Outstanding Government Lawyer award from the Federal Bar Association, and the international Emmett Leahy Award for his career contributions to the field of records and information management. He currently serves on his third term as a member of the FOIA Advisory Committee to the Archivist.
Michael Bekesha
Judicial Watch, Inc.
Michael Bekesha is a senior attorney at Judicial Watch. Since 2009, Michael has litigated over 150 public records cases in both state and federal courts on behalf of Judicial Watch, individuals, media organizations, and other not-for-profit organizations. In addition to government transparency litigation, he has extensive experience litigating accountability and integrity lawsuits across the country. Michael also was a member of the Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee, has drafted legislation, and testified before state legislatures. He received his law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Law in 2009 and received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Northwestern University in 2004.
Allan Blutstein
Argus Insight
Allan Blutstein is a Freedom of Information Act lawyer who has worked for pro-Republican research firms since 2015. He began his full-time FOIA career in 2004 with the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy. During the Great Recession, Allan became the principal FOIA counsel for the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Stability. He subsequently joined the requester community at Cause of Action Institute, a government oversight group. In his free time, Allan manages FOIA Advisor, a website that provides daily FOIA news, summaries of court decisions, reference material, and commentary. He served as a member of the federal FOIA Advisory Committee for the 2020-2022 term.
Yaw Sarpong Boateng
Right to Information Commission, Ghana
Yaw Sarpong Boateng, Esq., is a distinguished lawyer born in Koforidua, Ghana. He holds an LLB from the University of Ghana and an LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Renowned for his collaborative leadership, Yaw is the Pioneer Executive Secretary of the Right to Information Commission, where he plays a key role in promoting citizens’ access to public information, holding institutions accountable and strengthening democratic principles in the country. He also serves as the Vice Chairperson of the African Network of Information Commissions (ANIC). Additionally, Yaw is the founding partner of Morganbauers Y.E.S. law firm-Ghana. He has been a member of the National Media Commission from 2018-2024. He is married with three children.
Nathan Byerly
Pennsylvania Office of Open Records
Nathan Byerly has served as the Deputy Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR) since 2010. The OOR is a quasi-judicial agency responsible for adjudicating appeals and issuing binding decisions under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law (RTKL). In addition to overseeing the administration of the OOR, he supervises its legal operations. Nathan regularly conducts RTKL training of Pennsylvania agencies and requesters and also presents to government agencies nationwide. He has also served as the interim Executive Director and Chief Counsel of the OOR. Before joining the OOR, Nathan spent six years as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. There, he focused on immigration and prison litigation and regularly represented federal agencies in bankruptcy proceedings in federal court. Beyond his government service, Nathan was an associate at the Law Offices of Craig A. Diehl and Knauer & Associates, LLC.
David Cuillier
Brechner Freedom of Information Project
David Cuillier is director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, a nonpartisan center that has provided research and education in FOI since 1977. He joined the FOI Project in 2023 after teaching and researching access to government information at the University of Arizona for 17 years. He was a newspaper reporter and editor in the Pacific Northwest before earning his doctorate in 2006 at Washington State University. He is former president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and Society of Professional Journalists, which awarded him the Wells Memorial Key award, the highest honor for service to the profession. He has testified three times before Congress regarding FOIA and is serving his third term on the FOIA Advisory Committee under the National Archives and Records Administration. He is co-author with Charles N. Davis of “The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records” and “Transparency 2.0: Digital Data and Privacy in a Wired World.” He is founding editor of the Journal of Civic Information, has published dozens of research studies in peer-reviewed journals, and in the past 20 years has trained more than 15,000 journalists and citizens in how to acquire public records, including during the 45-day 2010 Access Across America tour. He lives in Gainesville, Florida.
Chelsea Curtis
Arizona Luminaria
Chelsea Curtis (Diné) is a reporter at Arizona Luminaria, uncovering data and stories about Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Arizona. She recently launched a first-of-its-kind MMIP database in Arizona — a project supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Fund for Indigenous Journalists and the Data-Driven Reporting Project. Chelsea previously covered criminal justice and breaking news as a reporter at The Arizona Republic, and a wide range of community news at the Today’s News-Herald (Lake Havasu City) and Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff). She is a member of the Indigenous Journalists Association and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Robert Gellman
Privacy and Information Policy Consultant
Robert Gellman is a privacy and information policy consultant in Washington, D.C. He spent 17 years on the staff of a Subcommittee in the House of Representatives responsible for freedom of information, privacy, health record confidentiality, and other information policy matters. He served as a member of the Department of Health and Human Service’s National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (1996-2000), a federal advisory committee with responsibilities for health information infrastructure matters. He is the author of numerous columns, conference papers, congressional reports, and scholarly articles on privacy and other information policy issues. Many are available at www.bobgellman.com.
