Leadership Team - Braver Angels

Citizens Commission on Immigration

Leadership Team and Project Timeline

David Lapp: Director of Citizens Commission on Immigration

David is a co-founder of Braver Angels and director of the Citizens Commission on Immigration. He lives in South Lebanon, Ohio.

Reena Bernards

Reena is a Braver Angels moderator and national leader, and was the Project Lead of the BA Trustworthy Elections Campaign.  She created the “Common Ground Workshop” so Reds and Blues can address issues constructively. The workshops do a deep dive into a single issue for the purpose of finding unanimous points of agreement on values, concerns and solutions/policies. Common Ground Workshops have tackled such issues as abortion, teaching about race and racism in public schools, antisemitism, addressing climate change – and in ensuring trustworthy elections. Reena is a marriage and family therapist in the DC area.

Theresa Cardinal Brown
Theresa Cardinal Brown has been working in the immigration policy space for over 30 years, looking for bipartisanship anywhere she can find it.  Her work includes stints with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security (under the George W. Bush and Barak Obama administrations) and for the last 11 years at the Bipartisan Policy Center. She is also a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Cornell Law School and a Leader of the Council on National Security and Immigration as a Fellow with the National Immigration Forum. She appears frequently in the media, including on Fox News, CNN, NPR, PBS, CBS, and CNN, and is quoted in print publications from the Wall St. Journal and New York Times to the Washington Examiner and USA Today, and is the executive producer and frequent voice on This Week in Immigration podcast.
Harry Heintzelman

Since 1988, Harry Heintzelman has gained extensive foreign policy experience through various legal positions, beginning as Chief of the International Law Division at Ninth Air Force/USCENTAF, where he addressed legal issues during U.S. operations in Southwest Asia. He was the first judge advocate deployed to Desert Shield, contributing to the development of Rules of Engagement for coalition air operations and reviewing attack plans for Desert Storm. From 1991 to 1992, he served as a legal advisor in the National Security Agency protecting sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure. Since 1993, he has served in a variety of leadership roles on the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1992-1996), in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (1996-2002), and the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control and Verification (2002-2019), helping to shape U.S. nuclear arms control and counter-proliferation policy. In these positions, he participated in direct U.S. negotiations with foreign governments regarding the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (iNF) Treaty, the Strategic Arms Control Treaty (START I), START II, the START II Protocol, the Moscow Treaty, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).  He also participated in key counter-proliferation efforts such as the U.S.-Russian HEU Purchase Agreement, Project Sapphire (the removal of HEU from Kazakhstan), the elimination of Libya’s WMD programs, and the North Korean denuclearization effort.  He also has edited and coordinated the President’s Annual Compliance Report to Congress.

Brooks Hilliard

Brooks Hilliard is a computer industry professional and a Braver Angels member since 2022. In addition to being the Constituent Conversations on Immigration coordinator, he is also an experienced Braver Angels workshop moderator, a member of the DEV team and Blue Co-Chair of the Phoenix Alliance. With more than 45 years of IT experience, Brooks has worked as a software developer, IT industry executive, management consultant, professional speaker, and an expert witness in IT-related litigation. He has an Engineering degree from MIT, an MBA from Harvard, and is one of fewer than 15 consultants worldwide to have achieved both the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and a Certified Computing Professional (CCP) designations. He is also a veteran, having served as an officer in the US Coast Guard. Mr. Hilliard and his wife live in Paradise Valley, Arizona and, being semi-retired, he now spends the majority of his time working with Braver Angels, and a few other not-for-profit organizations.

Mike Hernández
Michael “Mike” Hernández is a Master’s of Public Policy and Master’s of Divinity candidate at the University of Chicago focusing on urban policy and the role of religion in American public life. At the University of Chicago, he is an Events and Voting Ambassador at the Institute of Politics. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a dual degree in Political Science and Economics in the Honors Program, with minors in English and Urban and Community Studies. On-campus, Michael served as the Student Body President, Founder of the Undergraduate Political Science Association, the Vice-President of the Connecticut Young Democrats and a regular contributor to the Undergraduate Political Review, the Business Review and the student newspaper. Off-campus, Michael has worked on various political campaigns, the U.S. Census, the Stamford Housing Affordability Study, and the historic Afford to Dream Act. Most recently, he was a Policy Fellow at NextGen Chamber of Commerce. His interests in public policy include housing and urban development as well as promoting civic engagement at the municipal level, which are reflected in his honors thesis. In his personal time, Michael enjoys photography, going out for runs and spending time on Long Island Sound with his family. After completing his time at the University of Chicago, he hopes to serve in the U.S. Navy, attend law school and enter public service in his hometown. Michael calls Stamford, Connecticut home.
Laura Kramer

Laura is the outreach coordinator for this initiative.  She is a retired engineer and project manager from Hewlett Packard and 3D Systems.  In her work for Braver Angels she is also the engagement coordinator for the Braver Faith leadership team.  She lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon (near Portland).

Rubeena Mohamed

Bio coming soon!

Scott Pell

Scott is a graduate student at the University of Indianapolis, studying U.S. History with a concentration in immigration and labor. He serves as co-chair of Braver Angels’ We The People leadership team and resides in Martinsville, Indiana.

Juan Rangel

Bio coming soon!

Jim Robb

Jim Robb is Vice-President of Alliances at NumbersUSA, the nation’s largest-member immigration policy group. He has served on the staff since the organization’s founding in 1996. He has authored a book on Hispanics voting trends, Political Migrants: Hispanic Voters on the Move, 2022.  He lives with his wife Kim in Falls Church, Virginia. 

Diego Sánchez

Diego Sanchez is the Director of Policy and Strategy at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, an alliance representing over 550 campus leaders dedicated to advancing forward-looking immigration policies and practices at the federal, state, and campus levels. A former immigration attorney, DACA recipient, and community organizer, Diego draws on more than a decade of lived experience as an undocumented individual. He is a passionate advocate for expanding immigration opportunities and advancing bipartisan solutions, working across the aisle to promote policies that benefit students, campuses, and the nation.

John Schwenkler

John Schwenkler lives in Decatur GA and helps lead Braver Angels initiatives for workshop development/moderating along with faith engagement

Peter Skerry

Bio coming soon!

Michelle Tolfa

Michelle Tolfa is the Data Coordinator for the initiative.  She is a software engineer and lives in Seattle, WA with her husband Alex and their elderly chihuahua Charlie.  When she’s not helping to support and organize Braver Angels events, she enjoys bike rides through the city and cooking. 

June 2024
At 2024 Convention, Braver Angels Delegates voted to establish immigration as a priority issue.
July - December 2024
Build the Leadership team, identify stakeholders, pilot events
January 2025 - December 2026
Convene ~100 Grassroots Events, and ~8 National Roundtable Meetings
January - June 2027
Convene leadership team to make final recommendations and write the Report to the Nation.
June 2027
Report Released
June 2027 and beyond
June 2027: Report Disseminated to Congress, the Media, Immigration Leaders, and “We the People”
Braver Angels Support