Mission Imperative

Forging a path toward American prosperity and global competitiveness by accelerating bipartisan economic, strategic, and technological policy solutions.

Why "Silverado"?

Silverado's name is a nod to the Silverado Trail, a 29-mile route that passes through the heart of California's Napa Valley. When the trail was constructed in 1852, it created a new path toward prosperity for California's workers and merchants, connecting mineral mines in the northern valley to commercial shipping routes in the south. Today, the trail winds through the heart Napa Valley's wine country, offering a scenic view of world-class vineyards and the valley's magnificent mountains.

Like its namesake, Silverado is forging a new path toward American prosperity in the 21st century—and serving up plenty of wine along the way.

History

At the dawn of the 21st century, the U.S. is embroiled in a new contest for global leadership with its strategic competitors. How did we arrive at this moment in history, and what can the past teach us about America's path into the future?

View Timeline
timeline link image

Silverado Team

Dmitri Alperovitch

Dmitri Alperovitch is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a non-profit focused on advancing American prosperity and global leadership in the 21st century and beyond. He is a Co-Founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike Inc., a leading cybersecurity company. A renowned cybersecurity visionary, business executive, and thought leader on geopolitics, great power competition and cybersecurity strategy, Alperovitch has served as special advisor to the Department of Defense and currently serves on the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's Cyber Safety Review Board. His writing on geopolitics, foreign policy and cybersecurity issues has appeared in major news outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs, and he is a regular contributor to national broadcast news programs including PBS Newshour and NBC News. Alperovitch is also an active angel investor and board member of multiple high-growth technology companies. He has been named as one of Fortune Magazine's “40 Under 40” most influential young people in business, and Politico Magazine has featured Alperovitch as one of “Politico 50” influential thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics. In 2021, he launched the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Alperovitch was also named a "D.C. Tech Titan" and one of the 500 most influential people in Washington by Washingtonian Magazine in 2022 and 2023. He is the host and creator of Silverado's popular "Geopolitics Decanted" podcast, dedicated to expert analysis of the war in Ukraine and broader geopolitical and national security issues including developments on semiconductor and AI policy. In 2023, DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas presented Alperovitch with the Outstanding Americans by Choice recognition for his civic and professional contributions as a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Maureen Hinman

Maureen Hinman is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator. Ms. Hinman, a leading policy expert on the intersection of energy, environment, and the economy, most recently served as Director for Environment and Natural Resources at the Office of the United States Trade Representative. At USTR she led a range of multilateral, regional, and bilateral trade policy initiatives focused on the environmental goods and services sector as well as natural resource conservation. Ms. Hinman previously served as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s senior industry trade specialist responsible for international policy development and interagency advocacy for the U.S. environmental technology industry. Prior to entering federal service Hinman consulted on regional integration and trade policy implementation at Nathan Associates, a Washington-based economic policy consultancy. Ms. Hinman serves as a policy advisor for the Center for Climate and Trade. She was named to Washingtonian Magazine's 2022 and 2023 "Tech Titan" list.

Sarah Stewart

Sarah V. Stewart is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Silverado Policy Accelerator. Ms. Stewart has nearly two decades of experience as an international trade lawyer, trade policy expert, and trade negotiator. In her current role, Ms. Stewart works to implement Silverado's mission in areas including geopolitics, national security, international trade, critical supply chains, and energy and environment. Ms. Stewart's views are featured in national publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Politico, and she is a regular speaker at domestic and international conferences.

Immediately prior to joining Silverado, Ms. Stewart led the public policy efforts at Amazon on U.S. trade policy and export controls matters. From 2013 to 2018, Ms. Stewart worked for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, with her most recent position being the Deputy Assistant USTR for Environment and Natural Resources. During her time at USTR, Ms. Stewart was the lead environment chapter negotiator for the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations with the European Union. Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Stewart served in different legal and policy roles at the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International, including spearheading a first-ever international legal group. Ms. Stewart began her career at the Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart, where she worked for over five years on behalf of U.S. manufacturing companies and workers.

