Brian C. Anderson is the editor of City Journal, the cultural and political quarterly published by the Manhattan Institute. He also serves as host of City Journal’s “10 Blocks” podcast, delving into rich conversations on urban policy and culture with other editors, contributors, and special guests. Formerly, he was senior editor of City Journal and a research associate at the American Enterprise Institute. As editor, Anderson has overseen the enormously successful expansion of City Journal’s website. His guidance has broadened City Journal’s reach and influence, with the addition of many new authors. In his years editing City Journal, the quarterly has continued to be one of the nation’s premier public-policy magazines. Anderson received the 2023 Thomas L. Phillips Career Achievement Award from the Fund for American Studies, recognizing major contributions in the field of journalism. 

Anderson’s work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, The New Criterion, Commentary, National Review, First Things, the Claremont Review of Books, and dozens of other publications. He is author of Against the Obamanet (Encounter Broadsiders No. 43) (2015), Democratic Capitalism and Its Discontents (2007), South Park Conservatives (2005), Raymond Aron: The Recovery of the Political (1998) and coauthor of A Manifesto for Media Freedom (2008), and editor of The Beholden State: California’s Lost Promise and How to Recapture It (2013). The New York Times described Anderson as one of “the most probing and erudite political essayists of our day.” 

Anderson holds a Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Ottawa and an M.A. and a Bachelor of Arts from Boston College.

Kate Bachelder Odell is a member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board. She joined the Journal in 2013 and covers a range of domestic policy issues, including spending, entitlements, and national defense. She is a graduate of Hillsdale College and lives in Virginia with her husband and their sons. Kate was a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow in 2022, completing a project on “Another ‘Gathering Storm’: Preparing the American Military for a World War.”

Audrey Fahlberg is a political reporter for National Review, where she covers major trends in American politics on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail. Prior to joining National Review in October 2023, Audrey was a campaign reporter at The Dispatch and a Bartley Fellow at the Wall Street Journal. Audrey recently completed her Novak Fellowship on the topic of “Who’s Next? The Politicians, Policies and Personnel Shaping a Shifting GOP.”

Carine Hajjar is an opinion writer at The Washington Post. She was previously a member of the Boston Globe’s Editorial Board and covers immigration, higher education, foreign policy, and the 2024 presidential election. She has also written for National Review and the Wall Street Journal opinion page, where she was The Fund for American Studies’ 2022-23 Joseph Rago Memorial Fellow for Excellence in Journalism. Carine recently completed her Novak Fellowship on the topic of “Iran and its Proxies: A Return to an Unstable Middle East.”

Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and senior editor of City Journal. He focuses primarily on the public policy of antisocial behavior, including issues of crime, drugs, and public disorder. His work has appeared in outlets including the New York Times, Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and National Review. Prior to joining the Manhattan Institute in 2021, Charles was a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon. Charles is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and now lives outside Washington, D.C., with his wife and sons. He was a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow in 2023, completing a project on “Why Drugs Should Be Illegal.”

Natalia Lopez is a fourth year Political Science and Economics student from Miami, Florida. A John V. Lombardi Scholar at the University of Florida, Natalia is the founder of the student-run publication The Florida Finibus, president of the UF Alexander Hamilton Society, a member of the Business Ethics Case Competition Travel Team, and an alumna of the Hamilton School Society of Fellows. She completed the Hudson Institute Political Studies program in 2024 and has interned with the House China Select Committee and Hudson Institute.

Alex Shieh is an investigative journalist, software engineer, and entrepreneur who is the co-founder and president of The Antifraud Company, a startup that has raised $5.1 million to fight fraud against the United States, and a contributing opinion writer for The Boston Globe. Alex dropped out of Brown University where he revived and served as publisher of The Brown Spectator and launched Bloat@Brown, an AI-powered audit of the university’s administrative bloat. He faced disciplinary charges for his reporting, but was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing, later going on to testify before Congress about Ivy League tuition hikes. 