Kevin Goldberg
Freedom Forum
Kevin Goldberg is a vice president and First Amendment expert at Freedom Forum, where he works to educate the public on the importance of the First Amendment. While in private practice, he was outside legal counsel to the American Society of News Editors, the organization that built the national Sunshine Week.
Lauren Harper
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Lauren is Freedom of the Press Foundation’s first Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy, a position established to honor and continue the legendary whistleblower’s fight for secrecy reform. Her work highlights how excessive government secrecy prevents the public from meaningfully participating in self-government in every area that secrecy permeates, from public health to foreign policy. She advocates for commonsense improvements to the classification system, reforms to the Freedom of Information Act, and increased government accountability. Harper previously served as the public policy director for the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C., helping researchers get historically significant government documents declassified.
Alexander B. Howard
Civic Texts
Alexander B. Howard is a writer, digital governance expert, and open government advocate based in Washington, DC. He edits Civic Texts, a publication focused on emerging technologies and governance. Previously, he was the director of the Digital Democracy Project at the Demand Progress Educational Fund, a nonprofit focused on improving democratic governance he was the deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation, the first senior editor for technology and society at the Huffington Post, and has held fellowships on networked transparency and data journalism at Harvard and Columbia University. He was a member of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee at the U.S. National Archives.
Mike Howell
The Heritage Foundation
Mike Howell is the Executive Director of the Heritage Oversight Project. Launched in January 2022, the Oversight Project is Heritage’s investigative and oversight arm. The Oversight Project utilizes Heritage’s world-class issue area experts to inform strategic records requests, targeted litigation, and innovative investigations utilizing cutting-edge resources and contacts. The work is primarily intended to drive successful federal, state, and local oversight and accountability of the destructive work of the radical, progressive Left. Successful oversight means shaping successful policy victories.
Nate Jones
The Washington Post
Nate Jones is the FOIA director for The Washington Post, where he works with reporters to target documents to request, appeal and sue for. He works with reporters to obtain local, state and federal records and to think strategically about public records in all formats. He gives FOIA training sessions and advises reporters on how to write, refine and track requests, navigate delays and overredactions, and overcome other bureaucratic resistance. He is also author of the “Revealing Records” column which describes The Post’s battles for public records. He has served two terms on the Federal FOIA Advisory Committee and holds a JD from the University of the District of Columbia. He previously was the director of the FOIA Project for the National Security Archive, where he used FOIA to write a book on the 1983 Able Archer nuclear war scare.
Kelly Kauffman
MuckRock
Kelly Kauffman is MuckRock’s engagement journalist, focusing on newsletters, community callouts and reporting that is supported by public involvement. Previously, she worked at the campaign finance organization OpenSecrets as their outreach and digital media manager, where she helped shed light on the role of money in U.S. politics.
Shelley Kimball
Johns Hopkins University
Shelley Kimball, Ph.D., is the associate communication program director at Johns Hopkins University. She is a former journalist, and she has been an advocate for government transparency for more than 20 years. Her research focus is evaluating the effectiveness of open government through qualitative, law-in-action lenses. Her research has appeared in Communication Law and Policy, Government Information Quarterly, the Journal of Media Law and Ethics, and the Newspaper Research Journal. She is a member of the federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee for the 2024-2026 term.
Margaret B. Kwoka
The Ohio State University
Margaret Kwoka is the Lawrence Herman Professor in Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. She teaches Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, Administrative Law, and a workshop on privacy and transparency. Professor Kwoka’s research interests center on information law, government secrecy, and the administrative law on transparency. Her articles have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, Duke Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, and Boston University Law Review, among others, and her recent book, Saving the Freedom of Information Act, was published by Cambridge University Press. She has testified before Congress on government transparency and served on the Federal FOIA Advisory Committee at the National Archives and Records Administration. Prior to joining the Moritz faculty, Kwoka was a Professor of Law and Director of the Information Transparency Project at the University of Denver. She also practiced as an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group, a public interest law firm in Washington, D.C., where she focused on government transparency litigation in federal court. In the 2022-2023 academic year, Professor Kwoka completed research on independent oversight of transparency laws in México under a Fulbright-García Robles grant.
