Keynote Speakers
Mick Mulvaney
With more than ten years of government service, Mick Mulvaney has been at the forefront of U.S. economic policymaking and politics at the highest levels. Most recently, he was President Trump’s White House Chief of Staff for more than a year – advising the President on politics and policy decisions. Mulvaney also served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, managing and executing the President’s policy, budget, management, and regulatory objectives across the Executive Branch. For part of his tenure at the OMB, he additionally ran the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he got a first-hand look at one of the most powerful, and controversial, federal regulators. After the White House, Mulvaney served as United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, where he focused on growing the region’s economic opportunities.
Prior to his work in the Trump Cabinet, Mulvaney was elected to the United States Congress representing South Carolina’s 5th District, defeating the state’s longest-serving U.S. congressman, 14-term Democrat John M. Spratt Jr., in 2011. He served three succeeding terms until his resignation to join the Trump Administration in February 2017. While in Congress, Mulvaney served on the Financial Services, Small Business, Oversight/Government Reform, Budget, and Joint Economic Committees.
Mulvaney began his political career in the South Carolina General Assembly, first in the State House of Representatives and then the State Senate. While in the State Senate, Mulvaney served on the Judiciary, Labor/Commerce/Industry, Medical Affairs, Agriculture/Natural Resources, and Corrections Committees. In 2010, he was named Legislator of the Year for his work in support of the state’s Emergency Medical Services. Prior to the public sector, Mulvaney worked as a private practice lawyer, real estate developer, as well as in franchising, restaurants, and homebuilding.
Michael R. Strain
Michael R. Strain is Director of Economic Policy Studies and holds the Arthur F. Burns Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute.
An economist, Dr. Strain’s research and writing is in a wide range of areas, including labor markets, public finance, social policy, and macroeconomics. He is the author of the book The American Dream Is Not Dead, which challenges the narrative of economic despair presented by populists in both political parties and analyzes longer-term trends in economic outcomes for workers and households. He has published over 50 scholarly articles in academic and policy journals, and he is the editor or coeditor of four books on economics and public policy.
He is concurrently Professor of Practice at Georgetown University. Professor Strain is a research fellow with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn, a research affiliate with the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a member of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, and an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.
His research and writing have been cited by the White House, a federal appellate court, the Congressional Budget Office, and on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The Economist magazine cited his work as contributing to “an intellectual revolution in macroeconomics,” and his work was featured in a cover story for The New York Times Magazine.
Dr. Strain has published over 350 essays and columns, including in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and National Review, among others. He is a columnist for Project Syndicate.
A frequent guest on radio and television, Strain is regularly interviewed by broadcast news networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, and NPR. He has testified before Congress, appearing as an expert witness before six House and Senate committees on a variety of economic and policy issues. He is a frequent public speaker. He regularly speaks at conferences and meetings before a variety of audiences.
At AEI, Dr. Strain oversees the Institute’s work in economic policy, macroeconomics, financial markets, international trade and finance, tax and budget policy, welfare economics, health care policy, and related areas. He is a member of the Institute’s executive leadership committee.
Before joining AEI, Strain worked in the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau and in the macroeconomics research group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell, and lives in Washington.
Paul Shoukry
Paul Shoukry is CEO of Raymond James Financial, Inc., a leading diversified financial services company providing private client group, capital markets, asset management, banking and other services to individuals, corporations and municipalities. He previously served as president from 2024-2025 in anticipation of taking over the CEO role and served as the firm’s CFO from 2020 to 2024.
After starting his career as a commercial banker, Paul consulted for the financial services industry and then joined Raymond James in 2010. He obtained a coveted Assistant to the Chairman position under then Chairman and CEO Tom James before becoming Head of Investor Relations, Treasurer and Senior Vice President of Finance.
Paul graduated magna cum laude with Bachelor and Master degrees of Accountancy and was a Leonard Leadership Scholar at The University of Georgia. He earned an MBA with honors from Columbia University.
Paul and his wife Amy endowed and named the Leadership Speaker Series at the Terry College of Business at The University of Georgia. He also received the Alumni of Distinction award from the University of Georgia Graduate School.
He is passionate about childhood education and serves on the board of trustees for the need-based, inner-city school Academy Prep Center of Tampa and served as an advisory board member for the Florida school choice program Step Up for Students. Paul and Amy served as the co-chairs for the 2024 American Heart Association’s Tampa Bay Heart Ball. They are members of the United Way Tocqueville Society and were honored with the Fred S. Ridley Grand Oak community award. Paul also serves on the board of directors for ReliaQuest, a leading cybersecurity firm headquartered in Tampa.
Tim Pernetti
Tim Pernetti is the Commissioner of the American Athletic Conference.
From 2020 to 2024, Pernetti served as president of IMG Academy, the world’s leading sports education brand. Pernetti played a key role in the sale of IMG Academy to BPEA-EQT for $1.25B in 2023. He executed the agreement to host the 2020 WNBA season during the pandemic at IMG Academy.
Prior to IMG Academy, Pernetti served in leadership at Endeavor and IMG as Executive Vice President, North American Event Properties, and President, IMG College. He led IMG College through its historic merger with Learfield.
From 2013-2015, as Chief Business Officer, Pernetti launched MLS expansion club New York City FC, co-owned by Manchester City and the New York Yankees.
He served as Athletic Director at Rutgers from 2009-2013. Pernetti most notably designed the strategy and negotiated the agreement for Rutgers to join the Big Ten Conference.
From 1995-2009 he held executive positions in media as Director, Programming at ABC Sports, and Executive Vice President, CSTV which was sold to CBS Sports for $325M.
