Leadership

Eric Wakin

Deputy Director/ Everett and Jane Hauck Director of Library & Archives | Research Fellow

Eric Wakin is the deputy director of the Hoover Institution and the Everett and Jane Hauck Director of the Institution’s library and archives, overseeing their strategic direction and operations.

Wakin is the author of Anthropology Goes to War: Professional Ethics and Counterinsurgency in Thailand. His current research interest is guns and gun control in the nineteenth-century United States and he is revising a manuscript titled "From Flintlock to ‘Tramps' Terror’: Guns and Gun Control in Nineteenth-Century New York City.” He has also coauthored a number of walking-tour books and travel guides.

Before coming to Hoover, Wakin was the Herbert H. Lehman Curator for American History and the Curator of Manuscripts at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University, where he also taught courses in the History Department on public history, memory and narrative, archives and knowledge, and theory.

He has also worked in business development, competitive intelligence, strategic communications, and digital strategy at Ernst & Young, IBM Custom Publishing, Kroll, PaulHastings, and Technology Investor. He continues to advise corporate and nonprofit entities on history and archive-related issues and consults on leadership and operational effectiveness in libraries and special collections.

Wakin received a BA in English literature from Columbia University; an MA in Southeast Asian studies and an MA in political science from the University of Michigan, where he was a FLAS Fellow; and a PhD in history from Columbia, where he was a Richard Hofstadter Fellow and a President’s Fellow.

Daniel Bingham

Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

Daniel Bingham joined the Hoover Institution as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer (CMCO) on August 23, 2024. Dan has more than twenty years of experience in marketing and communications and has led multi-million dollar social and integrated marketing programs for Fortune 100 companies and widely known global brands. 

Most recently, Dan served as Managing Director at Open X (WPP & Coca-Cola), where he led a global team and managed a $55 million budget. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President at Edelman, overseeing client operations in the Western Region. Early in his career he worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of Tom Campbell and the 2000 presidential campaign of John McCain.

As an experienced brand and product marketer, Dan brings his forward-thinking approach and expertise in leading integrated teams to grow Hoover's impact – disseminating Hoover's unparalleled research to key audiences at a critical moment for our country and the world, and developing strategies across the entire communications spectrum, including social media and digital marketing.

Dan holds a degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and has completed executive education programs at Harvard Business School and participated as a regional fellow for the National Review Institute. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Jenni, and their three children.

Christopher Dauer

Chief Operating Officer

Christopher S. Dauer is the chief program advancement officer and chief operating officer at the Hoover Institution.

Dauer oversees the Institution’s research programming functions and the identification of funding strategies. Additionally, he manages Hoover’s general administrative and operations departments. Previously he led the Institution’s strategic communications operations for twelve years, directing digital content, video offerings, and the Hoover Institution Press.

Prior to arriving at Hoover in 2011, Dauer spent more than twenty years in the medical technology field focusing on marketing, sales, and strategy. He was a senior executive at four Silicon Valley startups: Invuity Inc. (acquired by Stryker), Evalve Inc. (acquired by Abbott Vascular), St. Francis Medical Technologies (acquired by Kyphon/Medtronic), and Fusion Medical Technologies (acquired by Baxter International).

Dauer graduated magna cum laude in economics and history from Brown University and received an MBA from Stanford University. 

Steven J. Davis

Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow | Director of Research

Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business for more than 35 years, including service as deputy dean of the faculty. 

He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, senior adviser to the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, advisor to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, elected fellow of the Society of Labor Economists,IZA Research Fellow, and senior academic fellow of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research. He hosts Economics, Applied – a video podcast series sponsored by the Hoover Institution.

Davis is a co-creator of the Economic Policy Uncertainty Indices, the Survey of Business Uncertainty, the U.S. Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, the Global Survey of Working Arrangements, the Work-from-Home Map project, and the Stock Market Jumps project. He cofounded and co-organizes the Asian Monetary Policy Forum, held annually in Singapore.

Awards and Honors:

Addington Prize in Measurement (2012)
Society of Labor Economics, Elected Fellow (2015)

Denise Elson

Associate Director, Institutional Programming

Denise Elson is the Associate Director of Institutional Programming at the Hoover Institution.

Elson has been a dynamic member of the Hoover Institution’s management team since 2001. Currently overseeing institutional programming, she is responsible for implementing and managing institutional research priorities that are aligned with Hoover’s mission. To accomplish this objective, Elson manages critical partnerships between the Hoover fellowship and its functional departments, especially communications and development, as well as the larger Stanford community.

Before coming to Hoover, Elson was vice president of operations and a founding member of the senior management team at Starwire Corporation where she managed client and professional service departments, human resources, facilities, board relations, and corporate administration. Elson was the director of university events at Pepperdine University where she was part of the university’s successful “Challenged to Lead” capital campaign, raising $313 million.

Elson has a BA in business administration and marketing from American University and completed graduate coursework in business administration from Pepperdine University.

Shana Farley

Associate Director, Marketing & Policy Education

Shana Farley is the Associate Director of Marketing & Policy Education. In this role, she oversees and manages the Institution’s online presence, web platforms, social media strategy and the adaptation of Hoover’s research output into digital products. She is responsible for the formulation and execution of Hoover’s communication strategy.  Farley directs the EAPP (Educating Americans in Public Policy) Initiative, which aims to leverage the research work of the fellowship to equip Americans with accurate facts and information to understand public policy and better perform their civic duties.

Before coming to Hoover, Farley worked as a sales and marketing executive in the Silicon Valley for nearly a decade in the micro-electromechanical sensing industry focusing on government-funded university research worldwide using smart sensing technology. Farley has a dual BA in International Relations and History with a focus in Peace & Security from the University of California, Davis.

