Panelists

Former House Majority Leader (D-MO) Honorable Dick Gephardt

Richard Gephardt served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives (from 1977 to 2005), representing Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, home to his birthplace St. Louis. In his first year in Congress, he was appointed to both the House Ways and Means and Budget Committees. He was elected to serve as House Democratic Leader for more than 14 years, as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, and Minority Leader from 1995 to 2003. In his role as Leader, Gephardt emerged as one of the leading strategists of the Democratic Party’s platform and chief architect to landmark reforms in healthcare, pensions, education, energy independence, and trade policy. Gephardt began his career in public service in 1968 as a precinct captain for St. Louis’ 14th Ward, and from 1971 to 1976, served as its Alderman. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Today, he is President and CEO of Gephardt Government Affairs and is actively engaged with the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, which he established at Washington University in St. Louis in 2005. He has been married to Jane Gephardt for five decades and they have three children.


Former U.S. Rep. (R-OH) Honorable Deborah Pryce

Deborah Pryce serves as a principal for Ice Miller LLP. Deborah leads a team which offers detailed experience regarding all levels of the policy making process. Concurrent with her role at Ice Miller, Deborah is Chairman of the Ohio Liquor Control Commission (20112023), appointed by Gov. Kasich. Prior to Ice Miller Whiteboard, Deborah served as a Congresswoman in the U.S. House of Representatives (19932008). As the House Republican Conference Chairman (20032007), she was the fourthhighest ranking Member of Congress and the highestranking Republican woman in the history of the House. In this role, she presided over the Conference, developed communications strategies, built coalitions, liaised with the White House and designed strategic initiatives to advance the legislative agenda. Additional responsibilities included: Member of the House Rules Committee, Member of the Committee on Financial Services, Chairman, Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology. Ranking Republican Member on the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises jurisdictions in capital markets and securities industry; governmentsponsored enterprises and insurance. Pryce is known for having a commonsense, consensusbuilding approach to governing, leading Business Week to dub her “The Peacemaker;” the Columbus Dispatch to describe her as “discretely influential and a quiet leader;” and New York Times columnist David Brooks to portray her as having an “honest, inner voice.”


Former Ambassador & U.S. Rep (D-IN) Honorable Tim Roemer

Tim Roemer was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana and worked his way through college and graduate school, eventually finding his way into public service in Washington, D.C. Tim served in the House of Representatives for 12 years representing Indiana’s 3rd district, and was appointed Ambassador to India from 2009-2011. While in Congress, he founded the New Democratic Coalition, served on the House Intelligence Committee, and worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass legislation on Head Start, AmeriCorps, and critical national security issues. He also served on the 9/11 Commission that recommended and helped pass crucial new security policies into law while building bridges between both parties and the 9/11 families. As Ambassador to India, he expanded the diplomatic outreach program and signed the historic Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative, and moved the country from being America’s 25th largest trading partner to the 12th. Roemer has been a member of numerous national blue ribbon panels to address issues from nuclear nonproliferation to preserving the U.S. National Park System. Today, he works for APCO Worldwide as executive director and senior counselor. His parents and grandfather worked for the University of Notre Dame, where he would eventually earn advanced degrees  in American government. Tim is married to Sally Johnston Roemer. They have four children and a dog named Hoosier, and in his spare time Tim collects first edition books and overpriced baseball cards. 


Former U.S. Rep. (R-TN) Honorable Zach Wamp

Zach Wamp served in the House of Representatives for 16 years, representing Tennessee’s 3rd district. He served as the ranking member of the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Subcommittee and prior to that as the ranking member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, which he served on for 14 years. Zach helped establish the Department of Homeland Security and the Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor. He signed discharge petitions and closed the debate on the House floor of the most significant political reform legislation in a generation. He was a regular panelist on  The News Hour with Jim Lehrer  and has appeared on virtually every major news show and in every major news publication over two decades. Today he chairs the Gospel Music Foundation and is president and owner of Zach Wamp Consulting, a bipartisan consulting and development firm for a wide range of businesses across the country. 


Moderator

Nancy Staudt, Dean, Washington University School of Law and the Howard and Caroline Cayne Distinguished Professor of Law

Nancy Staudt was named dean of the law school, effective May 2014. She is a nationally renowned scholar in tax, tax policy, and empirical legal studies. Staudt is the author or co-author of nearly 40 articles and two books, and her work has been published in the country’s leading journals and university presses. She has given more than 100 speeches and keynote addresses to national and international audiences on a range of tax, law, and public policy topics. Staudt has served as an advisory panelist and/or board member to organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the Association of American Law Schools’ Tax Section, and the Law and Society Association. Before assuming her deanship, Staudt served as vice dean for faculty and academic affairs at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and as the inaugural holder of the Edward G. Lewis Chair in Law and Public Policy; she was the Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law at Northwestern University and a professor of law at Washington University from 2000 to 2006. Staudt has held visiting professorships at Vanderbilt University, Boston University, and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, and she has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Prior to her academic appointments, Staudt was a tax associate at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco. She clerked for the Honorable John T. Noonan on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, and she provided free legal services to both battered women and organizations seeking tax-exempt status from the federal government.