Maya Sulkin is a reporter for The Free Press. Before that, she was chief of staff at The Free Press, where she began working as an intern during her time at Columbia University.

Mene Ukueberuwa is a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board, where he covers the economy, labor and immigration. Before joining the Journal in 2018, he was an editor at City Journal and The New Criterion. Mene was a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow in 2019, completing a project on “Work in Progress: How Industry Serves the Needs of the American People.”

Max Whalen is a senior studying Government with a minor in Business at Cornell University. He currently serves as President of the College Republicans and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of The Cornell Review. In past, Max has interned at The Dispatch in the summer of 2024 and then served as the Program Advisor for the Journalism & Communications Summer Program at The Fund for American Studies. Max is also a fellow at the Campus Transparency Project, hosted by The Fund for American Studies.

Ryan Wolfe is the director of the Center for Excellence in Journalism at The Fund for American Studies. In this role, he works with young professionals to further their careers in public policy and journalism through a variety of fellowships, including the TFAS Public Policy Fellowship, Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship, and the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism. 

Prior to joining TFAS, he worked at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute as the director of the collegiate network, where he managed a network of campus publications and placed students as summer interns and year-long fellows at national media outlets. 

Ryan grew up in southern New Jersey and attended Wake Forest University for his undergraduate studies, graduating magna cum laude with honors in politics and international affairs. He currently lives in Washington, D.C.

The Age of Loneliness: How Gen Z Became the Risk-Averse Generation

Emma Camp is an associate editor at Reason, where she covers civil liberties and education. Her essays on culture and politics have previously appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, America and The Free Press. In 2024, she was named one of the “25 Faces of Free Speech,” by the Foundation For Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2022, where she was a Jefferson Scholar.

A Cold War Between the Sexes: Explaining the Gen Z Partisan Gap 

Caroline Downey is a staff writer and video personality at National Review and senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. She is editor-in-chief of The Conservateur, a digital fashion and lifestyle brand for women. She is a regular guest on FOX News, FOX Business and News Nation, and her work has been featured in the Telegraph, Newsweek, the New York Post, the Washington Examiner and IW Features. Caroline is a 2022 Publius fellow with the Claremont Institute and 2024 Logos fellow with the Manhattan Institute. Previously, she was a portfolio analyst at the Bank of New York Mellon. She holds degrees in economics and political science from Boston College.

Industrial Policy with American Characteristics 

Jordan McGillis is a fellow at the Economic Innovation Group where he supports the organization’s research and editorial work. He was previously economics editor of City Journal, where he wrote about technology, energy and industry. Prior to City Journal, he was a regular contributor to National Review and The American Spectator and held policy roles at the Manhattan Institute and the Institute for Energy Research. His work has been cited by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, the Congressional Research Service, the Defense Department’s Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since July 2025.

God’s Country?—Investigating America’s Supposed Religious Revival 

Timothy Nerozzi is the foreign affairs reporter for the Washington Examiner, where he most enjoys writing about the Catholic Church, the inscrutable mind of Kim Jong Un and royalty from around the world. Born in Northeastern Pennsylvania and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, he lived for three years in the rice fields of Niigata, Japan, before moving to Washington D.C. He previously worked at publications including FOX News Digital and the Daily Caller. He occasionally contributes essays and literary pieces to journals such as The Lamp and Modern Age. He insists that any day now he’s gonna finish writing that novel he never works on.

Freedom of Mind: Pathology & Discovery in 21st-Century American Mental Health Landscape 

Valerie Pavilonis is the ideas editor of The Dispatch, where she commissions and edits long essays and cultural reporting. Previously, she was an assistant at New York Times Opinion and a staff analyst at NewsGuard. She studied literature and art at Yale University and graduated in 2022.

