Policy for the People,
By the Experts

Betsy Cooper is the Founding Director of the Aspen Policy Academy. Previously, she was the Founding Executive Director of the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity and was a policy and legal counselor at the Department of Homeland Security. Betsy has a D.Phil from the University of Oxford and graduated from Yale Law School. In her spare time she likes to run experiments to see if her digital devices are listening to her.

Mai Sistla is the Senior Climate Policy Advisor of the Aspen Policy Academy, and graduate from the UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. Previously, she was a project manager at the University of Chicago Crime Lab – a policy research center that generates evidence to inform crime, criminal justice, and education policy – and a field staffer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mai holds a BA in Economics from Northwestern University. Her favorite hobbies include walking, coffee shops, and walking to coffee shops.

Gloria is the Associate Director of Programs at the Aspen Policy Academy. She started her career as a high school Spanish teacher in Washington, DC, and has spent over a decade in the education and nonprofit sector. Previously, Gloria led policy and advocacy fellowships at LEE, a civic leadership development organization, and worked on federal advocacy at Teach For America. Gloria holds a BA in Communication and International Migration Studies from the University of California, San Diego, and master’s degrees in education policy and public administration from American University. In her free time, she enjoys reading, gardening, and hiking with her dogs, Cheeto and Gouda.

Laura Franzini is the Strategy and Operations Manager of the Aspen Policy Academy. Previously, she worked on the copy desks of the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times, was a data consultant for organizations including XPRIZE Foundation, and served as Chief Operating Officer of Author Accelerator, a startup that provides training and certification to book editors. Laura holds a BS in Journalism from Emerson College. Her favorite things to do include reading, yoga, photography, and increasing her 1,000+ day streak on Duolingo.

Andrew Lewis is a Policy Advisor at the Aspen Policy Academy. Previously, he was a practicing lawyer and was a special assistant in the State Department’s Bureau of Public Affairs. Andrew has a JD from Harvard Law School and a BS in International Affairs from Georgetown University. He enjoys watching international telenovelas and caring for neglected houseplants.

Kateri is the Program Manager for the Aspen Policy Academy. She has a background in education and has worked extensively on creating and implementing out-of-the-box solutions for equity in elementary schools. Kateri most recently worked at fintech startup Giant Oak and is excited to continue the startup pace for a mission she feels connected to. Kateri is a proud graduate of the University of Virginia, where she studied Global Security and Justice, Spanish, and Global Education. She is passionate about organization of all kinds, including color-coded calendars, lists, and software. In her free time, New Yorker Kateri likes being exceedingly mediocre at several hobbies, including learning Italian, playing volleyball, and knitting.

Connie Moore is the Events and Communications Coordinator at the Aspen Policy Academy. She has a background in tech and mental health public relations, social media management, events planning, and journalism. Connie graduated from Whitman College with a BA in English and minors in Sociology and Creative Writing. In her free time, she enjoys painting, reading, baking, and going for long hikes.

Brooke Hunter is Senior Advisor to the Aspen Policy Academy. Brooke has over 25 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and technology policy. Her past roles include Chief of Staff and Director of Strategic Initiatives at New America’s Open Technology Institute; Chief Operating Officer of Engine, an advocacy and research foundation promoting technology entrepreneurship; and Interim Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer at Public Knowledge, a leading technology policy organization in Washington, DC. She has been the founder or founding Advisor to several Public Interest Tech (PIT) programs and fellowships. She is the founder of Ethical Leadership Services. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles and a BFA from Loyola University New Orleans.

Nicole Tisdale is a Senior Advisor to the Aspen Policy Academy. Nicole is also the founder and principal of Advocacy Blueprints, which helps to make government more accessible to everyone through advocacy education, training, and consulting. Nicole has more than a dozen years of civic participation and national security experience at The White House, the US Congress, the 2020 Presidential Transition Team, and the Mississippi Innocence Project, most recently as a key senior advisor on President Biden’s National Security Council. Nicole received both her JD and BA from the University of Mississippi.

