President Ryan Mulvey
Ryan Mulvey is Policy Counsel at Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization committed to educating Americans to be advocates for freedom and real change. In that role, Ryan works on various legal policy issues, especially government transparency at the federal and state levels. He also volunteers as Counsel at Cause of Action Institute, where he has specialized in FOIA practice since 2013. As an attorney, Ryan has extensive experience with FOIA litigation and amicus work at the district court, appellate, and Supreme Court levels; as a policy expert, he has advised congressional staff about FOIA reform and researches cutting-edge FOIA issues. In his personal time, Ryan helps run FOIAadvisor.com, a free, online resource on all things FOIA. He is a graduate of the University of San Diego (BA) and Boston University (JD/MA).
Ryan has been a member of ASAP since 2018. In that time, he has contributed to ASAP as a faculty member at both the National Training Conference and the regional FOIA-Privacy Act Training Worship. Additionally, Ryan has served as a presenter for ASAP’s “Food for Thought” seminar series. This past year, Ryan was a member of the 2020 Virtual NTC Planning Committee. He especially appreciates ASAP’s work to bring together FOIA professionals and the requesting community. Ryan intends to use his position as a director-at-large both to provide a positive requester perspective and, more importantly, to further ASAP’s commitment to dialogue and the importance of communication for an ideal FOIA process. He would also like to help ASAP maintain its reputation for an excellent training opportunity and start to adapt these various programs to the new virtual “normal.”
Vice President Jeremy Lewis
Jeremy Lewis has served as a professor of political science for forty years and has published a number of scholarly articles on the theory and history of freedom of information, the global official transparency movement, and e-governance. He holds two degrees from Oxford University and two from The Johns Hopkins University in American politics and international relations.
He began by writing an MA thesis on the British freedom of information bills of the 1970s and his PhD dissertation on the US FOIA of 1974. He was one of the first scholars to interview FOIA staff and political staff in the US and UK, and to mine official reports for FOIA legislative and administrative trends. In 1986-96, he returned the favor by training FOIA staff at the US FDA.
His articles have appeared in such familiar journals for ASAP members as Government Information Quarterly (1995), and Access Reports; and four of his chapters in different editions of The Handbook of Public Information Systems (2000-2010). From more than fifty conference presentations and keynotes across North America and Europe, he has been cited in Latin America and North America, and two chapters on the open e-governance of public policy have been published in Russian translation (2015, 2019).
Jeremy has served non-profits for many years, notably chairing the global research committee on administrative culture of IPSA, and as Vice President of ALWAC (world affairs council). He has received a national teaching award; helped found an MPP program in public policy; and advised many of his students who proceeded to law careers (sorry) or master’s degrees, and a number of them to PhDs. His numerous television appearances have included several for NBC nightly news and for Canadian CTV news. He is also the father of two public policy experts in Washington DC’s think tanks, and in 2020 moved to northern Virginia to be closer to them.
Secretary Allan Blutstein
Allan Blutstein is a public records lawyer who has worked for pro-Republican organizations since 2015. His full-time FOIA career began twenty years ago as an attorney-advisor with the Department of Justice’s Office of Information and Privacy. Shortly after the financial crisis began in 2009, Allan became the principal legal counsel for the FOIA staff of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Stability. He subsequently joined the requester community in 2013 at Cause of Action Institute, a government oversight group.
In his free time, Allan manages FOIA Advisor, a website that provides daily FOIA news, summaries of court decisions, reference material, and a question-and-answer forum. He served on the National Archives and Records Administration’s FOIA Advisory Committee for the 2020-2022 term. Before focusing on public records law, Allan worked for the Social Security Administration and the New York City Department of Health. He received his law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Treasurer Christopher Carr
Chris Carr is the records manager and technical advisor on rotational assignment for a United States Department of Defense component’s revitalization and implementation of its Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, Records Management, and Mandatory Declassification Review programs. Prior to his work as a Freedom of Information Act Officer, Chris played a major role in the formation of recommendations for an agency deliberative engagement process and training for workforce external engagement. Before joining DoD in 2011, his experiences include work in medical libraries, university archives, and the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to providing quarterly FOIA training for new agency personnel, he’s graciously accepted invitations to speak at a number of Records and Information Management conferences and speaker series. He holds a MLIS from Simmons University School of Library and Information Science and a B.S. in History from Coppin State University.
