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?
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 and business executive, Alperovitch is a thought-leader on cybersecurity strategy and state tradecraft and has served as special advisor to the Department of Defense. His writing on cyber and foreign policy 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 2013, Alperovitch received the prestigious recognition of being selected as MIT Technology Review’s “Young Innovators under 35” (TR35) and Foreign Policy's Leading Global Thinkers. In 2021, he launched the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Maureen Hinman
Maureen Hinman is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator. Ms. Hinman, a leading policy expert on environmental industry, 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.
Sarah Stewart
Sarah V. Stewart is the Executive Director of Silverado Policy Accelerator. Ms. Stewart has nearly two decades of experience as an international trade lawyer, policy expert, and negotiator. 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 United States Trade Representative 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 as a trade lawyer at the Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart, where she worked for six years on behalf of U.S. manufacturing companies and workers.
Ian Ward
Ian Ward is a Communications and Research Specialist at Silverado Policy Accelerator. Mr. Ward is a writer and researcher based in his hometown of Washington, D.C. In addition to his work at Silverado, he is a freelance writer and reporter, and his work has appeared in numerous publications, including POLITICO Magazine, Maine Trails Magazine, and The Portland Press Herald. He graduated magna cum laude with honors from Bowdoin College in 2020 with a B.A. in History.
Haley Ryan
Haley Ryan is a Policy Analyst at Silverado Policy Accelerator. Most recently, Ms. Ryan served as Senior Director for Policy under Ambassador Robert Lighthizer at the Office of the United States Trade Representative. In this capacity, she managed the development of U.S. trade policy initiatives and negotiations, with a particular focus on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the U.S.-China Phase One Agreement, and the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement. Prior to her service in the executive branch, Ms. Ryan worked on Capitol Hill for Congressman Austin Scott (GA-08), a senior member on the House Armed Services and Agriculture Committees. Ms. Ryan earned a B.A. in International Affairs from Northeastern University and an M.A. in Defense and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval War College.
Meagan Reid
Meagan Reid is a Junior Economist and Policy Analyst at Silverado Policy Accelerator. While Ms. Reid has focused her academic studies on Civil-Military Relations and Econometric Impact Evaluation, her professional experience includes criminal data analysis, the development of human rights monitoring mechanisms in the extractive industry, and studying disaster preparedness programming for the American Red Cross. Prior to joining Silverado, Ms. Reid earned a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University with concentrations in Development Economics and International Security.
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
Richard H. Ledgett, Jr. (Rick)
CEO, The Ledgett Group
Robert D. Atkinson
Founder and President, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Michael Allen
Managing Director, Beacon Global Strategies
Heather Adkins
Senior Director of Information Security at Google
Thomas P. Bossert
President, TrinityCyber, Inc.
Jeremy Bash
Founder and Managing Director, Beacon Global Strategies
George David Banks
Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center
Eliot Cohen
Professor, Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
John Conger
President, Conger Strategies and Solutions, LLC; Director, the Center for Climate and Security
Nicholas Consonery
Director of Global Markets Research and Strategy, The Eurasia Group
Wendy Cutler
Vice President, the Asia Society Policy Institute
Richard Danzig
Former Secretary of the Navy; Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Ivo Daalder
President, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
John Demers
Former Assistant Attorney General
Robert Ghilduta
President of Nuand LLC
Mark Galeotti
Principal Director, Mayak Intelligence
Steve Glickman
Founder and CEO, Develop LLC
Jason Healey
Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs
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
Sarah Marie Jordaan
Assistant Professor, the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University
Sean Kanuck
Founder and CEO of EXEDEC
Ken Levinson
Executive Director, 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
Evan Medeiros
Penner Family Chair in Asian Studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Keith Mularksi
Managing Director, Ernst & Young LLP
Scott N. Paul
President, the Alliance for American Manufacturing
Rich Powell
Executive Director, ClearPath and ClearPath Action
Jennifer Prescott
Head Latin America Public Policy, Amazon Web Services
Matthew Rojansky
Director, the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute
Matthew Reisman
Director, International Trade Policy, Microsoft
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, Guggenheim Partners
Michael R. Wessel
President, The Wessel Group Incorporated
Dr. Jonathan Ward
Founder, Altas Organization
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.