Ms. Stewart serves as a policy advisor for the Center for Climate and Trade, is a fellow at the National Security Institute, and is on the advisory board of American University's Washington College of Law Program on Environmental and Energy Law.

Debra Delay

Debra Delay is the Chief Operating Officer at the Silverado Policy Accelerator. Ms. Delay is an international business and trade expert with 25 years of professional experience spanning the private and public sectors. Immediately prior to joining Silverado, she served as Director of the Steel and Aluminum Section 232 exclusions program at the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. During her 17+ year federal government career at ITA, she also served as Director of Strategic Planning, Director of Customer Experience; and Senior Advisor to the Deputy Director General of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service. Earlier in her career, Ms. Delay worked in the Boston, MA office of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, advising small and medium sized companies on exporting. She also worked in sales operations and marketing roles at several private sector firms prior to joining government service. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish Literature from Smith College and holds a master’s degree in International Business and Trade from the Fletcher School of Tufts University.

Andrew David

Andrew S. David is Vice President of Research and Analysis at Silverado Policy Accelerator. Mr. David has more than fifteen years of experience working on international trade and environmental issues. Prior to joining Silverado, he worked on trade issues at the U.S. International Trade Commission, where he managed projects on trade, industry competitiveness, and environmental goods. He has also authored or co-authored numerous papers and reports on advanced technology products, environmental goods, renewable energy equipment, and other topics. Prior to joining the USITC, he was a Next Generation Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research. He also worked at the Cadmus Group and the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Duke University and holds master’s degrees from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Department of Asian Studies at The University of Texas at Austin.

Mahnaz Khan

Mahnaz Khan is the Vice President of Policy for Critical Supply Chains. Ms. Khan has more than 15 years of experience developing international trade strategies and advising on the economic and legal impacts of trade policy measures at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. International Trade Commission, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Prior to joining Silverado Policy Accelerator, she was the Director of South Asia at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where she restarted high-level bilateral trade discussions with South Asian countries, leading to the resolution of longstanding trade barriers for U.S. companies. While at the U.S. International Trade Commission, Ms. Khan spearheaded a number of impactful projects on environmental goods, digital trade, industry competitiveness, and trade preference programs. As a senior industry expert at the U.S. InternationalTrade Commission, she also authored or co-authored over 20 publications and spoke at international conferences on these trade topics. Ms. Khan started her career in the private sector, investigating securities fraud and insider trading at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority during the peak of the 2008-10 financial crisis. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and operations management from Boston University and holds a Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Andy Knipe

Andy Knipe is Silverado Policy Accelerator’s Director of Research and Analysis. Mr. Knipe has more than a decade of experience working on issues related to international trade, economic development, and industry competitiveness. Prior to joining Silverado, Mr. Knipe was an international economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission, where he led economic analyses in trade remedy investigations on a wide variety of industries and products. He has authored or co-authored numerous reports and papers involving the solar industry, natural resources, steel products, mining and minerals, and more. Mr. Knipe also served as editor-in-chief and managing editor of the ITC’s Journal of International Commerce and Economics. Prior to the ITC, Mr. Knipe served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, where he worked on projects involving CSR practices, financial management, entrepreneurship, and fair trade certification. Mr. Knipe began his career as a political organizer and nonprofit director, where he managed fundraising and advocacy projects related to renewable energy, conservation, and human rights. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Binghamton University and a master’s degree in global finance, trade, and economic integration from the University of Denver.

David Kelm

David Kelm is a Policy Analyst at Silverado who originally joined the team in the summer of 2023 as a participant in the Catherine Hinman Fellowship program. He holds undergraduate degrees in political science and technical English writing and is currently in his final year at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, pursuing a Master's in International Human Rights along with a certificate in global environmental change and adaptation. David has previously served as a research assistant at the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy. His areas of particular interest lie in the intersections of clean energy transition and human rights.

