Our Team

It was a chance encounter while he was a freshman at Vanderbilt University that led Roger Ream ’76 to meet TFAS founder and then-chairman David R. Jones. David encouraged Roger to attend a TFAS summer program in 1976 and the rest, as they say, is history. Roger thinks he has the best job in the world, working with young people who want to make a difference. Roger joined TFAS in 1991 as executive vice president and became president in 1998. During his tenure, TFAS has expanded its programs internationally to three continents and has more than doubled the number of collegiate program offerings in Washington, D.C. Under his leadership, TFAS has extended its reach at both the high school and professional levels by adding the Robert Novak and Joseph Rago Fellowships for working journalists, the Public Policy Fellowship for young D.C. professionals, and making the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE) programs for high school students and teachers a part of the TFAS Journey. In addition to his work with TFAS, Roger serves on the board of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and Donors Capital Fund. He previously served on board of the U.S. Air Force Academy Superintendent’s Leadership Fund. He is a founding member and secretary of the Frank S. Meyer Society, past president of the Philadelphia Society, and member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He also serves on the United States Postal Service’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee. In 2021, Roger was awarded a Bradley Prize by the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation. The honor recognizes individuals whose outstanding achievements reflect The Bradley Foundation’s mission to restore, strengthen and protect the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism. Roger traces his passion for the ideas of freedom and free markets to his father, a minister who stressed the moral underpinnings of individual liberty and the connections between freedom and human flourishing. A Wisconsin native, Roger is a shareholder and fervent fan of the Green Bay Packers. Roger received his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University. He has three daughters, four grandsons and a granddaughter. He calls them his investment in the future.

Sarah Atkins currently serves as the President of the J.P. Humphreys Foundation. She also serves on the board of directors at TAMKO and the Moving Picture Institute. She has previously served on the boards of the Foundation for Economic Education, Citizens for a Sound Economy, The Future of Freedom Foundation, Free to Choose Network, and Atlas Network.

Crane is Operations Manager for the Atlas Network. She began her career at the Cato Institute as assistant to the president and was responsible for coordinating the Institute’s move from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. She also managed the design and build for Cato’s current building. Crane previously spent five years as a manager for the Unisys Corporation, supervising tradeshows, corporate and customer meetings, advertising and publications. She holds a degree in education from the University of Alabama and studied business administration at the University of West Florida.

Kent Lassman is president and CEO at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Lassman oversees strategy for the free market organization, including management of a team of policy, communications, and fundraising staff. Prior to joining CEI, Lassman spent eight years as vice president at a public affairs firm in Washington, DC, counseling clients on campaign approaches to issues ranging from telecommunications to privacy to biotechnology and state licensure. His past experience includes testimony before Congress, state legislatures, and in regulatory proceedings. His research has covered topics as varied as the federal budget and Progressivism in America, as well as electricity and tech policy. Having held positions in nonprofit organizations, on advisory councils, at private firms, and policy organizations, Lassman is a recognized expert in free-market economics and strategic marketing for the principles necessary for individual and economic freedom to flourish. In addition to previous roles in strategy, research, and communications at nonprofit policy organizations including FreedomWorks, Citizens for a Sound Economy, and Progress & Freedom Foundation, from 2003 to 2008, he served on the President’s Advisory Council for the State Policy Network. He was the founding director and on the faculty of the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics. From 2001 to 2006, he served as an advisor to the Task Force on Telecommunications & Information Technology at the American Legislative Exchange Council. Lassman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and politics from The Catholic University of America, with honors for work on market theory, and a Master of Public Administration degree from North Carolina State University. He is an avid triathlete and serves on the board of Tri Equal, an organization dedicated to fairness, development and gender equality in the sport of triathlon. He commutes on two wheels into Washington, DC, from Alexandria, Va., where he lives with his wife, four children, and their rescue dog.

Dana Modzelewski is Senior Investment Analyst at Yield Engine, LP, a small partnership specializing in fixed-income investments.  She is also Program Director at the Modzelewski Charitable Trust, which seeks to create a more prosperous society through its support of organizations advancing the principles of individual rights and liberties, fiscal responsibility, and economic freedom.  Prior, she was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman where she worked closely with clients across industries to develop and implement tailored analytics solutions and custom business tools.  Modzelewski holds an A.B. in Chemistry, magna cum laude, from Harvard University where she was involved with both campus and regional liberty groups.

Pohanka is president of Pohanka Automotive Group in Capitol Heights, MD. He started in the automotive business in 1973, working summers in his father’s dealership. He is a third-generation dealer. The company was originally founded by his grandfather in 1919 selling and servicing Chevrolets. Today, the Pohanka Automotive Group sells ten makes of vehicles at their locations in Maryland and Virginia. Pohanka serves on the board of directors of the National Automobile Dealers Association, representing the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area franchised new-car dealers. He previously served on the NADA board from 2001 to 2009.

Fred L. Smith, Jr. is the founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He served as president from 1984 to 2013 and is currently the Director of CEI’s Center for Advancing Capitalism. His public policy research has covered a wide range of topics, including regulatory reform, free market environmentalism, antitrust law, and international finance and comparative economics. Smith’s current focus is bringing leaders in the business and academic worlds together to defend capitalism and craft narratives that highlight the moral legitimacy of free markets. His many published works include chapters in the books "Field Guide to Effective Communication" (2004), "Corporate Aftershock: The Public Policy Lessons from the Collapse of Enron and Other Major Corporations" (2003), "Ecology, Liberty, & Property: A Free Market Environmental Reader" (2000), "The Future of Financial Privacy: Private Choices versus Political Rules" (1999), "Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards" (1992), and "Steering The Elephant: How Washington Works" (1987). His academic articles have appeared in journals such as Harvard Journal of Law and Economics and Knowledge, Technology, and Policy.

Tren is a program officer for the Searle Freedom Trust, a grant making foundation that supports research and policy proposals that will lead to a more just, free, and prosperous society. Prior to working at Searle, he managed Africa Fighting Malaria, a non-profit he co-founded, dedicated to promoting policies to improve malaria control around the world, and in particular, to defending the use of public health insecticides. As part of his work he authored scholarly studies for numerous think tanks and academic journals. Tren was born and grew up in South Africa and was educated at St. Andrews University and University College London in the United Kingdom. He moved to the United States in 2006 and became a U.S. citizen in 2014.

Zywicki is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School, Senior Scholar of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and Senior Fellow at the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. In 2009, Professor Zywicki was honored as the recipient of the Institute for Humane Studies 2009 Charles G. Koch Outstanding IHS Alum Award. Since 2006 he has served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review. From 2003–04, Professor Zywicki served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He teaches in the area of Bankruptcy, Contracts, Commercial Law, Business Associations, Law & Economics, and Public Choice and the Law. He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, and Mississippi College School of Law.