The Progress & Freedom Foundation

Mark Adams, Visiting Fellow
Eric Beach, Summer Fellow
Allison Bringardner, Vice President of Finance and Operations
Barbara Esbin, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Communications and Competition Policy
W. Kenneth Ferree, President
Jeffrey Ho, Website and Database Manager
Adam Marcus, Research Fellow and Senior Technologist
Ramesh Menon, Summer Fellow
William Rinehart, Summer Fellow
Sidney A. Rosenzweig, Visiting Fellow
Stephanie Savir, Summer Fellow
Amy V. Smorodin, Vice President of Communications and External Affairs
Thomas Sydnor, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for the Study of Digital Property
Berin Szoka, Fellow and Director, Center for Internet Freedom
Adam D. Thierer, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Digital Media Freedom

Allison Bringardner is Vice President of Finance and Operations at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked as an account executive at FD Dittus Communications, a public affairs firm based in Washington, DC. At FD Dittus, she worked as part of the Technology and Communications Team, developing and executing media strategies for a range of clients within the tech and telecom field. Previously, she was a marketing associate at the Corporate Executive Board where she provided research and relevant business information to a large pool of senior level finance executives. Bringardner attended Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, NC.

Barbara Esbin is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Communications and Competition Policy at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Esbin served for over fourteen years at the Federal Communications Commission, most recently as Special Counsel in the Market Disputes Resolution Division of the Enforcement Bureau. Before joining the Enforcement Bureau at the FCC, Esbin spent four years as Associate Bureau Chief at the Commission's Media Bureau. There, she represented the Bureau on a number of inter-agency efforts and led the review of several major industry mergers and rulemakings addressing cable and broadband competition issues. Esbin has also served as Associate Bureau Chief of the Cable Services Bureau, Special Counsel for Competition and Senior Policy Advisor at the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and Attorney-Advisor and Assistant Tariff Division Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau. She has spent time in private practice, specializing in cable and broadband regulatory issues between her two FCC engagements, and electric utility regulation prior to joining the FCC. Esbin had two judicial clerkships in the North Carolina appellate system and is a graduate of the Duke University School of Law and Antioch College.

W. Kenneth Ferree is President of the Progress & Freedom Foundation. Ferree was appointed Chief of the Cable Services Bureau, now the Media Bureau, by FCC Chairman Powell and served from 2001 to 2005. After his stint at the Federal Communications Commission, Ferree served as an Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Interim CEO at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Prior to his work at the FCC, Ferree practice law with multiple firms, focusing on communications law. Most recently, he led the communications practice group at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton. Ferree received his law degree at Georgetown University Law Center, his MBA at San Jose State University, and a BA in English from Dartmouth College. Ferree spent six years as an adjunct professor during which time he taught Communications Law and/or Professional Responsibility.

Adam Marcus is Research Fellow & Senior Technologist at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, he worked as a technical writer for Citrix Systems, Inc., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Transportation. He has also interned at the California Public Utilities Commission and the Cato Institute and provided technical consulting to a number of non-profits. Marcus received his law degree from Santa Clara University, his MA in Communications, Culture & Technology from Georgetown University, and his BA in English from the University of Florida.

Sidney Rosenzweig is a Visiting Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Rosenzweig has over a decade of expertise in intellectual property law, with a focus on patent and copyright litigation, as well as electronic surveillance and computer fraud counseling. Prior to joining the foundation, Rosenzweig was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Hofstra University School of Law, where he taught courses in intellectual property, Internet law, and civil procedure. Prior to his teaching career, Rosenzweig specialized in technology litigation and counseling at Arnold & Porter LLP. He is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, and is an active member of the bars of New York and the District of Columbia. Rosenzweig received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University and his law degree summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Immediately following law school, he clerked for the Hon. A. Raymond Randolph, Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Amy V. Smorodin is Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, she worked as a public policy communications specialist at the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a global tech industry association. She began her media and public relations career at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, where she acted as liaison between families, law enforcement, and the media. Smorodin attended American University in Washington, DC.

Thomas Sydnor is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for the Study of Digital Property at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, Sydnor served as a copyright advisor in the Office of International Relations at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Before his work with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Sydnor served as Counsel for Intellectual Property and Technology for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. During his time with the Committee, Sydnor helped to secure Senate passage of various pieces of legislation in the 108th Congress, including the Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation (PIRATE) Act, the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act, and the Intellectual Property Protection and Courts Amendments Act. He also helped to negotiate proposed legislation on diversion of patent fees from the USPTO. Prior to his work with the U.S. Senate, Sydnor worked in private practice at two major law firms, specializing in intellectual property law. Sydnor is a graduate of Duke Law School.

Berin Szoka is Fellow and Director of the Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Previously, he was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham and Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on regulations affecting the Internet and telecommunications industries. Before joining Latham's Communications Practice Group, Szoka practiced at Lawler Metzger Milkman & Keeney, LLC, a boutique telecommunications law firm in Washington, and clerked for the Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Szoka received his Bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University and his juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Submissions Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology. Szoka serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Space Frontier Foundation, a non-profit citizens' advocacy group founded in 1988 and dedicated to advancing commercial opportunity and expansion of human civilization in space.

Adam Thierer is a Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) and the Director of PFF’s Center for Digital Media Freedom (CDMF). As Director of the CDMF, Thierer analyzes public policy developments that impact the economic and social aspects of the media industry, including related First Amendment issues. Prior to joining PFF in 2005, Adam was Director of Telecommunications Studies at the Cato Institute and a Fellow in Economic Policy at The Heritage Foundation. His work on communications, high-technology, and media policy has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, The Economist, Newsweek, and others. He also writes regularly for The Technology Liberation Front blog. Adam is the author or editor of seven books on media regulation and child safety issues, mass media regulation, Internet governance, intellectual property, regulation of network industries, and the role of federalism within high-technology markets. Adam has served as a member of Harvard Law School's Internet Safety Technical Task Force, a "Blue Ribbon Working Group" on child safety organized by Common Sense Media, the iKeepSafe Coalition, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and he is also an advisor to the American Legislative Exchange Council's Telecom & IT Task Force. He also serves on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Online Safety and Technology Working Group. In 2008, he received the Family Online Safety Institute's "Award for Outstanding Achievement." Adam earned his B.A. in journalism and political science at Indiana University, and received his M.A. in international business management and trade theory at the University of Maryland.