Intern Emeritus Neomi Rao, who spearheaded President Trump’s regulatory roll-back, has been nominated to fill Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
2018 was quite a year for Neomi Rao. She celebrated her first anniversary as administrator of the federal Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In her first 15 months on the job, she oversaw the withdrawal or delay of more than 1,500 planned rules. On balance, she eliminated 22 regulatory actions for every one new regulation on the books.
In June, the Network of Enlightened Women named her their Empowered Woman of the Year, citing “her monumental leadership of regulatory reform.” Rao’s work in cutting regulations, they noted, had empowered countless women to flourish.
In October, Heritage President Kay Coles James and Vice President for Policy Promotion Bridgett Wagner presented her with our Distinguished Intern Alumni Award—an honor previously bestowed on conservative luminaries such as Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Marjorie Dannenfelser, founder and president of the Susan B. Anthony List.
In the fall of 1994, during her senior year at Yale, Rao interned at Heritage as our Lawrence Wade Journalism Fellow. After graduating college, she went on to the University of Chicago Law School.
Then, it was back to Washington, where she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, served as counsel to both the Senate Judiciary Committee and President George W. Bush, and taught at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law, where she founded the Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
Rao credits Heritage with helping instill the conservative principles that have guided her throughout her professional life. “Heritage has a long history of fighting for individual liberty, limited government and constitutional principles,” she said at our 2018 President’s Club meeting. “These are all ideas that have animated my work both as an academic and in my career in public service.”
And 2018 had even bigger things in store for this distinguished alumna. On Nov. 13, President Trump announced that Rao was his pick to succeed recently installed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Heritage President Kay Coles James interviews Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
CATO Institute vs. Heritage Intern Debate
(Left to right) Reps. Mia Love, R-Utah, Martha Roby, R-Ala., and Ann Wagner, R-Mo.
Truly an extraordinary event. The presentations and discussions offered genuinely fresh perspectives and new ways to think about old issues.
(Left to right) Kelsey Harkness, Dann Mead Smith, Rebecca Liner, and Lyndsey Fifield
Zachary Wood stressed the importance of free speech and the need for a diversity of views on campus.
Heritage Vice President Bridgett Wagner
Genevieve Wood interviews Kay Coles James and Kim Holmes.
It’s the “Big Tent Meeting” of the conservative movement. In June, nearly 400 leaders representing the broad spectrum of modern conservatism gathered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for Heritage’s 41st annual Resource Bank Meeting.
Think tank CEOs, experts, donors, marketers, and litigators come for animated policy discussions and practical workshops designed to help attendees adopt best-in-class techniques in everything from fundraising to advocacy.
Highlights of the 2018 meeting included a sparkling discussion of “disruptive innovation” by Newt Gingrich, Steve Forbes, and George Gilder at the Robert H. Krieble Dinner and presentation of our Salvatori Award for Citizenship to broadcaster and journalist Tucker Carlson.
Another popular speaker was Zachary Wood, a 2018 graduate of Williams College and Robert L. Bartley fellow at The Wall Street Journal. Wood served as president of “Uncomfortable Learning,” a student group that sparked national controversy for inviting provocative (i.e., conservative) speakers to the liberal campus. Wood stressed the importance of free speech, the power of uncomfortable conversation and the need for a diversity of views on campus.
The Young Leaders Program that brought us Neomi Rao in 1994 had another banner year in 2018, welcoming 180 interns from 112 universities. Each intern worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Heritage staff—researchers, fellows, and communications and marketing professionals—learning firsthand how to develop and promote modern policy solutions grounded in the wisdom of the ages.
In addition to this hands-on learning, Heritage interns benefit from formal instruction—lectures and study programs that allow them to hear from foreign leaders, members of Congress, and scholars from around the country.
Our intern program shapes and sharpens promising young conservatives so the rising generation can have the leaders needed to keep America pointing True North. But that’s not all Heritage does to promote an understanding of conservatism among America’s youth.
Indeed, our headquarters have become a popular “briefing station” for college groups making field trips to our nation’s capital. In 2018, the Young Leader’s Program hosted 52 briefings for over 1,300 university students visiting D.C. The briefings allow us to deliver the conservative message to young people who’ve never heard it.
Kay Coles James reached an even more under-served section of America—conservative African-American teenagers. In July she spoke to Turning Point USA’s High School Leadership Summit—a gathering of black conservative leaders-in-the-making.
“One-off” briefings and speeches can be enlightening and inspiring, but in 2018 we moved to establish a more rooted connection with young people in the D.C. area who are interested in public policy but lack meaningful exposure to conservative philosophy at work or at school.
