President's Circle Luncheon with US Congressional Staffers
VIEW EVENT DETAILSWe are delighted to announce a President’s Circle luncheon with a visiting delegation of U.S. Congressional Staffers. Do join this small, interactive discussion on US-China relations, the U.S. presidential elections, and the plethora of other important issues impacting the United States as well as this region.
Rayburn Ridgway II, Chief of Staff, Congressman John Olver (D-MA) (Group Leader)
Mary Purdy, Senior Advisor, US-Asia Institute
Susan Lawrence, Asian Affairs Analyst, Congressional Research Service
Michael Bright, Senior Financial Advisor, Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)
David Oxner, Senior Policy Advisor, Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Nathan Steinwald, Senior Economic Advisor, Senator Mark Warner (R-VA)
Jonah Crane, Senior Financial Advisor, Senator Charles Schumer, (D-NY)
Zachary Schecter-Steinberg, Economic Policy Advisor, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (D)
Anna Bartlett Wright, Professional Staff Member, House Financial Services Committee
Alexander St. Amour, Legislative Correspondent, Senator John Boozman (R-AR)
US Congressional Staff Delegation Biographies
Group Leader
Mr. Rayburn “Hunter” Ridgway II is Chief of Staff and Appropriations Associate to Congressman John W. Olver (Democrat, Massachusetts), Ranking Member of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee. Mr. Ridgway joined Congressman Olver’s staff in 1994, initially as Legislative Director. Prior to that, he was Legislative Director to Congresswoman Jane Harman (Democrat, California). Before that, he served as Budget Committee Associate and Legislative Assistant to Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (Democrat, New York). He started on Capitol Hill in 1990 as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Wyche Fowler, Jr. (Democrat, Georgia). Mr. Ridgway holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia and law degree from Southern Methodist University (SMU). He is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the District of Columbia Bar.
Delegates
Michael Bright graduated from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 2002 with an MA in International Economics and American Foreign Policy. In 2002 he went to Los Angeles and worked at Countrywide Financial as a financial analyst and later a bond trader. From 2004-2006 Mr. Bright ran derivative trading execution to hedge the firms mortgage portfolio and also traded US Treasury Notes as a market maker for the firm's primary dealer desk. In 2006 he left Countrywide to go to Wachovia Bank in Charlotte, NC. There he ran the mortgage options trading desk for Wachovia's investment bank. Mr. Bright left Wachovia in 2008 and came to DC, soon thereafter joining the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the Division of Large Bank Supervision. He left the OCC in November, 2010, to join Senator Bob Corker (Republican, Tennessee) as his Senior Financial Policy Advisor.
Jonah Crane is the Senior Financial Advisor to Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer (Democrat, New York) who is a key member of the Senate Committees on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and Finance. In his role as senior financial advisor, Mr. Crane advises the Senator on banking, capital markets and economic policy issues. Mr. Crane began working for Senator Schumer in July 2009. Prior to this he was a Global Corporate Associate with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, a global law firm focused on business and finance. He received is Juris Doctorate from New York University in 2005.
Susan Lawrence covers China and Mongolia as an analyst for the Congressional Research Service. Her areas of expertise on China are US-China relations, Chinese foreign policy, and domestic Chinese politics. Susan lived in China for a cumulative 13 years, first as an undergraduate at Peking University from 1985-1987, and later as a Beijing-based staff correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, The Far Eastern Economic Review, and The Wall Street Journal. She also reported for all three publications from Washington, D.C. Immediately before joining CRS in 2010, Susan headed the China program at a Washington, D.C.-based NGO focused on public health. Susan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in East Asian studies from Harvard University and is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker.
David Oxner currently serves as a Policy Advisor to US Senator Jerry Moran (Republican-Kansas). In that capacity, he is responsible for the Senator's work on the Banking Committee and for all public policy issues involving the capital markets, insurance regulation, housing policy, and overseeing all aspects of Dodd-Frank implementation. Prior to joining the Senate in 2011, Mr. Oxner spent 8 years on the staff of the House Financial Services Committee serving under Chairman Mike Oxley (Republican-Ohio) and Chairman Spencer Bachus (Republican-Alabama).
Zachary Schechter-Steinberg is the Economic Policy Advisor on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for the Majority staff. Prior to his tenure on the Committee he worked in Senator Tom Harkin's (Democrat, Iowa) personal office, covering banking, financial services, pensions and social security issues. He was the lead staff member of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act Conference Committee. Mr. Schechter-Steinberg is a graduate of Wesleyan University.
Alexander St. Amour works for Senator John Boozman (Republican, Arkansas) as a Legislative Correspondent tasked with Armed Services/Military; Defense; Natural Resources; Trade; Transportation; Veterans' Affairs Committee issues. Mr. St. Amour worked on the House side for Representative Bill Shuster (Republican, Pennsylvania) before starting work for Senator Boozman.
Nathan Steinwald serves as Senator Mark Warner's (Democrat, Virginia) Senior Economic Advisor and has been with the Senator since the beginning of 2009. He is the Senator's primary policy advisor for all banking and financial services policy work on the Senate Banking Committee including the Senator's bipartisan work on Titles I and II of the Dodd-Frank Act. Additionally, Nathan serves as the Senator's policy advisor on deficit reduction and the Gang of 6. Prior to working for Senator Warner, Nathan worked for Senator Bob Casey (Democrat, Pennsylvania) for two years, providing support for his work on the Senate Banking Committee, and prior to that worked for three years for Congresswoman Nita Lowey (Democrat, New York). Nathan completed his undergraduate degree at Carnegie Mellon, and his Masters of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
Anna Bartlett Wright is a Professional Staff Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services. She serves as Operations Manager for the Committee, working on the majority side for Chairman Spencer Bachus III (Republican, Alabama). In her role, she manages coalitions/outreach, member services, and special projects for the management team. A Birmingham, Alabama native, Ms. Wright is a graduate of the University of Alabama, where she received a degree in Communication and Information Sciences.
US-Asia Institute
Mary Purdy serves as Senior Advisor to the US-Asia Institute. She is an Associate of Booz Allen Hamilton and a consultant to the Department of the Navy on workforce planning and strategy development. Before joining Booz Allen, Ms. Purdy served as a career Navy officer. She has experience in manpower and personnel, anti-submarine warfare, operations, and joint warfighting, and has worked extensively with the Joint Staff, unified commands, and other government agencies. As a Senior Military Fellow at the National Defense University, she developed and conducted political military simulations for the Flag and General Officer CAPSTONE course. At the US Naval Academy she oversaw the daily military and academic development of Midshipmen, and authored several major regulation manuals affecting all aspects of student development for the Brigade of Midshipmen. Mrs. Purdy received a B.A. degree in Psychology (with honors), Northwest Missouri State University; and an M.A. in Human Resources, Webster University.
Hosted by the Better Hong Kong Foundation and co-hosted by Asia Society Hong Kong Center