Meet Pew Experts at the NCSL Legislative Summit

This page was updated on July 28, 2022, to update available experts.

Meet with Pew experts during this year’s National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit. Our experts have researched a range of policy areas, including state fiscal policy, economic development strategies, evidence-based policymaking, consumer and family finances, natural disaster assistance, public safety and the courts, and health policy. They will be available for one-on-one meetings to discuss research trends and policy solutions to these key issues facing states.

Visit our booth (721) or sign up here to arrange a one-on-one meeting regarding any of the topics below.

Civil legal system modernization

Erika Rickard
Civil courts, legal services and alternatives, legal technology, consumer debt, eviction, guardianship

Natasha Khwaja
Civil courts, legal services and alternatives, consumer debt, eviction, guardianship

Charlotte Stewart
Civil courts, legal services and alternatives, legal technology, consumer debt, eviction

Conservation and environment

Marcia Argust
U.S. parks, migration corridors, public lands

Erin Fleck
Conservation and environmental issues

Ken Rait
Bureau of Land Management issues, Alaska

John Seebach
National forests, national monuments, federal public lands legislation

Brett Swift
U.S. rivers and dam removal, federal wild and scenic legislation

David Ellenberger
Migration corridors 

Mathew Sanders
Flood and hazard resilience

Sylvia Troost
Coastal blue carbon management strategies in state climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, ways states can leverage the federal Coastal Zone Management Act in support of conservation and resilience goals

Consumer finance policy

Gabriel Kravitz
Small-dollar loans such as payday and installment loans, market practices in auto title lending, borrower preferences, and state policy responses

Economic development strategies

Chaaron Pearson
Economic development strategies, including tax incentives and regulatory improvement

Alison Wakefield
Economic development strategies, including tax incentives

Evidence-based policymaking

Sara Dube
Using research and evidence in state budgeting and policymaking

Expanding broadband access

Kathryn de Wit
National broadband trends, federal broadband policy, strategic partnerships

Anna Read
State broadband programs, broadband affordability, broadband research, emerging needs

Jake Varn
Trends in state activities, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, technical assistance to states

Home financing

Rachel Siegel
Single-family housing and home financing including mortgages, use of alternative arrangements to purchase a home (such as rent-to-own, land contracts, and unique challenges for financing mobile and manufactured homes)

Public health data improvement

Lilly Kan
Public health data systems and policies

Margaret Arnesen
Public health data systems and policies

Public safety

Kati Habert
State and local policies at the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice, with a focus on crisis and diversion

Jake Horowitz
State policies related to sentencing and corrections, lethal violence, and theft

Ruth Rosenthal
Juvenile justice

Connie Utada
Adult sentencing and corrections, community supervision

Tracy Velázquez
Criminal justice and public safety; behavioral health and drug trends; policy research on community supervision, jails, and juvenile justice

Julie Wertheimer
Crisis response and diversion, jails, violence

Retirement savings

John Scott
State and federal policies to increase savings and reduce barriers for small business retirement plans

State fiscal policies and budgets

Joanna Biernacka-Lievestro
Fiscal 50: State fiscal and economic trends

Madalyn Bryant
State spending and budgeting on natural disasters

Jeff Chapman
State fiscal and economic policies, long-term fiscal planning, tax incentives, economic development strategies

Colin Foard
State spending and budgeting on natural disasters

Melissa Maynard
Fiscal 50: State fiscal and economic trends

Peter Muller
Federal aid to states

Angela Oh
State fiscal policies, budget stress-testing, long-term budgeting

Justin Theal
Fiscal 50: State fiscal and economic trends

Rebecca Thiess
Federal aid to states

Strengthening public sector retirement systems

David Draine
Data-driven research and technical assistance to help lawmakers strengthen public retirement systems

Corryn Hall
Data-driven research and technical assistance to help lawmakers strengthen public retirement systems

Substance use treatment and prevention

Alexandra Duncan
Opioid use disorder treatment in the criminal legal system

Frances McGaffey
Substance use disorder data and metrics, opioid treatment program regulations

Andrew Whitacre
Sustainable financing for behavioral health, technical assistance

Suicide risk reduction

Kristen Mizzi Angelone
Evidence-based screening tools to assess suicide risk, strategies for hospitals and health systems to expand their suicide prevention interventions