Senator Kyl served 18 years in the U.S. Senate, and before that, eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected unanimously by his colleagues in 2008 to serve as Republican Whip, the second-highest position in the Senate Republican leadership, a position he held until his retirement in 2013. He was a member of the Judiciary Committee from 1995-2013, and also served on the Finance Committee.

On September 5, 2018, Senator Kyl was appointed by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to fill the seat of the late Senator John McCain. He served on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. He concluded his service in the Senate on December 31, 2018.

In 2023-2024, Senator Kyl served as Co-Chairman of the Strategic Posture Commission, which issued a unanimous report to Congress with numerous findings and recommendations on how the US should improve the status of its strategic deterrent, especially including the US nuclear forces, to confront the threats to US national security posed by both Russia and China.

Before his public service, Senator Kyl practiced law at Jennings, Strouss & Salmon in Phoenix. In 1985, he served as chairman of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

David A. Merkel is the managing director of Summit International Advisors, LLC. His expertise includes United States foreign policy, the geopolitics of energy, the Belt and Road Initiative, Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

David A. Merkel has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Director for South and Central Asian Affairs at the National Security Council in the White House, Director for European and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department. He also served as international counsellor to the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), senior professional staff on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and senior foreign and defense policy adviser to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations.

Claire Sechler Merkel serves as President of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations and Senior Director of Arizona Programs for the McCain Institute at ASU. She leads the McCain Institute’s Arizona work in combatting human trafficking along with promoting Senator McCain’s legacy of human rights and democracy and character driven leadership in international affairs.

During her 23 years in Washington, DC, she worked in government, with NGO’s, and on four Presidential campaigns including as Chief of Staff and Director of Friends and Family to Mrs. Cindy McCain during Senator McCain’s 2008 Presidential election campaign. Previously, she served as legislative assistant for foreign affairs and special assistant to U.S. Senator John McCain and campaign coordinator for John McCain’s first U.S. Senate campaign.

Sechler Merkel served as Associate Director in the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs for President George H.W. Bush, and Regional Director for Eastern and Central Europe at the International Republican Institute, where she was responsible for democratic development programming in Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia.

She also worked with Congressman Jim Kolbe, and on the Bush/Quayle ’92 campaign, the 1988 Republican National Convention and 1989 Presidential Inaugural Committee.

She founded Sechler Merkel International to provide strategic advice to companies and foundations focusing on projects in the United States, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Russia. She served as a consultant to the Millennium Challenge Account at its inception.

Prior to joining the McCain Institute, she lived for two years in Malmo, Sweden and traveled extensively throughout Europe with her husband and children. Claire holds a degree in Public Policy, with distinction, from Stanford University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations and the Melikian Center Advisory Board.

Samuel Richardson is the Interim Executive Director at PCFR and a former Program and Outreach Fellow for the organization. Sam started his career as an intern in the public diplomacy office for the Bureau of Southeast Asian and Pacific Affairs in the US Department of State and in the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. He then worked as a special assistant for US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and helped to liaise with local and national transportation systems at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, Sam has worked with a local Arizona manufacturing company to develop its global communications strategy.

Sam is from a small town in Northern Utah but calls Arizona home with his wife. He received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University - Idaho in Communications and Asian Studies, a certificate in Vietnamese from Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, and a master’s degree in Global Business Management with a concentration in Global Public Affairs and Digital Transformation from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.

Besides connecting with the global community, Sam loves to go on long hikes, cook and create new recipes, and take photos.