Sarah Frei is a Designer for the Aspen Policy Academy. Previously, she was a freelance web designer, a web producer at Workday, and an account manager at Message Lab, an agency focused on combining journalism, data, and design to create more effective content experiences. She holds a BA in Media Studies from the University of San Francisco, where her thesis – a content analysis of pundit media and the left-right divide – was one of ten pieces published in the University’s undergraduate anthology. When she’s not designing for the Hub, she’s usually getting to know the birds and hawks in her backyard or chasing her rescue dog through the trails of the East Bay hills.

Kate Green is the Program Assistant at the Aspen Policy Academy. She has a background in journalism, nonprofit operations, and science curriculum development. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a BA in English and a minor in Community Engagement and Social Change. In her free time, she enjoys reading, dancing, exploring San Francisco’s parks, and hosting dinner parties.

Meha Ahluwalia was a Project Manager for the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. Previously, she interned at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, assisted healthcare cybersecurity research at MIT, and helped develop a new feature for the Edge browser at Microsoft. Meha holds a BA in Cognitive Science from Wellesley College. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to podcasts, taking long drives, and getting lost in museums.

David Albán Hidalgo was the Program Coordinator of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. He is currently an Associate Teacher of Computer Science at the Nueva School. Previously, David was a Tech & Innovation Advisor/Community Impact Fellow for the San José Mayor’s Office, and has experience with a range of projects at the intersection of policy and data, both in academia and industry. David holds a BA with Honors, a BS, and an MA from Stanford University. In his spare time, he likes to create rhythms on the cajón and write short nostalgic stories and poems that remind him of his many homes.

Emma Brown was a Design Intern with the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. Emma also did graphic design and web development with the Education Policy Initiative at the University of Michigan. Emma studied UX Design at the University of Michigan’s School of Information. In her free time, Emma likes to play guitar, make portraits of her friends’ pets, and hang out with her cat, Macaroni.

Emma Calkins was a Program Coordinator for the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in Anthropology. At UChicago, she was involved in the Community Service Center, through which she worked for different nonprofits and mutual aid groups. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, writing, and playing with her dog.

Jessica was the Interim Director of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub while our Director, Betsy Cooper, was out on maternity leave during fall 2023. Jessica is a Hub Alum from our 2020 class of fellows. She is also co-founder and former CEO of US Digital Response, a tech nonprofit that enables governments to keep up with their communities’ most critical needs, now and in the future. Previously, she served as a Fellow with Code for America and in local government as the Head of Innovation and Economic Development for the City of Walnut Creek, CA. Jessica graduated with a degree in Urban Studies from Yale University. She has also written over one million words in Morning Pages.

Madeline Libbey was a Program Assistant at the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. She is a 2020 graduate from Stanford University where she studied Political Science, Computer Science, and Ethics in Society, and contributed research to the Stanford Global Digital Policy Incubator. Madeline currently attends the Oxford Internet Institute where she studies Social Science of the Internet. When she is not researching tech policy, Madeline can be found biking, hiking, and running around her home town of Sonoma Valley.

Molly Naylor-Komyatte was a Consultant with the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. Previously, Molly interned at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, researched environmental crime at the International Criminal Court, and spent time in both the public and private sectors. She holds an MSc in Human Rights and Politics from the London School of Economics and a BA in Public Policy from Brown University. In her spare time, she loves to hike and camp, hug dogs, and find new coffee shops.

Ryan Olson was a Designer and Undergraduate Program Assistant to the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley where he majored in economics and minored in public policy and computer science. He has worked with UC Berkeley’s disability policy department as a researcher and coordinator; he has also worked as a business strategy intern for Samsung. In his free time, Ryan likes to go on long runs and create digital art (R.I.P. MS Paint).

Allison Rogers was the Climate Advisor of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. Previously, she served as the Director of Policy for the Rhode Island Department of Administration and the Executive Director for the Green the Capitol Office within the US House of Representatives. Alli recently completed her JD and LLM (with a focus in Energy Law and Climate Law). In her spare time, she enjoys hiking and exploring with her rescue dog.

Maeve Sneddon was a Program Assistant with the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley where she majored in Global Studies and minored in Spanish Linguistics. She previously worked for the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley, where she worked on investigative projects utilizing open source information. In her free time, she is usually either baking or watching videos on how to bake.