Dr. Lily McElwee serves as President and CEO of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations. With historic family ties to Arizona, she is passionate about subnational diplomacy and elevating the state’s role on the global stage.

Lily was previously deputy director and fellow in the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, and is a recognized expert in China’s foreign policy and relations with the United States, European Union, and the Global South. She has completed fellowships with the American Council on Germany, the CSIS-USC U.S.-Korea NextGen scholar program, the QUAD Task Force on China’s Strategic Futures organized by ORF America and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Lily has spent significant time living in the United Kingdom, China, and Germany.

Lily concurrently serves as an Adjunct Fellow at CSIS, and is publishing a book on the history of U.S. investment gatekeeping amid the rise of China as a Strategy and Policy Fellow with the Smith Richardson Foundation. She holds a DPhil in China studies and an MSc from the University of Oxford, and a BA with honors in political science from Stanford University.

Laura Franco French serves as Director, State Government Relations, for TSMC AZ Corp. French is the liaison between the leading semiconductor foundry and the state and local government as TSMC continues towards the opening of their new Arizona fab.

French brings over two decades of experience in community relations, government affairs, international relations and communications in the public and non-profit sectors. Most recently, she served as Senior Policy Advisor to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. In this role she provided strategic counsel and built community partnerships on issues such as economic development, international affairs, Latino community affairs, water, refugee and asylee issues, as well as arts and culture.

French also previously served as legislative liaison at the Arizona Office of Tourism. Additional experience includes a variety of positions spanning Greater Phoenix Leadership, Unidos US and the International Republican Institute. Early in her career, French worked at CNN at both their Atlanta and New York bureaus.

French serves as board member of the Phoenix Symphony, an Honorary Commander of Luke Air Force Base, is a member of Charter 100 and is a graduate of Valley Leadership class 29. French was also an honoree for the 2012 Phoenix Business Journal 40 under 40 and the 2008 Hispanic 40 under 40.

French earned her undergraduate degree from Arizona State University, and later earned a master’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and also a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University.

Maj. Gen. Kerry L. Muehlenbeck is the Adjutant General of Arizona and Director of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, at Joint Force Headquarters, Papago Park Military Reservation, Phoenix, Arizona. She is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of Arizona's Army and Air National Guard, Joint Programs, and the Division of Emergency Management. She leads an 8,300-member department, of which 2,400 are fulltime federal military and civilian personnel, and 600 are fulltime state employees.

General Muehlenbeck received her commission by direct appointment in 1992. She remained on active duty for four years where she served as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona until her separation in 1997. General Muehlenbeck then joined the Arizona Air National Guard in 1997 and served as both a wing-level and headquarters staff judge advocate. In addition, she held various national level judge advocate billets, to include Director of the Contemporary Base Issues Course, State Headquarters Liaison to The Judge Advocate General's Air National Guard Council, and Air National Guard Assistant to the Command Staff Judge Advocate, Pacific Air Forces. She has contributed articles for the Air National Guard Commander's Legal Deskbook and lectured at various Air Force and Air National Guard courses. Prior to her current position, the General was the Deputy Adjutant General and Director of Administrative Services, Joint Force Headquarters, Papago Park Military Reservation, Phoenix, Arizona.

Ambassador Nina Hachigian (ret) was the first U.S. Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State from 2022 to 2025 in the Biden Administration. Before that, Ambassador Hachigian served as the first Deputy Mayor for International Affairs for the City of Los Angeles for five years. From 2014 to 2017, Ambassador Hachigian served as the second U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Obama Administration. Earlier, Ambassador Hachigian was a Senior Fellow and a Senior Vice President at the Center for American Progress focused on Asia policy and U.S.-China relations. Before that, Ambassador Hachigian was the director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy for four years.

Ambassador Hachigian served on the staff of the National Security Council in the Clinton White House from 1998-1999. She is the editor of Debating China: The U.S. – China Relationship in Ten Conversations (Oxford University Press, 2014) and co-author of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise (Simon & Schuster, 2008). She went to Yale University undergraduate, back when they admitted regular people, and got her JD from Stanford University.

Zachary Holman is the Vice Dean for Research and Innovation for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, as well as a Professor in the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University. As Vice Dean, he leads the research strategy for the Fulton Schools, which is the largest engineering college in the country.