Jason Leopold
Bloomberg News
Jason Leopold is a senior investigative reporter on the Bloomberg News investigations team. He is a recipient of the 2023 Gerald Loeb award for investigative reporting, a 2022 George Polk award for health reporting and he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. In 2016, Leopold was awarded the FOI award from IRE and was inducted into the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame by the Freedom Forum Institute and the Newseum.
Frank LoMonte
CNN
Frank LoMonte is newsroom legal counsel at CNN, where he has advised the network’s 3,000 worldwide journalists since February 2022. He joined CNN after four years as director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida, where he launched the quarterly Journal of Civic Information. LoMonte previously spent nine years as executive director of the nonprofit Student Press Law Center, practiced with Atlanta-based Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, clerked for two federal judges, and taught at his alma mater, the University of Georgia School of Law, where he remains an adjunct instructor.
Irvin McCullough
FOIA Friend
Irvin is the co-founder of FOIA Friend, a startup helping people make high-quality FOIA requests that are easy to process. He previously led the legislative program at Government Accountability Project, American media relations at the German Marshall Fund, and worked as a freelance journalist for The Daily Beast and an investigator for the U.S. Senate.
Mitch McKenney
Kent State University
Mitch McKenney is an associate professor in the Kent State University School of Media and Journalism, where he is undergraduate and graduate coordinator. He teaches reporting, editing and ethics, and he has led students on reporting trips to China, India, Brazil, Estonia, South Korea, Cyprus and Ghana. His research focuses on editor strategies, most recently how diminished newsrooms can pry public records loose. He was previously an editor at the Akron Beacon Journal, where he helped lead a statewide audit of Ohio public records, and previously was at The Palm Beach Post and Times-Union of Rochester, N.Y. He won the 2024 NFOIC-Brechner FOI Research Competition with a study examining how the Ohio Court of Claims handles public records disputes as an alternative to litigation.
Jasmine McNealy
University of Florida
Jasmine McNealy is an attorney, technologist, and internationally recognized scholar whose research is interdisciplinary, centered at the intersection of media, technology, policy, and law. She is a professor at the University of Florida where she directs the Infrastructure for Communities, Ecology for Data (ICED) Hub. Of particular focus for her are issues related to privacy, surveillance, and data governance and the impacts on marginalized and vulnerable communities. She is also a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
Toby Mendel
Centre for Law and Democracy
Toby Mendel is the founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Law and Democracy, a Canadian-based international human rights NGO which provides legal and capacity building expertise regarding foundational rights for democracy, including the right to information, freedom of expression, the right to participate and the rights to freedom of assembly and association. Prior to that, he was for 12 years Senior Director for Law at ARTICLE 19, an international human rights NGO focusing on freedom of expression. He has published widely and collaborated extensively with relevant inter-governmental organisations – including the World Bank, UNESCO, the UN and other special rapporteurs on freedom of expression, the OSCE and the Council of Europe – as well as numerous governments and NGOs from around the world. His work includes drafting legislation, strategic litigation, standard-setting work, training and capacity building, preparing in-depth analyses of laws, and research and publications.
Greg Michener
Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Greg Michener is Professor of Government at Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and an expert on transparency and freedom of information in Latin America, including the relationship between populism and government transparency. He is a Canadian citizen and Brazilian permanent resident. Michener’s research and writing focus on the politics, policy, measurement, and conceptualization of transparency, freedom of information (particularly in Latin America), and open data, as well as aspects of anti-corruption, accountability, and impunity. Michener helped draw international attention to the Brazilian campaign for a freedom of information law. At the FGV, he founded and leads the Program for Public Transparency (PTP-FGV). His works have been published by Governance, World Development, the Journal of Latin American Studies, The Journal of Democracy, and Public Administration, among others. Michener teaches courses on Transparency and Good Government (MPA, IMBA), Qualitative Methods (MA, PhD), Democratic Political Institutions (BBA), and Public Policy (MPA).
Ryan P. Mulvey
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
Ryan P. Mulvey is policy counsel at Americans for Prosperity Foundation and counsel at Cause of Action Institute. His practice touches on various aspects of government oversight, civic engagement, and administrative and constitutional law. He regularly lectures on transparency matters and litigates cases under the FOIA and APA. Ryan also prosecutes state records requests; provides amicus support on various matters; and advises federal and state legislative staff about FOI reform and cutting-edge transparency issues. Of note, Ryan served as lead counsel for the Cause of Action team in the landmark case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which the Supreme Court overruled the forty-year-old Chevron deference doctrine. In addition to his work at AFPF, Ryan is president of the American Society of Access Professionals and a contributor at FOIA Advisor. In 2024, he was appointed to sit on the 2024-2026 Term of the Federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee.