Technically Human: The Ends & Future of Reproductive Biotechnologies 

Katelyn Walls Shelton is a women’s health policy expert and the former Special Assistant for Global Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she assisted in executing the Protecting Life in Global Health Policy (PLGHP) initiative at the United Nations and World Health Organization. A former Paul Ramsey Bioethics Fellow, she writes on women’s reproductive health and the beginning of life. Katelyn received a master’s degree in ethics from Yale Divinity School and a dual bachelor’s degree from Union University. She’s an inaugural opinion contributor to WORLD Magazine and her work and commentary have appeared in a diverse range of outlets, including FOX News, The Gospel Coalition, Washington Examiner, Slate, and Mother Jones, among others. She and her husband, John, live with their four young children near Washington, D.C. 

Campus Breakdown: The Ideological Hijacking of American Universities 

Maya Sulkin is a reporter for The Free Press. Before that, she was chief of staff at The Free Press, where she began working as an intern during her time at Columbia University.

Kate Farmer graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in philosophy, data science and text and tradition in Spring 2025. She is also a writer and commentator for Young Voices and her work has appeared in various media outlets, including RealClearPolitics, Reason and The Washington Examiner.

Cole Murphy received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Spring 2025. He was previously a reporter for The Morning Dispatch. Murphy also served as a fellow at The College Fix and editor-in-chief for the Technique, Georgia Tech’s student newspaper.

Suzanna Murawski recently graduated from the University of Chicago, where she received a master’s degree in political theory and a bachelor’s degree from the university’s Fundamentals program. She was previously a Hilton Kramer Fellow at The New Criterion.

Christopher Buckley will present the Tomlinson award to Tierney. Buckley is the author of 20 books. Among his best sellers are: “Steaming to Bamboola,” “The White House Mess,” “Thank You for Smoking,” “Boomsday and “Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir.” His books have been translated into 16 foreign languages. “Thank You for Smoking” was adapted for the screen in 2006.

After a stint in the merchant marine, graduated from Yale University with honors, he became managing editor of Esquire magazine at 24 and served as chief speechwriter to Vice President George H.W. Bush (1981-82). He is the founding editor of Forbes FYI magazine (1989-2007).

His journalism, essays and criticism have been widely published, a portion of which are collected in Wry Martinis and But Enough About You. He has lectured in over 70 cities around the world. His awards include the Thurber Prize for American Humor and the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence.

Lindsay Craig serves as strategic advisor and America 250 Program Lead at The Fund for American Studies (TFAS). In this role, she leads the organization’s next strategic planning effort and guides the development of new educational programs focused on civics and the American founding.

Craig brings more than two decades of leadership experience in advancing the principles of liberty through education and outreach. She served for eleven years as president of the National Review Institute (NRI), where she oversaw significant organizational growth and the creation of several enduring programs, including the Burke to Buckley Fellowship Program, the William F. Buckley Jr. Prizes and NRI’s biennial Regional Seminars.

Prior to her tenure at NRI, Craig spent sixteen years at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, where she directed strategic marketing, communications, and scholar relations, and launched successful donor and outreach initiatives.

A member of the TFAS Board of Trustees since 2018, Craig has been deeply engaged in the organization’s mission to develop courageous leaders who advance the values of economic freedom and individual liberty. In her current role, she works closely with TFAS leadership and the Board of Trustees to identify new opportunities for growth and impact as the organization approaches the 250th anniversary of the American founding.

Paul Gigot is the editorial page editor and vice president of The Wall Street Journal, a position he has held since September 2001. He is responsible for The Journal’s editorials, op-ed articles and Leisure & Arts criticism and directs the editorial content of its editions globally. He is also the host of a weekly news program, the “Journal Editorial Report,” on the FOX News Channel.

Gigot joined The Journal in 1980 as a reporter in Chicago, and in 1982 he became the Journal’s Asia correspondent based in Hong Kong. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his reporting on the Philippines. In 1984, he was named the first editorial page editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal, based in Hong Kong.

