Ben Barnes served as lieutenant governor of Texas from 1969 to 1973 and, before that, as the youngest-ever speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. A graduate of The University of Texas, Barnes was a member of President Johnson’s Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, U.S. representative to the NATO Conference, and United Nations Representative to Geneva, Switzerland. He is the founder of Ben Barnes Group, a business consulting and lobbying firm based in Austin. He has served as a consultant, director or chairman of more than two dozen companies, including SBC, American Airlines, Dallas Bank and Trust, Grumman Systems Support Corporation, Laredo National Bank and the Barnes/Connally Partnership.
Frances "Sissy" Tarlton Farenthold, a native Texan, graduated from Vassar College and then attended the University of Texas Law School. Ms. Farenthold has been involved in public affairs at the local, state, national, and international levels. She served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives and in 1972, became the first woman ever to have her name placed in nomination for vice president of the United States. Over the course of her career, Ms. Farenthold has testified before four committees of the U.S. House of Representatives on topics including daycare, campaign finance reform, and the situation of migrant workers. She has also served as a human rights observer in Iraq, El Salvador, Honduras, South Korea, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba , and the former Soviet Union. In addition to her governmental work, Ms. Farenthold served as the first woman ever to be named president of Wells College, co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus and founded the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN). Still thriving today, PLEN advocates for the increased representation of women in public office and provides exciting educational opportunities.
Susan Karamanian is Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies and Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University. She joined the GW Law School in 2000 after a 14-year career at Locke Liddell & Sapp, LLP in Dallas, Texas. While in private practice, Karamanian represented foreign and domestic clients in a variety of commercial disputes. She also maintained an active pro bono docket, in which she represented inmates on Texas death row in their post-conviction appeals. Karamanian was vice-president of the American Society of International Law from 1996 to 1998, and currently serves as a counsellor of the Society. She is a member of the board of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars, the Center for American and International Law, and the Texas Appleseed Foundation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Council on Germany and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation.