Speaker biographies
Eric Dezenhall cofounded Dezenhall Resources in 1987 and today serves as the company’s CEO. Prior to starting his firm, Mr. Dezenhall worked at an international public relations agency and a political consulting firm. Today, he is a frequent guest commentator on national public affairs programs and is widely quoted in leading news publications. Mr. Dezenhall’s first book, Nail ’Em: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Business (Prometheus, 1999), pioneered new techniques for understanding and defusing crises. His most recent book, Damage Control: Why Everything You Know about Crisis Management Is Wrong (Pioneer, 2007), was coauthored with his business partner, John Weber. He is also the author of five novels, Money Wanders (St. Martin’s Press, 2003), Jackie Disaster (St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2003), Shakedown Beach (St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2004), Turnpike Flameout (St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2005), and Spinning Dixie (Thomas Dunne Books, 2006). Mr. Dezenhall speaks frequently before groups on the news media, crisis management, and popular culture.
Jon Entine, an adjunct fellow at AEI, is a columnist for the British-based magazine Ethical Corporation and a writer/consultant on corporate responsibility, working with numerous organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has written and edited four books, two for AEI Press: Let Them Eat Precaution: How Politics is Undermining the Genetic Revolution in Agriculture (2005) and Pension Fund Politics: The Dangers of Socially Responsible Investing (2005). Abraham’s Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People will be published by Grand Central/Warner in October 2007. Mr. Entine was a network television news producer for ABC, CBS, and NBC from 1974 to 1994, winning more than twenty awards, including two Emmys for specials on the reform movements in China and the former Soviet Union. While at NBC News, he produced and co-wrote the award-winning Black Athletes: Fact and Fiction (1989), which inspired his book Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk about It (PublicAffairs, 2000). He has served as a lecturer and professor at various universities, most recently as scholar-in-residence at Miami University (Ohio).
Ted Frank is a resident fellow at AEI and director of the AEI Liability Project. Mr. Frank manages the Institute’s research in products liability, medical malpractice, class actions, civil procedure, corporate regulation, antitrust and patent litigation, lifestyle litigation, and judicial selection. Before joining AEI, Mr. Frank was a litigator from 1995–2005. His litigation experience includes defending the use of punch card ballots in the California gubernatorial recall election against an ACLU constitutional challenge; Vioxx and automobile products liability cases; class action defense; and antitrust and patent cases. He has also argued successfully in front of the Ninth Circuit multiple times. Mr. Frank has written for law reviews, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and National Review Online, and has appeared on National Public Radio, BBC, C-SPAN, and Fox News. Mr. Frank also clerked for Judge Frank H. Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a regular contributor to the liability reform blogs PointOfLaw.com and Overlawyered.com.
Steven Hantler is DaimlerChrysler Corporation’s assistant general counsel for government and regulation, and a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. He is also chairman of the American Justice Partnership, in which capacity he contributes to legal reform initiatives at the state level. He serves on the boards of directors of the Michigan and Oklahoma chambers of commerce and the New York University Law School Center for Labor and Employment. He is also legal policy advisor to the Council of State Chambers. He is chairman the board of directors of the State Government Leadership Foundation, which is dedicated to educating state leaders on timely public policy issues. Mr. Hantler is also a leader in civic and professional affairs; a frequent speaker at national meetings on civil justice reform, legal policy, and litigation communications; and the author of many articles appearing in leading publications.
Nancy Murphy, senior vice president of the Case Foundation, oversees the foundation’s international investments and civic engagement initiatives. She is currently on executive loan to one of the foundation’s major grantees, PlayPumps International. With Ms. Murphy’s expertise and financial support from the foundation, PlayPumps International plans to expand across sub-Saharan Africa to deliver clean drinking water to 10 million people by 2010. Prior to joining the Case Foundation in 2007, Ms. Murphy led the corporate responsibility practice for APCO Worldwide’s Washington, D.C., office. Her previous experience includes serving as a program officer with the federal agency Corporation for National Service, as director of policy for the Minnesota-based National Youth Leadership Council, and as manager of youth volunteerism development for a volunteer center in Columbus, Ohio. Ms. Murphy is currently a board member for the National Youth Leadership Council and Taproot Foundation.
View Event Details
