Public Policy Institute & Fly-In Agenda

Keynote Speakers

Senator Thom Thills (R-NC)

 Senator Thom Tillis was first elected to represent North Carolina in 2014 and is currently serving in his second term after being re-elected in 2020. Senator Tillis is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Judiciary Committee. Before serving in the Senate, he was Speaker of the House in the North Carolina General Assembly where he played an instrumental role in enacting job-creating policies and reforming North Carolina’s tax and regulatory codes. He lives with his wife Susan in Huntersville, North Carolina, and they are the proud parents of two grown children and grandparents to two grand-daughters.

Former Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO)

Roy Blunt was elected by the people of Missouri to the United States Senate in 2010. Less than one year after he was sworn into the US Senate, Blunt was chosen by his colleagues to serve as a member of the Senate leadership as the vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. From 1996 to 2008, the people of southwest Missouri overwhelmingly elected Blunt seven times to the US House of Representatives. Before serving in Congress, he was a history teacher, a county official, and in 1984 became the first Republican elected as Missouri’s secretary of state in more than fifty years. Senator Blunt also served four years as the president of his alma mater, Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. He has been a Society trustee since  2005.

Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS)
Doc Marshall is a physician, devoted father, grandfather, and U.S. Senator for Kansas. As a 5th generation farm kid growing up in Butler County, Doc Marshall became the first in his family to attend college. After graduating from Butler County Community College, he received his Bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University and his Medical Doctorate from the University of Kansas. Doc Marshall practiced medicine in Great Bend for more than 25 years and served in the Army Reserves for seven years. As an OB/GYN, he delivered more than 5,000 babies, giving him a deep appreciation and passion for the sanctity of life and an intimate understanding of the healthcare system. During his time in medicine, Doc Marshall was more than a physician. For 25 years, he was a business owner who signed a paycheck every other week for a practice that grew from 5 people to eventually more than 300 .Faith and community continue to be pillars in Doc Marshall’s life. He and his wife Laina taught Sunday school for over 25 years, and he served as an elder, deacon, and board chairman of his church. He has coached numerous community and youth sports teams and is a proud Rotarian having served as a past District Governor for the service organization. He also has a passion for the outdoors and spends as much time as possible at his family’s farm, the Quivera National Wildlife Refuge, and Cheyenne Bottoms.

Representative Ann Kuster (D-NH), Co-lead of the House Long-Term Care Caucus

Annie Kuster was born and raised in Concord, New Hampshire to a family that taught her the values of kindness and empathy. First elected to Congress in 2012, Annie is focused on bringing Granite State voices to Washington. As the founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force, Annie is working across the aisle to address the substance use crisis in New Hampshire and throughout the country and advance evidence-based approaches to end the opioid epidemic once and for all. Annie, a survivor of sexual assault, knows that assisting survivors is truly a matter of life or death, especially in times of crisis. That’s why she founded and co-chairs the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence to ensure survivors have a voice in Congress. Kuster is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where she serves on the Health Subcommittee, Energy Subcommittee, and the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee. She is also a member of the House Agriculture Committee, where she serves on the Nutrition, Oversight, & Department Operations Subcommittee, Commodity Exchanges, Energy, & Credit Subcommittee, and Conservation & Forestry Subcommittee.

Representative Susan Wild (D-PA)

Congresswoman Susan Wild is a mother, attorney, public servant, and a dedicated member of the Greater Lehigh Valley community for more than 30 years. Susan built a successful legal practice in the Lehigh Valley while raising her two children and later became the first woman to be appointed Allentown’s City Solicitor. In November 2018, she made history again when she was elected as the first woman to represent Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Susan’s legislative priorities include lowering prescription drug prices, expanding Medicare, supporting labor and education, addressing the climate crisis, and supporting PA-07’s thriving manufacturing sector, to continue to grow PA-07’s economy to bring more good-paying jobs to our community. She serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Education and Labor Committee, the House Ethics Committee, and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Susan has shown her commitment to providing bipartisan leadership and working across the aisle by working on legislation with both Republican and Democratic colleagues. In addition to her committee work, she is a Vice Chair of the Labor Caucus and a Co-Chair of the Climate Change Taskforce in the New Democrat Coalition.