Colleen M. Murphy
Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission
Colleen M. Murphy is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, a position she has held since 2005. Murphy is a frequent speaker at national, state and provincial programs on government transparency, information policy, electronic information issues, privacy and data protection, the First Amendment and administrative law. She has also acted as a consultant to leaders from numerous countries and states in the U.S. Murphy has co-authored articles on access to the information superhighway, open and accountable government, the legacy of Watergate and Freedom of Information at middle age. She has also taught courses on privacy law at the University of Connecticut and on Comparative Freedom of Information Law at the University of Connecticut Law School.
Sean O’Neill
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Policy
Sean O’Neill has served as Chief of Staff for the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy (OIP) since April 2021. In this capacity, Mr. O’Neill assists OIP’s Director with the management of all OIP operations, including OIP’s efforts to process FOIA requests on behalf of the Department’s leadership offices, its adjudication of DOJ administrative FOIA appeals, its defense of FOIA litigation against the Department’s senior leadership offices, and OIP’s budget, FOIA compliance work, and other activities. Mr. O’Neill also currently serves as a member of the Technology Committee of the Chief FOIA Officers Council, with a specific interest in artificial intelligence. Mr. O’Neill was previously the Chief of the Administrative Appeals Staff from 2012 through 2019 after serving as an attorney-advisor on OIP’s Appeals Staff. Mr. O’Neill is a 2006 graduate of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Brigham Young University in 2002.
Raul Pinto
American Immigration Council
Raul Pinto is the Deputy Legal Director for Transparency at the American Immigration Council. He leads the Council’s government transparency work, which includes transparency-related litigation, publication of best practice materials, and advocacy. His work focuses on promoting transparency in the field of immigration by uncovering agency records through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that will advance litigation, advocacy, and research efforts in support of the Council’s mission. In this role, he also supports litigators, open-government organizations, and other advocates to strengthen collaboration among entities involved in transparency in the immigration space. Previously, Raul was a Senior Attorney with the North Carolina Justice Center representing low-income immigrants at all stages of their immigration journey. Before that, he was a staff attorney at the ACLU of North Carolina. Raul holds a J.D. from City University of New York School of Law and a B.A. from Rutgers University.
Suzanne Piotrowski
Rutgers University
Dr. Suzanne J. Piotrowski is a Professor of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University–Newark, Director of the Transparency and Governance Center (TGC), and Director of SPAA’s MPA programs. Dr. Piotrowski writes widely on public management, accountability, and open government issues and publishes extensively in academic journals and edited volumes. She authored the book Governmental Transparency in the Path of Administrative Reform (State University of New York Press, 2007). In 2010, Lexington Books published Dr. Piotrowski’s edited volume Governmental Transparency and Secrecy: Linking Literature and Contemporary Debate. Her 2022 coauthored project The Power of Partnership in Open Government? Multistakeholder Governance Reform and the Open Government Partnership (MIT Press’ Information Policy Series), received the 2024 Best Book Award from ASPA’s Section of Public Administration Research. She developed and teaches an MPA-level class titled Unlocking Open Government.
Alasdair Roberts
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Alasdair Roberts has written extensively on open government. His book “Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age,” won four academic book awards. He has written nine other books on public affairs. The most recent is “The Adaptable Country: How Canada Can Survive the Twenty-First Century.” Professor Roberts received Canada’s Grace-Pépin Access to Information Award in 2014 and the ASPA Riggs Award for Lifetime Achievement in Comparative Public Administration in 2022. He is a Fellow of the US National Academy of Public Administration and a former public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. He is a Canadian citizen. His website is www.aroberts.us.
Megan Rhyne
Virginia Coalition for Open Government
Megan Rhyne has worked for the Virginia Coalition for Open Government since 1998 and became its executive director in 2008. She also serves as the administrator for the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Knight Litigation Fund. Before coming to VCOG, she served as an opinions editor for Texas Lawyer newspaper in Dallas, as a freelance writer for Androvett Legal Media in Dallas and the National Law Journal in New York, and as an adjunct professor of media law at Hampton University’s journalism school. She first became interested in open government as an FOI intern at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. She lives in Williamsburg with her husband and teenage son.
