President

Craig J. Richardson is the Truist Distinguished Professor of Economics at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) and founding director of the Center for the Study of Economic Mobility (CSEM) at the university. Richardson won Researcher of the Year in 2021 from WSSU as well as a prestigious City of Winston-Salem “Breaking Barriers in Housing” award in 2022.

His areas of research interest cross many fields, including health, development, and labor markets, with special attention paid to misaligned incentives caused by government interventions.

Secretary/Treasurer

Brad DeVos is the Director of Programs at the American Institute for Economic Research.

Brad DeVos began working with the Bastiat Society in 2009 as managing director, with the goal of growing the program to dozens of chapters globally. He was successful and the program joined the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) in 2017. DeVos now oversees the growth of AIER’s academic programs as well.

DeVos earned a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Urban Studies from the College of Charleston

Board Chairman

Peter Calcagno is a professor of economics at the College of Charleston and he directs the Center for Public Choice & Market Process, an undergraduate free market center. His areas of research are applied microeconomics, public choice, and political economy.

He is a Public Choice and Public Policy Project fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) and treasurer of the Public Choice Society; a voting member of AIER; and has served on the board of the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE).

Past President

Edward J. López was president of the Classical Liberals in the Carolinas from 2020 to 2022. He is the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism at Western Carolina University and directs the university’s Moral Foundations of Capitalism Programs. He previously taught at San Jose State University.

He is the executive director and past president of the Public Choice Society, a past president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE), and a board member of the North Carolina Council on Economic Education.

Board Member

Lisa Hazlett Roberts is currently senior vice president for Certell, a non-profit organization that provides a high-quality and unbiased social studies curriculum. She is also an adjunct professor at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Hazlett founded Montana Policy Institute and has been a staff member at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Tax Foundation, and Francisco Marroquin University. In 2007, Hazlett launched her firm, Hazlett Consulting, exclusively to support freedom-focused nonprofit organizations.

Board Member

Jane Shaw Stroup (who also writes as Jane S. Shaw) is chairperson of the Raleigh-based James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, where she was previously president.

Before moving to Raleigh in 2006, Stroup was a senior fellow with PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center, in Bozeman, Montana. During that time, she coauthored with Michael Sanera Facts, Not Fear: Teaching Children about the Environment (Regnery), edited a series of environmental books for young people, and edited with Ron Utt A Guide to Smart Growth (Heritage Foundation).

Board Member

Robert Whaples is Professor of Economics (and former department chair) at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. He is also a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, a nonprofit think tank located in Oakland, California.

He is editor of the Independent Review, the organization’s flagship publication. He is co-editor of the books Is Social Justice Just? (Independent) and In All Fairness: Equality, Liberty, and the Quest for Human Dignity (Independent), and editor of Pope Francis and the Caring Society (Independent). He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Center on Culture and Civil Society at the Independent Institute.

Board Member

Andrew J. Taylor is a professor of political science at North Carolina State University, where he has taught since 1995 and teaches courses principally in American politics. He was chair of NC State’s Department of Political Science from 2006 to 2010.

A native of the United Kingdom, Taylor received his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. He won the NC State’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Poole Outstanding Teacher Award in 1999 and its Outstanding Researcher Award in 2014. He received NC State’s Extension Service Award in 1999–2000 and 2003–2004.

Board Member Emeritus

Jack Sommer is board member emeritus of the Classical Liberals of the Carolinas, a position honoring his long service in science and economics. He is also Knight Distinguished Professor of Public Policy Emeritus at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), specializing in science and technology policy.

Sommer received his A.B. from Dartmouth College and his A.M and Ph.D. from Boston University. He taught at Dartmouth between 1964 and 1975, then became dean of social sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. In 1984 he conducted policy analysis at the National Science Foundation and from 1990 to 1992 was senior advisor for science and technology at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.