Through two pilot programs—the Conservative Hill Intern Program and the Local University Conservatives Program—we reached out to local Millennials and the even younger and more numerous Generation Z. We recruited 50 participants in 2018 and look forward to expanding both programs in 2019.
Christian Andzel, Liberty University
Dominic Bayer, Northwestern University
Henrique Carneiro, The New School
Macarena Martinez, University of Texas at Austin
Luis Parrales, University of Richmond
Jorge Villarreal, Texas Tech University
Kelley Babphavong, Harvard University
Richard Barkauskas, College of the Holy Cross
Emily Henn, University of Maryland
Georgia Cline, Patrick Henry College
Joseph Natali, Saint Vincent College
Jeremiah Poff, Franciscan University
Julia Howe, Pepperdine University
Kyle Perisic, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Shekinah Hollingsworth, Salisbury University
Austin Avery, Simpson University
Bryan Cosby, Southern Utah University
Gabriel Lepisnki, University of Kansas
Alexa Secrest, Gettysburg College
Denitsa Nikolova, University of Texas at Austin
Megan Decker, Brigham Young University – Idaho
Jaimie Erker, Colorado Christian University
Mary Soren Hansen, University of Notre Dame
Emily Maxson, Hillsdale College
Ashley Vaughan, University of Texas at Austin
Alex Deise, Florida State University
Richard Howell, Georgetown University
Brian Hilliker, Liberty University
Monique Lopez, California State University San Bernardino
Iulia Lupse, Seton Hall University
Charles McKay, University of Alabama
Patrick Farrell, Hillsdale College
Garrison Grisedale, Hillsdale College
Alex Miller, Hillsdale College
Vincent Miozzi, Hillsdale College
Rachel Umana, Hillsdale College
Randi Doran, Texas A&M University
David Grogan, University of Michigan
Elliott Raia, University of Texas at Austin
Airielle Jenkins, James Madison University
Troy Worden, University of California Berkeley
Kayla Sarin, Grove City College
Adriano Bordoli, University of California Los Angeles
Taylor Anthony, Berry College
Kenny Xu, Davidson College
Allison Baxter, Texas Christian University
Amanda Botts, Oklahoma State University
Joseph Chesser, North Carolina State University
Cooper Millhouse, Patrick Henry College
Luc Sasseville, College of William and Mary
Will Thatcher, Texas A&M University
Bradley Tune, University of Mississippi
Joshua Waechter, Hillsdale College
Jared Eckert, Hillsdale College
Gil Gatch, Georgetown University Law School
Edgar Barrios, Florida State University
Hayden Combs, University of Louisville
Bailey Oedewalt, University of Alabama
Dan Ziegler, Hillsdale College
Taylor Chaffetz, Colorado State University
Christopher Baldacci, Patrick Henry College
Holly Bahadursingh, University of Notre Dame
Ian Belliveau, George Washington University
Julia Bentley, John Brown University
Kevin Budd, The Catholic University of America
Ryan Hein, Indiana University
Shaina Hilsey, California University of Pennsylvania
Lucy Holmgren, Brigham Young University – Idaho
Helen Lamm, Wofford College
Katherine Rohloff, Trinity College
Jessica Schultz, Duke University
Liliana Serna, University of Dallas
Celine Bookin, University of California Berkeley
Cobi Williams, Coastal Carolina University
Alec Fornwalt, Liberty University
Toni-Anne Barry, The Catholic University of America
Joshua Lane, Christendom College
Matthew Larson, Georgetown University
Marie Ryan, University of Florida
Andrew Vadyak, University of Florida
Caroline Willcox, Georgetown University
Paul Fredrick, Miami University of Ohio
Alexandra King, University of Tennessee Knoxville
David Beleson, Stanford University
Dan Lee, Pacific Azusa University
Joshua Starr, Lubbock Christian University
David Lee, American University
Michael Patton, Patrick Henry College
Sarah Williams, The Catholic University of America
Corianna Baier, Troy University
Chrissy Clark, Michigan State University
Amanda Delekta, University of Michigan
Babs Hough, Michigan State University
Stuart Monk, Yale University
Kevin Wilkinson, Hillsdale College
Matthew Bartilotti, University of Notre Dame
Kayla Beale, James Madison University
Stone Washington, Clemson University
Margaret Clemmons, Vanderbilt University
Brandon McCoy, Yale University
Spencer McCloy, Union University
Nathan DeBevoise, California State University Northridge
Sarah Roberts, Patrick Henry College
Rachel West, Baylor University
Tristan Justice, George Washington University
Scott French, University of Virginia Law School
Anthony Brooks, Christendom College
