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.

Catherine Barr Windels is president of the Policy Workshop, a consulting firm providing advice on policy communications. She worked for 22 years at Pfizer Inc., retiring as Senior Director for Worldwide Policy Mobilization, a post in which she served as Pfizer’s ambassador to public policy think tanks around the world. She also created and managed “Pfizer Forum,” a global advertorial program that appeared in publications including The Economist and The Financial Times. Before joining Pfizer, Cathy was an appointee in the Reagan Administration in positions including that of Acting and Associate Director of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, and Director of the Office of Media and Special Programs at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Besides serving on the CEI board, Cathy is a member of the Advisory Council of the Atlas Network and of the Board of Trustees of the American Studies Center (both in Arlington, VA). She also chairs the Board of Regents of the Fund for American Studies (Washington, D.C.). She has spoken on health care and other policy issues on numerous occasions, including lectures at the Harvard School of Public Health and the École des Hautes Études Commerciales in Montreal. A graduate of Villanova University, she was married to the late Paul Windels III and is the mother of two.  

David M. Stover joined CEI’s board in the spring of 2025. He brings a wealth of business and government knowledge to the organization having served both sectors in leadership roles. He is a current member of the Board of Directors for Variety Wholesalers, has been a Senior Marketing Representative for Xerox Corporation, and Assistant Secretary at the N.C. Department of Commerce. Additionally, Stover served on the Governor’s Small Business Council and on the N.C. Economic Future Commission. He was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in December 2016. The Order of the Long Leaf Pine one of the highest awards presented by the governor of North Carolina for exemplary service to the state that is above and beyond the call of duty. Currently, Stover serves on the Board of Trustees for the Asheville School and the Board of Directors for the John Locke Foundation (since 1989), The Fund for American Studies, Philanthropy Roundtable, and The John William Pope Foundation. He is a former appointed member of the Board of Directors for the Golden LEAF Foundation. He is a life-long conservative with a commitment to free-market principles. Stover received his B.S. in business administration from the University of Richmond and his M.B.A. from the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University. He and his wife live in Raleigh and have two adult daughters.

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.

Fran Smith's work focuses on trade and international issues affecting consumers. She is also the founder and coordinator of International Consumers for Civil Society, an umbrella group that has 24 non-profit organization members in 13 countries worldwide. Smith served from 1994-2005 as Executive Director of Consumer Alert, a national consumer group. She received an appointment to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Trade and Environmental Policy Advisory Committee, which reviews and comments on trade agreements and related matters involving the U.S. She also served a 4-year appointment on the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine’s Food Forum. Smith has testified before Congressional committees and regulatory agencies, has been a participant in numerous public meetings of regulatory agencies, and has commented on regulatory issues both domestically and internationally. She was a contributing editor at Consumers’ Research magazine and has had articles and letters published in the Legal Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, Detroit News, Investor's Business Daily, Journal of Commerce, Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Times, and other newspapers. She also is the author of a widely distributed monograph on the Biosafety Protocol. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Smith holds a B.A. from the University of New Orleans and an M.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

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.