The Rick Smith Show Creators & Guests

Emily de la Bruyére is a co-founder of Horizon Advisory and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Erik Loomis is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island.

David Faris is a contributing writer at The Week, associate professor of politics at the Roosevelt University, and author of "It's Time To Fight Dirty" and "Dissent and Revolution in a Digital Age."

Erica Smith is an engineer and politician.

Mara Rudman is an Executive Vice President for Policy at American Progress.

Anat Shenker-Osorio is an author, strategic communications consultant, and host of Words To Win By podcast.

Dr. Kavita Patel is a primary care physician, policy advisor, and author. She is a Senior Policy Advisor at Stanford University. She is also an advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center at the Brookings Institute.Patel is a former Nonresident Fellow and Managing Director of Clinical Transformation at the Center for Health Policy at at the Brookings Institution. She also served in the Obama Administration as director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement in the White House.In addition to research articles for medical journals, Patel has written for MSNBC, The Hill, and The Washington Post.

Kevin DeGood is the director of Infrastructure Policy at American Progress. His work focuses on how highway, transit, aviation, and maritime policy affect America’s global competitiveness, access to opportunity for diverse communities, and environmental sustainability.Prior to joining American Progress, DeGood was the deputy policy director at Transportation for America, where he conducted research, provided legislative analysis, and advanced T4 campaign priorities with congressional leaders. Before that, he was the director of legislative affairs for Simon and Company, Inc., a federal affairs firm specializing in the representation of municipal governments and transit authorities.DeGood's First book, "Thinking Outside the Farebox: Creative Approaches to Financing Transit Projects," was published in 2012.DeGood received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his M.A. in Public Policy from the University of Southern California

Mia Ives-Rublee is a disability rights activist. Currently, she is the Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress. She is best known for founding the Women’s March Disability Caucus and organizing the original Women’s March on Washington in 2017.Before beginning her advocacy work, Ives-Rublee was an athlete, competing internationally in track, road racing, fencing, and crossfit.Ives-Rublee received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Max Bergmann is the senior fellow at CAP, director of Moscow Project, and host of The AssetPodcast.

President of Social Security Works

Tim Schwab is a freelance journalist. He is known for his investigation into the Gates Foundation.Schwab has reported on the weak public debate surrounding the Gates foundation, the colonial blindspots in Gates's giving, and the dearth of government regulations and oversight over the foundation. His work has appeared in The Nation, Columbia Journalism Review and the British Medical Journal, and represents some of the only investigative journalism ever published on Gates.Schwab received his M.A. in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

James Dennis Scholten is a freelance paralegal and politician. Currently, he is a member of the Iowa House of Representatives for District 1.Scholten was the Democratic nominee for Iowa's 4th congressional district in the 2018 and 2020 elections.Scholten received his B.A. in History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he played on the school's baseball team. After graduating, he played professionally for the Sioux City Explorers.

Ian Millhiser is a journalist and researcher who specializes in the United States Supreme Court. He is currently the SCOTUS correspondent for Vox.Prior to writing for Vox, Millhiser was a columnist at ThinkProgress and editor of ThinkProgress Justice. He was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation, the American Prospect, and the Yale Law & Policy Review.Millhiser received his JD from Duke University and clerked for Judge Eric L. Clay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Alex Lawson is the Executive Director of Social Security Works

Dr. Olugbenga Ajilore is an economist whose work focuses on the economy of rural America. Currently, he is a senior advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary for Rural Development at the United States Department of Agriculture. He is a frequent media commentator on the labor market, particularly for Black Americans.Previously, Ajilore was a senior economist at the Center for American Progress and former associate professor of economics at the University of Toledo. He is also a past president of the National Economic Association.Ajilore received his B.A. in Applied Mathematics and Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Economics from the Claremont Graduate University.

Melissa Ryan is the CEO and Chief Strategist of CARD Strategies.

Lisa Graves is an activist. Currently, she is the director of True North Research and president of the board of the Center for Media and Democracy. She was executive director for CMD from 2009 to 2017, when she left to co-found Documented.net.Previously, Graves served as the Chief Counsel for Nominations on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice during the Clinton Administration. She has also worked as the Senior Legislative Strategist on national security issues for the American Civil Liberties Union, and as an adjunct law professor at the George Washington University Law School.

Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur, the founder of Venture for America (VFA), and a U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. He has a background in startups and early-stage growth companies, acting as a founder or executive.