ABOUT DAVID V. AGUILAR


David Aguilar is a Principal at Global Security Innovative Strategies (GSIS), a security consulting and business advisory firm headquartered in Washington, DC. At GSIS, Mr. Aguilar advises clients on a broad range of national homeland and international security matters including border security and logistics, global trade and commerce, supply chain management and security, risk management, viability assessments, and strategic planning and implementation. Mr. Aguilar focuses on tailoring global risk management solutions related to supply chain security, customs compliance, and all issues related to border protection at and between international ports of entry.


Mr. Aguilar had a distinguished 35 year career in federal law enforcement, having previously led the United States’ largest law enforcement organization, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Prior to leading CBP, he was appointed by President George W. Bush as the National Chief of the United States Border Patrol. He previously served as Chief of the Tucson Sector and in various leadership positions within the U.S. Border Patrol. As the Acting Commissioner of CBP, he oversaw a workforce of 60,000 agents, officers, and other personnel and a budget of more than 11 Billion dollars.


Mr. Aguilar currently serves on the Board of Directors for CZ-USA and Drone Aviation as well as the Advisory Boards of AT&T First Net and the Border Security Expo.


Mr. Aguilar holds an Associate degree in accounting from Laredo Community College and attended Laredo State University and the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a graduate of the Senior Executive Fellows program at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

ABOUT THERESA CARDINAL BROWN


Theresa Cardinal Brown is managing director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. She joined BPC from her own consulting firm, Cardinal North Strategies, LLC.


Brown was director of immigration and border policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; associate director of business immigration advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association; and worked in the immigration practices of large Washington, D.C.-based law firms. She also served as a director and of counsel at The Sentinel HS Group, LLC.


She was a policy advisor in the office of the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and was on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s Second Stage Review of USCIS. In 2005 and 2006, she became a member and later director of the Immigration Legislation Task Force in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Policy. She then served as the first DHS director of Canadian affairs, and subsequently as the first DHS attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.


Brown does extensive media outreach in her role at BPC, including appearances on Fox News, NPR Morning Edition, PBS NewsHour, CNN International, and BBC World and she has been quoted in major print publications including Time Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, the Wall St. Journal, Newsweek and others.


Brown is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Delaware, with a degree in international relations and economics.


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