Stephanie Hall

Chief of Staff

Stephanie Hall serves as Chief of Staff to the Director of the Hoover Institution. In this role, she oversees and manages the Director’s Office and provides strategic counsel and operational leadership to implement priorities across the organization.   

Prior to joining Hoover, Hall worked as Director of Innovation Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, leading the association’s policy development and advocacy strategy on technology and immigration. From 2012 to 2018, she worked in the US Senate, serving as counsel to the late Senator John McCain, followed by a role as Senior Counsel on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations under Chairman Rob Portman.  

Hall holds a BA in history and political science from the University of Florida and earned a JD from the George Washington University Law School.

Jeffrey M. Jones

Associate Director of Facilities, Operations & Events

Carmen M. Allison

Chief Human Resources & Business Enablement Officer

Carmen M. Allison leads Human Resources and Administration for the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Allison leads a team of eighteen associates and is responsible for all aspects of the People and Talent Strategy for the Hoover Institution including creating an engaging culture, developing leadership talent, organizational design, performance management and HR administration. Allison has twenty-five years of experience as a human resources practitioner and leading high performing talent teams at Pepsico/YumBrands, Gap 25 Inc. and most recently at Williams-Sonoma, Inc. as the SVP of Human Resources for Pottery Barn Brands. She received her B.S. in Business from Northern Arizona University, completed her MBA and completed her Ed.D. doctorate in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Allison is a certified executive coach from Columbia University and is an Agile Scrum practitioner. Allison grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas and felt the call to serve. She is a U.S. Army veteran, having led soldiers at Ft. Bliss, Texas, Taegu, Korea, and West Point Military Academy, and served during Operation Desert Storm. Allison currently lives in San Francisco with her family.

Colin Stewart

Darnell Whitt & Peppy Garner Chief Development Officer

Colin Stewart has served for the last ten years as the chief development officer at the Hoover Institution, during which time the organization has raised more than $700 million in philanthropic income. He previously served as Senior Vice President at the George W. Bush Foundation in Dallas, Texas, where he managed the $300 million fundraising campaign for the Presidential Library and Institute located at Southern Methodist University.

Prior to working for President and Mrs. Bush, Stewart served as Vice President for Development at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. During his four-year tenure there, Heritage raised over $200 million and more than doubled the size of its donor base to 550,000 donors.

Before moving to Washington, Stewart spent seventeen years in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, Nashville and London. As Vice President of Music Marketing at Morgan Creek Films, successes included Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner, the music for which won three Grammy awards and an Oscar nomination. As Vice President of Marketing at EMI America Records, Stewart won thirteen gold and platinum album awards with artists such as David Bowie, Kate Bush and the Pet Shop Boys. As Rocket Label Manager at EMI Records UK, Stewart was responsible for marketing Elton John.

Stewart holds an M.A. from Oxford University and an M.B.A. from London Business School. He serves on the Board of Trustees at Patrick Henry College and is a consultant to non-profit CEOs and board leaders around the country. Stewart is the author of “Fundraising Tips for CEOs,” published in 2021. He is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists (A.R.C.O.) and plays organ, piano and keyboards.

Eryn Witcher Tillman

Bechtel Director of Media and Government Relations

Eryn Witcher Tillman is an associate director and the Bechtel Director of Media and Government Relations at the Hoover Institution. In this role, she oversees and manages media relations and press strategy, government relations, internal communications, book publicity, journalist programs, and public affairs events. Tillman also oversees Hoover’s Washington, DC office, which works closely with Capitol Hill, the legislative and executive branches, and third-party groups to foster relationships that further Hoover’s mission of promoting ideas that define a free society.

Before joining Hoover, Tillman spent nearly three years as White House assistant press secretary and director of television, working with White House correspondents and preparing administration officials for television interviews. From 2004 to 2006, Tillman served as press secretary at the Environmental Protection Agency, where she led the agency’s media response to Hurricane Katrina. She also served as a special assistant to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.

Tillman’s experience in the news media was as a producer for MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. She also worked on Capitol Hill as the press secretary for Senator Bob Smith and as deputy press secretary for Senator Paul Coverdell.

Tillman, a California native, has a bachelor's degree in public relations and a master's in public policy from Pepperdine University.

Isabel Alvarez-Valdez

Chief Financial Officer

Isabel Alvarez-Valdez is the chief financial officer at the Hoover Institution. She leads the Institution’s financial strategy and budget management, establishing appropriate internal controls and ensuring adherence to policies in accordance with university requirements and stewardship needs. Isabel has over twenty-five years of experience serving in a number of administrative and financial leadership roles, including finance policy officer, chief budget officer and controller. She brings a wealth of expertise in financial strategy, risk management, and operational efficiency.

Alvarez-Valdez is passionate about mentoring the next generation of finance professionals and giving back to the community through various philanthropic endeavors. She works with Social Venture Partners to provide professional coaching to executive directors in the non-profit sector. Isabel holds a BS in business administration and an MBA with concentrations in economics and finance from Notre Dame de Namur University. She and her husband have five children.

Chase Koontz

Deputy Chief of Staff

Chase Koontz serves as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Director of the Hoover Institution. In this role, he provides operational leadership to the Director’s Office with an emphasis on new initiatives and programming.

Before joining Hoover, Koontz served as Director of Corporate Services and Special Assistant to the National Chair at the Boy Scouts of America in Dallas, Texas. 

Koontz was born and raised in Indiana prior to earning his BA in government from the College of William & Mary. He and his wife welcomed their first child in May 2021.