His personal research interests include new semiconductor and solar materials, equipment, processes, and device designs. He has been named a Moore Inventor Fellow, Trustees of ASU Professor, Fulton Entrepreneurial Professor, and Joseph C. Palais Distinguished Faculty Scholar, and he is the co-founder of three start-up companies based on ASU research: Swift Coat, Sunflex Solar, and Beyond Silicon.

Thomas Maynard, the GPEC Senior Vice President of Business Development, has been with the Greater Phoenix Economic Council since August 2013. Thomas co-manages the Business Development team and oversees GPEC’s international business attraction efforts. Over the years, Thomas has worked with hundreds of companies evaluating Greater Phoenix, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to startups.

Thomas is currently serving as an Honorary Commander, a unique program that pairs community members with leaders from Luke AFB. He also serves on NAIOP’s Developing Leader Steering Committee.

Thomas was named to the 2020 list of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers and was recognized a 40 under 40 Economic Developers Class of 2021. Thomas is an Arizona native, grew up in Tucson and graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in journalism with a focus in public relations. He lives in Phoenix with his wife Mo and French Bulldog, Hugo.

Zaib Shaikh began his mandate as Consul General of Canada in Los Angeles in December 2018. He is the Government of Canada’s senior representative in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.

He comes to the posting after an extensive career in the media and entertainment industries, having worked as an actor and producer in theatre, film and television. His work includes acting roles in Deepa Mehta’s film Midnight’s Children, as well as starring in the CBC comedy series Little Mosque on the Prairie, which has been seen in more than 80 countries. Mr. Shaikh co‐produced the special Long Story Short: CBC Turns 75 and co‐wrote, directed and co‐produced the film Othello: The Tragedy of the Moor. He also co-founded and served as an artistic producer of the Whistler Theatre Project in British Columbia.

From 2014 until his appointment in 2018, Mr. Shaikh was the Film Commissioner and Director of Entertainment Industries for the City of Toronto. In that role, he oversaw and grew the city’s screen, music, live festival, sporting event and tourism sectors, helping to double the value of film production in Canada’s largest city, which surpassed $2 billion in 2016.

Mr. Shaikh has served as a board member for the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion and, most recently on the board of AFC (formerly the Actors Fund of Canada). He has served on juries and committees for the Gemini Awards, ACTRA Awards, Ontario Arts Council, and Theatre Ontario Youth Program as well as an ambassador for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and for Amnesty International Canada.

Mr. Shaikh is married to Ms. Kirstine Stewart. They have two children.

Lynndy Smith is the President & Co-Founder of the Arizona Defense & Industry Coalition (AZDIC), a coalition of regional organizations founded by Senator McCain, comprising the defense and mining industries, military, veterans and more, to act as a united voice and advocate for regional and national security efforts. AZDIC members ardently work on projects that impact the issues facing the defense landscape including staffing shortages within essential fields, supply chain congestion that limits materials for weapons development, and modernizing the overall defense infrastructure. Additionally, Lynndy serves as Vice President of Government Relations at Acronis SCS, a US cybersecurity company dedicated to serving the Federal Government.

Previously, Lynndy served as the Outreach Director for Congresswoman Lesko’s office. Before that, Lynndy managed multiple political campaigns including the NO on 127 Campaign where she helped organize over 300 coalitions against Proposition 127. She also served a short while with the late Senator John McCain. Lynndy received a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in international relations from Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Prior to entering the government sector, Lynndy Smith attend Amherst College where she captained the Women’s Ice Hockey Team.

Since 2011, Sandra Watson has served as President & CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), a public- private partnership that leads statewide economic development.

The unique structure of the ACA brings together leaders from private industry, academia and all three branches of state government. She also oversees the Workforce Arizona Council and Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, a data-driven team focused on economic and labor market analysis.

Watson earned an Honors Bachelor of Commerce Degree, and completed the Global Leadership Certification Program at the Thunderbird School of Management. She is a founding partner serving on the Institute for Automated Mobility Board of Directors, a current member of the National State Science and Technology Institute Board of Trustees, and a member of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Arizona Board of Directors.