Chris’ contributions to the profession include the formation of DoD Agency component level FOIA & Records Management training forums. He’s fostered engagement from across government and academia on an array of FOIA and Records Management related topic for training and development. Recognizing the difficulties and obstacles in working with FOIA even within the same agency, Chris pursued a seven-month, part-time assignment in the agency’s archives where he conducted research for a number of FOIA cases and attained a deeper understanding of the housed content. Each FOIA case was used as a learning tool in conveying the level of effort required in conducting archival research to the FOIA officers. Upon the end of his assignment, he conducted formal archival research training to the FOIA officers and managed their expectations by explaining the differences between library and archival research. As a result, FOIA officers now reach out to the agency archives for reference assistance rather than research tasking. This improved process has lessened the workload of archivists, shortened response time of FOIA cases requesting archived records, and ensured the reasonable nature of archival searches as FOIA officers now have greater influence in the way these searches are conducted.
Director Camille Aponte-Rossini
Camille Aponte-Rossini is the FOIA Manager and FOIA Public Liaison for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In her current role, Camille manages the FOIA team, provides final quality assurance review of responses to FOIA and Privacy Act (PA) requests, and develops and monitors FOIA/PA program policies and procedures. Previously, she was a leader at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Information Affairs (OIA), which is responsible for the development of FOIA policies, training, and agency-wide compliance. Prior to her career as a FOIA professional, Camille was a practicing attorney. She is licensed in Maryland and the District of Columbia. She earned her J.D. at The George Washington University Law School and her B.A. at The University of Tampa. Camille served as Director-At-Large for the 2022-2023 ASAP Board of Directors and was the Board’s liaison to the ASAP Education Committee. Camille is a current member of ASAP’s Education Committee and has taught at ASAP’s National Training Conference and FOIA/Privacy Act Training Workshop.
Director Stephanie Carr
Stephanie Carr is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer for the Office of Secretary of Defense and Joint Staff, responsible for FOIA processing for over 40 field offices. She has served as the Policy Team Lead and Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) Liaison for the Defense Freedom of Information and Policy Office where she provided FOIA policy guidance to the DoD FOIA community and served as the DoD Liaison for matters involving OGIS. With over 35 years of FOIA experience, she has processed FOIA requests, managed FOIA and FOIA/Privacy programs, worked with the Alternative Dispute Resolution community in developing a DoD Conflict Resolution/Customer Service (CRCS) course for the DoD, managed FOIA/Privacy Act Training Workshops, and taught at the Department of the Navy, DoD, and the American Society of Access Professionals. She also served as a member of the 2016 to 2018 FOIA Federal Advisory Committee and is currently a member of the American Society of Access Professionals Job Analysis Task Force. In 1996, she received a Navy Meritorious Civilian Award for her part in the development of the first FOIA Handbook in the federal government.
Director Toni Fuentes
I have worked with some aspect of FOIA for over 30 years, both during my time on active duty in the United States Navy and during my federal civilian service. I have held positions of increasing responsibility beginning in 2004 when I began my civilian federal career at NASA, Kennedy Space Center as a paralegal in the Office of Chief Counsel. I have worked in FOIA dedicated roles as a civilian at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as a FOIA Analyst, Department of the Navy (DON) as a FOIA paralegal specialist, United States Marshals Service (USMS) as a FOIA paralegal specialist, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) (Formerly NPPD) as the Director of FOIA, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the Deputy FOIA Officer for Litigation and Administration. I am currently the Director, Freedom of Information, for the Office for the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Privacy, Civil Liberties and Transparency (OATSD(PCLT)) for the Department of Defense.
