Please join The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at The Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., for a special celebration honoring today’s congressional and business leaders and supporting our future leaders – the 2025 TFAS students.
Your involvement will make a powerful difference in our nation’s future by enabling students with outstanding leadership potential to attend the TFAS D.C. Summer Programs track on Business + Government Relations.
DETAILS
July 9, 2025
Reception 6 p.m.
Dinner 7 p.m.
The Four Seasons Hotel
2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20007
Business Dress
Tickets + Registration
Individual tickets are available for $500.
Recent alumni from classes 2020 to 2024 qualify for an alumni-discounted ticket for $150. To purchase a recent alumni ticket, please contact Derek Jenks at djenks@TFAS.org.
Register Here
QUESTIONS?
For more information, please reach out to Kathie Russo, director of corporate and donor relations, at krusso@TFAS.org or Derek Jenks, director of development events and activities, at djenks@TFAS.org.
SPONSORSHIPS
To view sponsor levels and benefits, please view the 2025 sponsorship commitment form here.
TFAS Congressional Leadership Award Recipient
TFAS is pleased to present U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito with the 2025 TFAS Congressional Leadership Award. In 2014, Senator Capito became the first female U.S. Senator in West Virginia’s history and was reelected in 2020 with the largest margin of victory for a Republican in state history – winning more than 70% of the vote and all 55 counties.
She served West Virginia’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years and was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for four years prior. Capito decided to run for the U.S. Senate to be an even stronger voice for the Mountain State. She also saw an opportunity to restore order to a Senate stuck in gridlock for far too long. She believes that today’s challenges demand bipartisan solutions and cooperation across the aisle to advance legislation that benefits West Virginia, and the country as a whole.
For the 119th Congress, Capito serves on the Appropriations Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee as Chairman; and the Rules and Administration Committee. Capito also serves as Chairman of the Senate Republican Policy (RPC) Committee, the fourth highest position in Senate Republican leadership.
Capito has been a member of the Appropriations Committee since she became a Senator in 2015 and currently serves as the Chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, where she oversees funding across a wide range of programs within the U.S. Departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services (HHS), and other independent agencies. In addition to her current Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee chairman role, Capito has chaired the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, and the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.
As Chairman of the EPW Committee, Capito is committed to promoting a commonsense regulatory strategy and protecting affordable, reliable energy production; building our nation’s infrastructure and encouraging economic development.
On the Commerce Committee, Capito oversees ways to address many issues that are critical to West Virginia, most notably broadband expansion, which she has been a leading voice on since she came to Congress. This committee assignment allows Capito to continue advocating for improved connectivity in West Virginia.
A lifelong West Virginian, Capito holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Duke University and a master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia. She and her husband Charles L. Capito, Jr. reside in Charleston, West Virginia. They have three adult children: two sons and one daughter, and they also have been blessed with eight grandchildren.
TFAS Business Leadership Award Recipient
TFAS is pleased to present Kirk Blalock with the 2025 TFAS Business Leadership Award. Blalock is the managing partner of Fierce Government Relations, an all Republican lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. He joined Fierce Government Relations in 2002 after serving President George W. Bush as special assistant to the President and Deputy Director, White House Office of Public Liaison. He was Bush’s lead staff liaison to the U.S. business community. Since joining Fierce Government Relations, Blalock has focused on firm management and new client development, while providing strategic counsel to Fierce Government Relations’s clients. Before his Presidential appointment, Blalock served in several key positions, including director of external affairs, Philip Morris Companies Inc., special assistant to Chairman Haley Barbour, Republican National Committee and special assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander.
He is a long-time member of the Board of Visitors at The Fund for American Studies, a former member of the Board of Governors of the Bryce Harlow Foundation, a member of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and co-chairman of St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School $45 million Capital Campaign – Saints Together, Our Campaign for Community. The Stone Mountain, Georgia native is a graduate of Auburn University. He resides in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Kristen and has two children Maddie and Makin.