Pernetti is on the Board of Directors for Reed Academy, a school for children and adults on the autistic spectrum. He is on the Board of MYOS, a biotechnology company that produces natural supplements to improve longevity and muscle growth in animals.
Pernetti earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Rutgers University, where he was a four-year letter-winner on the football team. He was a 2008 recipient of Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 award.
Brent Richard
Brent Richard’s vision as CEO of IMG Academy is to transform IMG Academy into the world’s most impactful education brand, with life-changing experiences, available to any student-athlete who believes in the power of sport as a platform for life. He is passionate about the value of holistic education through the lens of sport and improving and growing IMG Academy’s heartbeat boarding school experience, while simultaneously creating new student-athlete experiences online and internationally. Through its suite of connected sports education experiences, all under the powerful IMG Academy brand, all benefiting from IMG Academy’s half-century of expertise, IMG Academy is now helping families and student-athletes all around the world.
Since joining IMG Academy in 2020, Richard has built a world-class on-campus and online team, focused on executing this vision. IMG Academy has developed over recent years from a campus-only brand and experience serving 1,000 boarding school student-athletes, into a global brand with a suite of connected education experiences, ranging from boarding school, to camps, to online coaching and recruiting. Today, IMG Academy, with the help of digital scale, is serving over 150,000 student-athletes and 40,000 coaches each year, and its heartbeat boarding school in Bradenton stronger than ever, adding new sports, facilities and improving outcomes for its families.
In 2023, with a focus on ensuring that IMG Academy would be owned by a group that could bring significant expertise and value to IMG Academy families and student-athletes, Richard hand-selected Nord Anglia and EQT and led the sale of IMG Academy by Endeavor (NYSE: EDR) and subsequent transition and carve-out processes for IMG Academy.
Richard has also overseen the development of the IMG Academy Foundation, including $40M annually that IMG Academy is able to give-back via financial aid, discounted or free online coaching services, and community charity.
Before joining IMG Academy, Richard was the Chief Corporate Development Officer at Endeavor. In his role as Chief Corporate Development Officer, he led Endeavor’s strategy and investing activities, including 50+/$5 billion+ in capital transactions, including IMG, UFC and On Location Entertainment.
Prior to Endeavor, Richard co-founded and helped develop The Raine Group, now a leading sports and entertainment merchant bank with over 150 employees, a global advisory business and over $2 billion in investing capital under management.
Richard began his career at Goldman Sachs after attending Vanderbilt University, where he majored in Engineering and Economics and played for the men’s soccer team.
Richard has held board director or observer roles for organizations such as On Location Entertainment, Zumba Fitness, Nitro Circus, Reigning Champs, and non-profit Shorecrest Preparatory School.
Karoon Monfared
As CEO, Karoon Monfared leads and drives BusPatrol’s tremendous rapid growth. Karoon’s responsibilities include driving BusPatrol’s market leadership, technology innovation, customer success , finance, and operations. He is driven to ensure all partner communities receive the highest standard of service possible.
Karoon has over 15 years of experience in strategy, operations, and technology in various leadership roles. Before joining BusPatrol, Karoon was Founder and Chief Operating Officer at MOKA, a technology-enabled advisory firm serving Fortune 500 companies. MOKA’s Strategic Planning technology platform is relied on by the world’s largest consumer businesses as the analytical backbone of their operational decision-making. Prior to MOKA, Karoon was the founder and CEO at Whisp, an e-commerce platform pioneering messaging integration into the point of sale.
Before Whisp, Karoon was a distinctive consultant at the global advisory firm McKinsey & Company. Karoon brings this analytical and entrepreneurial mindset to BusPatrol, prioritizing customer needs as we scale. He is particularly passionate about BusPatrol’s community mission, given that his young sons will soon be ready to board school buses.
Gavin McClintock
Gavin McClintock is the CEO of Hinckley, America’s premier builder of yachts and a pioneer in premium yacht service with a growing network of service yards from Maine to Florida. Prior to joining Hinckley, Gavin served as the CFO of Safe Harbor Marinas. Gavin joined Safe Harbor at its beginning stages in February of 2016 as the EVP of Corporate Operations where he developed the underwriting framework and financial model applied to more than $2 billion in acquisitions and helped establish the toolkit to drive approximately 10% organic growth per year for the subsequent six years. As CFO, Gavin led five credit facility syndication recaps transitioning to an unsecured structure, reducing the interest rate from L+375 to L+150 and increasing capacity from $95 million to $2 billion. Gavin also led efforts to become REIT and SOX compliant following a successful $2.1 billion sale to Sun Communities (NYSE: SUI) in 2020.
Prior to Safe Harbor, Gavin was a Partner at Clapham Capital, an independent sponsor and advisory firm focused on overlooked opportunities in the ski resort and marina space. At Clapham Capital, Gavin led the process to refinance a maturing unitranche loan at Big Sky Resort and worked on other ski and leisure related transactions.
Prior to Clapham Capital, Gavin was a Consultant at Bain & Company where he performed various investment due diligences within the Private Equity Group, worked on client supply chain efficiencies and developed marketing ROI metrics for a leading technology firm.
Gavin spent his early career at CNL Lifestyle Company, a $2.5 billion investment fund focusing on the acquisition of marinas, ski resorts, amusement parks, and hotels. Gavin initially served in the Financial Analyst role and later served as a Manager of Investments, performing various acquisitions and managing the $160 million marina portfolio. In his final role, Gavin served as Director of Finance.
Gavin earned an MBA from Columbia Business School (2011) and a BBA from Baylor University (2005). Gavin also studied at the University of California, San Diego for two years while working toward his undergraduate degree. Gavin currently serves on the boards of Hinckley and Ascension FBO Network. In his free time, Gavin enjoys surfing, skiing, and being on the water or outdoors with his family.