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James S. Gilmore was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia and received an undergraduate degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia in 1971. After a three-year tour as a U.S. Army counterintelligence agent in West Germany, he entered the University of Virginia Law School, graduating in 1977. After working for a decade in community service and as a lawyer in private practice, he was elected Commonwealth's Attorney in his home county of Henrico in 1987 and 1991. He was elected Virginia Attorney General in 1993 and Governor in 1997. As Governor, he established a record of success in improving education in Virginia and providing tax relief to Virginia's working families.
While governor, James Gilmore created the nation's first secretariat of technology, established a statewide technology commission, and signed into law the nation's first comprehensive state Internet policy. During his term as Governor of Virginia, he chaired the national Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce which was charged with making recommendations to Congress on Internet taxation, an issue of global significance.
Since 1999, Governor Gilmore has been Chairman of the Congressional Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, also known as the "Gilmore Commission." This national panel was established by Congress to assess federal, state, and local governments' capability to respond to the consequences of a terrorist attack. The panel submitted its findings to the President and Congress each of the past four years and is extended until December 15, 2003. This Commission was also influential in developing the Office of Homeland Security.
Currently, Governor Gilmore is a partner at the law firm of Kelley Drye and Warren where he practices corporate and technology law and provides advice to clients on homeland security issues in the areas of public relations, information technology, and international relations.
Steven J. Rauschenberger has been an Illinois State Senator for the 22nd District since 1993. He was appointed Assistant Republican Leader in January 2003. He serves as chief Senate Republican negotiating member of Appropriations Committee. He is an active member of the Senate Environment and Energy and Executive Appointments Committees. Senator Rauschenberger chairs the Illinois Growth Task Force and is an appointed member of the McCormick Place Advisory Board.
As former Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Rauschenberger has negotiated multi-billion dollar state budgets, which have provided millions of dollars for schools, vital state programs, senior citizen services and local road and infrastructure improvements without a tax increase. Senator Rauschenberger is an advocate for state taxpayers, supporting statewide tax caps and increasing the income tax exemption. He is the Senate negotiator of KidCare, the state health insurance program for children in low-income, working families. In addition, he is a leader in areas such as electrical and telecommunications deregulation and Medicaid policy. He is an Executive Board member of National Conference of State Legislatures, Co-Chair of the NCSL Executive Committee on State and Local Taxation of Telecommunications and Electronic Commerce, and Co-Chair of the Lakefront Redevelopment Project ISFA Advisory Committee.
The senator has been honored many times for his legislative work and has been awarded over sixty awards and certificates by groups as varied as Easter Seals, Illinois Fighter Fighters, chambers of commerce, human service groups, educators, and other local organizations. He received a Bachelors of Business Administration from the College of William and Mary in 1978.
Senator Rauschenberger is active in his community as a Republican Committeeman in Hanover Township-Cook County, a former Senior Warden of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Explorer Post 5, Boy Scouts of America and a YMCA board member. He is a native of Elgin, where he resides with his wife, Betty, and their two sons.
Jean Cantrell joined Circuit City Stores as manager-government affairs in February 2002. In that role, her responsibilities include managing government affairs for the company at the state and federal levels, serving as the company representative with trade and industry organizations and as assistant treasurer/administrator of the Circuit City Stores Political Action Committee. Prior to joining Circuit City, Jean was executive director of government and industry affairs for The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation for nearly 20 years. During her final 2 years at D&B, Jean was also the company's chief privacy officer.
Education: Bachelor of Music, Master of Performing Arts-Oklahoma City University; Washington Representatives certificate-George Washington University; State Government Relations Institute-Rutgers University; Leadership Institute (state government affairs leadership training) 1998, 2000, 2002.
Jean is immediate past president and serves on the board of directors for the State Government Affairs Council, and is a member of the Washington Area State Relations Group where she recently served as president (2001). Since 1993, she has chaired the board of directors for Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA. Jean has volunteered with the Commission on Presidential Debates since 1987, managing ticket assignment and distribution for the 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 debates.
Both an engineer and lawyer, Paul Misener is Amazon.com's Vice President for Global Public Policy. In this capacity, Mr. Misener is responsible for formulating and representing Amazon.com's public policy positions worldwide, as well as for managing the company's policy specialists in Washington, DC, and Brussels. He also is President of the Internet Commerce and Communications Division of the Information Technology Association of America and a member of the ITAA Board of Directors.
Formerly a partner and the chairman of the E-commerce and Internet Practice at the law firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding, Mr. Misener also served as Senior Legal Advisor and Chief of Staff to a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to his federal service, Paul was Intel's Manager of Telecommunications and Computer Technology Policy, and co-founder and leader of the computer industry's Internet Access Coalition.
Mr. Misener was a policy specialist for the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the late 1980s, where he was a U.S. delegate to several conferences of the International Telecommunication Union; prior to that, he designed communications systems for the military.
He received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University, where his senior thesis research included designing a cryogenically cooled, extremely low noise, optical detector for astronomical applications; and the J.D. degree from the George Mason University School of Law, from where he also received the 2001 Distinguished Achievement Award.
Bartlett Cleland is the Director of the Center for Technology Freedom, at the Institute for Policy Innovation.
The IPI Center for Technology Freedom fundamentally supports a free market ideology. The only way that technology will succeed in meeting the needs of our electronic economy is to allow the industry to remain free of undue regulations. Bartlett's responsibilities include oversight of all technology and related studies, including Internet taxation, technology education and immigration, and intellectual property.
IPI currently focuses on tax cuts, long-term tax reform, educational choice, high-tech and Internet issues, and the rollback of harmful and counterproductive regulations. IPI is a public foundation, supported wholly by contributions from individuals, businesses, and other non-profit foundations. IPI neither solicits nor accepts funds from any government agency, and is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
He currently serves on the Internet Education Foundation Board of Directors, which involves working closely with the Internet Caucus and such projects as GetNetWise, a project to assist parents in understanding the Internet and how to protect children on-line.
In addition, he serves as the Chairman and President of the Americans for Technology Freedom, a non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to fighting to keep technology and its users free from government regulation. Some of the first initiatives is to fight against the discriminatory taxation of purchases made via the Internet, to fight for consumer privacy and to defend the right to intellectual property.
He is also a founding member of the North Texas Technology Council (NTTC). The NTTC is the voice of the information technology industry in the North Texas region. The NTTC drives the success of member companies in their fields and builds recognition of the North Texas region as a global leader in technology development and application, offering value to its members through networking and professional development opportunities, and finding solutions to work force challenges as well as providing methods for member companies to enhance their competitive edge.
Bartlett began his professional career in the human resources field with Lee Hecht Harrison as a consultant for executive outplacement. Volunteering for many political campaigns, he joined the Ashcroft for Senate campaign as a research assistant in 1994. He went to Washington, D.C. in 1995 to work for Senator John Ashcroft. He was the Senator's technology counsel from 1996 - 1998. At the same time, he held various management positions ultimately serving two years as the operations director. From 1998 to 2000, he worked for Americans for Tax Reform as technology and policy counsel, and staffed Commissioner Grover G. Norquist on the Advisory Committee for Electronic Commerce.
Bartlett graduated from Millikin University with a B.S. in philosophy and business administration. He received his Masters of Business Administration, as well as his law degree with a specialization in international and comparative law, from St. Louis University. He is admitted to the Missouri bar.