Paige Graham

Paige Graham is a fellow at Silverado. She joined us in the summer 2023 as a member of the inaugural Catherine Hinman Fellowship program. Ms. Graham is a student at the University of Georgia, where she completed her undergraduate studies in International Affairs and Spanish. She participated in a 4+1 program and is currently finishing her Masters of International Policy with a dual concentration in energy security and non-proliferation. She has experience working as a research assistant at the Center for International Trade and Security and as a legislative fellow for her local Georgia House of Representatives member. 

Strategic Council

honorary chairs

General David Petraeus (US Army, Ret.)

Partner, KKR and Chairman KKR Global Institute

The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull

Australia’s 29th Prime Minister

strategic advisors

Heather Adkins

Senior Director of Information Security at Google

Michael Allen

Managing Director, Beacon Global Strategies

Robert D. Atkinson

Founder and President, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

George David Banks

Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center

Jeremy Bash

Founder and Managing Director, Beacon Global Strategies

Thomas P. Bossert

President, TrinityCyber, Inc.

Wendy Cutler

Vice President, the Asia Society Policy Institute

Eliot Cohen

Professor, Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

Nicholas Consonery

Executive Director, The Eurasia Group

Ivo Daalder

President, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Richard Danzig

Former Secretary of the Navy; Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

John Demers

Former Assistant Attorney General

Mark Galeotti

Principal Director, Mayak Intelligence

Steve Glickman

Founder and CEO, Develop LLC

Robert Ghilduta

President of Nuand LLC

Jamieson Greer

Partner, King & Spalding

Jason Healey

Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs

Jennifer Hillman

Professor of Practice, Georgetown Law Center

Jane Harman

Distinguished Scholar & President Emerita, Wilson International Center for Scholars

Jamil Jaffer

Founder and Executive Director, the National Security Institute; Vice President, IronNet Cybersecurity

Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

University Distinguished Service Professor emeritus and former Dean of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Richard H. Ledgett, Jr.

CEO, The Ledgett Group

Sandra Joyce

Executive Vice President, Mandiant Intelligence

Sarah Marie Jordaan

Associate Professor, McGill University

Sean Kanuck

Founder and CEO of EXEDEC

Kate Kalutkiewicz

Senior Managing Director, McLarty Associates

Ken Levinson

Chief Executive Officer, Washington International Trade Association (WITA)

Mark Linscott

Senior Advisor, The Asia Group; Senior Fellow, the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center

Jeanette Manfra

Director for Risk and Compliance, Google Cloud

Keith Mularksi

Managing Director, Ernst & Young LLP

Robin Millican

Sr. Director U.S. Policy & Advocacy, Breakthrough Energy

Nazak Nikakhtar

Partner, Wiley Rein LLP

Scott N. Paul

President, the Alliance for American Manufacturing

Rich Powell

Executive Director, ClearPath and ClearPath Action

Katharina Kummer Peiry

Owner and Principal, Kummer EcoConsult

Jennifer Prescott

Director, Amazon Web Services

Catrina Rorke

Senior Vice President for Policy and Research, the Climate Leadership Council

Matthew Rojansky

President and Chief Executive Officer, The U.S. Russia Foundation.

Kristi M. Rogers

Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Principal to Principal (P2P)

Matthew Reisman

Director, Director of Privacy and Data Policy, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

Nadia Schadlow

Founder, Scout Strategy Group LLC

Marie O’Neill Sciarrone

Chief Executive Officer, Tribal Tech

Terence P. Stewart

Former Managing Partner, Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart

Matthew Spence

Managing Director and Global Head of Venture Capital Banking, Barclays

Chad Sweet

Co-Founder & CEO, The Chertoff Group

Dr. Jonathan Ward

Founder, Altas Organization

Michael R. Wessel

President, The Wessel Group Incorporated

Amy Zegart

Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Senior Fellow, the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies

Realizing a comprehensive American strategy in the twenty-first century will require creativity and collaboration. Silverado works with a bipartisan group of policymakers, stakeholders, and experts to challenge build support for actionable policy initiatives and ignite a 21c race to the top.