Director Michael Heise
Michael Heise grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, went to college and law school in St. Paul, Minnesota (Macalester and Hamline respectively), and was licensed for a time in both Minnesota and Michigan (the latter where he lived for three years while his wife attended the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, MI). Michael has extensive document review experience and began his career in FOIA as a federal contractor with the Department of Energy in Washington, DC.
Michael lives in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, DC. Currently he is an attorney advisor with the EEOC. He began work here in April 2020. Michael processes requests, especially those of potential interest to the Commission, as well as complicated requests with voluminous records that contain material deemed potentially sensitive. He monitors the processing productively agency wide concerning FOIA processing (our field offices process about 90% of EEOC requests) and reports his findings to the Chief FOIA Office on a bi-weekly and monthly basis which he also memorializes in detailed spreadsheets he has created.
Director Marianne Manheim
Marianne Manheim has spent the last eight years as Chief of the FOIA Branch at NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, MD. She oversees an amazing staff of FOIA professionals that process requests for 22 institutes, centers, and offices at NIH. In addition, her office provides privacy and records management oversight for NHLBI. Prior to joining NHLBI, she spent six years as the FOIA Program Manager at the Department of State, where she was responsible for developing and implementing FOIA policies, training, reporting, for continuously evaluating the State Department's FOIA process to make improvements and reduce backlog, and she served as the agency's FOIA Public Liaison. Prior to serving at the Department of State, she worked at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission where she was responsible for privacy, data breach policy, and controlled unclassified information. She first began working with the FOIA at the Peace Corps’ headquarters, where she served as the agency’s FOIA and Privacy Act Officer. Marianne holds a J.D. from Valparaiso University School of Law, a B.A. from the University of Idaho, a pastry arts certification from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cote d'Ivoire. She’s originally from the New York City area and is always searching for the best bagels. She loves FOIA and working with the public and is always excited to work with ASAP on new initiatives.
Director Martha Murphy
Martha Murphy has worked as an archivist and federal access professional for over 20 years, including positions processing records for release, managing a FOIA program, and setting nationwide access policy for federal archival records. Prior to starting her current position with the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) in July 2018, Martha was a FOIA Program Manager. In this role, she led several high-profile efforts to provide public access to archival records and oversaw a staff of 25 FOIA professionals. Martha has a B.A. in History and Political Science from Loyola College (now University) of Baltimore, and an M.A. in 20th Century U.S. History from the Loyola University of Chicago. Martha has been a member of ASAP for close to 20 years, has been a member of the Board of Directors since December 2020, and has taught sessions during the last two ASAP Training Conferences.
Director Bradley White
Bradley is the Senior Director of FOIA Litigation and Policy in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He has lead the FOIA Litigation team, which handles administrative appeals along with all aspects of FOIA litigation for DHS headquarters components, as well as the FOIA Policy and Oversight teams, which are responsible for creating and disseminating FOIA instructions and directives, tracking FOIA compliance throughout DHS, and provides FOIA training to the entire Department. Prior to serving in this role, Bradley was the FOIA Officer for the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) for three years, and before that, he worked in the FOIA Office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for seven years as a FOIA analyst, litigation team lead, and supervisory FOIA analyst. Bradley holds a BA from the American University School of Public Affairs in Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government, and a JD from the American University Washington College of Law.
Bradley was a member of the FOIA Advisory Committee for the 2018-2020 term, and served as co-chair of a subcommittee that explored issues related to the time it takes an agency to process and respond to FOIA request, and related issues related to the increasing volume of FOIA requests received by agencies. He also co-presented a session on FOIA litigation at the 2020 ASAP National Training Conference, and has been asked to present the recommendations of the FOIA Advisory Committee at a virtual “hot topic” training for ASAP in late October. Additionally, Bradley has given presentations or conducted training on FOIA throughout my career, for varied audiences, from new employees, incoming political appointees and senior executives, to non-FOIA staff to explain how all agency employees have a duty to conduct FOIA searches when tasked to do so, to experienced FOIA and Privacy professionals.