In 1987, he was assigned to Washington, where he contributed editorials and a weekly column on politics, “Potomac Watch,” which won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Gigot is a summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, where he was chairman of the daily student newspaper.

Daniel Henninger will present the Phillips award to O’Grady. Henninger was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing in 1987 and 1996, and shared in The Wall Street Journal’s Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of the attacks on September 11. His weekly column, “Wonder Land,” appeared in the Journal on Thursdays. In 2004, he won the Eric Breindel Journalism Award for his weekly column.

He has won the Gerald Loeb Award for commentary, the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Walker Stone Award for editorial writing and the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Distinguished Writing Award for editorial writing. He is a panelist on the “Journal Editorial Report” on FOX News. A native of Cleveland, Henninger is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Matthew Taylor King, Rago ’19, was the 2019 recipient of the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism. He is a 2018 graduate of Duke University and earned his master’s degree in international security, summa cum laude, at Sciences Po in Paris.

King held a Robertson Scholarship at Duke and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with honors in political science. He wrote columns for the Duke Chronicle, sang bass in Duke’s oldest co-ed a cappella group, and was a student co-chair of the American Grand Strategy Program.

A French speaker, King is particularly interested in security issues in francophone Africa; he has lived in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and written on African affairs for The American Interest and the Yale Review of International Studies. He spent a summer interning in the Treasury Department’s Office of African Nations. King hails from Richmond, Virginia, where the history of revolution, civil war and civil rights inspired his affection for free people and free markets from an early age.

Mary Anastasia O’Grady writes The Wall Street Journal’s weekly “Americas” column and is a member of the Journal’s editorial board.

O’Grady joined the paper in August 1995 and became a senior editorial page writer in December 1999. She was appointed an editorial board member in November 2005. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Indianapolis-based Liberty Fund.

In 2012, O’Grady won the Walter Judd Freedom Award from The Fund for American Studies. In 2009, O’Grady received the Thomas Jefferson Award from The Association of Private Enterprise Education. In 2005, O’Grady won the Bastiat Prize for Journalism, awarded by the International Policy Network for her articles on the World Bank, the underground economy in Brazil and the bad economic advice the U.S. often gives to Latin American countries. In 1997, Ms. O’Grady won the Inter American Press Association’s Daily Gleaner Award for editorial commentary.

Ms. O’Grady received a bachelor’s degree in English from Assumption College, an M.B.A. in financial management from Pace University and an honorary doctorate from Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala City.

Paul and Nancy Rago are the parents of Joseph, Adam and Grace Rago.

Following the passing of Joe, the Rago Family established the Joseph Rago Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism, in partnership with TFAS and The Wall Street Journal.

Paul has dedicated much of his life to fishery science, including work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. He and Nancy live in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

John Tierney is a journalist and bestselling author. He is a contributing editor to City Journal, a former columnist at the New York Times, and has written for dozens of magazines and newspapers. His reporting has taken him to all seven continents, and his books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

During more than two decades at the New York Times, he was a science columnist, an Op-Ed columnist and a staff writer for the Times Magazine. He wrote about New York in a column, “The Big City,” which ran in the Times Magazine and in the Metro section.

Together with the social psychologist Roy Baumeister, he wrote a New York Times best-seller titled, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.  The psychologist Steven Pinker, writing in the New York Times Book Review, called it “an immensely rewarding book, filled with ingenious research, wise advice and insightful reflections on the human condition.”

His latest book, also co-authored with Roy Baumeister, is The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It. It has been praised by P.J. O’Rourke as “the best bad news ever,” and described by Martin Seligman, the eminent psychologist, as “the most important book at the borderland of psychology and politics that I have ever read.”

Tierney is the author of a humor book, The Best-Case Scenario Handbook, which explains, among other things, how to deal with a broken ATM spewing cash and how to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. He is also the co-author, with Christopher Buckley, of a novel parodying self-help books, God Is My Broker: A Monk Tycoon Reveals the 7 ½ Laws of Spiritual and Financial Growth.