2024 Legal & Public Policy Conference

Thomas Berg is the James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota). His books include The State and Religion in a Nutshell; Religion and the Constitution; Patents on Life: Religious, Moral, and Social Justice Aspects of Biotechnology and Intellectual Property and Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age (Eerdmans), which has won awards from Christianity Today, Notre Dame Law School and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He has written 150 articles and book chapters, along with 80 briefs in the Supreme Court and lower courts, on religious freedom and other legal questions. He holds degrees from the University of Chicago (law, religious studies), Oxford University (philosophy/politics, Rhodes Scholar) and Northwestern University (journalism). He practiced law in Chicago and clerked for a federal appellate judge.

Julie Elliott is the vice president for student life at Northwestern College (IA) and the owner of Body Matters Consulting, a company that helps Christian institutions navigate challenging cultural issues in a way that is grounded in scripture, rooted in theology and oriented toward Christ-like love. With expertise in Christian ethics and 20+ years of experience in higher education, Elliott provides training and policy guidance for Christian organizations striving to clarify their stances on sexuality, gender and other divisive topics. A graduate of Duke Divinity School, she is a gifted speaker and writer whose work has been published in The New York Times and Christianity Today.

Chris Holmes has served as the general counsel for Baylor University for eight years after serving as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel since 2002. Prior to his tenure at Baylor, he was the general counsel at Dallas Baptist University and a trial attorney in Dallas, Texas. Chris has previously served on NACUA’s board of directors and is a recipient of NACUA’s First Decade Award.

Dr. Peter Kerr is the dean of the School of Business and Leadership at Colorado Christian University and president of KerrCommunications. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and in leadership from the Air Force Academy, an M.A. in communications, a Master of Divinity, and a Ph.D. in business administration. He has traveled to 55 countries, speaks multiple languages and served as the chief media liaison for all outdoor games in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics. He also worked at the Pentagon, is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and was in charge of all media relations for the Ronald Reagan funeral.

Joy Elizabeth Mosley serves as the associate vice president for government & strategic relations at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. She graduated from and subsequently worked at Covenant College for over 10 years, where she was the senior human resources partner, before departing for law school. She received her Master of Business Administration from Belhaven University and Doctor of Law from Emory University. On the Hill, she worked for Congressman Gary Palmer and the Center for Public Justice before coming to the CCCU. She is married to J. Paul Mosley, a medical technology entrepreneur in the cardiothoracic space and an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

Kathryn Nash chairs Lathrop GPM’s Labor, Employment and Higher Education Practice Group, advising colleges and universities on various employment and higher education issues, including Title VII, Title IX, Clery, VAWA and FERPA. Since she cofounded trainED, a division of Lathrop GPM and a nationally recognized provider of higher education training and compliance services, Kathryn and her trainED team have conducted hundreds of sexual misconduct trainings, investigations, adjudications and appeals. The trainED team has provided training to students, faculty, staff, administrators and other key personnel from over 300 higher education institutions located in nearly all 50 states.

Steve Sandberg serves as general counsel at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he directs the university’s legal, compliance and risk management and safety functions. He also serves as general counsel at three other institutions also sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: BYU–Hawaii, BYU–Idaho and Ensign College. The Department of Education appointed Steve as the negotiator representing faith-based institutions in the 2019 Accreditation and Innovation Negotiated Rulemaking Committee.

Gene Schaerr began law practice in 1987 following clerkships on the U.S. Supreme Court (for Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice Antonin Scalia) and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (for then- Judge Kenneth Starr). From 1991 to 1993, he served in the White House as Associate Counsel to the President, where he had responsibility for a wide range of constitutional and administrative-law issues, including those involving economic regulation, higher education, separation of powers, federalism and religious freedom. His personal practice successes have won him repeated recognition in such publications as Best Lawyers in Washington, D.C., Legal 500, D.C. Superlawyers, and Best Lawyers in America.

Dr. Debra Schwinn is president of Palm Beach Atlantic (PBA) University. She previously served as associate vice president for medical affairs & dean of the Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa. A distinguished alumna of Stanford University School of Medicine, Debra has held significant roles at the University of Washington and Duke University. Since her arrival, PBA has implemented a new strategic plan and launched the transformative God-Sized Dreams campaign, including adding undergraduate engineering and graduate PA programs. Seventeen Fulbright awardees since the program’s start in 2018 attest to PBA’s academic excellence. Outside of work, Debra enjoys CrossFit, reading and violin.

Lisa Turner is an associate general counsel for Baylor University. Lisa received her J.D. from Arizona State University. She has earned an M.A.C.E. from Dallas Theological Seminary and two M.S. degrees. Prior to Baylor, she served in the federal government where her duties included teaching at a post-J.D. law school. She also served as the senior lawyer for an educational organization responsible for a range of programs, including technical schools through a SACSCOC-accredited university which awards master’s and doctoral degrees. Her primary areas of concentration at Baylor include employment law, athletics and policy review and support.

Christa Van Der Merwe is the general counsel of Dallas Baptist University. Before joining DBU, Christa worked as a commercial litigation associate for a large law firm, and she previously clerked for the Honorable Judge Sam A. Lindsay of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. She received a B.S., summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona and a J.D. with honors from the University of Texas.

Paula Victor has been general counsel at Biola University since 2019. Prior to Biola, she was a managing partner at Anderson, McPharlin & Conners LLP in Los Angeles. Victor’s practice focused on litigating in many different substantive areas, the most significant being the defense of educational institutions, labor & employment, personal injury, insurance coverage and bad faith and professional liability. She has served as a Judge Pro Tem and taught torts and civil procedure to insurance professionals.

In addition to her professional activities, Victor is active in her local church and currently serves as a director on the YMCA Early Childhood Education Board.

William Wagner holds the academic rank of distinguished professor emeritus after many years of teaching constitutional law and advance appellate advocacy. He currently holds the WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith and Freedom at Spring Arbor University. William’s public service includes serving as a federal judge in the United States Courts, as legal counsel in the U.S. Senate and as chief counsel of the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee. He also served as senior assistant United States attorney in the Department of Justice and as an American diplomat and senior advisor for global criminal justice at the U.S. Department of State.