Sam Satterly
University of Louisville
Sam Satterly earned her M.S. in Sustainability through the University of Louisville where she studied environmental justice, policy, and the history of CERCLA legislation and liability, and currently serves as a research assistant. Her research initially focused on the infamous “Valley of the Drums” Superfund site, but through the use of FOIA and ORR she uncovered evidence of a legacy hazardous waste site located just beyond the Valley of the Drums Superfund site boundary. The site was dubbed the “Gully of the Drums” and was situated in Jefferson Memorial Forest, a municipally owned public park where Sam also worked. Archived documents provided evidence of the historical connection between the two sites and revealed decades of neglect by local, state, and federal officials. Acting as a whistleblower, Sam exposed her employer as the culpable party and collaborated with local and state officials to launch an environmental investigation into the contamination. The forest is to be remediated this year.
Sydney Sims
Brechner Freedom of Information Project
Sydney Sims is the Outreach Coordinator for the Brechner FOI Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, where she focuses on training, external communications, and promoting the right to know. Before joining the University of Florida in fall 2024, she worked at Capital B News, leading community engagement in the Atlanta newsroom. Sims holds a journalism degree from Auburn University and has worked as a reporter at WABE 90.1 FM, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, and the Auburn Villager, with bylines in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Originally from Atlanta, she currently resides in Gainesville, Florida with her puppy, Tiger Gator Woods.
Richard Varn
Coalition for Sensible Public Records Access
Richard Varn has provided IT, policy, and association management services for 37 years and has been the Executive Director of the CSPRA for 19 years. He serves public and private sector clients in the areas of AI, venture investing, business development, privacy, security, law, legislative and business strategy, innovation, education, assessment, and public policy. Mr. Varn has been a Venture Partner for the LearnLaunch Fund since 2018. He has served as a Iowa State Representative and Senator and as a CIO/CTO at the City, State, Federal, and University levels in Iowa and Texas. He was a Technology Policy Advisor to the National Retail Federation for 13 years. In 2020 he retired from ETS after serving 10 years as a member of the Board of Trustees and 9 years as a Distinguished Presidential Appointee. He has a BA and Law Degree from the University of Iowa and is an avid cyclist.
Liz Wagenseller
Pennsylvania Office of Open Records
Liz Wagenseller is the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR). She leads all aspects of the independent, quasi-judicial agency that decides appeals of denied requests for records under the Right-to-Know Law (RTKL). The RTKL works to provide fair and legal access to local and state government records. Before coming to the OOR, Liz was actively involved in promoting government accountability, serving as Chief of Staff in the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General.
A.Jay Wagner
Marquette University
A.Jay Wagner is an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Marquette University. His scholarship focuses on access to government information. Current projects explore FOI user experiences, how FOI affects the value of information, affirmative disclosure and how access attitudes have changed. In a past life, he worked as a journalist, which spurred his initial interest in the subject. He has also served a term (2020-2022) on the NARA-sponsored FOIA Advisory Committee and recently acted as an expert witness in the FOIA case Scoville v. Dep’t of State.
Anne Weismann
George Washington University Law School
Anne Weismann currently acts as outside litigation counsel for non-profit organizations and individuals seeking to bring greater accountability to the federal government. She also co-teaches a FOIA clinic at George Washington Law School. Previously she served as Chief Counsel and Chief FOIA Counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit organization committed to identifying, analyzing, and deterring unethical government conduct. Ms. Weismann has received numerous honors for her transparency work, including induction into the FOIA Hall of Fame, is a frequent lecturer on transparency and ethics issues, and has testified numerous times before Congress on transparency issues.
Nicholas Wittenberg
Armedia
Nicholas Wittenberg serves as Corporate Counsel and Senior Advisor for Legal Technology and Innovation at Armedia, where he leads the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the federal government for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and privacy requests, litigation, regulatory investigations, and collaborates with state and local partners on legal technology strategies. Previously, Nicholas was detailed to The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as Senior Legal Counsel, advising the President’s Science Advisor and the U.S. Chief Technology Officer on a broad range of legal issues, including Constitutional law, Executive Orders, pending legislation, international agreements, ethics, fiscal and appropriations law, stakeholder engagement, public-private partnerships, administrative law, environmental law, government contracts, co-sponsorships, and information disclosure related to science and technology policy. In addition to his White House role, Nicholas has contributed to policy discussions on AI, data privacy, cybersecurity, lawful access, and end-to-end encryption, particularly in the context of Constitutional protections, regulatory frameworks, and court rulings. At his home agency, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Nicholas served as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Pesticide Programs. He was also appointed by the Archivist of the United States to the FOIA Advisory Committee and previously led the AI Working Group on the Chief FOIA Officers Council Technology Committee. Nicholas holds a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D. from The University of Toledo, where he remains actively involved as a member of the College of Law Alumni Association Board of Governors and the Dean’s Cabinet.